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[ChoosableOne]

I'm playing Gow Ragnarok and currently riding with this AngryYoda atm. I mean, what is this? Why am I playing a part should've been a skippable cutscene for one hour(maybe more on the way?)? What's the point? Immersion? It's bs.

Rockstar does the same thing. Half of the gameplay in RDR 2 involves talking while on horseback.

This needs to stop.

 

[GrayChild]

Which is why I'm mostly about Metroidvania/Soulslikes nowadays. Say whatever you want about them, but they always put pure gameplay first. And contrary to what some might think, the story doesn't suffer from this.

 

[BennyBlanco]

The slow walk and chat is by far the worst modern trope. Has anyone ever liked these? They’re the modern day equivalent to the 360 era shoehorning of escort levels in every AAA game.

 

[Spyxos]

I like them

 

[near]

What's the alternative? Actual cutscenes for storytelling? I'll take cinematic gameplay over the old formula every time.

 

[Mowcno]

Sure, let them be skipped I guess but I'd never choose to skip them. If you want to miss parts of the story then ok. Options are always good.

It's done to give story, character exposition and world building without going to a cutscene so you feel like the player character is still you.

 

[ChoosableOne]

Actual cutscenes for storytelling?

Yeah, why not? Or keep them short at least.

so you feel like the player character is still you.

I want to say "shut up AngryYoda" but I can't.

 

[Mowcno]

What's the alternative? Actual cutscenes for storytelling? I'll take cinematic gameplay over the old formula every time.

Same. I get much more bored watching traditional cutscenes. I'll take RDR2 horseback journey dialogue anyday over watching a similar thing in cutscene format.

 

[near]

Yeah, why not? Or keep them short at least.


I want to say "shut up AngryYoda" but I can't.

You'd still get long take cutscenes without cinematic gameplay, at least the transition is seamless in the latter. It's a better design choice for immersion, in my opinion.

 

[vaibhavpisal]

Agree with you op. Developers need to figure out a way to make it optional.

Though in RDR 2 I must say, horse back riding is like, half the game. It's simplistic, but it is what it is. Not sure how they can get rid of it.

 

[Fredrik]

Yeah slow walk story sections are the worst, I literally fall asleep when games are doing that thing. If I want a movie experience I’ll watch a real movie and then I have a popcorn bowl in my lap instead of a controller.

 

[lh032]

i hope we can skip all atreus levels, its torturing.

 

[ChoosableOne]

You'd still get long take cutscenes without cinematic gameplay, at least the transition is seamless in the latter. It's a better design choice for immersion, in my opinion.

I like emulators because you can use fast forward while watching cutscenes. And some jrpgs allows you to skip dialogues in some cutscenes. That is the way to go imo. I like to hear the story but not this way.

 

[rofif]

gow ragnarok is a woke shitfest.
Whole angrboda character and playable atreus sections only exist for woke reasons. none of this shit should be in the game. 2018 gow was better.
Shame because the game looks and plays amazing. It's a great game but I don't see myself replaying it because of this.
Sweet baby inc trying their best to ruin gaming

 

[Fredrik]

Though in RDR 2 I must say, horse back riding is like, half the game. It's simplistic, but it is what it is. Not sure how they can get rid of it.

They can start by not removing the need to do anything with auto ride. If riding is half the game then make the riding gameplay exciting instead. You don’t make a racing game and include an auto drive feature.
I used to have tons of clips on my Xbox from when I rode into crap in RDR2 after I had fallen asleep.

 

[Esppiral]

I like It.

 

[Woopah]

Anytime a game forces me to walk instead of run I instantly get annoyed. I remember the first time I saw it was Assassin's Creed 2 and I've hated it ever since.

 

[Shubh_C63]

I like them. I play games for the story immersion more anyway so right up my alley.

Yes there could be perfect examples like God of War also. Best of both worlds.

I'm playing Gow Ragnarok and currently riding with this AngryYoda atm. I mean, what is this? Why am I playing a part should've been a skippable cutscene for one hour(maybe more on the way?)? What's the point? Immersion? It's bs.

Rockstar does the same thing. Half of the gameplay in RDR 2 involves talking while on horseback.

This needs to stop.

That 1.5 hour section was universally panned and I dare say was put their intentionally.

That Annebelle character is obviously going to be important in the coming sequels with and had nothing to do in this game if wasn't for the extreme boring section. BUT now you do remember her. Remembrance by force association.

 

[cormack12]

AngryYoda lmao

They are good first time round, but they hurt replayability so much. They just need a NG+ or playthroughs that can be 'story-lite'.

 

[Skifi28]

I'd rather have a playable section instead of a cutscene even if the gameplay is minimal, but that's just me. I geenrally like the slow sections in games, you need something to break up the action.

 

[rofif]

I like them. I play games for the story immersion more anyway so right up my alley.

Yes there could be perfect examples like God of War also. Best of both worlds.

