Cutscenes Are Gaming's "Failure State," Says THQ Exec

[WolfEdge]

I agree, wholeheatedly, with what has been said by the executive.

Maybe game creators need to just let the player experience the game on their own? Take the training wheels off, as it were. So what if we miss the narrative? It adds to the experience, no? Example:

Soldier A was missing from the group huddle at the last checkpoint because he had to go around another route. At the next checkpoint, the commanding officer is talking about the next part of the plan. So now the player is confused, much like the actual character would be!

Now, this does mean the player misses some narrative the firts time through, but what better excuse to play a good game one more time? It just depends on how the market would accept that, which probably wouldn't be very well.

It's a touchy subject, to say the least.

But that's the thing. As it stands right now in a video game, if you walk away from someone while they're spouting dialogue, nothing changes. A real person wouldn't keep blabbing on in a serious manner while the player-controlled character spins in circles and jumps around, or starts shooting stupidly into the air. As far as your example, if we're talking about real-life responses, shouldn't the player have an opportunity to interject and ask for clarification?

The problem with all this is that it breaks immersion. And trying to account for everything a player may or may not do while a potentially vital piece of game-play information is being revealed is next to impossible for a video game. These aren't table-top rpgs, there is no Dungeon Master or storyteller to account for and manage player deviance. If the player is in, say, New Zealand, and you as the designer need him to be in Iraq, then a cutscene is the quickest way to get them there and assure that the information needed to complete whatever task you would assign them is there as well.

 

[Squilookle]

Dear Danny Bilson.

Mafia. And Conker's Bad Fur day, come to think of it.

Have a nice day.

Soldier A was missing from the group huddle at the last checkpoint because he had to go around another route. At the next checkpoint, the commanding officer is talking about the next part of the plan. So now the player is confused, much like the actual character would be!

Now, this does mean the player misses some narrative the firts time through, but what better excuse to play a good game one more time?

For me the only excuse that would provide is to assume I did something wrong, immediately play the same level again to find out what the hell is happening, and then when I realised that's how the game is meant to be experienced, probably never play it again.

 

[etherlance]

I actually like cutscenes as long as they are good, I don't really like the ones that last ten seconds and lumped together in packs.

I prefer the cutscenes that show an important moment in the game like the death of a main character etc.

 

[Canid117]

But Blizzard has such a talented Cinematics department.

 

[The_root_of_all_evil]

Do Execs get paid to quote dogma at people? Or just to fight among themselves?

A cut-scene is as good as the effort you put into it. And suits certain stories better than playable action.

 

[Hitman Dread]

If the player is in, say, New Zealand, and you as the designer need him to be in Iraq, then a cutscene is the quickest way to get them there and assure that the information needed to complete whatever task you would assign them is there as well.

If you can't find a way to convey the information needed within your medium/within what you are trying to do, you either have a massive problem with your story or your creativity.

 

[coolkirb]

I enjoy some cutscenes for the most part I like the way final fantasy does it putting one in during an important turining point or an emotional climax.

 

[Freechoice]

Can someone explain to me why HL2 and above are considered to not have cutscenes?

According to wiki: A cutscene is a sequence in a video game over which the player has no or only limited control, breaking up the gameplay and used to advance the plot, present character development, and provide background information, atmosphere, dialogue, and clues.

You don't get to attack whoever's talking. Sometimes I really wish that it was possible to crowbar Alyx while she speaks since Gordon can't tell her to STFU. But that's just my personal preference.

 

[realslimshadowen]

Cutscenes, and/or cinematics, are sometimes necessary. It all depends on the story you're telling. 100% interactive storytelling sounds great, but until we have holodecks it will severely limit the kinds of stories that can be told--and even then, there would still be restrictions.

For example, say you're creating a first-person shooter with an actual story (AHAHAHAHAHAHA) and want the player to see what's going on someplace the main character isn't. In that case, you have two choices. You can either have the player take the part of one of the characters in the scene--which takes them out of the experience of being their other character, and due to perspective may actually be confusing if you don't at least have an establishing shot (which would necessarily be non-interactive to a degree), or you can present the scene to them as a non-interactive cinematic experience, which means they're sitting there passively for the duration.

Here's the kicker: neither is superior storytelling. They are different methods. Blanket statements do no one any good. (See what I did there?)

The trick is to pick the storytelling method that works best for the game, not the one that's most in-vogue.

