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Forums - Gaming Discussion - Extremely Long Cutscenes, What's your take?

Smeags on 14 March 2009
Rainbird said:

While I agree that interactivity is key, and showing something in a cutscene that would have been more fun to play (DMC4 is a great example of this), I think the audio diaries in Bioshock are a very bad example.

Why have people recorded everything they thought aloud to themselves, and why are these diaries all intact and spread throughout Rapture. It makes no sense at all.

Personally, I would much rather have a cutscene that preserves the atmosphere, than something that brakes all the laws of logic and takes you out of the game by doing so.

Well Bioshock was more of just an example of how great storytelling could be done without the use of the cutscene. I enjoyed how I could listen to them on my own time, learning about the history and characters of Rapture even while playing through the game. The key was that I still had the freedoms that the game offered me while the developer could tell his/her story to me. That is what I really enjoyed about the game. I didn't have to give up my play time and the developer didn't have to give up on his story. Win-Win.

But as far as believability goes, Bioshock could have had giant cuddly panda bears as enemies and I still would have believed it. It's a crazy world down there.

 



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Blacksaber on 14 March 2009

I can deal with them as long they let me be able to pause and/or skip it I'm fine with them...



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Onyxmeth on 14 March 2009
Rainbird said:
WessleWoggle said:
Rainbird said:
Smeags said:
Khuutra said:
Rule of thumb is that being concise is better. That doesn't mean short, but it means there's no time wasted. No such thing as a long cutscene for the sake of length.

And don't just show me something that would be much cooler to play.

I'm with ya on this one Khuutra, especially on the latter part. It really does bug me when I see a cut scene that could have been much more fun to experience in game, where I could actually... you know... play it. QTE is a step in the right direction over just a plain ol' action packed cutscene (ex: Leon vs. Krauser knife fight in RE4), but even that feels dated compared to what we've accomplished through our software, hardware, and control methods thus far.

Interactivity is key, and in my video games, I'd like to see as much of it as possible. So developers, find a better way to work in and through your medium (good ex: audio diaries in Bioshock). The PS1 came out 14 years ago for Pete's sake.

 

While I agree that interactivity is key, and showing something in a cutscene that would have been more fun to play (DMC4 is a great example of this), I think the audio diaries in Bioshock are a very bad example.

Why have people recorded everything they thought aloud to themselves, and why are these diaries all intact and spread throughout Rapture. It makes no sense at all.

Personally, I would much rather have a cutscene that preserves the atmosphere, than something that brakes all the laws of logic and takes you out of the game by doing so.

Fuck logic and sense. It's a game.

Back in the SNES and NES days logic was usually no where to be found..

Anyways, when I played bioshock I didn't ever think the audio daries were unrealistic, because when playing video games I suspend all disbelief, that's what you're supposed to do.

 

Mindless fun, eh?

A game sets it's own boundaries, and when a game decides to have basis in reality and build upon it, then logic is by default a part of it.

You don't wonder about hearing voices (as in Stephen Fry telling you about neat little things you can do) in the middle of LittleBigPlanet, because it is within the boundaries the game has for it self. But if there was CGI cutscenes in LBP, they would likely strike you unfitting for the game, the game really wasn't build for that kind of thing.

You realize you're talking about a game where you inject yourself with needles full of chemicals that allow you to shoot fire, ice and bees out of your arm all in a city underwater. Why of all the things to pick on logically in Bioshock did you go for the tape recorders? That's actually possible. It's the rest of the game that isn't.

I agree that Bioshock's method of storytelling was fantastic. I would just press A and listen to recorders while I continued exploring. It really gave a great sense of what Rapture was like once upon a time.

 



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student on 14 March 2009

I can't stand long cut scenes. If you need to resort to a cut scene that's longer than 5-10 minutes, you clearly aren't executing your game properly. What kind of interactive story requires 30-45 minutes of hands off activity?

I am totally against long cut scenes and see them as a deal breaker that usually bores me out of the game.



bouzane on 14 March 2009

I'm not a big fan of long cut-scenes, I too would rather be playing the games then watching them.



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emilie autumn on 14 March 2009

i don't like them, for me long cutscenes are the inability for developers to unfold the story in an appropiate pace.



