It's now been reported that The Division won't have any cutscenes, apart from a beginning sequence which will probably be something along what we saw in that first video that had your AI buddies talking and stuff. I'm wondering what effect it'll have on the story. It feels weird not to have those moments of forced exposition. Usually a cutscene will give you enough info to keep you invested in your character. Or it'll explain a change in scenery. I guess it could work. I'm curious if this means even less of a focus on the story, or if it means the game will have lore and info coming at you that you'll get invested in the characters just by playing.
If done right it will work. I mean look at Skyrim, it barely has any cut scene (except for very brief key points in the game) and yet it tells the story completely in a way that you're going to enjoy and understand. I like games that does that, games that don't force you into the story but rather let's you in in the general idea and just leaves to play the game.
I agree with you there completely. A game doesn't have to rely on cut scenes to tell the whole story but you have to admit, it's fun to watch pre rendered scenes do some crazy cool stuff and paint you the whole picture. Although it feels like you're watching a bad movie with blank faced actors trying to act and go all emotional. Anyways, I think the game would benefit from not having cut scenes, makes the game flow much more smoother and it doesn't take you away from the action. I personally hate it when games just switches to a cut scene in the middle of the action and then puts you back. It's like waiting for the red light to go green and when it finally does some jerk tries to cross the road and you have to stop.
Seems odd but I think the game would still be fine without them since it's an MMO and most of the time cut scenes works best in single player games and rarely works well on multiplayer, not unless it's more like a co-op game. Besides, having no cut scenes means there are no interruptions to the gameplay whatsoever! So the action would go on and on without pause which I think is very beneficial when it comes to action games.
Cut-scenes always seem a little bit lazy to me anyway, an easy way to move things forward. I prefer my backstory and lore to come to me in bits and pieces, slowly drawing all the elements together until you suddenly realise a part of the story that had always been present is relevant and inportant. I can't see it really making a lot of difference to the division and it shouldn't detract from the game at all. As Beccagreen said, Skyrim is a perfect example of a game with minimal cut-scenes, yet plenty of detailed back-story thats well-established and clearly told. Harlek also used the phrase 'its like watching a bad movie sometimes.' and I couldn't agree with him more. Less cut-scenes are less interruptions and less game-play for me.
It definitely can work, I feel like Ubisoft may want us to be immersed into the game thus making cutscenes not that important. I don't feel like this game needs cutscenes as long as the gameplay is nice enough, it can actually be a beneficial aspect of the game.
I don't mind that much. Maybe you'll find out about the story by reading files or listening to audiologs, like many games do already.
That's a really, really good point about Skyrim. To be honest, I never even noticed that there were barely any cutscenes in that game, so obviously it isn't that important since you know, Skyrim! Probably one of the best, most immersive games ever. I don't think anyone is complaining about the story from that game.
Wow... it seems strange to think of a game with no cutscenes. I really enjoy them, myself, but I'm interested to see how they will pull this off!
I don't believe a game has to contain cutscenes to have a solid story. A good example I can give is Valve's Left 4 Dead series. This game has a small amount of cutscenes, but still crafts a compelling story using the environment and the characters you control. There are hints and writings left by survivors that flesh out multiple stories that have taken place in the game world ,and give explanations of how things went bad, and how society reacted to it. I hope that the Division uses a similar style and leaves hints that the player can find. This approach has the benefit of rewarding players that want to stray from the beaten path and explore hidden areas, and giving players that only want pure gameplay with no regards to story one less thing to worry about. And yet again, there are different methods of telling a story that don't involve cutscenes. Some well-written NPC dialogue can provide exposition and story elements to the game world.
I agree and besides, telling a story is more than just cut scenes. If you take a look at how Bethesda did it for Skyrim, although there are no immediate cut scene to tell you the details, it's up to the player to know those stories and the world of Skyrim is riddled with those stories. The subtle details in the scenery, like a bunch of dead bodies in front of a cave, a shrine full of bones and gems and stuff, you get the idea. The game lets you create your own story which I think is one of the best forms of story telling.
That's also a good point about Left 4 Dead, but that being said, a zombie survival game is just that. You have the whole story there. I'm hoping there's a bit more meat to the story in The Division versus what we got in L4D, since it's somewhat of a more unique situation (virus hits, you're part of the crap storm as it happens, you're awakened as a Division member, etc.)
I am quite excited for it. I really dislike cutscenes but what I hate more is why my playable character is locked in position staring at someone and needing to pick an option from a branching tree of possible conversation paths. Hopefully we wont have anything like that force upon the player and I won't have an issue.
I know what you mean, but I don't think it's THAT kind of game. I'd be surprised if there are actual dialogues in the game other than just radio communications with some people or something. The only story bit we know so far should be a prologue but that's it. I think it's all audio after that.
Yeah, that's what I am thinking as well. I think the game's story will be conveyed through text and audio logs, and radio chatter. Maybe some announcements here and there, and some flavor text. But other than that, no more.
I think NPCs will play a big part in conveying the story too. In the first video we saw, your NPC teammates had a lot to say about what the mission was and what was going on, which was quite impressive and immersive. We will probably get a big chunk of the story that way too, but you guys are right about audio logs and such.
That would be great, all those ways keep the game far more immersive for me than a cut-scene, which just breaks up the action to move things forward. NPC dialogue is far better, particularly if its injected into the gameplay in a smooth way, so that its noticable, but not distracting.
I feel the same way, except now I'm hearing that the NPCs in the first video were supposed to simulate real players, meaning that it was just a scripted video to show what The Division could be like when you're playing online (um, yeah, that's not gonna happen like that at all, lol). I don't know for sure yet if this is true or not since I've only read it on unofficial websites, but if there are no NPCs, then we could be in trouble in terms of how we're fed the story.
