I don't care for middle of the road, best for everyone solutions. If a designer goes a certain route, then fine. Even if I don't like it, no doubt others will. If certain stuff only appeals to certain people, then it was still a justified route. If NOBODY liked it, it's a failure.

Personally, I loved the cutscenes. There were all at such a high quailty level graphically and mostly thrilling, that I wouldn't have done without them.

I didn't (entirely) mind the cutscenes at the length they were, it was slightly annoying to sit through moments of built up suspense and certain parts that weren't exactly necessary to the story, but I endured for one reason.

Reason is, I love the fact that Kojima raised the middle finger to those who dislike (even damned) him for the way he does things. I'm sure Konami might have had some issues with the long cutscenes as well (costs and all), but he stuck to his guns and the way he does things, which I appreciate.

In an industry where people often cave in to the demands from above, financial and time constraints or certain parts of the public, Kojima didn't and he wanted to make the game the way he felt was right. That's not something most of the industry can claim they do or are able to.

lol true, but it doesn't happen all the time and one of the hidden first person moments is when you can look at breasts. 

o_0

kojima is a genius, i skipped the cutscenes lol

 I share your sentiment. Raiden vs Gekko and Snake vs Eva's recruits are some examples of the best cutscenes I've ever watched

Kojima: "...I think I could probably introduce a more interactive storytelling method."

Well DUH!!! You should've done it already!

The cutscenes were amazing, esp Raiden's.

I really didn't care about the length of the cutscenes as long as I got some good amount of playtime

The cut scenes were a fucking blessing. I have not heard a single person who actually owns this game complain about it. They are damn fun to watch. I mean, you can skip through them if you don't like it...so it is not as if Kojima is forcing you to watch. The only time I have ever heard of this "problem" is when talking to people that: 1. Hate all MGS games 2. Don't own a PS3 and are bitter.

Who complains about skipable cut-scenes?

Mr. Kojima: MGS4 was flawless...don't regret anything.

the real problem i have with long and complex cutscenes is that usually you can see the main charachters performing sick moves while in the gamplay you can perform just 3 moves...it's like " ok, let's do the boring job to unlock the fantastic cutscens"...and to some extent MGS4 is not immune to this issue: gameplay fades into cutscens really well from a technical point of view, but in the end after a cutscene you can't stop thinking about the fact that you can't do anything comparable to what you've just seen with your gamepad...things havn't changed much from MGS3 from this point of view.

I think that in this sense the most innovative game of the current generation is Assassin Creed where the main chrachter performs truly great looking moves even during the gameplay