Do cut scenes annoy you?

Nope, not at all. I love many of the stories in games myself. I particularly love it when they use high end CGI cutscenes like Square-Enix and Blizzard typically use.

No, I accept that they exist for a certain demographic, and because of contracted creative control.

Past polls on GD suggest many here play games for the story alone_

Prefer cutscenes to be less filler and get to the point swiftly if they must exist. Or at least keep it to thirty seconds/ as a glorified act of loading screen. Better to sum up a premise, character, game logic quickly. Can't speak for everyone but I buy games to play them, not watch them.

One of the reasons we know it became common place is because writers in games now have far more control/ contracted rights as they did previously. At least for a majority of publishers, some even have a lot of leverage in these companies. As do voice actors.

And they'll cram-in what will aid their portfolio, than caring if it's in a worth while gaming product for customers.

No, they don't annoy me. In fact I get excited, I usually think "OOOH! MORE STORY! YAY!" when a cutscene happens. Video games generally don't have the best writing, voice acting, etc but they do have a certain corny appeal with fun topics (fantasy, sci-fi, excessive action and drama, etc) that cause me to become really interested in where things are going.

With that said, sometimes they can be excessive in certain games. I remember playing one of the Uncharted and essentially giving up on it after four hours because it seemed like there was a long cutscene every 10 minutes.

Not at all. I feel like they increase immersion and help to flesh the story out. It also helps to know what your overall goal is and what the hero's fighting for. When I play RPG's like the Tales of Series I make sure to talk to every NPC and do all of the bonus side conversations too because they give you the chance to understand the world and get to know the characters

No. But in KH3, yes. That game had way too many cutscenes compared to gameplay imo.

No cut scenes don't bother me. It is often part of the story. However cut scenes should be skippable

Not unless they're unskippable and I'm playing through the game or another level a second time and just want to get to the gameplay since I've already experienced the story. But I rarely run into that problem. Sometimes cutscenes can be annoying if they happen in the middle of gameplay or as I'm exploring and I move to a certain area that triggers a cutscene and I'm not ready to move on or whatever. Otherwise, I think cutscenes are a perfectly fine part of most games. If done right, they can really add to the story without turning the game into feeling more like a movie.

When I'm in the mood to watch a movie, I'll watch a real movie that is better than any crappy video game story.

When I'm in the mood to play a game, I'm not wanting to watch a movie, I'm wanting to play a game. So if there are long cutscenes happening nearly every 15 minutes that I have to set my controller down for then yes, that annoys me, and is not what gaming should be about in my opinion.

Yes, if I’m playing a videogame, I shouldn’t have to sit through a story I don’t care about.

Nope, they serve as a break and a reward if I'm into the story.

The only time I find that cut scenes are irritating is if they are excessive, or very poorly done. A well done, well placed cut scene can do a lot to enhance a story, and gives me a moment to sit back and listen. I do think it's important to consider the player's time though, and ensure the cut scene isn't so long that a person could potentially have to leave part way through, or find it difficult to get past to have an opportunity to save progress.

Nope, not at all.

No, not always. It depends on how into the story I am. The worst ones are when they can't be skipped or paused.

No. Though I prefer they be done like Half-Life where the game doesn't remove control and events happen around the player.

Boring game play in between cut scenes annoys me.

Cutscenes are tools for creating a gameplay pace by changing mode of narration from systemic to cinematic.

Making players not to press buttons for some time does not equal to making them no to play.

No

No i enjoy

No sometimes they are the most entertaining parts of the game.

I think there's a place for cutscenes in stories that involve perspectives outside of player control, when allowing the player to control the subjects of the scene wouldn't make a lot of narrative sense.

Otherwise, if it's my character on the screen, let me control it. I think a lot of devs have this parental attitude with their storytelling, where they're afraid to let the player experience it directly because the player might mess it up for themselves, or not be alert enough to capture what is going on. So what? If a player in a singleplayer game wants to jump around and smash their character's crotch into an NPCs face while it's trying to reveal important plot information, let him/her do it. Assume for a second that the people playing the game want to have fun and don't feel the need to wrest control away from them in a misguided attempt to make sure they do. Cutscenes are lazy (let's do it the way Hollywood does it!) and ignore the unique advantages game technology offers with respect to storytelling.

Old game from Namco by the name of Breakdown - still can't figure if the story is any good but the fully interactive story elements make the delivery of that story memorable and had me hanging on to the end.

There's actually a perfect example with the original Tomb Raider and the remake that was done some years later. In the original the T-Rex encounter is real-time, full control; in the remake it's handled with a cutscene. They took one of the best gaming moments from my childhood (what's that noise...a T-Rex!!! *runs away without looking back*) and utterly destroyed it with a cutscene.

yeah. particularly when a game with no manual saves has a checkpoint set just before a lengthy unskippable cut scene. every time you die you're forced to sit through it again, and again, and again... torture.

and unpausable cut scenes too. and games when esc or start pause the game during gameplay but when pressed during a cut scene skip it, instead of pausing. outrageous

Well the result are in and only 1 in 10 people are only interested in playing the game and 9 out of 10 are equally interested in the story behind the game.

