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God of War Creator Hates Cutscenes
1up has a short piece talking about God of War creator David Jaffe's commentary on game cinematics. From the article: "Jaffe isn't saying players don't welcome this style, but claims it's not the best approach. 'It's almost like you appreciate the creativity but as a game it doesn't work,' he says in his latest video blog, citing Super Mario 64 as a good example of a game that works without cinematics. 'Obviously Mario 64 doesn't evoke a lot of emotion and political ideas, but it keeps you in the game.'" One of the reasons RE4 has been so well received, I think, is that it give you some interactivity during what would otherwise be a passive experience.
Cutscenes are typically in place to move the plot forward or explain some complexity to the player. In general, there's a few ways that cutscenes have worked for me in the past:
- Thief & Splinter Cell. In stealth games, you can often overhear NPCs talking to each other as you go about your business. Information is passed along, yet the action doesn't stop.
- Sheer beauty. Some games have cutscenes that are almost a reward. The cinematics of Diablo were stunning and a fun point in the game.
- Respite. In games that are non-stop action, having a cutscene to give the player to take a breath can be most welcome.
- Short and Necessary Sometimes there's critical information that you simply must give to the player. Keeping them short and to the point works best.
Where cutscenes don't work well is if the game forces them to be repeated upon failure, they're not skippable, and if they take too much time away from the primary gameplay.Cutscenes are another plague of the game industry. There is a very simple rule that game makers need to follow much more often: Never take control away from the player.
People need to do whatever they want in games (or they'd watch a movie), but very few game developers realize that really open games are what sell the most (GTA anyone?).
The best way to do cutscenes I found was in the old "Way of the Samurai" game, where you could just walk away from someone talking to you most of the time, or tell them to shut up... None of this stupidly unproductive dialogue where you just put the controller down for 30 minutes while someone yaps on and on.
Ex nihilo nihil fit.
I didnt actually find this a problem, but mainly because I knew what I was getting into after playing Xenogears.
I think that the people bothered by the endless cutscenes in games like Xenosaga and Metal Gear Solid are the people that are not particularly invested in the story. Games like Xenogears, with their endless story segments told in text, got me involved in the story and really prepared me for the "next generation of storytelling". MGS is really fun, and it is so story-driven that I enjoy the cutscenes. They give me information in a way that is superior to straight text. I dont know how you could tell MGS2 or 3 without cutscenes. Xenosaga is good, but Xenosaga II was pretty bad. I still played it, though ONLY for the story. I breathed a sigh of relief when I hit a cutscene in Xenosaga II.
Of course, games with a less-than-compelling story with as many cutscenes are quite annoying, but its gotten to the point that you can tell (by the name of the game) or hear (word of mouth or by reviewer) if a game has that sort of storytelling and either avoid or go for it accordingly. But really, would a game like MGS3 really be as good (as a whole) as it is now if they had cut out even 25% of the cutscenes? I dont think so.
That game is legend for having no cutscenes. It's mentioned in so many stories/interviews about/with Valve that it's almost cliche.
No cutscenes to take you out of the story. You ARE Freeman. Not watching him.
Now to be fair, I DO enjoy (well done) cutscenes in single player RTS games, but that's more due to the nature of the game.