Cinematic Gaming

About the standpoint called 'immersion' and 'sense of participance' : No, I do not play the game as a form of escapism. I need not play the game BEING the playable character / protagonist / whatnot. What I want is simply a good kick made of deep gameplay AND an understandable story.

There's quite a bit of consensus that the first three points are vital to producing the fourth and fifth.

If that were the case, I would have never enjoyed a game in my life. I'm pretty sure that I did, though.

So not once have you ever found yourself caring about a character or a setting?

Because even that is immersion.

edited 30th Nov '12 10:20:39 AM by Thorn14

I don't blame 'em for not using the word right.

Whenever game "journalists" or othe people in the industry use it, it's almost always in the context of games with silent protagonists or open-worlds.

edited 30th Nov '12 11:06:15 AM by JotunofBoredom

Gaming "Journalists" get a lot of things wrong.

Immersion is much more than just "Oh I feel I'm in the game" (which has rarely happened to me in years)

Want a good example? The Walking Dead and the attachment to Clementine. Or the sheer outrage at the ending of Half Life 2 Episode 2. THAT is Immersion.

Also, Asura's Wrath has The Girls Death and Asura's subsequent berserker overload that makes you truly want to route for him while feeling true sorrow for what happened in that scene.

That is how a Cinematic Game truly immerses you in the story, to truly make you feel an emotional moment that happens in the game to the effect it intends to do. It's worked with Shadow of the Colossus's ending, and the Pre Final Battle sequence in Ōkami.

edited 30th Nov '12 2:41:01 PM by Demongodofchaos2

Is Shadow Of The Colossus a cinematic game? I think it is, and it's so awesome. Same thing with ICO.

Really, I think it depends on the game and on personal taste. Which is why I find this whole discussion a bit pointless. With that said, everyone loves a good debate, so why not, right?

Considering Ico has no real combat whatsoever, is relatively set piece based and is short enough that it can be completed in the same amount of time it takes to watch a 2 hour long film, I could say it fits as a relatively Cinematic game.

I think ICO is one of the greatest examples of a well done cinematic game.

One of the advantages of Colossus is that pretty much every physical action in the fights is done by you control. And I'm not talking about that pseudo-qte control, I mean every one of the buttons consistently does something at every time; when you climb a Colossus, there's a grab/hang-on button, a stab button, and a jump button. All those buttons are consistent; it's you who makes them do awesome stuff. Even the last fight, which is pretty much a glorified cutscene, you can still participate and have the illusion of control with your new Colossus moveset, which makes your failure all the more poignant.

Shadow of the Colossus is, if anything, a great example of how much a game can convey without shoving hour long cutscenes in your face. The only long cutscenes are at the beginning and the end, and the ending one is like Bioshock in that it's supposed to make you feel powerless.

I'm not saying cutscenes are bad; again, they work fine for establishing shots, or scenes where you're meant to feel a loss of control. It's just that so many games misuse them so that they feel distinct from gameplay, not part of an organic entity.

edited 30th Nov '12 9:18:16 PM by Scardoll

SOTC is a good way to tell a story in a game as it lets the player experience the world and how effed up your task is and what its doing to wander.

An AAA game would have entire colossus fights be QTE.

I wouldn't mind that, either. Especially if done well enough.

edited 30th Nov '12 9:36:37 PM by Demongodofchaos2

Then play Castlevania: Lords Of Shadow.

You can have all the lame QTE colossus fights you want there(by all, I mean 3).

Are we comparing this to a specific game or just games in general?

I really don't see how QTE is lame.

Then again, I'm not like most people. I like having my reflexes get tested even more then usual.

edited 30th Nov '12 9:43:08 PM by Demongodofchaos2

They are within' the context of SOTC.

A lot of the impetus behind fighting a Colossus would simply be lost in QTE form.

Considering that trying to Strike the Sigil's feels like a Hold down and let go of a button fest, It still feels rather QTE'ish, except inversed.

Whenever I have a boss fight end via QTE, I don't feel like I really accomplished anything. Its also annoying that button prompts are appearing on my screen while I'm trying to watch the cutscene. I'm going to miss stuff if I'm just waiting for the next prompt.

QTE's have their place. In my mind, that place would be events like when there's a sudden pitfall and you need to take a leap of faith. Or like in Asura's Warth, when Asura is preparing for the finger to impact. The motions actually mimic what he's doing, and it actually sets up the scene fairly well.

If my character is going to do a finishing move or something, though, and it isn't direct gameplay, just give me a cutscene to enjoy. Don't muck it up with button prompts.

I would rather have them then just watch them.

It's Why many modern gamers I come across find Xenosaga to be relatively boring and overly cinematic even by Cinematic game standards.

I think SOTC is still a mostly cinematic game. All the battles are done in a pre-set way, so they're really more like interactive cutscenes.

*points to the cutscene with a save point in the middle of it*

I also would rather have my cutscense Skippable too.

Trick is, I'm not really watching the cutscenes if I'm waiting for prompts. Especially in games with sharper timing. I'm waiting for the next prompt, not really watching to see what General Evil is doing.

I actually like prompts that have infinite waiting time that don't need to be pressed immediately, too.

Then what's the point?
Also, yes, cutscenes should be skippable. After you've seen them once.

edited 30th Nov '12 10:03:57 PM by Zeromaeus