I like cutscenes.....

[Vault101]

yes thats right I like cutscenes....

I dont think they are really the horrible slap in the face gamers take them for

oh dont get me wrong they can be used and abused for the sake of evil.....

but when used correctly I dont think they are that bad


and yeah everyone praises half life 2's method, and rightly so

but really...I dont think such a method would work with every game (and I might point out there are moments where even your contoll is taken away)

like mass effect, it wouldnt be the same if we had the whole free movment thing..I mean ok some people would prbably like it, we get a bit of this if you talk to zaeed on the normandy

but really personally I have the tradmark Bioware way that conversatins are presented cinematically, makes it engaging

and saits row 2...I found cutscenes to be half the fun as well

anyway bottom line is yes its subjective, and yes devs should always look for creative ways to tell the story, but cutscenes arnt always bad

 

[Jonsbax]

Cut-scenes are great in my opinion, as long as they are short for the most time and don't disaply action I'd want to take part in. Sometimes it's fun to have the story in there just as a bonus.

 

[Grouchy Imp_v1legacy]

Cutscenes are alright, but they need to be skippable. The first time I play through a game I will watch every cutscene and pay attention to every detail to ensure I'm getting not only the full story but also the full experience. But on replays? I know the story, I've had the experience, so I'll mash the 'skip' button and rage if the game forces me to sit and watch something I've already seen before.

 

[The Wykydtron]

I like them as long as they don't go the MGS route of stacking 3 15 minute cutscenes together. Otherwise yeah go for it

Also skippabilty is good

 

[Wuggy]

As long as cutscenes are skippable and don't last ages at a time (a lá MGS), I'm fine with them. Actually when they are executed well, they become something to look forward to.

 

[Archangel768]

THANK YOU!

Finally, someone on this website that enjoys them. I hate it when I see people say that Cut scenes should never be used in games and how 'they're just trying to be a movie'.

My favourite games use cut scenes and I love the idea of combining gameplay and cut scenes into one package. I see it as having the best of both worlds of games and films. To me, the idea that games should never use cut scenes is very limiting as that takes away a very good method of story telling. Sure, other methods can be good as well but, if every games never ever used cut scenes anymore then I would find that disappointing. I like variety in the type of games that I play and that means enjoying the cut scenes in Final Fantasy and having fun staying in control in Half Life 2. Neither is a bad design decision. What is bad is if games never used one of those methods.

Also, I usually find that the immersion I have when playing a game isn't broken by cut scenes. I personally found Final Fantasy X to be one of the most immersive games I have ever played. In fact, the most immersive games I have played usually use cut scenes to an extent.

The way I see it, is that whether or not you enjoy a cut scene is subjective. Just because you might not like it, doesn't mean someone else doesn't either. Different people like different things. I don't believe cut scenes should never be used in games again as I for one enjoy them immensely but, at the same time I still enjoy games that choose different methods such as Half Life 2. While I think some games should seek different methods of storytelling, I don't believe everyone has to utilise one method. To me that's like saying every game should be an FPS. Things would get pretty dull shortly as the only gameplay mechanic we'd be playing is first person shooting.

I also view people that say games that use cut scenes fail the same as people that say a certain game or series should never have existed. People say things like, new Sonic games, Call of Duty, Final Fantasy and so many more should never exist. So many people enjoy those games and if you don't like it, that doesn't mean you can ruin someone else's fun by taking it away from them.

Whether or not someone enjoys cut scenes or anything else is subjective and can change from person to person. Don't say no game should cut scenes because millions of people and I included enjoy them immensely. You can just go play the games that don't use them and then we'll both be pleased.

 

[Kungfu_Teddybear]

I like cutscenes when they are well done. I hate cutscenes when in said cutscene your character does something really cool that you can't do in game.

"That looks really awesome!!... SO WHY THE FUCK CAN'T I DO IT?!"

 

[Zhukov]

I don't. At least, not most of the time.

Although they do have their place. For example, showing us things that are happening somewhere away from the protagonist.

Also, I agree that the Half Life method wouldn't work for everything. For one, it sorta requires a silent protagonist.

Lastly, Mass Effect's conversations aren't cutscenes despite being presented in a cinematic manner. But They're interactive and therefore are not cutscenes. I like them.