I suppose the market is a reflection of that taste.

Depends. Cutscenes that efficiently move the story along and serve as good inbetween parts, like in Resident Evil 2, are fine. Longass pretentious cutscenes that kill any fun the game might have, like in Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus, are shit.

No, they don't. I actually care for stories in gaming. It helps for me to be motivited, gives me a reason to see the jorney of those characters to the end. I play play many JRPGs, so that's part of the reason.

See the thing is.... thats where you kinda messed up you cant really have a big interesting game without some kind of story even super mario has its stories its what makes the game have meaning ever play warframe? good story tons of lore and people like lore.

As for the cutscene its usually interesting the first few times other than that there is usually some skip function.

Like most people in this discussion, I believe cut scenes are very important for a game to be successful. Cut scenes have been used for many years in video games to add meaning behind the game play. Cut scenes tell a story that adds content to a game without having to add any new level design. They give the player breaks and help identify different levels, as well as checkpoints throughout a level. But on the flip side of that they can as well halt the game play and force the player to have to watch something they don’t want to sit through.

When a video game is measured on how successful it is, the reviewers look at many different aspects of the game. Obviously game-play is one of the most important qualities of a game, since the player deals with this the most, but it is not the only one. Music is a huge part of video games, like in movies music adds to the experience wither it to build suspense or signify that a battle is coming. One of the most popular games ever played is known for the high quality of its music game-play and even cut scenes. I am referring to Halo 3, this game’s iconic soundtrack still gives many players chills when it’s started up. The game-play was incredible for its time and is still played over and over by many players around the world. And the cut scenes help put the player in the experience of defending humanity from the Covenant invasion.

However there is a distinction between in game cut scenes and end level cut scenes that divided the population when it comes to wither or not cut scenes are needed in games. In game cut scenes, (which are usually delivered in much lower visual quality) stop the players progression to develop the plot. This is where a lot of the hatred comes from and I will use Halo 3 as my example yet again. The in game cut scenes in Halo 3 are one of the most hated parts of this game, these cut scenes force the player to stop in their tracks and listed to some very odd dialogue that add nothing to the game. There are dozens of online discussion boards expressing the hatred people have for these cut scenes, and example of it being this one https://www.halowaypoint.com/en-us/forums/84ad72a8b51847978545f685f651fc15/topics/let-us-skip-all-cutscenes/0ab25c0a-2507-48a7-8fab-dd37cab60361/posts?page=1 .

Now yes cut scenes are important for a game but some players that play through a game multiple times have already seen these cut scenes and which to just play the game which is why skipping is so important. So yes XhanBogard I do agree with you that after a couple of times a skip button can be very helpful. No I do agree the placement of a cut scene is very important, Macutchi you make a very good point, that a cut scene right before a pint where you could die in the game is extremely annoying. And should be something the developers think twice about before doing. Sorry about the extremely lengthy response but this is a topic that was very to get behind. If you sat through this whole post then hats off to you.

Exactly. As JRPG players I feel like our patience is kind of on a different level lol

Yes. If I can, I skip the movie part and get to the gameplay asap.

When they're exceptionally long and there are heaps of them, then no. But in general, I don't mind them if they are done well.

Well for someone who values both story and game-play, I believe that if the game is centered on delivering a good narrative then cut-scenes are the way to go. Take Horizon Zero Dawn, I enjoyed the cutscenes but sometimes there are cut-scenes for nothing in games whereas games like Bloodborne although have a lot of lore, would not benefit with cuts-scenes as the player needs to pay attention to detail and the games is tied to soulsborne, so the gameplay is heavily valued.

Difference is cutscenes in Bloodborne usually act as hidden loading screens to render the complex scripts of boss battles while (attempting) to keep a stable framerate when return in-game. It is a common method for stability.

That's why From Software games usually have cutscenes lasting from upwards of two minutes at most, some are even ten seconds.

Something like Horizon can last over five minutes, because the developer really wants that expensive motion capture, writer(s), and voice actor(s) to shine. While Horizon plays like a mix of Monster Hunter and Tomb Raider, it goes for a very Deus Ex/ Mass Effect kind of storytelling. Soul games do not, Sekiro on the other hand, is clearly going to be a more story driven game.

I personally NEED a game to have some semblance of story or driving force behind it in order to engage me for any reasonable amount of time. I'm all for cutscenes, but definitely believe they should make them count.

I prefer a lot a game like Doom with a short story. Or Mad Max.

Uncharted 4 was good though.

It's that I'm really occupied and hardly concentrate on story.

Nope. And as for, "I don't see a point...", then don't play story-driven games (cause you'll be one of those who complain, hurr-durr, the game is too short, I skip cutscenes/hurr-durr, I don't understand anything what to do, I skip cut-scenes).