Support NeoGAF

[KarmaCow]

I also skipped the flavor text of Torchlight and almost skipped the cutscenes of Alan Wake (I stopped playing instead).

I also was listening to a podcast while playing Blacklist, so I really didn't listen to the cutscenes. Now that I think of it I also did that with Sniper Elite V2, Rage, Prince of Persia and I'm sure some other game I can't remember.

The majority of my single player game time has been with podcasts lately but how can you listen to podcasts with people talking in cutscenes? I get headaches doing that.

This mentality seriously hurts my brain.

Gaming is a media form, just like books, movies and TV. Interactive story telling is fantastic, therefore there are many incredible stories in gaming.

I absolutely could not be a gamer without the stories, just no way. Far too boring.

Most of the time game stories are fed through cutscenes, audio logs, or straight up plain text in some codex. Pretty much the least interactive methods possible. It's easy not to care when the game is split into story time and gameplay with little overlap in any way possible.

 

[Shining Sunshine]

I always watch them at least once.

It's like devaluing your purchase skipping cutscenes.

 

[Ingueferroque]

Do you guys seriously sit through the stupid dialogue in Diablo 3?

I always watch them at least once.

It's like devaluing your purchase skipping cutscenes.

Or devaluing your time.

 

[Alej]

No! Why I would do this?

 

[Arthr2ShdsJcksn]

Only in Metal Gear games.

 

[Y2Kev]

I skipped every cutscene in Star Ocean 4 (made it a super fun game) and I also skip cutscenes in Bayonetta. They are long, poorly shot, have awful characters, etc.

 

[gngf123]

Generally, no. Only if I've read/watched it before.

I wish games would use less cutscenes though. The fewer the better. Do the story telling in game.

 

[Rothgil]

I skip every cutscene I'm allowed to. If not I'll just mute the game and do something else until it's over. Don't know how on earth I would've finished Last of Us if I had to sit through every cutscene in that game.

 

[strafer]

nope

 

[Pankratous]

I skip every cutscene I'm allowed to. If not I'll just mute the game and do something else until it's over. Don't know how on earth I would've finished Last of Us if I had to sit through every cutscene in that game.

• Oh
• My
• God

 

[Dog Problems]

I think in some games the story is so trivial that it really doesn't take away much from the experience. (Ninja gaiden for example, as the op already mentioned)

However, playing through a story focused game like Uncharted and skipping all the cutscenes would seem insane to me.

I think of something like Uncharted and even The Last of Us as having a good balance of story and gameplay mechanics. A person could get enjoyment out of those games if all they cared about is story or if they just wanted gameplay. When I played through The Last of Us, I gave the story a chance, got bored, and played the rest of it while catching up on episodes of This American Life. But I got enjoyment from exploring its world and some of the gunplay.

 

[BouncyFrag]

 

[Damigos]

I don't even skip cutscenes in MMOs..
I have seen almost every cutscene in WoW

 

[partyphone]

This mentality seriously hurts my brain.

Gaming is a media form, just like books, movies and TV. Interactive story telling is fantastic, therefore there are many incredible stories in gaming.

I absolutely could not be a gamer without the stories, just no way. Far too boring.

a cut scene isn't interactive. i love the story in portal 1 and 2, for example.

 

[Awntawn]

I watch the skits between chapters of candy crush

 

[Enter The 36 Chambers]

Actually I did watch most of Bioshock Infinite's cutscenes. Even if it didn't make much sense, I was told by a friend it was awesome. I enjoyed it but if I were to ever replay it they'd get skipped instantly.

 

[OmegaDL50]

Nah, I don't skip cutscenes mainly for context for gameplay objectives.

Watching a friend play Metal Gear Solid skipping every codec sequence and cutscene and bitching because the story didn't make sense, well there IS why it didn't make fucking sense. Context is important.

 

[DarkoMaledictus]

This mentality seriously hurts my brain.

Gaming is a media form, just like books, movies and TV. Interactive story telling is fantastic, therefore there are many incredible stories in gaming.

I absolutely could not be a gamer without the stories, just no way. Far too boring.

Different tastes, I like sand box games and I couldn't care less about stories. For example, I played a lot of Just cause 2 and I think I didn't even do like 20% of the main missions .

 

[Uraizen]

Sorry I should clarify. I do watch the first and second cutscenes but rarely ever get past the second. Like I said outside of Halo and GTA they get skipped.

Ninja Gaiden Black and 2 are some of my all time favourite games, but the stories and cutscenes are awful.

Gameplay>story for me

I'll spoil them for you. Somebody did something bad and now you have to kill whatever gets in your way. Your motivation? Be a badass and style on everything.

 

[Pankratous]

a cut scene isn't interactive. i love the story in portal 1 and 2, for example.

But a cutscene supports the gameplay significantly. Without the cutscene, the gameplay is meaningless.

 

[Pau]

Why would I not want to know what's going on in the media I paid money for because of my interest in?

People that skip cutscenes always strike me as people that are way too impatient or who feel a lot of "proxy shame" about what they're playing.

Sometimes a game's gameplay is worth paying for, but its excuse for a story is not worth sitting through. It's not "proxy shame", it's just not wanting to waste time watching something you're not interested in so that you can get to the part you are interested in.

Something like Valkyria Chronicles I can totally see not being everyone's thing as far as story goes, but it's one of the few games with that kind of gameplay. So yeah, I won't hate on people who skip the cutscenes or don't give a shit about the story.

 

[PeakPointMatrix]

Fuck no. I paid 60$ US dollars for this game, so I'm going to enjoy every second of it.

And I'm tired of this smug, "videogame stories are the worst told stories" shit. TV and movies have just as much shitty writing and storytelling, if not more so.