 

[Vykrel]

cutscenes arent so bad... for one, it allows the player to take a little break from playing. were talking about games that can range anywhere from 5-50+ hours in gameplay. a lot of us will play a game for like 7 or 8 hours straight. i like to watch a cutscene every hour or so, tbh.

and there are some things that just have to be shown in a cutscene. itd be a huge waste of time and development to include boring-ass gameplay leading up to cutscenes that happen to be away from, and are later on from when the action last happened.

imagine if in Halo, every cutscene you get after being picked up and taken somewhere, you actually had to play through the game in the amount of time it takes to get there. then the "gameplay" involves you sitting in a spaceship listening to other people talk. that would suck

 

[MrGalactus]

Tell that to the guys at Rockstar that made GTA4.
Oy Vey!

 

[Mallefunction]

I agree. Cutscenes (especially long ones) are not good examples of story telling. I understand having a few in the game, but most of the action should be directed by the player. Game designers can figure out ways to get us looking for certain things in certain places at certain times just by designing the levels WELL. There's no excuse for MGS length features in a game.

 

[WolfEdge]

If the player is in, say, New Zealand, and you as the designer need him to be in Iraq, then a cutscene is the quickest way to get them there and assure that the information needed to complete whatever task you would assign them is there as well.

If you can't find a way to convey the information needed within your medium/within what you are trying to do, you either have a massive problem with your story or your creativity.

I didn't say it was the ONLY way, I said it was the quickest.

Thinking about it more, a stronger example comes to mind. In Twilight Princess, there's a scene wherein Link is confronted by a spirit of light and told about the creation of Hyrule and the psychological dangers of chasing after the fused shadows. Would that scene have been as powerful if we maintained control over Link, or if the spirit just told him the information sans cutscene entirely? It's dramatic punch came from requiring Link to be in specific areas while behaving in a specific manner, while carefully showing and NOT showing different and specific aspects like faces and camera perspective to the player. I can think of a couple of different scenes like this, where it's the specific and determined reaction of the player character to the environment (touching a shoulder, a butterfly on the barrel of a gun, etc) that really make scenes and the emotions inherent to them memorable and more meaningful to the player. Obviously you have examples of excellently told narratives that don't rely on cutscenes. Portal springs readily to mind. At the same time though, Portal doesn't really have a "Lead Character". There's the Player, sure, but there's no emotion there.

 

[RelexCryo]

Wait a second. Is Dawn of War 2 Retribution still horribly buggy? Why, yes it is. And it is a THQ game. I am inclined to believe that bugs and a lack of polish are gamings' "Failure state." No other form of media is so dependent on so much progamming code. It is one of the most common failings in the industry that the code just doesn't work properly.

I have beaten the campaign of DOW 2 Retribution 4 times, with 4 different races. Thus far, The Tyranid capmpaign was easiest, the Space Marine campaign was second easiest, the Ork was second toughest, and the Imperial Guard was hardest. Guess which faction I didn't get an achievement for? I have beaten the campaign with IG multiple times. No achievement. On top of this, the inventory/wargear select screen randomly stops displaying the name and values of items, and the pathfinding AI of the IG is just flat out horrible. To my knowledge, no other faction has the horrible, horrible pathfinding problems the IG has so far. Playing with the other factions was reasonably pleasant. Playing the IG had me screaming at my PC. Beating the game with them was one hell of an uphill battle. And of course, that is the one I get no credit for doing.

 

[starwarsgeek]

Then show a news program, or have you control a different character. Otherwise, you're not playing a game. You're playing a game with movie interruptions. Imagine if you were watching a movie, and suddenly TETRIS. Same thing, just reversed.

Wouldn't it be much more intriguing to experience an earthquake or an alien invasion as a person on the ground, rather than just watching it happen? Or at the very least, controlling an Anti-Alien Ion Cannon? Perspectives and controlled characters can change to convey these ideas. Of course, the developers have to make it clear who you're controlling; I didn't realize I'd been controlling two characters in Black Ops till I got to the end.

A news program is a loophole...it'd still be a cutscene

A perspective switch...I don't know, I'd find that pretty confusing. "Who's this? Why am I here? ...why am I dead? Oh, now I'm me again". Unless perspective switches was already a game mechanic, or they set up the new perspective with a cutscene.

Yes, it would be interesting to experience those as a person on the ground, but sometimes you just need to show the full scale of a disaster. Take Chrono Trigger for example. It has a special game over in which you get to watch the world burn to the ground. It's a fantastic scene and really drives the feeling of failure home, and simply showing your characters dead on the ground and the monster unleashing some attack wouldn't be nearly as interesting.