 

[M0rp43vs]

I like cutscenes. Never knew there was any hate against them, cept maybe for overlong cutscenes which are unskippable. But unless game designers are particularly clever, it's one of the better ways of introducing narrative and keeping the story going in a game.

 

[Bakuryukun]

I'm glad there are still those out there who enjoy cutscenes, I think they have their place and always will, for one thing I have NEVER in a game seen two characters outside of a cut scene interact in a way that's convincing. I've seen ONE character act in a convincing way, (Portal 2's individual characters like Wheatley are a good example of this) but never the player character and another person or even two NPC's talk amongst each other or interact in a way that isn't very artificial. Cut scenes are really useful for showing important character interactions.

I really hate the First Person game solution to this, having a very stiff model of a character talk to you while you are free to just walk away, or like when a character starts talking to you even though your facing the other direction and have no idea where they are. Stuff like that really irks me in games. To use Portal 2 again it kind of bothers me when Chell doesn't...react to things. Like even if your protagonist is silent they can still REACT to less than ideal situations and moving the camera around and jumping don't count.

I have never had a problem with cutscenes so long as they are skippable. I've never thought to myself "This cutscene is too long" on my first time seeing it and I've played Metal Gear Solid 4 and Xenosaga, so I know something about sitting through long-ass cutscenes. So long as what's happening is interesting, I enjoy it as much as any other aspect of a game.

 

[badgersprite]

I don't mind cut scenes when they connect the plot, or are necessary to do things you couldn't do outside of a cut scene.

Saints Row 2 is a good example. The cut scenes last just long enough to serve the plot. At the beginning of a mission they tell you a) where you are b) where you're going c) what you're doing and d) why, usually while entertaining you in the process. These are good cut scenes.

Or take FFIX for example, when you're on the airship with Black Waltz No 3. You have a short cut scene that shows how powerful he is, and provides wordless character development for Vivi. Then you show the chase through South Gate, which you definitely would not be able to do in normal Final Fantasy gameplay. They're only short, but they're entertaining and serve the story. Those are good cut scenes.

What aren't good cut scenes is when that's the only method of communicating anything and they're shoved in needlessly. Okay, for example, imagine all those phone calls you get in Saints Row 2 when you're driving to a mission, or the conversations you have with your homies in the car. They often give you additional information that's useful to what you're about to do as you're driving there. Okay, now imagine if that phone call was another cut scene, and then after that YOU STILL HAD TO DRIVE TO A MISSION. And now imagine if nearly every single mission had that - a pointless cut scene that takes up two or three minutes at the start of every mission when you could have used that time to drive to a mission, or when it could have just been a short phone call. That would be jarring as hell. And yet an awful lot of games do that. They needlessly take control out of your hands to tell you things you don't need to know, or things that don't need to be told through a cut scene.

For example, compare Cloud's flashback in Nibelheim in FFVII with the tedious series of cut scene flashbacks in FFXIII. By the fact of being able to control Cloud, you get to see how powerful Sephiroth is in battle in real understandable terms. He is literally fifty times stronger than you are as you stand in Nibelheim. In FFXIII, they disjointedly flash back to cut scenes and conversations without any rhyme or reason, WHEN THERE'S NO REASON WHY YOU COULDN'T HAVE PLAYED THEM at least partially. Like there's a scene where Snow is on some kind of air bike with Sarah, looking at fireworks. Why didn't they let you control that? Why didn't they let you fly over the city by your own self? It's not like the technology doesn't exist, and it could have shown off the vastness of the place, thereby giving a sense of gravity and consequence when the world is threatened later. By not making it a cut scene, it might have been a lot more memorable. Instead it just annoyed me and increasingly made me not care about this god damn Sarah person who just kept interrupting the game.

I have a very good attention span. I don't get bored easily. So if a game is boring me with how much of its content is wasted on meaningless cut scenes, something is probably going wrong.

 

[philcelery]

I don't mind a little bit of cutscenes but if you're going to have them, make them scripted events using the game's engine, not pre-rendered movies that don't match the source content. I mean movies that either use higher quality models and lighting that doesn't match the game or high compression that looks terrible on anything other than a 30 year old tv (where everything looks equally terrible).