 

NightstrikerX on 14 March 2009
Onyxmeth said:
Rainbird said:
WessleWoggle said:
Rainbird said:
Smeags said:
Khuutra said:
Rule of thumb is that being concise is better. That doesn't mean short, but it means there's no time wasted. No such thing as a long cutscene for the sake of length.

And don't just show me something that would be much cooler to play.

I'm with ya on this one Khuutra, especially on the latter part. It really does bug me when I see a cut scene that could have been much more fun to experience in game, where I could actually... you know... play it. QTE is a step in the right direction over just a plain ol' action packed cutscene (ex: Leon vs. Krauser knife fight in RE4), but even that feels dated compared to what we've accomplished through our software, hardware, and control methods thus far.

Interactivity is key, and in my video games, I'd like to see as much of it as possible. So developers, find a better way to work in and through your medium (good ex: audio diaries in Bioshock). The PS1 came out 14 years ago for Pete's sake.

 

While I agree that interactivity is key, and showing something in a cutscene that would have been more fun to play (DMC4 is a great example of this), I think the audio diaries in Bioshock are a very bad example.

Why have people recorded everything they thought aloud to themselves, and why are these diaries all intact and spread throughout Rapture. It makes no sense at all.

Personally, I would much rather have a cutscene that preserves the atmosphere, than something that brakes all the laws of logic and takes you out of the game by doing so.

Fuck logic and sense. It's a game.

Back in the SNES and NES days logic was usually no where to be found..

Anyways, when I played bioshock I didn't ever think the audio daries were unrealistic, because when playing video games I suspend all disbelief, that's what you're supposed to do.

 

Mindless fun, eh?

A game sets it's own boundaries, and when a game decides to have basis in reality and build upon it, then logic is by default a part of it.

You don't wonder about hearing voices (as in Stephen Fry telling you about neat little things you can do) in the middle of LittleBigPlanet, because it is within the boundaries the game has for it self. But if there was CGI cutscenes in LBP, they would likely strike you unfitting for the game, the game really wasn't build for that kind of thing.

You realize you're talking about a game where you inject yourself with needles full of chemicals that allow you to shoot fire, ice and bees out of your arm all in a city underwater. Why of all the things to pick on logically in Bioshock did you go for the tape recorders? That's actually possible. It's the rest of the game that isn't.

I agree that Bioshock's method of storytelling was fantastic. I would just press A and listen to recorders while I continued exploring. It really gave a great sense of what Rapture was like once upon a time.

 

Because Bioshock's method helped immerse players in the time-period. The people, dispite being able to build a city underwater. Didn't have some of the advanced technology that we have today. I personally believe everything fantastic, needs to be balanced by something realistic. Or else the game would become so obcure that no one would be able to relate with it.

Yes, one may find it rather silly to relate yourself with a game as you described. "Injecting yourself with needles full of chemicals that allow you to..." But it help's immerse yourself in the storyline and in a game like bioshock, without stuff like the recorders. No one would be interested in the story.

That's my stand, every game needs a balance of realism and fantasy to make the storyline good. Then combine that with good story-telling and a great storytelling game is born.

 



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foont on 14 March 2009

I'm not a fan of cut scenes.

There have been times where I have enjoyed them, but I'm of the mind that the one truly intrinsic, unique quality that gaming has is interaction.

I've played too many great games that eschew cut scenes for more elegant forms of exposition (Bioshock and the Half-Life series come to mind).

Whenever I encounter a cut scene (even one that is rendered in real time), I can't help but feel like I'm playing Sega CD, waiting to get to the next totally rad cinema.



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Theo on 14 March 2009

On my first play through mgs4 I watched all the cut-scenes and enjoyed them. I played the game at it's pace and was sucked into the storyline. On my second play through I skipped through alot of the long monologueing cause I knew what they were going to say.

So yeah, long cut-scenes are grand as long as they're skippable. If it's a boring cut-scene that I can't skip and I'm desperatly trying to get to the gameplay to see if the game is worth playing I'd probably change the channel. Assassin's creed was notoriously bad for this, I'd be sitting there listening to the old beardy guy go on and on with nothing I can do to shut him up. I'd change the channel to watch some tv, come back and he's still talking!



Badassbab on 14 March 2009

I like cut scenes but they should be fairly short, 10 mins max if that. There should at least be some kind of interaction if it's gonna be long. That's where real time cut scenes have their advantages over CG cut scenes.