These Games Were Ruined By Trying to Be Movies
Don't ever let cinematics get in the way of good gameplay.
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Don't ever let cinematics get in the way of good gameplay.
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These Games Were Ruined By Trying to Be Movies
- Thread starter Shamus Young
- Start date
To some extent, ori and the blind forest because of the huge disconnect the intro has from the rest of the game which fails to deliver on what it sets up.
As soon as it ends, the chipper actual-game-animations your character now has are just jarring considering what just happened.
You instantly go from "everything is terrible" to frolicking in the forest and the different character animations are only where the sudden break in tone, stakes and priorities begins.
Could've been averted by different character animations actually using different body language (since body language was a big part of the intro. Perhaps different, more confident becoming sets as the game progresses) and, well, a story that builds upon the setup instead of, in many ways, treating it as something sepparate from the game.
Inclusion instead of integration. [https://learningneverstops.files.wordpress.com/2013/04/20130423-2240421.jpg]
Most times games trying to be "cinematic" fail because they try to integrate a movie into a game as its own closed system instead of including it, building upon it, applying actual game logic to it.
For example in some final fantasies, the battle is its own closed system and in cutscenes, characters forget they can routinely summon satan to kill everything and raise the dead with phoenix downs in battles which makes that dramatic, heartfelt cutscene of character X dying with nobody bringing up why the magical revival plothole they got a stack of 99 of doesn't work now or character Y getting overwhelmed by 2 standard enemies they just fought by the hundreds all the more frustrating to watch.
As soon as it ends, the chipper actual-game-animations your character now has are just jarring considering what just happened.
You instantly go from "everything is terrible" to frolicking in the forest and the different character animations are only where the sudden break in tone, stakes and priorities begins.
Could've been averted by different character animations actually using different body language (since body language was a big part of the intro. Perhaps different, more confident becoming sets as the game progresses) and, well, a story that builds upon the setup instead of, in many ways, treating it as something sepparate from the game.
Inclusion instead of integration. [https://learningneverstops.files.wordpress.com/2013/04/20130423-2240421.jpg]
Most times games trying to be "cinematic" fail because they try to integrate a movie into a game as its own closed system instead of including it, building upon it, applying actual game logic to it.
For example in some final fantasies, the battle is its own closed system and in cutscenes, characters forget they can routinely summon satan to kill everything and raise the dead with phoenix downs in battles which makes that dramatic, heartfelt cutscene of character X dying with nobody bringing up why the magical revival plothole they got a stack of 99 of doesn't work now or character Y getting overwhelmed by 2 standard enemies they just fought by the hundreds all the more frustrating to watch.
Deus Ex: HR didn't bother me that much, but I can see your point in that one, because many modern RPGs have the exact same problem, so I'm kinda used to it, but Thief '14...
God, that game deserves all the shit it can get. If people complained about the boss fights in DX: HR, Thief '14 is like a thousand times worse, especially if you're doing a pacifist run (I'll give it credit where credit is due, you can actually do a pacifist run from beginning to end*... but it's not particularly fun).
Don't even get me started on that stupid sheriff guy with his magical powers coming out of fucking nowhere, the asshole sidekick ("look at mah!, I'm soooo troubled and deep!, ROOT FOR MAH!!!!") and the mid opened lips... that "advanced mocap" sure was worth every penny guys! -_-'
[small]*Of course I'm talking about the vanilla DX: HR, not the Director's Cut.[/small]
God, that game deserves all the shit it can get. If people complained about the boss fights in DX: HR, Thief '14 is like a thousand times worse, especially if you're doing a pacifist run (I'll give it credit where credit is due, you can actually do a pacifist run from beginning to end*... but it's not particularly fun).
Don't even get me started on that stupid sheriff guy with his magical powers coming out of fucking nowhere, the asshole sidekick ("look at mah!, I'm soooo troubled and deep!, ROOT FOR MAH!!!!") and the mid opened lips... that "advanced mocap" sure was worth every penny guys! -_-'
[small]*Of course I'm talking about the vanilla DX: HR, not the Director's Cut.[/small]
Games are the perfect medium for 'show, don't tell', yet the opportunity is routinely squandered. We need games to go back to something akin to Half-Life, where you never lose control over the playable character.
Ahh yes that lovely scene from Deus Ex where I screamed shoot her before she gets to a bolthole. <snap-bullet proof glass in place> ...I hate you so much right now Jensen.