 

[b3nn3tt]

I don't mind cutscenes, but there are some caveats to this. For my part, these are some rules that all cutscenes should stick to:

1. Be skippable - the first time I play a game, I'm going to watch all the cutscenes, so that I know what's going on, who's doing what etc. My second runthrough is usually for collectible-hunting, so I'm not focussing on the stroy. Therefore I don't want to sit through all of the cutscenes again.

2. Don't show the protagonist doing something that can't be done during gameplay - this is just a huge slap in the face. There is nothing worse than watching a cutscene, seeing your character do something and think 'I can't wait to do that', then discovering that, actually, you don't get to do any of those things.

3. Don't put something in a cutscene if it can be told during gameplay - for me, this is the most important one. I think this is also why a lot of people don't like cutscenes, because stuff happens that could easily have happened while you maintain control of your character, yet control is wrestled away from you. The best example of this I can think of is the opening of Bioshock 2. That entire scene could have been carried out by the player, rather than being a cutscene. This is of course made worse by comparing it to the opening of Bioshock, which, for me, is possibly the best opening to a game I've ever played

So, yeah, follow these rules and I am more than likely to enjoy a cutscene

 

[Pearwood]

I much prefer pre-rendered cutscenes to the Half Life 2 way of doing it, mostly because that method is limited by its graphics engine, a pre-rendered cutscene can add a huge graphical upgrade to a climactic scene.

 

[Korten12]

yes thats right I like cutscenes....

I dont think they are really the horrible slap in the face gamers take them for

oh dont get me wrong they can be used and abused for the sake of evil.....

but when used correctly I dont think they are that bad


and yeah everyone praises half life 2's method, and rightly so

but really...I dont think such a method would work with every game (and I might point out there are moments where even your contoll is taken away)

like mass effect, it wouldnt be the same if we had the whole free movment thing..I mean ok some people would prbably like it, we get a bit of this if you talk to zaeed on the normandy

but really personally I have the tradmark Bioware way that conversatins are presented cinematically, makes it engaging

and saits row 2...I found cutscenes to be half the fun as well

anyway bottom line is yes its subjective, and yes devs should always look for creative ways to tell the story, but cutscenes arnt always bad

Sorry but I hate to be a grammer nazi, but whats with the constant new lines as if paragraphs and missing comma's and periods.

 

[Vault101]

I don't mind a little bit of cutscenes but if you're going to have them, make them scripted events using the game's engine, not pre-rendered movies that don't match the source content. I mean movies that either use higher quality models and lighting that doesn't match the game or high compression that looks terrible on anything other than a 30 year old tv (where everything looks equally terrible).

I dont think this is much of an issue nowdays as grpahics are good anough to allow for this kind of thing

 

[spartan231490]

Cut-scenes are great in my opinion, as long as they are short for the most time and don't disaply action I'd want to take part in. Sometimes it's fun to have the story in there just as a bonus.

This. Very well said, it's great when it's story as a bonus. It's horrible when it's: look how awesome the main character is when he doesn't have to follow your commands. What's that? You can't rip a tank apart with your bare teeth? Of course you can't. Why did the main character just do that on his own when he can't when you're controlling him? Don't ask questions! Just watch the pretty pictures!

 

[DEAD34345]

Cut-scenes in games are never a good thing. They are the same thing as when movies use a slideshow to show something happening, except movies don't do that, because there is no need. Anything a slideshow can do can be done better as a video. Anything a video can do can be done better as an interactive sequence. That pretty much sums up my opinion on cut-scenes.

Unfortunately, creating an interactive sequence that delivers the same stuff as a cut-scene would is more difficult than just creating a cut-scene. This is the only reason why I think cut-scenes in games should be allowed to exist. If the creators of a game want to spend their time and resources making the game better in other areas, then cut-scenes are an easy way to deliver plot without spending too much time and money. The game would be better if the cut-scenes were interactive, but unfortunately you can't have everything perfect in every game.

Lastly, Mass Effect's conversations aren't cutscenes despite being presented in a cinematic manner. But They're interactive and therefore are not cutscenes. I like them.

This sums up my opinion on Mass Effect's "cut-scenes" by the way. I don't know why people refer to them as such. Anything interactive is not a cut-scene as far as I am concerned.