That 1.5 hour section was universally panned and I dare say was put their intentionally.

That Annebelle character is obviously going to be important in the coming sequels with and had nothing to do in this game if wasn't for the extreme boring section. BUT now you do remember her. Remembrance by force association.

100% sequels will be atreus + angrboda. but they won't be a couple but "friends" or some shit.
We can't have normal hetero couple.
She was lame and her section was terrible.

And the whole "no cuts" camera only serves to make the game worse. once it switches to atreus .... you sigh because you know it's going to be a time before atreus goes to sleep or some shit so they can smatly move the camera

 

[SeraphJan]

These games are not for you

 

[The Cockatrice]

Depends on the game. RDR2 is a story focused game, those horse rides, with how amazing the characters are, the atmosphere was fucking perfect and anyone hating that is a fucking moron who played RDR2 for the wrong reasons. There are cases like in GOWR or Spider-man 2 where these moments are nothing but pandering or waste of time. That being said, even if said moments are in the game, it doesnt change the fact that the overall game is amazing. If you let an hour of shit ruin a 30+ hour game then you should stop playing games entirely.

 

[rofif]

These games are not for you

oh yes. the ultimate criticism.
When you don't like a game - "it's not for you" or "skill issue".
gow ragnarok is the most ultra casual game there is. if anything, it's for everyone

 

[brian0057]

If you can't do your supermegaspectacular set piece in gameplay without strapping the player down to a railroad, you may as well just give me a cutscene.
I'll take a well directed, neatly composed, and well acted cutscene over the sorry excuses for "gameplay" that are cinematic set pieces.

 

[Guilty_AI]

It mostly depends on the execution... which tend to be terrible 90% of the time

 

[Ulysses 31]

Often these are boring since nothing you do in those sections matter.

If the writing was good then those sections could show off character development and/or worldbuilding but more often than not it's just exposition dumps, the bad tell don't show kind.

 

[Soodanim]

There are times in linear games where there is nothing to be gained from having parts be playable as they're nothing more than holding forward.

Resident Evil 3 Remake, Nemesis' entrance. The entire sequence of escaping the building is a bad mix of actual cutscenes and playing for sometimes less than 5 seconds before another cutscene. There's no choices to make, just run straight ahead for a couple seconds or watch a death scene. What's the point? It's not like it's difficult. Just make the entire thing a cutscene.

It's a bit different in open worlds, but if something is a scripted sequence I don't think it's too much to ask for a "Skip to end of sequence" option. I'm pretty sure some games have that.

 

[Diddy X]

I played GoW and Uncharted 4 on PC and the second half in both I wanted them to finish already.

 

[HL3.exe]

Agree with OP, I love cinematic games, but there are inherent flaws in how these games lean to much in passive design tropes, instead of engaging the player in there cinematic bits.

This is a structural design problem. Many GDC talks have discussed solutions to solve this, and without going into convoluted details, it expensive for R&D to make this solutions practical. So... studios lean on these tried and true (but incredibly dated) design tropes.

Clint Hocking's talk on 'Dynamics' the state of the art of conveying meaning in games, dives deep into this problem.

 

[Arcadialane]

Games becoming more 'cinematic' has been nothing but a disaster for real gamers

 

[taizuke]

These segments are so despised that some people have save states after the Atreus/Angrboda sections whenever they replay the game.

Anyway, first time it was fun but on a second or third playthrough it should definitely be skippable.

 

[cormack12]

100% sequels will be atreus + angrboda. but they won't be a couple but "friends" or some shit.
We can't have normal hetero couple.
She was lame and her section was terrible.

I think it will be frienderfluid

 

[Sub_Level]

Actual cutscenes like Metal Gear Solid are way better & always have been. You can always skip them on replays and even your first playthrough. Plus they are edited to have actual cinematic flair with proper camera angles & musical cues. I can play entirely through either mgs1 ,2 or 3 in a fast and rewarding 2-hour session because it lets you get back to the actual gameplay parts quickly.

If you don’t segregate the gameplay and the story you just end up with either (A) what the op is talking about and player agency being taken away or (B) the souls formula of environment storytelling, which is fine but lol @ the prospect of every game’s story being told through item descriptions & audio logs. So limiting. Even Half-Life, which is an older example of environmental storytelling, had to settle on way more dialogue for the sequel cuz, you know, you actually need characters & a script to tell a more elborate story. The result is a bunch of lame unskippable parts in HL2 which would have been better served by having skippable cutscenes.



This is a speedrun for the Half Life 2 level Entanglement. Half of it is just waiting for characters to finish talking. Awful.

 

[ANIMAL1975]

I'm playing Gow Ragnarok and currently riding with this AngryYoda atm. I mean, what is this? Why am I playing a part should've been a skippable cutscene for one hour(maybe more on the way?)? What's the point? Immersion? It's bs.

