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I like CG trailers.

They're cool but to me they're just a waste of resources. I find it to be just one of the many things that steer AAA games into the realm of over-bloated messes that end up doing a lot of things poorly rather than a few things well.
 
That's cool. I personally can't stand them. I want to see gameplay.

If you're going to announce a game via a trailer with no in-game footage, it needs to be, like, 10 seconds long at most.

This is how I feel as well. I see why they make them. Look at any cg trailer thread and you'll see a dozen of variants of the "Day 1!" post. This industry is overly reliant on hype and driving preorders/Day 1 sales.
 

Chase17

Member
Thinking about it, probably most of my favorite trailers are CG.

Also as I've tried to move away from watching gameplay segments ahead of my own playthrough I've begun to appreciate them more as they are usually just put into an intro or not at all.
 
This is how I feel as well. I see why they make them. Look at any cg trailer thread and you'll see a dozen of variants of the "Day 1!" post. This industry is overly reliant on hype and driving preorders/Day 1 sales.
That assumes that people who think a CG trailer is cool will also be instantly preordering or buying the game based solely on a CG trailer

I really enjoy CG trailer, but more because they look cool and are a stylish introduction to a game. Like how short films are cool. But I never buy or back anything that I haven't seen gameplay of.
 

SinShep

Member
They've never been a deciding factor to whether or not I buy a game, but as their own art form they can be amazing.
 
That assumes that people who think a CG trailer is cool will also be instantly preordering or buying the game based solely on a CG trailer

I really enjoy CG trailer, but more because they look cool and are a stylish introduction to a game. Like how short films are cool. But I never buy or back anything that I haven't seen gameplay of.

What about people who buy a console on the back of of CG trailers for exclusive upcoming titles and IPs? People might think, "Oh man, they're going to have X, Y, and Z! Sure, maybe in 2 years, but I want that console when they come out!" 2 years later, X and Y have had pretty substantial overhauls to the game, making it something it didn't appear to be from the original trailer, and Z has been cancelled.

That's what I see in CG trailers for games that are far out; empty promises. So I guess I have a bigger issue with it from the perspective of console makers showing CG trailers for exclusive products. Now, we can and should all be analytical enough to know these could be wholly unrepresentative of the future of the console, but I think there's certainly a tendency for people to do that.
 
What about people who buy a console on the back of of CG trailers for exclusive upcoming titles and IPs? People might think, "Oh man, they're going to have X, Y, and Z! Sure, maybe in 2 years, but I want that console when they come out!" 2 years later, X and Y have had pretty substantial overhauls to the game, making it something it didn't appear to be from the original trailer, and Z has been cancelled.
That's the person's problem and their lack of patience, than anything to do with the developers IMO
 

FluxWaveZ

Member
What about people who buy a console on the back of of CG trailers for exclusive upcoming titles and IPs? People might think, "Oh man, they're going to have X, Y, and Z! Sure, maybe in 2 years, but I want that console when they come out!" 2 years later, X and Y have had pretty substantial overhauls to the game, making it something it didn't appear to be from the original trailer, and Z has been cancelled.

The same happens with gameplay trailers.
 

Gbraga

Member
I enjoy watching CG trailers for games I already care about, basically. If you're announcing something new and you do it with a CG trailer instead of showing the actual game, chances are I won't even watch it.

I like them. I prefer it when they're followed up by gameplay like the Smash 4 trailers, but I find it hard to care.

It's embarrassing to see people so angry over it with stuff like Injustice 2 since I'm sure we'll see gameplay next week, and anyway, that's one of those games where you already know the basics of how it will play.

Oh, people get angry about it? Yeah, that sounds silly. I just don't watch and ignore it.
 

lewisgone

Member
I like them. I prefer it when they're followed up by gameplay like the Smash 4 trailers, but I find it hard to care.

It's embarrassing to see people so angry over it with stuff like Injustice 2 since I'm sure we'll see gameplay next week, and anyway, that's one of those games where you already know the basics of how it will play.
 
That's the person's problem and their lack of patience, than anything to do with the developers IMO

I understand that. That's why I followed it by saying people should know better, but particularly early in the gen, when there aren't a lot of other games out, it's easy to do.

The same happens with gameplay trailers.

Gameplay overhauls could definitely happen, and even cancelled games. But at the point where actual gameplay is being shown, the title is likely entrenched enough that it will be coming out in a form generally the same as what you're seeing. Exceptions exist of course, but something like a Fable Legends is extremely rare.
 

eXistor

Member
I think they're all trash, not one exception. I'm mostly talking about modern CG trailers. There's just no point to them anymore. I don't care how good it looks, it's not representative of the actual game so it's worthless to me. You want to get me interested in your game? Show me actual minute to minute gameplay, but they take it too far with that too. I don't want to see the first hour of a game, why ruin the surprise? Honestly just gimme a trailer that shows gameplay, some diferent environments and I'm good.
 

kurahador

Member
I like CG trailers if it showcase some gameplay elements or provide insight to the setting, like Overwatch shorts or Deus Ex Mankind Divided where they showed the character abilities and narratives you will get to see in-game.

Dead Island and Injustice 2 trailer though is just terrible.
 

FluxWaveZ

Member
I like CG trailers if it showcase some gameplay elements or provide insight to the setting, like Overwatch shorts or Deus Ex Mankind Divided where they showed the character abilities and narratives you will get to see in-game.

Dead Island and Injustice 2 trailer though is just terrible.

What's wrong with the Injustice 2 trailer, based on what you say? The abilities of the characters are showcased, along with the big new element to the game which is loot that changes a character's looks and abilities, and we already logically know the fundamental structure of the game as a fighting game sequel.
 

