Pre-Rendered Cut Scenes

[TheyCallMeTheSwede]

There is one thing I have notice lately when I play games on PS2, Xbox ect. there is one thing that really annoys the crap out of me is when games use pre-rendered cut scenes, I hate it when games uses in-game cutscenes then suddenly they use pre-rendered cutscenes out of nowhere, its just sticks out like a soar thumb and it always throw me out of the gaming experience, I guess its just one of those gaming peeves of mine.

Does anybody share this peeve of mine?

[Frizz.Meister]

Depends entirely on how their done. Sometimes their awesome and add a very cinematic style to the story. However sometimes they just jump in and BAM leaving you stunned for a second. I guess the main factor is just how much the pre rendered graphics differ from the in game graphics. To radical a difference can shock you for a moment.

[Hatta]

Very much yes. Prerendered graphics had their place back when in-game graphics weren't good enough, and CGI was still a buzzword. Today, cycles are cheap and nobody is impressed anymore. Even as far back as the PS1, in-game cutscenes like in Vagrant Story hold up better than pre-rendered.

[AppleQueso]

Xenosaga, being the massive cutscene fest that it is, actually uses the in-game models for the pre-rendered cutscenes. Only thing that ever gives it away is some of the lighting effects being too advanced for the ps2 to handle. Obviously it looks much better than when the 3D quality suddenly jumps 3 generations.

[RCBH928]

I always thought in-game cut scenes are heavier on the system than the pre-rendered ones
because pre-rendered is just playing a video.

I don't mind them so much really, but I like the art style where cut-scenes might look different from the in game art style.

For example GTA series always have on the cover art style for the characters very different from the in-game one.

RPG's uses this kind of thing too, when they have a dialogue they will have a very sharp different looking hand-drawn profile of the character, while in game he is only a 16-bit spirit .

I guess in the end its how you make use of it

[flamepanther]

When it really bothers me is when those pre-rendered scenes are flaunted at game industry shows like E3 as "what our new game will really look liek!!!!!!one!!"

Yeah, thanks a lot, Square. And Sony, for that matter.

[RCBH928]

I hate it too when the trailer is not about gameplay
they show you 3D cut scenes, that got nothing to do about the game
just the story, its like a movie trailer not a game one

[Frizz.Meister]

The other extreme of course can be seen in the new call of duty where the ENTIRE SINGLE PLAYER is effectivly one long cutscene just to make the trailer look good. Honestly it sucks, kill 3-4 guys that keep respawning to give the impression of many, cutscene, quicktime event, cutscene, objective which you cannot fail due to it effectivly being a cutscene (eg run to the plane first level), cutscene, quick time event, repeat.

Much rather have an hour of gameplay then a short video, ala Diablo 2 on the PC.

[Bradtemple87]

Xenosaga, being the massive cutscene fest that it is, actually uses the in-game models for the pre-rendered cutscenes. Only thing that ever gives it away is some of the lighting effects being too advanced for the ps2 to handle. Obviously it looks much better than when the 3D quality suddenly jumps 3 generations.

xenosaga had a TON. I love rpgs but that was sometimes a bit much for me.