After God of War, It's Time to Ditch Pre-Rendered Cutscenes

For the ways I have nitpicked God of War, there’s certainly one area where it’s been flawless, and that’s its presentation.
Generally, Sony’s first party studios have been very good at harnessing the PS4 hardware to produce exceptional results, emphasizing during their big conference demos that everything you see is running in real-time and in-engine on PS4. Which naturally leads me to wonder why, when it comes to big reveals from publishers and marketing, that pre-rendered cinematics remain widespread when games like God of War prove they aren't necessary?

[FallenAngel1984]

I can’t imagine Square Enix giving up using pre-rendered cutscenes in their games

[UltraNova]

Would you like that? I wouldn't. Pre-red cutscenes are in SE's DNA. I wouldn't have it any other way.

As for GoW...what more can I say...perfect execution. I cant imagine how much planning and work they had to put down in order to nail the one shot camera thing throughout the whole 25~ hrs it takes to complete the game.

Excellent work SSM!

[Goldby]

Cory was saying the hardest part was the transition. From gameplay to cinematic.

Having to incorporate the level design into it as well to ensure the player is in the right place at the right time to start the cinematic

[UltraNova]

@goldby

I can only imagine how hard that must have been considering every player would approach each part at a slightly different angle/spot..damn!

[Goldby]

thats what he was talking about, not just makign sure that the player is in the general right area but in terms of level design making sure the player going in the right direction. the only time i noticed it was a little tooo scripted was when we first encountered the draugrs in the tutorial, it takes control away and turns us to the right to see a draugr go after atreus

[rainslacker]

There's no need to. Some games can do well with them, some do better with in-game renders. It's another situation of someone acting like one thing has to take over another because it's executed well somewhere. Both work fine, and it depends on the game.

[UCForce]

Which is refreshing to be honest. One shot camera is just amazing.

[ScootaKuH]

Yeah! When I first started playing it I couldn't work out what was different about the way it was presented. It was only after I read a review that talked about the one shot camera and then it all made sense. Very impressive to say the least, technically and from a presentation standpoint

[salmonade]

Honestly I hardly noticed it either. That is a testament to how amazing it is and how much of a great job they did. I was just immersed in the story and gameplay. It was as close to flawless as you could get.

[doggo84]

"For the ways I have nitpicked God of War" it's the popular and hip thing to do

[NapalmSanctuary]

LOL What? Are you kidding me?

[DivineAssault]

Agreed... That no cut camera was so damn amazing too.. I cant help but notice all the erratic cuts in other games now..

[rainslacker]

It was. But in the end game while I was cleaning up for trophies, I would have been happy with a quicker fast travel mechanic. Even if it meant loading screens.

Otherwise, it was very well done, and I have no complaints about the presentation at all.

[zielocz3k]

after GoW 2018 i want first God of War to be remade in same style :D but i also want sequel already :D amazing game

[DivineAssault]

Youd need jumping mechanics unless its redesigned in every way.. Really good idea.. Maybe a separate dev team while the main team works on sequels..

[sinspirit]

That would be interesting, but the new combat is more about control and not simply hack and slashing. Which is a huge focus on what he is trying to teach his son. I could see a mix between the two if they were to ever fully realize the previous games combat mechanics. Seeing the grand scale of some of the bosses and structures again but on current and next gen hardware would be great.

It would have been awesome to be able to play Kratos' fight against Zeus at the end of GoW III as a secret in GoW4, but with a lot of tweaks to blend both games mechanics together, and then to allow us to see past the final cutscene to find how it led to GoW4.

[Segata]

It was time to give up on them last generation. CGI cutscenes have not been needed since 360/PS3 but devs still used them needlessly. After the FF7 demo on PS3 it just felt like they are no longer needed.

[DivineAssault]

Like Tomb Raider? It looks BA like that.. Then when gameplay is shown it wont be anywhere near that level of quality.. MKX did a CGI trailer and it was so disappointing when gameplay was shown a few years back..

[Inzo]

I loved the no cut camera but at some point the story will have to be told that pre-dates Kratos' arrival in Midgard (I hope), it will be interesting to see how they will achieve they transition between present and past tense.

