Cutscene Hell

[Johann610]

Bioshock 2 had a particularly hamhanded way of making you sit still for them. The character is locked in each room while jerk-of-the-moment* prattles on and on. But if you hit the "Esc" button to call on menus, maybe to SAVE or to OPTIONS, you will find that the RESUME and SAVE options--the only way back to the moment you just left--are gone. With one inopportune keystroke, you are going to be bumped back to the last auto-save. There's no warning at all! 3/4 of the way through the carousel level, I hit this trigger and had to re-do the whole damn thing.

*Except Grace. She was ok.

 

[josemlopes]

Apparently Max Payne 3 was even worse for cutscenes and lens flare.

In Max Payne's defense, the cutscenes are used to hide the abnormally long loading times. Most of them can be skipped about halfway through, once all the loading has taken place. Doesn't make it any less annoying though

The guys at Rockstar still managed to fuck it up a bit in the PC version as the game still only lets you skip the cutscene only after a specific point instead of depending on whether it was loaded or not, it gets really annoying when you know that you could already be playing the game but still have to go through all that stuff (especially if you are replaying the game), I really like what it did with the cutscenes (basicly anything that isnt shooting is a cutscene while everything that is shooting isnt) but it really takes a toll in replayability.

 

[Lieju]

As for the cutscene itself, I fid it endearing, actually. But I have a soft spot for stuff that tries way too hard to be cool. It's a Need for Speed-game. I expect dialogue that sounds like Linkin Park-lyrics.
I'm not fond of it cutting away every millisecond, though. This is a video-game, you don't need to edit it like that to hide the stunts or actors' incompetence.

And the unskippable nature of it, there's no reason not to make a lot of that stuff interactive, a lot of it looks like menus anyway.

 

[Magix]

I don't think the guy who made the video is funny or even clever at all (he's kinda of annoying actually), but that was an stupid amount of un-interaction for me to never bother with this game.

It is just poor design choices or poor planning and it's just another reason why I can't just pick up anything now. I have to research everything to avoid all this annoying shit they put in so many games these days.

Oh, I seem to have failed to understand that was a comedy video. I was under the impression it was meant to inform us that the game is shit.

TotalBiscuit tends to be very opinionated and some people can't help but make it about HIM and not the point he's making. If his points are valid, it doesn't matter if you like his personality or not. And I wish people would stop bringing it into arguments as if it somehow devalues the information in his videos

Yeah, and I shouldn't have to inform anyone what I was actually talking about either, cause you know, since I can judge things separately.

Even if you make a good point, if you over-react too much people will just take you for an idiot, or think that you just have issues. Unless you do it in a entertaining way, it can be over-looked by many, and frankly I won't be looking at his other videos because of it.

96% of the 200000 people watching that video and 1,3 million subscribers seem to disagree with you. Maybe he's reacting just fine and you're overreacting to his video instead?

 

[Nazulu]

I don't think the guy who made the video is funny or even clever at all (he's kinda of annoying actually), but that was an stupid amount of un-interaction for me to never bother with this game.

It is just poor design choices or poor planning and it's just another reason why I can't just pick up anything now. I have to research everything to avoid all this annoying shit they put in so many games these days.

Oh, I seem to have failed to understand that was a comedy video. I was under the impression it was meant to inform us that the game is shit.

TotalBiscuit tends to be very opinionated and some people can't help but make it about HIM and not the point he's making. If his points are valid, it doesn't matter if you like his personality or not. And I wish people would stop bringing it into arguments as if it somehow devalues the information in his videos

Yeah, and I shouldn't have to inform anyone what I was actually talking about either, cause you know, since I can judge things separately.

Even if you make a good point, if you over-react too much people will just take you for an idiot, or think that you just have issues. Unless you do it in a entertaining way, it can be over-looked by many, and frankly I won't be looking at his other videos because of it.

96% of the 200000 people watching that video and 1,3 million subscribers seem to disagree with you. Maybe he's reacting just fine and you're overreacting to his video instead?

Because they are probably fans or whatever. Popularity doesn't suddenly mean great quality. And even if you are going to use that cop out, just think of the other billion that hasn't subscribed to him.

Also, what is my reaction?

 

[FieryTrainwreck]

Popularity doesn't suddenly mean great quality. And even if you are going to use that cop out, just think of the other billion that hasn't subscribed to him.

Four out of five accidents are caused by not smoking pot.

 

[Nazulu]

Popularity doesn't suddenly mean great quality. And even if you are going to use that cop out, just think of the other billion that hasn't subscribed to him.

