My Take on Pre-Rendered Cutscenes.

[Lilani]

^ What he said. Also, pre-rendered cutscenes that were made using the actual game engine instead of doing it real-time I find to be rather puzzling. I can understand why the beginning of Mass Effect 2 did it (alot) since most of it was predictable and Shepard never took his helmet off. In other cases, this made no practical sense to me at all.

I have a feeling this is done because when rendering a scene with a lot of stuff in real-time, there is an upper limit to what you can do. There's only so much you can have before you start lagging out the hardware. However, if it's pre-rendered, then you can have more bells and whistles than usual without worrying about a loss in quality, since it was rendered on a machine with much more processing power than the console itself. Also, some models used in those pre-rendered cutscenes may look the same as the ones in the engine, however it is very possible they are outfitted with more controls than the regular in-game models. More control means greater flexibility when animating, but you don't necessarily need that much control in normal gameplay. Having separate models, like rendering out certain cutscenes, just makes things flow more smoothly.

 

[AgentLampshade]

I've got a soft spot for cutscenes. In the past, I used to play games at a friends house and just talk through the gameplay while he played music. Then at the end of the level, I'd say "cutscene" and he muted the music and we watched it. It was fun, and a nice break after a particularly gruelling level.

Nowadays, I still take the time to stand up, stretch my legs during them and take a drink or something. And if there are any really good looking ones, I hope there's a cutscene selection in the game.

I hate unskippable credits though.

 

[Exius Xavarus]

I prefer cutscenes in games to be kinda like what Mass Effect 3 did a bit and apparently Dead Space 3 did as well where the camera just zoomed in, the UI disappeared and the cutscene started. I feel like prerendered cutscenes should not be in the game because I want to play the game not watch a movie. I feel like prerendered cutscenes are fine at the starting of a game like the Dawn of War games of in trailers otherwise I prefer cutscenes that don't break immersion.

Mass Effect 3 did it almost perfectly. I never carried an Assault Rifle with me at any point in the game. Yet during some cutscenes Shepard will suddenly have an AR in hand instead of the pistol I carried around with me. It upset me every time I saw him with a rifle. :{

I'll agree with the general consensus, I prefer scenes that aren't pre-rendered.

 

[Twilight_guy]

If people want to make movies they can make movies

Trying to thrust gameplay into every element of gaming is very much like insisting narration happen in every scene of every movie. Video Games have become an interactive media with a wide range of applications, to the point where their name is somewhat of a misnomer. Somewhat. There is no one media approach that applies to all scenarios and while you could easily add gameplay to any cutscene, it's like saying you could add a guitar solo to any piece of music. It's not necessary, and will often end up being downright awkward. Even if, like me, you loves yuo some good guitar work.

I don't know what you mean by "narration." That could easily refer to stuff like voice over or story telling in general. I have different responses to each one of those claims if you meant one of those. Of course you could mean something else entirely.

No, I don't think that's true. I think interactive media does exist but its not the same thing as games. I also think games, an interactive media, have been saddled with things that fundamental oppose that idea, like movies, non-interactive scenes. I don't think they go together.

 

[TehCookie]

I think with the improvement of tech, cutscenes can interchange with gameplay well enough that they really help the experience.

Compare two amazing games in the same genre: Bayonetta and Devil May Cry 3.

In DMC3, the cutscenes triggered with a loading sequence, and occasionally pulled you somewhere else. The system limitations of the PS2 prevented the scenes from flowing well, creating what some reviewers called "The Kamiya Effect": Cutscenes killing immersion by drawing you from the game.

In Bayonetta, the 360 and PS3 can render the scene right after gameplay, creating some amazing moments where the action and the scenes flow into one another (showcased the best in the fights against Jeanne). None of the scenes pulled you away from where you were, instead events in other locations were saved for the start or end of chapters as to avoid this. It's a good example of doing the scenes correctly.

What? Kamiya had nothing to do with DMC3 and was the director to Bayonetta.

I like cutscenes as long as they're not interruptive. I like longer ones because they tend to be a good intermission where you can grab a drink and a snack and take a break before you have to play again. I hate the tiny ones that just yank the control from you to show you nothing. If a short cutscene shows something important it's fine, but those that just like to make it look pretty or "cinematic" just annoy me.

 

[XMark]

^ What he said. Also, pre-rendered cutscenes that were made using the actual game engine instead of doing it real-time I find to be rather puzzling. I can understand why the beginning of Mass Effect 2 did it (alot) since most of it was predictable and Shepard never took his helmet off. In other cases, this made no practical sense to me at all.

I think it's usually just because the elements used in the cutscene would have required a loading delay or would have had texture pop-in issues if they actually rendered realtime. Or there are a lot of textures and models which would have only been used in a single cutscene and would have taken up far more space on the disc than a pre-rendered video.

