Curse

Abdul · Jul 26, 2006, 09:48 AM // 09:48

I think most people will agree that the cinematics in Guild Wars are awful: bad voice acting, cheesy dialog, recycled animations, and some of the longests stretches of non-interactivity in a computer game (heck, at least you can chat to friends while on a WoW bird flight). Players should not be forced to sit through these things because someone decided not to press skip.

A few ideas on how to fix this:
1) Remove them entirely, I am sure the majority of players will not miss them
2) Replace them with scripted ingame cutscenes (Half Life style)
3) Replace them with those pop-up ad style dialogs that are all over Cantha
4) Keep the cinematics, but move them to NPCs located in the mission starting zones, so people that are interested in them can still watch them without making 7 other people suffer

KurtTheBehemoth · Jul 26, 2006, 09:53 AM // 09:53

some good ideas,

It would seem more realistic if they merged the storyline actually into the playable game. Halflife was a perfect example of that. They did some of that in Factions with Mhenlo and Togo. I just want more content in the end though. Cinematics would be icing on the cake.

megalomaniac_mutant · Jul 26, 2006, 09:58 AM // 09:58

I don't agree: Cinematics are great! Although the GW cinematics...I think Anet really should improve them in CH3...they ruin the so called "epic storyline". But i guess that without them, it would be even worse...I wonder if it is really THAT hard for Anet to make nice cinematics, with the quality of the Trailers.

Raziel665 · Jul 26, 2006, 10:00 AM // 10:00

Wouldnt suggestion 2 make it worse and non-skipable?

I hated Half Life style scene's, since you had to wait for the NPC to be done telling you his lifestory before finnally opening a door trough wich you flee.

lord_shar · Jul 26, 2006, 10:04 AM // 10:04

The lack of speech sync'd lip movement during cinematics always leaves me feeling short-changed... JMHO.

megalomaniac_mutant · Jul 26, 2006, 10:07 AM // 10:07

Quote:

Originally Posted by Raziel665

Wouldnt suggestion 2 make it worse and non-skipable?

I hated Half Life style scene's, since you had to wait for the NPC to be done telling you his lifestory before finnally opening a door trough wich you flee.

If you don't like the great Half Life storytelling, then dont play it!

Uhm...This is getting off-topic....:S

Nvwa Strider · Jul 26, 2006, 10:12 AM // 10:12

Tbh i find the movies very bad, but funny.

It just cracks me up if i see someone talking to a wall
See someone walk trough walls or bodies
Bone minions that attack everyone
and pet animals that just stand there eat worms while hell is going lose around them.

I accepted how the movies are. They really suck, but they are also funny and they are the typical gw cinematics.

I dont care if the movies arent skipped, i got plenty other things to do while they are busy.

wilebill · Jul 26, 2006, 10:20 AM // 10:20

We are stuck with the cut scenes, probably. I wish the money spent on them had been spent on other parts of the game.

Poison Ivy · Jul 26, 2006, 10:23 AM // 10:23

Suggest improvements, don't request.

Anet peeps are either too lazy or busy and can't be arsed.

You'll get used to it after a few more months of GW

Celios · Jul 26, 2006, 11:04 AM // 11:04

Quote:

Originally Posted by Abdul

4) Keep the cinematics, but move them to NPCs located in the mission starting zones, so people that are interested in them can still watch them without making 7 other people suffer

Bingo. Craptacular or spectacular, I try to go through every cinematic at least once just so the missions don't become an endless chain of "travel to X location and kill Y foe" assignments. However, once I've seen them, it's annoying as hell to have to rewatch the stuff just because one or two people will always refuse to skip. I loved being able to replay the intro cinematics for missions, but it's time to add an option to rewatch all the mid-mission movies you've "earned" as well.