Four out of five accidents are caused by not smoking pot.

I don't find that has anything to do with opinions, but sure, why not.

 

[FieryTrainwreck]

Popularity doesn't suddenly mean great quality. And even if you are going to use that cop out, just think of the other billion that hasn't subscribed to him.

Four out of five accidents are caused by not smoking pot.

I don't find that has anything to do with opinions, but sure, why not.

I think pointing to the popularity of a thing as an indicator of its quality is a poor argument.

Countering this argument by pointing out the thing isn't very popular when you consider the entire population of the planet (which makes food, water, and oxygen the only truly popular things) is one of the "smarter" things I've ever seen.

 

[Magix]

Whether it indicates good quality or not, you don't get to where Totalbiscuit is today by "making people think you are an idiot or have issues".

 

[Nazulu]

I think pointing to the popularity of a thing as an indicator of its quality is a poor argument.

Countering this argument by pointing out the thing isn't very popular when you consider the entire population of the planet (which makes food, water, and oxygen the only truly popular things) is one of the "smarter" things I've ever seen.

You put it in better detail. I really didn't understand what you meant. I guess I'm not that smart.

I used to think popularity was an indicator of quality, and sometimes it is, so I can see where people believe it's the only way. Though I stopped believing that when I saw some people on TV go into great great detail in about industry's and it changed my perception altogether.

It was when I was first told "the world is big enough for all different types", the strategy's professionals use to appeal to more audiences, the psychology behind marketing, how sex can change everything, why obscure and controversial work can be risky, tying in with trends, etc. etc. This was based on the media, and from then on I became more open as well as more skeptical.

I'm saying this because there are special strategy's to create popularity (yes, actually create), and I'm sure all these big company's use them, exploiting loopholes where ever they can and testing durability of certain things. However, some of it doesn't need a strategy at all. Sometimes controversial topics or mimicking trends can do all the work by itself, which I'm sure we've all seen before. And not only that, but sometimes popularity becomes even more popular because there happens to be many people who just want to be part of something popular.

 

[Nazulu]

Whether it indicates good quality or not, you don't get to where Totalbiscuit is today by "making people think you are an idiot or have issues".

Look mate, why do you care what I think? We haven't gone into any detail so it's not some deep discussion we have here. Agree to disagree and enjoy what you enjoy.

 

[MrFalconfly]

My only gripe was that we never got to see the driving when the game was left to it's own devises.

Unskippable cutscenes aren't that big of an issue for me, and personally I find "Ermagerd 1080p 120fps, nextgen graphics" to be secondary to how the driving model feels in a game.

But yeah. Those tutorials look rather poorly implemented.

 

[XMark]

I think in a lot of cases a cutscene is put in place to give you something to watch while the game loads in the background. They should totally be skippable once the loading is done, though.

 

[DrOswald]

Apparently Max Payne 3 was even worse for cutscenes and lens flare.

In Max Payne's defense, the cutscenes are used to hide the abnormally long loading times. Most of them can be skipped about halfway through, once all the loading has taken place. Doesn't make it any less annoying though

I think it is only fair to note that ridiculous over the top story telling and cutscenes have always been part of Max Payne, it is kind of a staple of the franchise. That said, Max Payne 3 got rid of the interesting comic style cutscenes in favor of a more standardized, and more boring, style.

 

[Vivi22]

EDIT: I'd put unskippable cutscenes and introductory videos in the same circle of Hell, together with condescending and unskippable tutorials.

They belong in the same circle of hell reserved for Lucifer, Judas, and all the other traitors. Because a company that places an unskippable cutscene before the menu of a game has betrayed their customers.

That's not a cutscene though is it? That's an opening video setting up the game, not exactly the same thing...

Indeed, I would also say it's possible to remove the intro by renaming/deleting the .BIK file associated with it.

I hope you're not suggesting that this is acceptable if the consumer can go in and find the appropriate file and rename/delete it. Because it's not acceptable. Ever. No game should have unskippable cutscenes who's length can be measured in minutes before you even see a menu. Hell, they shouldn't even be in the game itself, but this in particular is absolutely abhorrent.

 

[Ashadowpie]

Kingdom Hearts 2 was incredibly cutscene happy too and i hated it. i loved the first kingdom hearts. playing KH2 it was like " walk through a door, 3 minutes cutscene of people just talking" the cutscene pans to the next door. i walk through the door, cutscene. rinse and bloody repeat!