I quite liked DE:HR (apart from, y'know), but Absolution is the weird one out here. Its stealth gameplay and mechanics were top notch. Bonus points for it still being miles ahead of pretty much anything else in how it handles crowds.Fhqwhgod said:
All in all it solved 90% of all issues I've ever had with Hitman games (and I've played them all since Codename: 47), but it took out level exploration, and left us with what amounted to an endless succession of tutorial-sized levels.
I'm not sure whether that's the same thing Shamus is talking about when he's riding it for the moviefication, but it'll stick with me as the game I desperately wanted to like, but just couldn't enjoy.
Eidos, Eidos made the list three times, not Square Enix I know thaty when eidos does good people praise them but curse their owner (Square Enix) when they do wrong. Also there hasn't been much if any evidence that Squeenix twisted Eidos's arm to make there games into forced movies. So can we please stop blaming Enix for Eidos's deficiencies?
... can I nominate Shadow of Morder for a special prize? That's one example of a game that for 99% of it did the exact opposite of the "cinematic experience" (big whoop for warchiefs).
And then it pulls a 20 minute cutscene / QTE fest out of its arse for the final boss.
And then it pulls a 20 minute cutscene / QTE fest out of its arse for the final boss.
You're right, though IO is also owned by Square Enix and just like with Eidos, they tend to be hands off. Again, all public evidence points to this Absolutions faults being primarily IO's fault and not Square's.Retsam19 said:
Hmm, though it stretches my belief in "coincidence" a bit to say that we have two companies known for mechanics-heavy games, they get acquired by a company known for cinematics-heavy games, and then both acquired companies suddenly put out games that are bogged down by unnecessary cinematics that undercut the mechanics of those games, and then say that's just a coincidence.ArkhamJester said:
Honestly, I kinda agree with you, but both studios have been asked about what its like to work with Square Enix and both companies sing a similar tune. That said Squeenix isn't blameless, they set the budget and the time frame but in terms of public proof nothing really indicates Square twisted arms to put in more cinematics.Retsam19 said:
Deus Ex HR has some issues with cutscenes and stupid stuff happening due to this, that wouldn't happen if we had real control of Jensen. That said, it's not enough to make the game mediocre and vastly inferior to the original one, it's still a great game mostly.
On the other hand, even if choices has no bearing on that game, the article's criticism about games using cutscenes to put you into shitty situation and abusing cutscenes to the point of ridiculousness is spot on when it comes to Max Payne 3, which suffers a lot of all these flaws.
On the other hand, even if choices has no bearing on that game, the article's criticism about games using cutscenes to put you into shitty situation and abusing cutscenes to the point of ridiculousness is spot on when it comes to Max Payne 3, which suffers a lot of all these flaws.
This sums up very well the problem with too many games, indeed.loa said:
Though when we get down to it it's not that they were trying to be movies that damaged them. Games being story or even cutscene-heavy is perfectly acceptable as long as they serve something. Heck, some of my favorite games like FFVII, Vagrant Story, Xenogears, Persona, Chrono Cross, and other are VERY heavily into that style of storytelling and they're perfectly fine. No, what most of the above games problem is execution; they don't do it well. In fact, I think the main problem is that they're no honest about what they are.
For instance, Thief 4 is clearly trying to convince you it's some complex game with a rich bevy of options to play, but it's just dreary and boring. However, something FFVII didn't bother me because it was honest in its intent, had an interesting cast of characters, and a plot I wanted to see unfold. It's why I don't have a problem with visual novels like Ace Attorney or Virtue's Last Reward; they know what they are, are unashamed in what they are and perform their jobs well.
Going on a cutscene witch hunt is at the end of the day just stupid. It's nothing more than trying to shut down variety and alternate ways of telling a story and that is not something we should strive for.
For instance, Thief 4 is clearly trying to convince you it's some complex game with a rich bevy of options to play, but it's just dreary and boring. However, something FFVII didn't bother me because it was honest in its intent, had an interesting cast of characters, and a plot I wanted to see unfold. It's why I don't have a problem with visual novels like Ace Attorney or Virtue's Last Reward; they know what they are, are unashamed in what they are and perform their jobs well.
Going on a cutscene witch hunt is at the end of the day just stupid. It's nothing more than trying to shut down variety and alternate ways of telling a story and that is not something we should strive for.
Great article! With both books and movies, the general rule of thumb is "Show, don't tell". With videogames though it's a little different because of their inherently interactive nature, so with games it's actually "do, don't show".
One of the most frustrating and disappointing things you can see in a game is seeing the player character do something awesome in a cutscene...and then not being able to do it yourself.
One of the most frustrating and disappointing things you can see in a game is seeing the player character do something awesome in a cutscene...and then not being able to do it yourself.