Are CG cutscenes a thing of the past?

[dereksworl]

Originally Posted by Blu-Generation

I think most people are putting a wrong lable on this.

A CG sequence for a game is call FMV (Full motion video). I wouldn't call it cutscene.

Thanks, i been dying to use that emotion....i just didnt think i'd use it for myself

FMV exist in almost every RPGs since the PS1 days. It's like a tradition

+1.

[hayzink]

Originally Posted by Zipzap713

I prefer the ingame cutscenes to CG cutscenes. For example, in Uncharted you choose a different costume, but then a cutscene pops up and he looks like the original Drake instead of the costume. The CG is nice (better lighting) but its not needed since graphically they look the same. Now MGS4s ingame cutscenes are great since he keeps whatever costume he has on at the time.

yes but for some reason the weapon you are holding changes all of a sudden when a cut scenes kick in

[dereksworl]

Originally Posted by hayzink

yes but for some reason the weapon you are holding changes all of a sudden when a cut scenes kick in

yes. this is notorious in the MGS series. and i'd be all like "hold on, I wasn't holding that gun! and secondly, where's the suppressor i had equipped on it"

[Sweetstache]

Seeing that FMV CG from FFX's opening makes me want to play that game again










.......Which I suppose is something to be said towards a pro argument for pre-rendered cg

[CptGreedle]

Originally Posted by dereksworl

Ok? well if thats the case, why do PS2 CGs look better than PS1 CG's? Why dont they all look the same?

You're kidding right?

For the exact same reason Final Fantasy VII and Final Fantasy VIII look nothing alike. The CG technology gets better too! As computers get better, and software, and technology advances, and more money comes rolling in to game developers, they are able to make better graphics for cut scenes with better technology and computers and software and artists.

Compare Toy Story to Wall-E. Gee.. they both are made by the same people and don't require a console.. but Wall-E looks so much better. Cause the computers and technology they used to make it was that much better over time.

As technology gets better, cut scenes will get better, regardless of the abilities of the console. The console only has to process a movie file and NOTHING ELSE! That is all a CG cut scene is. But a game-play cut scene actually makes the console do all the work, all the rendering, particle engines, lighting, texturing, animation, special effects, etc. And all LIVE.

So a CG cut scene does not show off the ability of the console in any way at all... since any console can play a pre-rendered file... all that does is show off the quality of the team that rendered it. Game play cut scenes are where the console is truly displayed.

[CptGreedle]

The costume changes and weapon changes is something they did in the programming. In order to do the scenes the way they wanted to, they force it to render the character the same way by telling the PS3 to use those models. MGS4 does it too.
Not all games do that, it all depends on how it was programmed.

[ADRiiAN`]

Originally Posted by ryoohki

Meh CGI cutscene were so different than in game graphics that it was killing the mood for me. Just to see how cool the character cool look just the return to those 40 polygons one was depressing (talking about PS1 here)

Kingdom Hearts 2 is a great example of that.

I remember playing the game, the graphics were great!
And then the cutscenes were incredible ! I was so amazed when I saw it, and then I had to play the game again without those graphics

[kingofgrills]

Originally Posted by CptGreedle

I will say 2 things about this.

Systems have advanced so much, you can get close to the quality of a cut scene without ever loosing the flow of the game or changing the feel of it. Games like Uncharted and MGS4 are perfect examples, because you never see the characters all of a sudden look better than they normally do and the scenes are instant.

PS2 games, like FFX, have cut scenes that are better than any game we have out today. So you can always get better graphics from the game with a cut scene, they can focus more energy on the quality of them and the content, and use less space on the disc in many cases. They look great and it is always nice to see the characters look even more realistic than normally.

I am torn on this. I am ecstatic that cut scenes without CG have advanced to much that they look this fantastic! But I miss some of the good old days too that would showcase a title with spectacular cut scenes that looked like a movie.

I suppose eventually we will not need them at all, especially with the storage capacity on Blu-ray. This gives us a huge amount of flexibility with our games and keeps a consistent look and flow to the game, and even seamless transitions from cut scene to game play. I think we are at that point where some will still use them, and others will not. It looks like the CG cut scene is going the way of the Dodo and will go away completely some day, but that is a good thing right?

+1 I think for this generation and beyond real-time rendered scenes using the in-game engine have proven to be the way to go. Heavenly Sword, Uncharted, Lair, and Metal Gear Solid 4 have proven how effective that can be, and the rendered scenes rival traditional CG cut scenes. I think not having the visual disparity between rendered scenes and in-game action really helps keep the gamer immersed in the experience. Half-Life proved how effective this could be having the game's narrative entirely unfold from the first-person perspective, and it led to many "Oh @#%!" moments.

[Blu-Generation]

I'm not with or agains't either side here, but one thing I do know.

FMV will and still have the advantage over real-time cutscene. At least in our current gen.

There are things FMV can do that real-time cutscene can't. Yet.

[dereksworl]

Originally Posted by CptGreedle

You're kidding right?

As technology gets better, cut scenes will get better, regardless of the abilities of the console. The console only has to process a movie file and NOTHING ELSE!

So a CG cut scene does not show off the ability of the console in any way at all.

<hold on, you get one too. -1,+1. while that may be true, you're not about to sit here and tell me they can look the same on any console, because they cant. unless that was all the game consisted of. because there wouldn't be enough storage space. a PS1 disc would be nearly out of space only holding 1 PS3 quality high-def CG. Other console disc dont have the storage space to look the same because they still have to have space to store the game.

[Pelican170]

I just got MGS4 last night and now i understand the difference. Oh, and they did a great job with the graphics!

[CptGreedle]

Well yes, space wise the console would be limited to whatever the storage capacity can handle. Resolution as well. But the quality of those graphics would only be limited by the ability of the console to play the file. Either they look the same (resolution aside), or they are compressed, or they don't run at all.
A movie file on a PS3 game would probably take up an entire PSone disc if it is long enough/high enough quality.

So they would not be exactly the same as some limitations would still apply.. but I think you got my point too. The console does no actual processing during these scenes except what it needs to to play it. All the graphics are done and rendered before hand on much more powerful computers and using much longer render times to get better results.

Nice use of the foot in mouth smiley lol (and twice in one page lol)

As I said, by keeping the graphics consistent by using game play graphics, you can better immerse the player in the game instead of showing them something dazzling only to take it away once the movie file is over and put them back in a lower quality world.
Still, those movies are impressive, but I suspect they are headed out.

[dereksworl]

Originally Posted by CptGreedle

Well yes, space wise the console would be limited to whatever the storage capacity can handle. Resolution as well. But the quality of those graphics would only be limited by the ability of the console to play the file. Either they look the same (resolution aside), or they are compressed, or they don't run at all.
A movie file on a PS3 game would probably take up an entire PSone disc if it is long enough/high enough quality.

So they would not be exactly the same as some limitations would still apply.. but I think you got my point too. The console does no actual processing during these scenes except what it needs to to play it. All the graphics are done and rendered before hand on much more powerful computers and using much longer render times to get better results.

Nice use of the foot in mouth smiley lol (and twice in one page lol)

As I said, by keeping the graphics consistent by using game play graphics, you can better immerse the player in the game instead of showing them something dazzling only to take it away once the movie file is over and put them back in a lower quality world.
Still, those movies are impressive, but I suspect they are headed out.

yeah, i did see what you were trying to saying though. It was indeed a good point