 

[dessertmonkeyjk]

Blah blah blah What's the deal with pre-rendered cutscenes done in the game engine?

I think it's usually just because the elements used in the cutscene would have required a loading delay or would have had texture pop-in issues if they actually rendered realtime. Or there are a lot of textures and models which would have only been used in a single cutscene and would have taken up far more space on the disc than a pre-rendered video.

I figured that might of been the case. It's just the trade-off between static and dynamic control that I'm looking at especially for a game like Mass Effect. I don't blame them for having to take shortcuts like that due to hardware constraints though.

 

[Kinitawowi]

The only time I've ever had an issue with pre-rendered cutscenes was Final Fantasy X. That one hit right on the crossover point between games being powerful enough to express enough detail in the gameplay characters to be recognisable while not quite being able to create something of cinematic scope in real time using those characters; the result is some horrendously off-model animation where the cutscene characters look completely different to the ones you've been playing as.

Old school RPGs and most RTSs get away with it by having characters too small to meaningfully scale up to cutscene size (you can't really tell what, say, Frog from Chrono Trigger looks like because there simply isn't the detail in the tiny sprite, so the anime cutscenes look fine at filling in the gaps). This is why the cutscene still retains a place in the RTS genre, because it's the best way to give life to the characters.

 

[Joseph Harrison]

I prefer cutscenes in games to be kinda like what Mass Effect 3 did a bit and apparently Dead Space 3 did as well where the camera just zoomed in, the UI disappeared and the cutscene started. I feel like prerendered cutscenes should not be in the game because I want to play the game not watch a movie.

???

So the cutscene was different because instead of zooming in and watching some talking heads, you are watching a pre-rendered video of talking heads, even though the end result is the same?

*Shrug*
It's beyond me how this is really any different.

Because in Dead Space and Mass Effect the game never stopped or loaded or paused it was just, you press a button, the UI disappears and then bam your in a cutscene. This gives it much more flow and doesn't break immersion so personally I like it better. It isn't objectively better and as I said I don't really have a problem with prerendered cutscenes I just prefer it when its done the ME or DS way.

 

[AntiChrist]

[...]
And it's equally stupid to try and do up the nostril camera angles when your game has shitty models/textures/animations, know your fucking limits and work with them.

Agreed. It was kind of silly how the camera occasionally would pull up for a dramatic close up of the characters' emotionless faces back in the original Metal Gear Solid. Still a great game though.

For reference:

 

[Mark Benedict]

I generally do not like pre-rendered cutscenes. It's something that part of my brain picks up on, requiring another part of my brain to tell it, "Settle down, it'll be over soon." As mentioned above, it's always the little things that you notice. From a developer's perspective, it's probably easier for them to make a video that works on all platforms than to modify the engine to allow for in-game cutscenes across all platforms with roughly equivalent framerate and image quality.

That said, I do value the opening of "Half-Life" and the 5-minute scripted walk of "Deus Ex: Human Revolution" as special. If every game opened like that, we might be asking developers for little movies instead of scripted walking sections.

 

[Amanda Diamond]

I like pre-rendered cutscenes as long as they used correctly. Usually building atmosphere, or adding story information for the player. I however am almost entirely against pre-rendered finishing cutscenes for "Bosses". Here's a hint: If the cutscenes have me continuously coming in at the end of two characters having a conversation and one person is walking away, they're doing it wrong (I'm looking at you Dragon Age 2
)

 

[Keiichi Morisato]

^ What he said. Also, pre-rendered cutscenes that were made using the actual game engine instead of doing it real-time I find to be rather puzzling. I can understand why the beginning of Mass Effect 2 did it (alot) since most of it was predictable and Shepard never took his helmet off. In other cases, this made no practical sense to me at all.

the only time a pre rendered cut scene would ever break immersion is badly done ones, i prefer them and embrace them.

 

[thesilentman]

I've only seen problems with pre-rendered cutscenes when they're done horribly. I'd prefer cutscenes to be rendered with the gameplay engine, but as long as the cutscenes are implemented well, I see no reason to despise them.

 

[Something Amyss]

That could easily refer to stuff like voice over or story telling in general.

In what world could it possibly refer to storytelling in general?

 

[mohit9206]

i love me some gorgeous FMV cutscenes

 

[burningdragoon]

I still like them (or rather can like them if done well), but specifically pre-rendered cutscenes are starting to get less necessary since current graphical fidelity is pretty good already. Transitioning seamlessly between cutscene and gameplay is definitely preferable, which is still relatively possible with pre-rendered ones just more difficult to pull of well.

Still, sometimes I just want to sit back and watch something happen and pre-rendered cutscene can look so nice.