Artea said:
Stopped reading when you said the hackneyed, soap opera-level story of the new Thief was better written than the subtle and atmospheric tale of the first few Thief games.
That being said, I agree with your general premise. I still don't understand why games resort to lengthy cutscenes to tell a story.
I'll tell you why, and it's same reason certain types of games sell so well. The reason is the shape that so called general audience has taken. The shorter attention span, the fact they grew up on all those hollywood movies, the fact that they don't want to go and find out stuff on their own, they want all the bits handed to them.
People, in general, want things that are familiar to them, and this style of storytelling where there is over abundance of exposition is pretty much what we've been seeing for a while now in many commercially successfully works. The media "raised" that type of viewer, the type that is unable to read between the lines, draw their own conclusion and connect the dots. Entertainment got simplified by a lot in last decade and that's just the consequence of it, TV is probably the best example of that.
It's the sad reality of modern era, and while every now and then you can find some nice bits hidden for those with keen eyes, they often feel as if smuggled against some company policies. I just hope something will change because if not, today's consumers will become producers in near future, and as they grow up without the requirement of abstract thinking, the plots and their presentation may become even more bludgeoned to make sure absolutely everyone understand what's going on.
Enjoy the future.
/get_off_my_lawn
/rant