There were quite a few moments in the campaign when they used in game dialogue rather than a cutscene and I couldn’t get why they did it. Usually this would be where they would deliberately create a lull in combat so that you had to listen to what was going on. So, for example, in Reunion when you first speak to Cortana and are still kind of unsure if shes alive or not she doesn’t open the bridge until you’ve finished talking. In The Breaking they literally sit you on the story stool as those Gondola’s carry you from platform to platform.
So they obviously want to force a break in the combat and tell the story to the player; but aren’t willing to make a cutscene. Which is ultimately bad for all parties. A player who just wants to play the game can’t skip these instances, whereas the dialogue will be deliberately pruned and trimmed down so as not to make the pause too great for the player, which hurts the narrative. You also lose a lot of things like body language and music which can help set the tone much better in a cutscene.
I mean the two instances I gave are pretty important moments in the campaign, in particular the first and it felt really lazy to relegate these to in game dialogue that you might well miss. Is it really that difficult to make a cinematic using the game engine? I know other games like Wolfenstein have a ton of such moments.
I don’t think there’s anything wrong with this. It’s to make gameplay more seemless. Lots of video games have been doing this lately and it just gives u the ability to look at whatever u like during what is basically a cut scene
On the flip side, having too many cutscenes in a game could lead to the impression that there isn’t much gameplay.
I think it’s a healthy balance between the two.
They’ve literally done this in all the other Halo’s.
So what do you think would be in a cutscene where you’re being carried by the gondola? Seriously, a cutscene is useless in that scenario, like seriously what kind of action would be in a cutscene with just characters talking and nothing else is happening?
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> So what do you think would be in a cutscene where you’re being carried by the gondola? Seriously, a cutscene is useless in that scenario, like seriously what kind of action would be in a cutscene with just characters talking and nothing else is happening?
Show Chief talking to Cortana, surveying the alien environment, ever-aware even during conversation. Put the Tron-esque Vista as the centerpiece, show pieces floating and energy coursing through the massive circuit-like landscape below, highlight the ridiculously long fall one would have if they misstepped while on the gondola.
You can do a bunch of stuff to set the scene just through camera angles, and have the dialogue sort of pinpoint just how alien Cortana has become, a parallel with this odd environment.
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> > 2533274860945165;5:
> > So what do you think would be in a cutscene where you’re being carried by the gondola? Seriously, a cutscene is useless in that scenario, like seriously what kind of action would be in a cutscene with just characters talking and nothing else is happening?
>
> Show Chief talking to Cortana, surveying the alien environment, ever-aware even during conversation. Put the Tron-esque Vista as the centerpiece, show pieces floating and energy coursing through the massive circuit-like landscape below, highlight the ridiculously long fall one would have if they misstepped while on the gondola.
>
> You can do a bunch of stuff to set the scene just through camera angles, and have the dialogue sort of pinpoint just how alien Cortana has become, a parallel with this odd environment.
The environment around them is literally just clouds and the Guardians. Cortana can only speak with them via radio(or whatever communication system it was again I can’t remember and I’m too lazy to google it). There is literally nothing a cutscene could do better, actually it might make it worse, considering you would load into the cutscene and load back into the regular game.
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> > 2533274832335336;6:
> > > 2533274860945165;5:
> > > So what do you think would be in a cutscene where you’re being carried by the gondola? Seriously, a cutscene is useless in that scenario, like seriously what kind of action would be in a cutscene with just characters talking and nothing else is happening?
> >
> > Show Chief talking to Cortana, surveying the alien environment, ever-aware even during conversation. Put the Tron-esque Vista as the centerpiece, show pieces floating and energy coursing through the massive circuit-like landscape below, highlight the ridiculously long fall one would have if they misstepped while on the gondola.
> >
> > You can do a bunch of stuff to set the scene just through camera angles, and have the dialogue sort of pinpoint just how alien Cortana has become, a parallel with this odd environment.
>
> The environment around them is literally just clouds and the Guardians. Cortana can only speak with them via radio(or whatever communication system it was again I can’t remember and I’m too lazy to google it). There is literally nothing a cutscene could do better, actually it might make it worse, considering you would load into the cutscene and load back into the regular game.
But as the OP was saying, at least a cutscene wouldn’t be a massive roadblock you’re forced to sit through, something that would be useful for speedrunners.
Otherwise I’d say keep something like that short, the part in The Breaking was nothing but straight up boring exposition for like 30-40 seconds straight. Painful for people who don’t give a crap about what’s being said.
Plus, in a cutscene they can add more variety to the background, showing swarms of Sentinels or some odd contraption forming out of pieces of the ground that rise up to Cortana’s platform, whatever. Make it seem like she’s preparing something devastating.
Better yet, that 30 seconds asking about Cortana’s kill count could have gone toward making Blue Team not be stoic pieces of driftwood that add nothing to the game.
Well a cutscene during Reunion could have shown Chiefs body language and shock at suddenly hearing Cortana’s voice. You can just convey a lot more with a cutscene than dialogue. It also should be an important moment, the mission is called Reunion; kind of would expect a bigger deal to be made than her jarringly speaking to you all of a sudden. A cutscene gives a moment more weight than just in game dialogue that’s normally reserved for mission info and other trivia.
In game dialogue can do wonders for story telling and immersion. Look at something like Half-life 2 which is designed to have the events of the game happen around you, there are no cut scenes you are always ‘present’ and can look at what you’d like, a person talking to you will have their face track you as you move about as if you were actually having a conversation, and in some case you can trigger specific dialogue through your actions. This can be used to augment story telling.
On the other hand some cut scenes often take you out of the game itself, which can be good or bad. They can be used to show epic moments or give proper weight to a moment or they can be long overblown failures. Few things annoy me more than unskippable cut scenes on replays.
Both have a place and can be used well, a lot of the flaws in Halo 5’s story could have been fixed using either and a few of the cut scenes that were there were cringe worthy (Lock/Chief fight) and outdone by in game dialogue (The chief calling Cortana on trying to manipulate him.) How well they effect the story depends upon the writing itself, whether they were implemented correctly, the quality of the voice acting, and the quality of the animation. If any of those things is a failure, then the whole thing is pointless. If you have a wonderful story and a poor voice actor that can’t convey the emotion of the scene, it doesn’t work. If you’re doing a cut scene and the animator fails to live up to the quality of the voice acting or the story than it can ruin an otherwise excellent thing.
Cut scenes aren’t automatically superior to in game dialogue, anymore than the opposite is true. It’s all dependent on quality and implementation.
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> Well a cutscene during Reunion could have shown Chiefs body language and shock at suddenly hearing Cortana’s voice. You can just convey a lot more with a cutscene than dialogue. It also should be an important moment, the mission is called Reunion; kind of would expect a bigger deal to be made than her jarringly speaking to you all of a sudden. A cutscene gives a moment more weight than just in game dialogue that’s normally reserved for mission info and other trivia.
I agree completely. Halo 5 has no subtleties in most if not all its cutscenes, and we are told everything instead of being able to see it ourselves.
Show don’t tell, and Halo 5 needed this in the cutscenes.
That, and an actual coherent story.
Im really confused as to what you mean by that.