Poll: How long is too long for a cutscene?

[Joshimodo]

Not too long. I'd rather have in-game scenes rather than some uncontrollable junk.

MGS4 was a joke, and this was one of the reasons.

 

[Canadamus Prime]

Put it this way, if my wireless 360 controller shuts itself off during the cutscene, it's too damn long!!

 

[quack35]

I don't mind watching cutscenes, no matter how long, as long as the voice acting is good and it's visually interesting.

 

[Davey Woo]

If it has a point to it, and is interesting/useful then 5+ minutes. Anything else and as short as possible.

 

[Fingolfin High-King of the Noldor]

If the cut scene is interesting I wouldn't notice if half an hour went by.

 

[Arkhangelsk]

Those were very tight polls, I'd only start being annoyed if it's longer than 10 minutes. A good story is worth telling, but sometimes it's too verbose.

 

[la-le-lu-li-lo]

if it's done well, it doesn't matter.
i probably sound like a broken record talking about about MGS [specifically MGS4], but i kind of liked being able to pull out the popcorn and enjoy a long cutscene. it was like a movie experience AND a game. awesome.

and thus, i shall not vote.

 

[Jedoro]

I say really short, because most of the content can be in-game (i.e. conversations), and anything really awesome should be playable.

 

[Panzer_God]

I just plain don't like cutscenes but I do admit their useful, 1-2 minutes in mid-game with a skip option. End scenes can be as long as you want as long as it is sutibly fantastically-epicly-awesome.

 

[la-le-lu-li-lo]

If it's good, I'll watch it. I enjoyed watching the MGS4's cutscenes quite a lot. Though the ending took me a bucket of popcorn, ninety minutes and a box of tissues to wipe away my tears.

that's where it's at.
it's almost what i said!

 

[la-le-lu-li-lo]

i think it shouldnt be longer than one minute during the game but no more than 4 minutes opening cutscene, but i forguive long cutscenes if the games is realy good (okami)

as much as i love okami, the voices drove me a little crazy. :[

 

[Epifols]

Depends on the contents, If its an all out badass battle with blood and sex, that can last a while. But if there talking...... zzzzzz

Then the player will be asking "Wait, aren't I supposed to PLAY that, this being a game...?"

Thats when I get annoyed, when they start putting playable parts into a cut scene. Otherwise, make them as long as you want.

 

[Gattai]

metal gear solid 4 is your answer.

 

[j0z]

Any unskippable cutscene is to long. But I would say nothing over 10min, except for the ending cutscenes. But I hate those annoying instances where you lose control for a few seconds so something happens , just so because the scripters are to lazy to make it work with player control. I'm looking at you Resistance 2!
I really like games with no cutscenes, like Half Life 1/2.

 

[spuddyt]

It depends on how good the story is, but assuming the story is like the average of most games, 3 minutes of mediocre story is too much.

 

[Artemis923]

It better be a damned good cutscene if it's long. Nobody has the patience nowadays.

 

[UsefulPlayer 1]

As long as there's a skip and pause button, then it can be as long as necessary.

 

[j1-2themax]

I'd say it depends on a.) quality of the cutscene, b.) distribution of cutscenes in relation to the game, and to a somewhat lesser extent, c.) the type and/or quality of the game (I tend to tolerate long cutscenes less when I really want to get back to the game.) On average, though, I'd say about 2-3 minute cutscenes are best.