Sephzilla

Member
What I don't like are CG trailers being used in place of gameplay. Halo has become a huge offender of this in recent years.
 

krang

Member
I like CGI trailers for known franchises, because I know what to kinda expect. For everything else gameplay is better.
 

Kindekuma

Banned
CG trailers are great for story and mood setting and selling the consumer the overall vibe of the game in general. Of course gameplay trailers are always the best, CG trailers are still fun to watch.
 

mishakoz

Member
CG trailers are lies for the most part. Some are good, but they tell me nothing about the game. Even FF7's trailer was good only for the excitement and what it represented, but told me nothing about what kind of game it is.

This is why I have trouble getting excited for Blizzard games, they are all CG. I prefer a trailer that starts cinematic, transforms seamlessly into gameplay like the Horizon announce trailer and MGSV red band trailer.
 

LakeEarth

Member
After the whole Phantom Dust fiasco, I've figured out that CG announcement trailers are basically pointless. Almost no difference from a press release which mention the information given in the trailer (i.e. in the Injustice 2 trailer, I'd be fine if they just gave me a list of the characters in the trailer).
 

striferser

Huge Nickleback Fan
They're cool for announcement and a good way to let the audience know that developer is making a game. I usually only watch it once, then waiting for the gameplay trailer. I never made my purchasing decision based on CG trailer, but they did make me interested to know more about the game.
 

Acosta

Member
I love the great ones, but it has to be really special like the ones from Blizzard, Visual Works or Blind. They can actually sell me on the setting of the game.

I don't mind the rest but they do little for me.
 

Kindekuma

Banned
I love the great ones, but it has to be really special like the ones from Blizzard, Visual Works or Blind. They can actually sell me on the setting of the game.

I don't mind the rest but they do little for me.

Don't forget Blur, too! They're a great studio.
 

takoyaki

Member
I like good CG/in-engine trailers that set the atmosphere for a game, followed by some in-game footage not to long after.

like what Watchdogs 2 did today.
 

Wagram

Member
They're alright, but a gameplay video should be made available soon after. It's been a year and we still don't know what Recore is. How can I get excited about it?

Inafune? That's a joke.
 

Yogg

Member
I love good CG trailers. But I get really frustrated if no gameplay is shown for months afterwards.

The perfect conditions are a great CG trailer to hype the game and introduce the theme, and just after a gameplay sample.

It's not the defining factor for whether I'll ultimately buy the game or not, but a good gameplay showcase will keep me interested in the game until its release (Horizon), whereas I'll probably soon forget about a single CG trailer (that last year E3 moba? game on xbox, honestly can't remember the name).
 

Neonep

Member
It really depends on the type of game it is, how far it is from release/how far in development it is, & how many trailers we've seen for it. I loved the one for Injustice 2 that came out earlier today and it was a CG trailer and I already have an idea of how the game plays. On the flip side something say Recore on Xbox One, I don't want a CG trailer, I want a gameplay trailer cause I want to see how the game plays and we've already got a CG trailer. So it depends on a few things.
 
I'm gonna go even further, I love cgi cutscenes in videogames... They almost dont exist anymore.. Everytime theres a cgi cutscene in a final fantasy I drop the controller and smile at the beauty :)
 
I like them for established things that I already have an preconceived idea of that the trailer pushes me in a new direction, the direction the studio/publisher wants me to view the game from

The Agents of Mayhem one was 4 minutes (ugh) of overindulgence and no concrete information. A failure of a teaser, unless the main draw was to fall in love with these obnoxious characters and garrish artstyle. Just go look in that thread and see all the people thinking it was another online shooter instead of a (?) single player open world thing.

Lets not even get into mini-movies like Dead Island with nothing to do with the game theyre advertising
 

Oneself

Member
Sometimes I enjoy them for what they are, but I think it's mostly a waste of time and money.
If your game isn't ready to be shown, don't show it.

I'm also quite disgusted by the recent trend of simulating gameplay in CG trailers.
 
I like blur studio and blizzard cg trailers, most other companies make pretty meh ones in comparison. All the riot games trailers after the blur one have been mediocre at best. One of my favorite things during e3 is spotting the blur studios trailer(s). They are usually the best ones out of the bunch 9/10
 
CG trailers are awesome!

I see it as their purpose is to get me excited about a game. I have all of the time in the world to look for gameplay in the future, but E3 is the opportunity to sell me on a game instantly. I don't watch CG trailers to get educated, I watch them to get excited. And boy do I love getting excited!

Bring them on!!! :D
 
One of the things i miss the most during the ps1 or ps2 era was the cgi ending we get when we beat the game.

That was our reward for beating it. Now we get nothing because gameplay came close to cgi quality.

So the more cgi the better
 

Doctre81

Member
I don't. Graphics are way too good to need them. It kind of craps on all the devs work. I hated the fact that UC4 had a CG commercial. For what?
 
I really don't care, if devs go the Ubi route and they are accompanied by gameplay, but an announcement that is just a CGI trailer and nothing else is really lacklustre to me, even if they manage to show things that are actually possible in the game like Deus Ex.
 

meerak

Member
I hate them, personally, but live and let live as I always say. It's a shame so much money has to be spent on them instead of game development though. I say "has to" because clearly there is an unbreakable law that says CG trailers sell games and you must make one.

And yet... Rockstar games. No CG trailers, mass market appeal. I wonder why other's feel they need them? Is there proof in this pudding?
 
I love CG trailers, I have no issue with them at all. They get me hyped and peak my interest as to what the game and its story will be about.
 
I'm over CG trailers personally but I'm not going to get mad when a company decides to use it to announce their new game. I understand how the whole process goes down. Gameplay will be revealed soon following the initial announcement depending on the release schedule and if not then whatever. I'll still be hyped for the game.
 
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