Furthermore, I don't think there's a single person out there who doesn't believe the in-game engine cutscenes have to go. Sure it's cheap, but it also looks like absolute crap. Get some facial animation worked into the game or at the very least switch over to pre-rendered stuff in the future. As it stands, it's hard to take any of the storyline seriously if the cinematics consist of an audio recording played against an unmoving character, followed by a badly integrated emote.

Ventius Hozza · Jul 26, 2006, 11:14 AM // 11:14

I wish ANet would fix how in every cutscene, always one person is facing the other direction and is made to look like a right ejit. Can't be that hard to fix.

And, yeah good ideas from the thread, lip-syncing in general is a must... and also non-comical voices please! I want to believe this game not laugh at Master Togo with the helium-filled frog stuck in his throat.

Terra Xin · Jul 26, 2006, 11:54 AM // 11:54

I only have a problem with a few voice actors, but everything else you've stated I have to disagree with, I really like some of the cinematics, and this isn't the way to populate game progression

/notsigned

KurtBatz · Jul 26, 2006, 12:24 PM // 12:24

The lip sync isn't there, because the game ships to Japan/Korea and such and the mouth movement wouldn't match the words.

Hence you'd have to sync for every locale the game ships to.

That's my theory anyway

Miss Innocent · Jul 26, 2006, 12:29 PM // 12:29

Minor Spoiler:
--------------------
The real reason Mhenlo let the Kurzicks believe he was dead: Danika's voice.

More seriously, I've just accepted that this is the world of Ventrilloquists.

I don't mind the way cutscenes are right now, not much, anyway. The ones I have the biggest issue with is the ones at Fort Aspenwood/Jade Quarrey, where you want to see it the first time (and are disappointed), and then have to watch it every time you have a leech, bot, or anyone who hasn't seen it before. I didn't come in with them, why do I have to wait on them to leave? It's not like we'll be playing together again anyway...

Mostly, the cutscenes are fine. They have room for improvement, but they don't suck.... like they could.

And I like the cheesiness.

Tyggen · Jul 26, 2006, 01:33 PM // 13:33

I don't mind the cutscenes that much, they're boring to watch once you've seen them once though. The only problem I have with them, is that half the cutscenes (especially in factions) have more bugs in them then Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines.

***some people may consider this a minor spoiler for factions***

My favourite has to be Shiro tossing Vizu backwards like she's shot out of a cannon though...

boenan · Jul 26, 2006, 01:56 PM // 13:56

well..
the scripted in-game plot progression was really buggy and caused a lot of problems...
a great idea, but i HATE pop-ups.

Mars Dragonblade · Jul 26, 2006, 02:05 PM // 14:05

An idea I agree with that was on another similar thread was another button should be put next to the Skip one that would allow you to bypass the cinematics without disturbing the other players while they watched it. Then, while they're watchin it you can sell all your loot or change builds etc until the cinematic is finished and you're all back in the party.

linh · Jul 26, 2006, 02:23 PM // 14:23

The biggest problem to me is some other things still involved in cutscene ( like Minion attack or die, enemies attack you while watching..etc that make it sometimes ridiculous). I don't have much problem with voice acting, lip synchronization or others.

tommarrow · Jul 26, 2006, 05:56 PM // 17:56

The problem with allowing people to skip the cut scene seperatly from the group is the cut scenes in the middle of the missions. Should the people that skip be allowed to continue fighting while the ones that want to watch the cut scene be left behind?

SpeedyKQ · Jul 26, 2006, 07:00 PM // 19:00

I think they should get rid of cutscenes in the middle of missions. I'm sure they can design a decent storyline without them. Then make end-of-mission cutscenes an individual choice - if you don't want to watch them, you proceed along to the next town.

Start-of-mission cutscenes can be displayed when you first arrive in the mission town rather than when the mission starts. Again, watching them or not can be an individual choice.

If they took cutscenes out of Guild Wars all together, I'd miss them greatly. The game needs more storyline and immersion, not less. And yeah, the voice-acting could be worlds better. Way too over-acted and melodramatic.