When did cutscenes start getting out of hand?

[QUOTE="Pedro"]

[QUOTE="Archangel3371"]I find them very engaging myself and find them very compelling storywise.wiouds

What is so compelling or engaging with their stories? The voice acting and dialogue is unatural. The animation is corny and over the top. And their ability to tell a clear concise story is totally removed. XIII had so much storytelling but nothing was actually being told. A bit odd and ironic at the same time.

I found FFXIII told a good story through the cutscene that they could not within the game.

[QUOTE="wiouds"]

[QUOTE="Pedro"]

What is so compelling or engaging with their stories? The voice acting and dialogue is unatural. The animation is corny and over the top. And their ability to tell a clear concise story is totally removed. XIII had so much storytelling but nothing was actually being told. A bit odd and ironic at the same time.

Pedro

I found FFXIII told a good story through the cutscene that they could not within the game.

I found the character not be generic but subtle. It was nice to see that and not the over the top thing in other games. The story is not that weak and well done. There was no way they could tell the story with the game play. I have not seen any game to do that and do not point at events while you are playing and try to label them as a part of the story.

I found the character not be generic but subtle. It was nice to see that and not the over the top thing in other games. The story is not that weak and well done. There was no way they could tell the story with the game play. I have not seen any game to do that and do not point at events while you are playing and try to label them as a part of the story.

wiouds

I guess its safe to say that we exist in two parrallel dimensions. For anyone to claim that any of the characters in FFXIII are subtle is bizarrely confusing expecially when the shove the typical anime tropes in your face without reservation. You are set in the belief that a story CANNOT be told without cutscenes I beg to differ. If you believe that a story can only be revealed through non interactive means instead of utilizing elements such as in game dialogue, interaction with NPC, environment/level design story telling, events (which you downgrade for no real reason) then there is absolutely nothing I can say to make you to think to the contrary. Here is a fact that was overlooked about FFXIII storytelling, is that you NEEDED to read the datalog in order to fully understand what was actually happening in the game. If this is not proof of Square-Enix impotentence with regards to its ability to tell a story, then I don't know what is.

[QUOTE="wiouds"]

I found the character not be generic but subtle. It was nice to see that and not the over the top thing in other games. The story is not that weak and well done. There was no way they could tell the story with the game play. I have not seen any game to do that and do not point at events while you are playing and try to label them as a part of the story.

Pedro

I guess its safe to say that we exist in two parrallel dimensions. For anyone to claim that any of the characters in FFXIII are subtle is bizarrely confusing expecially when the shove the typical anime tropes in your face without reservation. You are set in the belief that a story CANNOT be told without cutscenes I beg to differ. If you believe that a story can only be revealed through non interactive means instead of utilizing elements such as in game dialogue, interaction with NPC, environment/level design story telling, events (which you downgrade for no real reason) then there is absolutely nothing I can say to make you to think to the contrary. Here is a fact that was overlooked about FFXIII storytelling, is that you NEEDED to read the datalog in order to fully understand what was actually happening in the game. If this is not proof of Square-Enix impotentence with regards to its ability to tell a story, then I don't know what is.

I need to read the datalog in FFXIII as much as I need to in Mass Effect.

Most games follow the same old formula. Action, platforming, action, cutscene, rinse, repeat. Cutscenes can be cool if the story is good. I'd like to see more variable cutscenes and less scripted ones. The worst kind of cuts are scenes that switch to corny QTE's or unskippable ones. I'd like to see more games that allow full control of your character during cuts.

I'd like to see more games that allow full control of your character during cuts.

HipHopBeats

I hate that. Half-life 2 does that and it is worst part of the game.

Ido not believe you can tell a story through game play. I think cutscene are the best way have the more complex moments of a game's story.wiouds

Bastion had a clever mechanism for pulling this off.

[spoiler] At the end of the game, you discover that the calamity was created through a country's drive (Caelondia) to eliminate their sworn enemy (The Ura). With the Bastion flly power up, you face a choice: restore the world to the state it was in before the calamity struck, hoping and praying that these events do not repeat themselves; or destory the Bation's core, accepting the post-apocalyptic world that now exists. If you choose the former, and then start-up new game plus, there's plenty of references to the fact that all events are replaying themselves. Thus, by starting the game once more, you're effectively putting the calamity into motion once more. You are the reason the calamity has been unleashed again. It's subtle, but it's a fantastic case of how minor decisions can still have an impact on story. [/spoiler]

I don't know how an entire story can be told through gameplay alone (I'm sure there are plenty of experimential games tooling around with it, though), but the potential is definitely there. You just need to think outside of typical storytelling conventions.