Liver&Onions

Summary.

GTA broke.
GTA fixed?
MGS4 has a fucking 90 minute cut scene!???! Please tell me it's only exaggeration. But even 1/10 of that length is almost too long for a cut scene in a game, IMO.

RocShemp

So the rumoured 45 minute opening cutscene has now been replaced by the rumour of a 90 minute cutscene? I hope it's not true but, given Kojima's track record, it might be close to the truth (if not absolutely true).

Kojima is the Lucas of gaming. He creates these great characters and worlds they live in but doesn't know how to tell an effective story with any of that.

Of course, maybe the 90 minute thing only becomes reality if you access those extended cutscenes Kojima & Co. have said the game features in order to add some additional backstory to the cutscenes. Still, as Liver&Onions pointed out, even a tenth of that is too much. We need cutscenes like Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, Beyond Good & Evil and Uncharted: Drake's Fortune where the scenes never outstayed their welcome and actually helped flesh out the story without excess length.

taffer

It says cutscenes (plural).... there could very well be more than one cutscene that is over an hour long.

And I believe it could be true. If you have played MGS2, then you know how freaking long the cutscenes were in that game. The final cutscene was almost an hour long.

Plus, I remember earlier stories where Kojima said he was running out of room on the Blu-ray disc. I guess he is cramming it as full of cutscenes as he possibly can.

RocShemp

It's funny that a buddy of mine would often jokingly say "cinematics, cinematics, cinematics" in response to Kojima's claims of tweaking the game to take full advantage of the 50GB space of the Blu-Ray disc. Sadly, hus joke seems to have proved prophecy. I would have hoped that the reduced cinematics of MGS3 (the overlong opening flashback and radio conversation with The Boss notwithstanding) were a sing that Kojima was finally learning that less is more.

And yes, I remember the goddawful 45 minute cutscene because it was paired with a 30+ minute codec conversation. Just horrible!

What's worse is that I've read Kojima has been cutting out gameplay elements because they couldn't fit on the disc. With an excess of cutscenes, of course there;s no room for gameplay.

taffer

Cutting out gameplay to make room for more cutscenes. Only Kojima....

RocShemp

I'm rather ambivalent to admit this but all joking aside, this news has seriously made me consider canceling my pre-order. None of the story-centric trailers have piqued my interest in any way resembling the excitement I've had watching the gameplay videos. If the balance is going to be skewed in favor of cutscenes over gameplay, this "game" is seriously sounding like a waste of money. Especially when you consider that I pre-ordered the limited edition.

discostu1337

I recently tried to re-play MGS3 and after 2hrs42min according to my gamesave, I had "played" about 11 minutes. And that 11 minutes involved getting the scientist dude, falling off a bridge, then returning to the exact same area years later....yay! I gave up again right there, but I'm still gonna give MGS4 a chance.

RocShemp

Keep at it, discostu1337. I know what you're talking about and the game gets much better after that. That first portion of the game has Kojima written all over it. After that, it seems like someone locked Kojima in the Konami cellar so they could focus on gameplay. Heck, even the bosses don't bore you with long winded speeches before and after you fight them. Well The Boss does but her extremely long-winded speech is tolerable because the rest of the story was very tightly focused and the cutscenes incredibly brief. Of course, it would have been better had they not included the stupid radio conversation with The Boss during the beginning of the game which completely explains her motives (how Naked Snake was too stupid to piece it all together I don't know).

fumanstan

Gamepro says 90 minutes is a big exaggeration.

http://www.gamepro.com/news.cfm?article_id=187049

taffer

I know what you mean. I both want and don't want MGS4 at the same time if that makes any sense.

The overall storyline is entertaining even if it is incredibly far-fetched (Liquid's soul lives on through his hand?!?) and hard to understand at times.

And I do want to see how the story "ends". The trailers with Solid Snake injecting himself with a drug to keep himself alive has me intrigued. Will the accelerated aging and/or Foxdie finally kill him? I doubt that Kojima will actually kill him off, but who knows. I just hope it doesn't end with some cop-out miracle cure.

