retyopy said:
What is the worst thing a game can do to gameplay, or story, or anything?
For me, it's two words: Unnecesary romance. Seriously.
Fail to be a game. Just like when a movie fails to be a movie.
People can fail to express their ideas, but to decide to fall back on a more basic medium is BAD!
The rule in film is "Show, don't tell" so monotone monologues and voice overs are for audio-books, to be used inf film SPARINGLY and only when necessary.
In games narrative, the rule is "DO, don't show". I don't care how great yoru cutscenes are, that's not what games are supposed to be. Steven Spielberg has said as such that he hates it when games try to do that with cutscenes that he says break the flow of the game. It's not playing to the medium's strengths.
Now of course a movie CAN work with significant use of literary elements though more often as complement to the main narrative... rather than compensation. The unreliable narrator of film noir is a staple, but it doesn't stand on it's own, it adds to the film where by itself is nothing.
The endless cutscenes in Metal gear Solid 4 don't add to the GAMEPLAY NARRATIVE, they are so separate, long and ponderous with no real interactivity on involvement, just the pointless ability to jiggle the camera to no effect. You aren't DOING anything.
Compare/Contrast with the Codec in Metal Gear Solid 1, you got calls based on context of what you DO! By you calling various people while DOING various things you spark new conversations that reveal aspects of character, scenes and narrative. There was an actual GAME to the story and characters, by living in the world and experiencing things you discover more about yourself and your support team in radio communications. It wasn't just shown to you, you DISCOVERED IT!
The cutscenes in MGS1 are comparatively brief and much more is the player given agency in storytelling. In MGS4 snake does many ACTIONS in cutscenes, while in MGS1 the cutscenes were almost purely for exposition and the ACTION was left entirely to the player in gameplay.
The difference between whether a cutscene adds to the game of the game, or detracts from it is subtle. But a game shouldn't try to be a movie. Not that movies are bad, but if you try to be good at both you end up being neither.