Rockstar does the same thing. Half of the gameplay in RDR 2 involves talking while on horseback.

This needs to stop.

Im with you mate, i miss the old days when action games where action games....
I have nothing against the modern 'cinematic interactiv' cutscenes formula _ they are really cool and a breackthrought in adventure, storytelling games _ its this stupid trend of putting it in every game with two leggs that blows my mind. Wtf Bros! If im playing an action shooter, if im playing an action hack and slash game, .... I want to just shoot or slash things after playing some adventure storytelling game! You know, diversify to not get bored.

 

[Flutta]

Some are good only when the story is good otherwise you should be allowed to skip. Being forced to watch cringy dialog and characters just gives me the urge to close/delete the game.

 

[Banjo64]

There are great ways to world build and tell a story without this new spoon-feed design.

It’s honestly god awful and I think the people who mainly like it haven’t been exposed to good writing or just like to switch off their brain like when you watch TV after work.

 

[ChorizoPicozo]

I'm playing Gow Ragnarok and currently riding with this AngryYoda atm. I mean, what is this? Why am I playing a part should've been a skippable cutscene for one hour(maybe more on the way?)? What's the point? Immersion? It's bs.

Rockstar does the same thing. Half of the gameplay in RDR 2 involves talking while on horseback.

This needs to stop.

This is a YOU problem

 

[vaibhavpisal]

They can start by not removing the need to do anything with auto ride. If riding is half the game then make the riding gameplay exciting instead. You don’t make a racing game and include an auto drive feature.
I used to have tons of clips on my Xbox from when I rode into crap in RDR2 after I had fallen asleep.

This is why I feel GTA games are very slightly superior.

Their cars feel great.

Though I am disappointed by RDR 2 in other ways. I mowed down an entire village and all I got was higher wanted level with it respawning immediately. Hopefully they add some reactivity in next GTA.

 

[ManaByte]

It took me nearly a year to finish Ragnarok. Every time I got to one of those slow walking and talking sections or a shitty Atreus level I'd turn it off. 2018 wasn't that bad, I played through it in one weekend and it was amazing.

 

[kyussman]

These types of games sell very well though don't they.....games are mainstream entertainment now,people don't mind this stuff.Personally I'm over it,but I'm over pretty much all modern game design at this point.There was a time I'd look forward to the latest big Sony AAA game.....not any more......copious cinematic game design + woke nonsense = no fucking thank you,lol.

 

[T4keD0wN]

I wouldnt mind these nearly enough if these games had a button to toggle autowalk on/off. Mobile games have this shit figured out, even ubisoft does it.

 

[sigmaZ]

I'm playing Gow Ragnarok and currently riding with this AngryYoda atm. I mean, what is this? Why am I playing a part should've been a skippable cutscene for one hour(maybe more on the way?)? What's the point? Immersion? It's bs.

Rockstar does the same thing. Half of the gameplay in RDR 2 involves talking while on horseback.

This needs to stop.

Yeah. That was always annoying. I'd rather have a quick cutscene. Fortunately most games I played this year besides Spiderman 2 were more traditional style games.

 

[Topher]

Need another poll option:

"I like them just fine, but they should be skippable"

 

[Kdad]

I'm playing Gow Ragnarok and currently riding with this AngryYoda atm. I mean, what is this? Why am I playing a part should've been a skippable cutscene for one hour(maybe more on the way?)? What's the point? Immersion? It's bs.

Rockstar does the same thing. Half of the gameplay in RDR 2 involves talking while on horseback.

This needs to stop.

I play games for the story so I'm all in...give me 10 hours of cutscenes Kojimadaddy.

 

[Dr.Morris79]

 

[winjer]

I absolutely hate when games decide to do exposition dumps, while forcing a slow walk with an NPC.
This has to be peak incompetence at gameplay and story telling in videogames.

 

[Kdad]

So an Atari 2600 controller...which was alot of fun.

 

[ChoosableOne]

gow ragnarok is a woke shitfest.
Whole angrboda character and playable atreus sections only exist for woke reasons. none of this shit should be in the game. 2018 gow was better.
Shame because the game looks and plays amazing. It's a great game but I don't see myself replaying it because of this.
Sweet baby inc trying their best to ruin gaming

Problem is, I like that section, Boss included, but riding that made up animal wasn't fun.

This is a YOU problem

Or only YOU like that.

Need another poll option:

"I like them just fine, but they should be skippable"

Where is the drama in 3 options? Lol.

 

[Banjo64]

It took me nearly a year to finish Ragnarok. Every time I got to one of those slow walking and talking sections or a shitty Atreus level I'd turn it off. 2018 wasn't that bad, I played through it in one weekend and it was amazing.

I’m trying to just let go when a game is that bad. Sunken cost is one thing, but time is finite.

And I’ve stopped buying games just because I liked a studio’s previous work. Spider-Man 2 being a prime example.