Besides, the argument of cutscenes being "movie interuptions" doesn't really work. If we accept that, then games without voice acting are constantly being interupted by books, games with voice acting are being interupted by plays, and any moment where there's no movement--you're being interupted by a picture. That line of thinking doesn't make any sense when applied to other mediums...if it were true, than the purest game experience would be one without any text, voice acting, music, cutscenes, or the ability to stop moving.

 

[starwarsgeek]

No then they like playing a puzzle to unlike a Movie.
You can have a preference for mediums, but let's not pretend that cut scenes are a part of games any more than the album art is a part of music.

Take the album art away and it does nothing to the music. Remove cutscenes, and many games will suddenly not make sense because large gaps of their stories are missing.

The video game equivalent of album art is cover art, not cutscenes.

 

[viranimus]

I dont know, this sounds to me more like trying to single out fans of RPGs who are more accepting of narrative exposition and say they are wrong and should be focused on repetitive gameplay mechanics.

I mean look at Bioshock. I truly love Bioshock, but one of the biggest complaints I have about it is how counter intuitive and unimersive the narrative gets when the narrative ISNT delivered with physical action and is given to you via tape recordings. After hearing 100 or so tapes from roughly 8 different chars, some of the lesser important chars just blend together in obscurity. Seeing physical manifestation of action IS a viable way of expressing narrative. Cut scenes can infuse little things like body language and emotion in a way that their absence fails to achieve.

Honestly, this just puts me in the mind of an Atypical shooter fan who doesnt understand why games other than Halo or CoD even need to exist.

Sure there are plenty of examples of cut scene laden games that do it poorly. Two worlds comes to mind fairly loudly. But for every poorly written and directed two worlds theres a dozen bland brown bloom filled shooters who focus predominantly on an extremely limited and repetitive gameplay mechanic that makes it virtually un-distinguishable from other games in the genre.

 

[Silent Biohazard Solid]

Bottom line is, some people like cutscenes and think they help make games better. Others disagree. It's all a matter of opinion, regardless of who says it. Whether it's you, or me, or some douche exec at THQ. And I'm not just saying that he's a douche because I disagree with his statement. I'm saying it because he states it as a fact. And because he has the "THQ Exec" status, suddenly makes him an authority? Screw that.

 

[Quaidis]

For some reason I thought about Castle of Cagliostro and Dragon's Lair? ... Ah, classics.


Anyway, there are only three times when cut-scenes alienate me.

1. In the intro. If I start a game, I don't want to wait 20 minutes to play it. I want to start immediately. So that so wrong? I can half understand a 2 minute intro that you can hit a button to quickly pass through, but not an Unskippable I can't avoid.

2. All cut-scenes are long and boring. Once again, I want to get to playing the game here. I don't care about what sick fantasy some cocky villain has for Solid Snake. What's all this crap about Samus being whiny and pathetic? Blah Blah, hold on. I would've cared about this cut-scene 10 minutes ago if I didn't have more interest in taking a piss.

3. The game's cut-scenes are so fantastic and juicy that absolutely no money was spent on game play, mechanics, characters, or story. Sadly, I see a ton of this in the industry. It's pretty self-explanatory.




And that has just about bothered me throughout the recent generation of Jrpgs. They use to BE about story and getting to know the world, meet new people, fight new monsters, save the day. Now it's all about pretty anime-related (or badly CGed) cut-scenes that... basically amounts to the characters standing there talking to each other. Would I rather watch them talk to each other as little sprites and click through word bubbles? Yes, Yes I would. It doesn't break immersion that way. At least to me.

That isn't to say that all cut-scenes are bad. If used with taste, they can really improve a game. If used sparingly, they can literally feel like you got a whole basket of cadbury eggs at the end of the arc or CD. Even if they're used frequently, if they're small and full of activity (like in Monster Hunter Tri), they can sometimes add depth.

 

[HentMas]

So... this guy never played Red Dead Redemption, did he?

It isn't a bad way to present a story. Just another way. Gah, I hate it when people bash cutscenes... every now and then, I like to finish a big fight and then sit back and enjoy a little movie as a reward. It's a good way to relieve tension. It can also be a good way to build it up... if the character is getting hyped up, and the player likes the character, they'll probably get hyped up too.

actually yeah! i agree

one good example is the "Dead Or Alive 4" approach, the story is basically null if you play just for the fights, but once you finish some "story modes" you find yourselve in a world of intrigue, conspiracies, grudges and ninjas

I loved to finish the stories one by one, figuring what role the next figther would have in the story,and realizing that not everyone was as involved as they seemed, and others were reeealy involved, in a personal level

and it was all because of cutscenes.