My favorite game from the PS1 generation was Xenogears. I also played and loved the entire Xenosaga series from begining to end; hell, I played the first two games twice each, once when they were first released and once before the third game came out.

Does that answer your question?

While I love a game that can tell its story without cutscenes, I have no problem with cutscenes of any length as long as they are well produced when I am playing a story focused game.

So what they're saying is... Kojima has basically given up on making games, and simply wants to be known for his movie directing skills?

Seriously?

With regards to the MGS4 cut scenes. I just really hope that they have ways for the players to pause, rewind, fastforward those cut scenes. Or a way for players to view them separately while not playing the game.

Ninety minute cutscenes? Has Hideo Kojima truly forgotten what a game is?

A 90 minute cut-scene is just about the stupidest thing I've ever heard of. It was clear to me playing the first MGS that the creators were more interested in indulging their own cleverness and "awesome story" than they were in presenting a good gaming experience.

It's kind of like a table top RPG where the GM has the entire story laid out beforehand and your characters get struck down by lightning if they step off the preconceived path, or they're just there to do menial tasks for the powerful NPCs who get things done.

90 minutes? Not for me. When I play a game, I want to play a game. Not watch a movie. Though sometimes I do both at the same time. At least I get to play.

Oh and cut scenes where you have to read and you got some stupid Yap yap sound like pokemon on super paper mario I just hate with a passion. It's the reason why I stopped playing super paper mario.

Yes.

Well, I certainly understand and respect that opinion, and further, I wouldn't ever try to convince someone otherwise. I understand that my level of patience and interest in the stories my games tell put me a bit on the fringe, and thus I don't regularly recommend either Xenogears or Xenosaga to people, even die hard JRPG nuts, because the length of the cutscenes would make them endurance slogs for most players. That said, I never once wished a cutscene would be over, and I certainly never skipped any of them, and part of the reason I love those games so much is that they had the audacity to perhaps go a little longer in their exposition than was probably wise.

Kojima has that same audacity. Sure, MGS1 through 3 may not have had 90 minute scenes, but 2 and 3 certainly rivaled Xenosaga 1 in the "longest cutscene ever" category, so it comes as no surprise to me that he's finally going to claim that crown with his last outing with Solid Snake. Hell, I would have been surprised if he hadn't, so the concept doesn't bother me.

As with the Xeno games, though, I certainly will have no illusions that I am anyway normal in this respect, nor will I even begin to argue that others should cut the game any slack in this regard.

90min... !

I guess if they ever port the game to Xbox 360, they will need a separate DVD for just that cutscene!

In shooters I prefer not to have cutscenes that rip you out of the game for a few minutes, that was my main problem with GoW. You would run around and then lose control of your character to look at something. I don't mind them if you don't lose control of your character (interactive cutscene) and can walk/look around while it happens (COD4, FEAR) or if it is between maps. Most of the mini-cutscenes in GoW could have had the same effect with some creative level design that pulled your attention to where they wanted you to look. Bloodlines did an awesome job at that in the haunted mansion mission!

In RTS, RPGs etc. I don't really care as long as they give me an option to skip it so I dont have to watch it everytime I play the game (ahh, the 'ol helicopter rides in Vegas coop).

I don't think they have any grounds for complaining about the restriction of the blueray medium if they make feature length cutscenes

Cutscenes are game designers failing the medium.

Multiple cut scenes approaching 90 minutes in length? That's crazy. If I wanted to play MGS4, I'd have to do so on a weekend because I can't imagine playing the game on a weeknight and then hitting a 90 minute cut scene around 10:30-11pm. I don't mind the occassional cut scene if it's advancing the plot of the game or it's used as a transitition into a new area of the game. The only thing I can think of that's worse than a 90 minute cut scene is a 90 minute cut scene with multiple QTEs.

All cutscenes should be like HL1 train ride and COD4 "car ride", IMO.

I have to say that I'm a bit skeptical that there really is a 90 minute cut scene in the game. I have an easier time believing that there may be some kind of 90 minute ending cinema that closes the series with Snake in an epic way; or opening cinema that gives a detailed recap of the series while the install runs but even that doesn't sit right with me. Cut scenes in games like MGS4 are essential to understanding what is going on because it is such a heavily story driven game. Forcing a 90 minute cut scene would be an abuse of power or a complete fall into the pit of self indulgence on Kojima's behalf (I'm not sure which). MGS4 isn't on my future play list and after hearing this I'm think I may be glad.

As far as my thoughts on cut scenes in games generally...I'm okay with them as long as they aren't unnecessarily long, are relevant to the story, and are well done. GTA4 is what I would point to as a prime example of good cut scenes.

Agreed.

I have no problem if you can pause them or re-start them. It's all how the game handles it. I was one of the ones who liked all the twisty stuff at the end of MGS2 so it didn't bother me at all. But I would rather have them give me the story as I go along through clever cutscenes instead of being assaulted all at once. Again, we won't know how this is handled. If it simply marks the "mid" and "end" game movie, I have no problem with it whatsoever.