Hellboy Director Hates Game Cutscenes

[Mallefunction]

Cutscenes aren't all bad, but there are some seriously ham-handed ones, which illicit roughly the same response he gave from me.

Cutscenes every minute or so, five minute cutscenes, and cutscenes that yank control away from me in the heat of the action are all among those.

Pretty much this. I love well done, short, infrequent cut scenes like in Bioshock, all Valve games, etc, but most of the time they are used for exposition. Like in MGS where even prior to the 4th game's RIDICULOUS movie length cut-scenes, there are long half hour phone calls where the player is stuck just watching some barely animated sprites while the plot is listed off.

Tell the story through the game plz. Not THAT hard.

 

[KeyMaster45]

I prefer cut scenes that occur after boss fights, especially after really tough bosses. They help bring you down and back into the slower pace needed to ramp things up for the next act of the game. I do know a few people who are like Del Toro though, and it drives me bonkers. They'll sit down with a game and insta-skip every cut scene, then ***** about the game not having any story to it.

 

[BoredRolePlayer]

snip

Hmm. I have to disagree. That cutscene was entirely comprised on action scenes that I would have much preferred doing myself. Combat is one of the few things the final fantasy series allows you to control and having that wrestled away is kind of what Del Toro is saying.

Also, that's what FF13 was? Looks more like Digimon than FF. Weirdly disconcerting to have Lightning use Odin in a cutscene, most likely because that's something reserved for combat. To me of course.

Have you played FF13, to be honest the combat is total crap and if you scan what your fighting the AI will pretty much play for you. Also sometimes cut scenes are awesome, I enjoy watching the cut scenes from MGS:3 and watching the worlds most bad ass solder be a complete moron.

 

[liquidsolid]

I figure he's going to do something like Bioshock or Half Life where the storytelling is completely integrated in the gameplay. I really like that type of gameplay, while still appreciating cutscences.

EDIT:fixed a word mixup

 

[NickCaligo42]

Sounds like a giant, screaming man-child to me.

Why is this news?

 

[Tortilla the Hun]

I get what he means...you don't need cutscenes to express something or to tell the story. *cough* Bastion *cough* Half-Life2 *cough*, but if he just skips cutscenes....he must miss out on lots of part of a games story.

Just saiyan.

*cough*terrible DBZ pun*cough-mehameha*

 

[AugustFall]

snip

Hmm. I have to disagree. That cutscene was entirely comprised on action scenes that I would have much preferred doing myself. Combat is one of the few things the final fantasy series allows you to control and having that wrestled away is kind of what Del Toro is saying.

Also, that's what FF13 was? Looks more like Digimon than FF. Weirdly disconcerting to have Lightning use Odin in a cutscene, most likely because that's something reserved for combat. To me of course.

Have you played FF13, to be honest the combat is total crap and if you scan what your fighting the AI will pretty much play for you. Also sometimes cut scenes are awesome, I enjoy watching the cut scenes from MGS:3 and watching the worlds most bad ass solder be a complete moron.

Nah I stopped after 10 (I actually liked 10). I have to say it's a bit sad that the combat is total crap in FF13. What else is left? Simply the movement between cutscenes really. Might as well watch a movie.
The Metal Gear series fairs better in this because the plot is pretty wild so needs some explaining. But there is always a way to incorporate some form of control into a cutscene. Seems a bit of a cop out to simply show you what happened rather than let you experience it. And I'm not talking about QTEs.

 

[Vigormortis]

Thank God. Someone in the film industry that gets it. Video games are not film and films are not games. They are two wholly different forms of media entertainment. They tell stories in different ways.

Films tell their narratives in a very strict, linear, directed fashion. You're being shown someone's vision of a story and the characters therein.

A video game tells it's story with far less linearity. (even if the game narrative is just that) It's more about the immersion and interactiveness of the player. Video game story telling is at it's finest when it's telling the story through the players point of view and presenting events to the player to experience and react to.

This is not to say that cut-scenes can't work in a game. Sometimes they work beautifully to accentuate what's just happened or is about to happen. But lengthy or frequent cut-scenes are unnecessary and more often then not create awkward pacing and diminish the immersive nature of the experience.

On a side note, I'm not sure how "enthused" I am to see Del Toro's game. I enjoy some of his films, and he most certainly has a unique vision, but I'm not entirely sure it'll translate well to a game setting. Time will tell. I hope to be wrong.

 

[Thaius]

Sigh... I respect Del Toro as a storyteller, and I do understand the rationale behind the idea that it's better to present the story through interactivity than through cutscenes. But I also think the idea that cutscenes are actually bad storytelling and should never be used is near-sighted and downright dangerous.

It seems weird to me that he would actually just skip the cutscenes. I mean a good story is a good story whether it's told through cutscenes or through interaction; to skip cutscenes just because the storytelling style isn't to your liking is to simply abandon the story of the game, and that simply does not seem like an acceptable alternative to me.

 

[Trishbot]

I get the impression Hideo Kojima wants to make movies and doesn't really like gameplay... and yet Guillermo Del Toro wants to make games and doesn't really like cutscenes.

I find that strangely ironic.

 

[esperandote]

What's that? A song in a movie? F*** you i'm in a movie theater not in a f****** concert!

Oh Guillermo why you my mexican mate?

 

[008Zulu_v1legacy]

I bet del Toro is the kind of gamer, who after completing a game, cries on the forums about not understanding what has happened in the game. Then gets flamed out for not paying attention to the cutscenes.

Oh, in case he is reading; They use cutscenes to often do what cannot be done normally ingame.

 

[Vault101]

cutscenes have their place...like red dead redemption or sants row 2..those cutscenes were a blast, they are good int hat they can set the mood and draw your attention to dialgue or whatever else

the onyl time they are bad is when the game wants ot be a movie..though TBH I havnt encounteres this much...only in yakuza...aparently MGS is pretty bad for this...perhaps its a japanese thing? *flamesheild*

 

[Amnestic]

You know what? I like cutscenes. They're informative, they let the designers do stuff that's not doable inside the game engine and often they're quite pretty. They give my hands a rest. They often offer different perspectives on the story.

So screw you Del Toro, don't you swear and act like you're better because you choose to play games a different way.

Also, I thought Hellboy was a bad film.

 

[AntMarch]

I... I love this.
I mean, cutscenes aren't THAT bad but I really think that this is the direction designers need to be going with their games. You should be able to tell the story to the player without showing him video clips. Also, it's why I want to go into game design.

 

[Truly-A-Lie]

I think gameplay/cutscenes are like an equivalent of sound in movies. Movies were being made before you could put sound in them, and when you suddenly get talkies it's all the rage. However, there's plenty of effective uses for silence left in film storytelling, and there's no reason to fill every second with a soundtrack.

Similarly, taking control away from the player can have great effects for the story you're trying to tell in your game. It can make you reflect on what's happened so far, it can take back control of the camera to provide more emotional impact during dialogue, there's so many great ways cutscenes can be used and dismissing them as poor game storytelling is missing a lot of potential.