At the same time though, I hate watching looooong cutscenes. Some of the cutscenes are good, but often they are bad. Who cares that Otacon and his step-mom had sex. Why even put that crap in the game. We don't need a 15 minute cutscene with Otacon whining about it. It adds nothing. Then we have Rose complaining that Raiden forgot their anniversary. Helloooo... he is alone in enemy terrority. He has better things to keep his mind on. It would be expected if his mind isn't focused on anything but staying alive. We don't need to hear Rose's constant complaining. Why does Rose even have a codec in the first place? All she does is distract from the mission, which could get Raiden killed.

The games would be so much better without all that unnecessary and useless filler crap. It does crack me up how Snake and/or Raiden are in enemy territory, but yet they can sit back and have long conversations on the codec. Seems like an easy way to get caught....

RocShemp

You and I are on the same wavelength, taffer. Especially about Rose in MGS2. Raiden was never a problem but his idiot girlfriend was. Of course, if you want to make her tolerable, never bother to save during the tanker mission. If you do so, the game only forces two or three radio conversations with her. I still hate her but I was mostly able to ignore her this way. I read Kojima added the stupid anniversary conversations because his girlfriend/wife/whatever always does the same to him. What a great reason to ruin a game.

And, yes, I constantly picture a random soldier chancing upon Snake/Raiden during a long-winded codec conversation, shrugging at the sight, and casually shooting Raiden/Snake in the head.

The codec conversations should be handled in the same manner as the radio conversations in Splinter Cell; the conversations should happen as you play the game. Or at least show a cinematic of Snake/Raiden hiding during the codec conversations.

Michael Corvin

Wow everyone's down on this for some reason. I think I'm the only one that's been consistent in saying it won't be a system seller. Just a little longer until we find out.

Giantrobo

I'm still on the fence about getting a PS3. It's like, some days I want one, and other days I don't.

nateman

Maybe you'll get to the point where you'll have the PS3, but can't decide if you should take it out of the box or return it.

NotThatGuy

I got it as a BD player, and it has been awesome. I game here and there (2-4 hours a week), but there are enough games to keep my interest.

PopcornTreeCt

I canceled my pre-order for MGS4. I'll wait for the reviews.

Decker

I have 100% confidence that this game will get great reviews. If you're not in to long cut scenes, it might not be for you, but the game will rock. There's already been one perfect score and judging from the gameplay footage, it should be amazing.

RocShemp

So did MGS2 and now that's the most hated game in the series. Reviews are pointless for a game like this. You're better off renting it or playing it at a friend's house. It's the only true way to know if it sucks or not.

Decker

I guess that was my point, though I didn't make it very clear from re-reading it the next day. It will certainly get great reviews and a high Metacritic score so that really shouldn't be the criteria of whether you get it or not.

RocShemp

I see. Sorry I missunderstood.

PopcornTreeCt

Well, I'm definitely plan on playing it. I'll probably rent it.

Giantrobo

You may be right. I swear i did that with my 360.


Yeah, you know what it is? Every time I play "Heavenly Sword" at a demo kiosk, like I did today at Target, I'm ready to buy one. But then I start making up reasons for not going through with it. I'm also just now starting to take a closer look at Blue Ray. I've never been a fan of using my game system for DVD type stuff but I may be coming around to the idea sooner or later.

NotThatGuy

Giant....you get the remote ($20 from amazon), and you won't know the difference.

IIG

This is very true. I also hated the idea of using a gaming console as a primary DVD/Blu-ray player, but the results are so spectacular that I hardly care any more. And its not only the picture and sound that's great... The actual speed of loading of the discs is greatly improved due to the PS3's horsepower. Coupled in with the fact that the PS3 is superior to every stand-alone out there in at least some way (and inferior in some ways- no analog outs for example), and the constant updates that Sony provides to keep it as king of the hill, I was sold. The Bluetooth remote is amazing too...

Sweet Baby James

Amazon has a deal that expires today where you would get the 40 GB PS3, the BT remote and the remastered version of The Fifth Element for $399. Basically, the remote and the movie are free. If it's in your Gold Box, then the price is $379.99.