My altered view of MGS4 now that I've beaten it.

[shio]

Impulsivity said:

   MGS4 is NOT Splinter Cell nor should it be; it has a denser story and a lot more cinematic devices that compliment involved stealth action which rewards patience and creativity over brute force. (particularly on the high difficulty levels where you can't mow down 50 soldiers with your gun) In short it has everything a great game of its type should have and more. 

Fiinishing a level/area/event should ALWAYS be rewarded with getting to play the following part. Anyone who think of cutscenes as a reward needs to get their head straight. Cutscenes should only be a force of continuity, something that keeps things going when it fits, and always secondary to interactivity.

Second, many times in MGS games it feels the gameplay is the one that complements the cutscenes... that is not a good thing. And patience? I bet most of the patience gamers bare in MGSs are in the cutscenes. Creativity? What do you mean with that...

Impulsivity said:

  If you prefer to keep your games and novels separate have at it, but don't act as though anyone who doesn't appreciate your taste in media or your preachy tone is somehow inferior to you and your "developed" tastes.  I enjoyed Metal Gear Solid 4 far more then slogging through The Old Man and the Sea thank you very much and I in no way feel ashamed of that fact nor should I be made to.

That doesn't make sense coming from you. Kojima is one of the biggest perpetrators at separating the gameplay and the story. That's why many people think Kojima is simply not good enough to make deep, complex videogame stories. He limits his works by NOT integrating the plot into the gameplay.

He should play Planescape: Torment, to give him an idea of how it's done.

DTG said:

shio said:

windbane said:

sieanr said:

DTG said:

rocketpig said:
Oh, cut-scene based games can tell a good story. That wasn't my point. My point that any cut-scene heavy game is avoiding the strengths of the medium and instead trying to turn it into a more familiar medium with more limitations, like movies.

 

Why must every aspect of a mans work embrace the "strength" of a medium? Do many books not contain pictures in them? Do many movies not contain written references in them? Wy should a game limit itself to a particular style when it can blend several together - namely movies and games? The gameplay is still there however the story is presented as a movie blending two mediums in a stroke of a genius, something most artists wish to achieve.

 

You've argued this before and people have proven you wrong.

 

How many movies spend half the time with only text on screen, using it to communicate almost the entire story?

 

MGS4 does a terrible job of blending movies and games together. There are plenty of games that do an excellent job of blending a cinematic experience with gameplay, but I guess you haven't played them.

 

No game provides an interactive movie experience like MGS, but I'd like to see your list of games that blend cinematics and gameplay better, sieanr.

I hate to argue with rocketpig in every MGS thread, but he seems to complain about it in every thread, so...

A game does not have to be pure gameplay. I think that's obvious by now. MGS chooses to use an interactive movie style, and it does it very well. I enjoyed the long cutscenes. Clearly those are not for everyone. You don't enjoy the story, so of course you are going to say that. Anyone that enjoys the story probably doesn't mind too much.

And again...you can skip the freaking cutscenes.

 

Deus Ex: it has better story, storytelling, writing, interactivity and it is indeed cinematic. Far superior to any MGS game.

Oh and people don't want to experience movies, they want games.

 

 

Considering the massive success of the MGS franchise I think people wanty movies and games equally.

Also, Dues Ex is a bad example as it has nowhere near as much character development nor does it explain its world, technology, politics as in depth rendering it's universe incomplete and unbelievable and contains nowhere near the amount of philosophy as MGS games do. I'd rather take a game with 40 minutes of philosophical exposition to a game with 5 minutes of it told through a small paragraph.

Have we played the same game? Deus Ex has more character development, and beter yet, it leaves several parts of it into the players' own hands. It goes more into depth on politics, religion, freedom, etc... than the entire MGS series, not only through clear and natural dialogues but also by experiencing it.

I know you would prefer to watch a 40 minute, DTG. We all know you'd prefer that because it seems you are not capable of processing the thematics inside the gameplay.