 

[Sn4ke_911]

I skip every cutscene I'm allowed to. If not I'll just mute the game and do something else until it's over. Don't know how on earth I would've finished Last of Us if I had to sit through every cutscene in that game.

That's Troy Baker. The voice actor of Joel.

 

[Htown]

I never skip them the first time through a game.

Also, you should always be able to skip them.

And pause them.

 

[RM8]

But a cutscene supports the gameplay significantly. Without the cutscene, the gameplay is meaningless.

You're describing a sucky game.

 

[Air Zombie Meat]

The first time through, no. But I can't lie, I am often mightily tempted to these days.

 

[freakzilla3000]

No....I don't.... BUT my buddy who I usually play with does and it drives me crazy. At least for the first play through, I like to see the cut scenes and know what's going on in the story. He could care less though.

 

[Dog Problems]

But a cutscene supports the gameplay significantly. Without the cutscene, the gameplay is meaningless.

For me, personally, I have to disagree with this. I get a lot of enjoyment out of things such as basic exploration or combat. Story adds nothing to both of those aspects for me.

 

[Molemitts]

I skip every cutscene I'm allowed to. If not I'll just mute the game and do something else until it's over. Don't know how on earth I would've finished Last of Us if I had to sit through every cutscene in that game.

Ha ha ha. A+ bait.

Spoiler

Most people normally have the opposite problem with The Last of Us.

But a cutscene supports the gameplay significantly. Without the cutscene, the gameplay is meaningless.

That's implying the only way to tell a story is through a cutscene, or that a game needs a story to be worthwhile. Neither are true.

 

[Gbraga]

But a cutscene supports the gameplay significantly. Without the cutscene, the gameplay is meaningless.

I'm ok with meaningless.

 

[partyphone]

But a cutscene supports the gameplay significantly. Without the cutscene, the gameplay is meaningless.

this is not true on a number of levels. gameplay systems should be interesting and engaging in and of themselves. otherwise what's the point of playing?

secondly I very much doubt there are many gameplay scenarios that couldn't be setup without a cut scene. stuff like MGS and TLOU is self indulgent tripe.

 

[MillionStabs]

First time playing a game? No way I'd skip 'em

 

[Trick_GSF]

No.

 

[shadowsdarknes]

Are you one of those gameplay purists?

 

[Pankratous]

You're describing a sucky game.

I'm describing every game (that has a story).

 

[Bedlam]

No.

Except in Halo and GTA games, because that shit is always dumb.

 

[Enter The 36 Chambers]

But a cutscene supports the gameplay significantly. Without the cutscene, the gameplay is meaningless.

My GOAT game is Super Metroid. That game had little story besides Ridley taking the baby and the text intro. That was enough for me. And it's still one of the greatest games ever made.

Now obviously that was a long time ago and games have changed dramatically. But I still think a game can be great on gameplay alone.

Let me skip your cutscenes devs.

 

[Air Zombie Meat]

On topic, text > cut-scenes. Because I can read very quickly.

Thats a good point. For example in Valkyria Chronicles I barely ever hear the lines spoken because I read them much quicker than the voiceover does. I'm not sitting around to wait for them to slowly read out the lines so I end up skipping to the next one before they're done.

 

[Anfang]

Usually skip if I have seen them before. Big ones like aeriths though get watched again.

 

[Pankratous]

No.

Except in Halo and GTA games, because that shit is always dumb.

So in Halo you're just like, running around shooting things? With absolutely no idea of why, or where you are, what is going on etc...?

What is the point?

 

[Adnor]

The majority of my single player game time has been with podcasts lately but how can you listen to podcasts with people talking in cutscenes? I get headaches doing that.

I alt-tab and lower the volume of the game.

 

[KarmaCow]

I'm describing every game (that has a story).

Absolutely not true, unless you honestly believe the gameplay in say Bayo is pointless with the story.

I alt-tab and lower the volume of the game.

Well I'm lazy.

 

[Gbraga]

I'm describing every game (that has a story).

Not really. Ignoring the story in Nier makes the game meaningless, I'll agree. But ignoring the story in Crysis makes the game better.

So in Halo you're just like, running around shooting things? With absolutely no idea of why, or where you are, what is going on etc...?

What is the point?

Having fun with videogames.

 

[LaunchpadMcQ]

I actually did this on my initial playthrough of Darksiders. I was digging the gameplay, but the story was really uninteresting to me, so I decided to just skip all the cutscenes.

 

[Pankratous]

Absolutely not true, unless you honestly believe the gameplay in say Bayo is pointless with the story.

I haven't played Bayonetta, but I absolutely would not skip cutscenes in it. I need to do exactly what I'm doing, and why. Who's the enemy, what is their motive? Everything.

 

[//ARCANUM]

Games just struggle to have good stories that draw me in or interest me.

Yeah... Maybe because you... You know... SKIP THE CUTSCENES.

 

[theWB27]

Absolutely not...even on subsequent playthroughs I rarely do this.

I stop watching people who do this also.

 

[Uraizen]

Absolutely not true, unless you honestly believe the gameplay in say Bayo is pointless with the story.

It was easy to infer the story in that game without cutscenes anyway. I strongly prefer it when games tell a story that way.

 

[Enter The 36 Chambers]

Are you one of those gameplay purists?

Not really sure what you mean by this.

But I have less time to game these days and don't buy a whole lot of games either. When I do I just want to play it. If the first cutscenes don't grab me, I'm skipping for the rest of the game.

I would describe that as being a purist. I have no problem with cutscenes I'm games, as long as I'm given the choice to skip them.

 

[NavyPharaoh]

U remind me of a roommate I once had. He skipped every cut scene then would ask me what he's supposed to do next. What do u gain by skipping it? 1 minute?