[Goldby]

It's already built into the norse mythos.

Thor hits the world serpent so hard he travels back in time.

[rainslacker]

Maybe just do a prologue, or flashes in some flash back screen.

Also nothing that says they have to use the same approach in the future....and having a break wouldn't really ruin anything.

[Z501]

Nope. Do both.

[Cobra951]

Right. If a scene happens in the game world, and needs only game characters and props, then sure, it makes sense to do it using the game engine in real-time. That produces the most seamless result. But a cutscene may involve external scenarios (not in the game world) and way too much detail to render in real time on consumer hardware. They may involve quick transitions between multiple locales and characters. Why should prerendered scenes not be used? The trick is to give them a consistent appearance with the game's visuals. If that's done correctly, the user would be hard-pressed to even notice. The whole experience is an illusion anyway. It just has to be created properly, with all the tools that make sense.

[gustave154]

Why would you nitpick god of war?

[VerminSC]

That transition from menu to opening was amazing.

[CobraKai]

I felt that way after MGS1 on PSX

[IAreBeMrLee]

Every Ubisoft trailer would at least be representive of there games then...

[CrimsonWing69]

Why can’t we have both?

[Rippcity]

Exactly this. It's the same mentality some people here have about the single player vs multi-player argument. For some games pre-rendered cutscenes work well and some they are unnecessary. In some games multi-player works well and others it doesn't. It blows my mind that people make statements like this because it makes no sense. Why would anyone want LESS diversity in games? Smfh...

[InKnight7s]

Most westren games don't have a good CGI anyway, even in last gen, games where always face to face dialouges with lil of action cutscenes. Japanese are the master of CGI and action cuntacenes, I mean just look at FF CGI it delivered the ultimate joy since ever.

[rainslacker]

A lot of them don't have good in-game cutscenes either.:)

[senorfartcushion]

Wait... Is this site making out like cutting is a burden and a form of poverty, and that only the best can make a game that doesn't cut?

[Goldby]

No it's about pre rendered CGI scenes instead of using at least I game cinematics. Gow is just the extreme where they not only used I game scenes but also ensured no cuts would happen

[jivah]

I love those pre rendered cgi cutscenes that put me into that put my controller watch a short movie mode. I love it to this day even through all the ridiculous brouhaha of the ps3/360 gen where nobody wanted em and wanted to opt for crappy in game graphics cutscenes. I never understood it. Like why wouldnt you want a cutscene to look as good as possible. Idk

[Gatsu]

GOW isn't the first game that made cutscenes like this.

[Goldby]

It's the first game to have a single shot for the entire game

[pyroxxx]

well Dead Spaces had it (though loading levels)

[Sunny_D]

pyroxxx, not the same. You never lose control of the character's movement while things happen in front of you. Not really cinematic but its also a different game.

[Goldby]

@Sunny_D

you do loose control of kratos though during GOW.
its more about no cuts in the game from the moment it starts (unless you reload/die) everything else happens on screen, loading is hidden behind the bifrost scenes. no loading in levels has been done before, but this is the first game to have no load screen throughout the entire game.

[InTheZoneAC]

For dedicated rpgs I'll always prefer cinematic prerendered cutscenes. I like those games to have movie elements.

Gow is one of my top games of all time, btw

[Cmv38]

I really hate when opinions are broad stroked. Yes, they were great in God of war, but it doesn't have to become the norm. If it becomes every where, then it will get not as awesome because everybody is doing it. Some games need pre rendered cut scenes to help their narrative. The only this I absolutely need is the ability to skip cut scenes.

[sampsonon]

p

[Germaximus]

No way. They just need to be balanced. That is all. 20 minute long cut scenes take you completely out of the game. They shouldn't be any longer than 5 minutes and you should be able to interact with them in some way.

For me it's more about the pacing than completely getting rid of a cinematic.

[Goldby]

Depends on the game.
If say a narrative driven game with a 25+ hour play time only has 5 minute long cinematics, that is alot less time than say a 10 hr game with the same limit yo the cinematics.

Plus some stuff may not GD able to be fully expressed in 5 minutes.

At the end of the day it's the creative directors decision how long or how short