Autosave points just before lengthy cutscenes

I'm astounded that this still gets done. I mean, people have complained about this kind of thing since the dawn of cutscenes. 

"Autosave points just before lengthy cutscenes"

This is usually done for several reasons :-
* The cinematic devteam want to have a save / spawnpoint close to where the cinematic is for testing and tweaking.
* Often the skip function for cinematic's is never added (or very late in development) because (often) the director wants the players to watch every cinematic. Think about the devs for a minute, they have to watch these things as well, except 100s of times!
* Cinematics cost a lot of time and resources to create and some people feel the players should see them all! Crazy attitude ... 

That is a list of why cutscenes should NOT be added to a game imo :)

If players want to skip the cinematics, then the cinematics are either boring or the game has failed to make the player care for the story in any way.

Funny that (imo) some of the best games with the best stories had no cutscenes. Half-Life series etc. 

Funny that (imo) some of the best games with the best stories had no cutscenes. Half-Life series etc.

Which makes me wonder: if they are so good, why are not most games like this? 

I get annoyed when, after sitting through all the loading logos, I then get the game logo with a "press any key" to get to the menu. WTF is the point of this? I know what game I'm playing, just put the logo on the menu! Which it usually is as well anyway. Then if I want to quit the game I get taken back to "press any key" to get to the menu so I can quit!

It's like turning on your television and you get a "press any button" before you're allowed to watch anything. No one would buy that tv. 

I then get the game logo with a "press any key" to get to the menu. WTF is the point of this?

Yup, another head scratcher for me. It's just one more extra click for nothing.

There are a lot of bizarre common practice things in games these days. I just don't understand what they accomplish other than mild annoyance. 

This is a technical requirement from both microsoft and sony. They won't let a game pass certification without it.
Why they want it like that I don't know.

Also; Christ, that is the most insignificant fucking pointless detail ever to whine about. 

I think that's why it's so annoying. I mean, there's no purpose for it at all and yet it's there. 

Haha yeah but it's just so pointless. At least with a save before a cutscene it's there so they can jam their cutscenes down your throat. It's done for a reason.

Anyway, review of Devil May Cry 4 (which was pretty bad at it's "press any key" and menu design, and overuse of cutscenes). But I enjoyed it 7/10.

http://www.etherealhell.com/etherealhell/reviews/2012/devil_may_cry4.php 

I bet there's a really subtle reason behind that. Like it confirms that the player actually does have a controller connected or something, on account of user testing having shown that this was something people did on a surprisingly frequent basis.

But for crying out loud remove it from the PC version of a game. 

A = Time it takes to whinge on an internet forum about the "press any key screen".

B = Time it takes to actually press the fucking key.

Anyone wanna guesstimate what A/B equals? 

*hugs Kinn* 

people enjoy whinging... 

I can't believe what I'm reading. Are people here actually defending a useless start screen? Something that serves no purpose in a pc game other than adding another layer between you and the part of the game that you actually play.

And, Kinn, in your equation, B should read like this: B = Time it takes to actually press the fucking key * time it takes for the useless start screen to load * number of times you play the game * number of games you play that have a useless start screen. 

Are people here actually defending a useless start screen?

If someone complains, someone will defend, I guess. It must be like an internet rule or something. 

I think you're wrong, that isn't an internet rule at all. 

hahaha, touch�. :) 

Ah the days of old Playstation games where loading menus took fucking ages, so those extra title screens were just there to piss you off when you left the room to make a cup of tea or something.

These days, far far more things to whine about than that shit. I just got back to playing some Hard Reset and holy shit you move so fucking slowly. Feels like you're waist deep in water. And you can sprint for about a second at a time (and the speed boost is shit).

Pretty game though. 

Get a trainer that has a sprint cheat ZQF. It might be cheating, but it'll make the game more fun. I can't stand slow walking games. 

make it non-skippable first time through if you want players to see the hard work and money, make it skippable for repeat attempts. 

Under "rocket science" or "brain surgery". 

had this feature, except it seemed to work for some cutscenes but not others. No idea why. 

what if players don't actually give a shit about your fucking story?

I actually liked the Max Payne story (well, it was ok), but in other games I have not given a rat's ass about the story and couldn't skip the cutscenes. I don't give a shit about the work that went into them, I just want to play the game. If there is some important info in the cutscene, then maybe it's ok to stop me from skipping it the first time, but I'm paying to play the game, not watch cutscenes, so any artificial restrictions on skipping cutscenes (non-technical, such as loading in the background) should be removed. 

I watched a housemate play Devil May Cry 4 once. I say play... 

scroll up to read how I played hl2 and how their method of story telling is fucking stupid (to me).