Gaming Iwata is indifferent on modern games (interview)

[shinkodachi]

Hm, that makes sense.

Nintendo needs new blood and with an outdated CEO like Iwata Nintendo will never move forward.

Which is ever the more reason to be looking forward to Splatoon. That game is (under the supervision of Miyamoto) from Nintendo's younger talents. If it's a hit, then there's hope for Nintendo to move forward.

That said, I also wish Miyamoto didn't have his hand in everything. He's a genius, but long overdue to retire. Also, he was the reason we almost didn't get Mother/EarthBound at all, so I'd truly rather hear from someone at Nintendo with a fresh mindset and is daring to try new things.

 

[WiiCube_2013]

Which is ever the more reason to be looking forward to Splatoon. That game is (under the supervision of Miyamoto) from Nintendo's younger talents. If it's a hit, then there's hope for Nintendo to move forward.

That said, I also wish Miyamoto didn't have his hand in everything. He's a genius, but long overdue to retire. Also, he was the reason we almost didn't get Mother/EarthBound at all, so I'd truly rather hear from someone at Nintendo with a fresh mindset and is daring to try new things.

Miyamoto's the reason the west doesn't know much or have too many games of Mother? That's a shame.

I keep reading how great it is but never really checked it out, nor did SomecallmeJohnny played or reviewed (he's pretty good at it).

 

[shinkodachi]

Miyamoto's the reason the west doesn't know much or have too many games of Mother? That's a shame.

I keep reading how great it is but never really checked it out, nor did SomecallmeJohnny played or reviewed (he's pretty good at it).

 

[WiiUBricker]

Because getting hits and likes is exactly what I'm trying to do here.

Surely my interpretation isn't that far from the truth? Maybe hate is a strong word, I agree on that.

I was referring to dirt sheets with my comment above. Those sites all have a common commercial interest, but you are a forum user who makes no penny off of his posts. I thought that was clear from the start. I just couldn't help but notice a similarity between those dirt sheet articles and this one. Iwata said, people skip over cutscenes, and you go "eeeeeeekk, Iwata hates modern games, probably can't handle The Last of Us!!". Ya see what I mean?

 

[shinkodachi]

But I really mean what I said: I'd want to see Iwata's reaction to not just The Last of Us, but other games with cutscenes and other storytelling aids. Some people surely skip over them, but that doesn't mean everyone does. I still remember most cutscenes from Max Payne and I played that eons ago.

 

[GHANMI]

Oh this is a surprise Nintendo bashing thread? Expected nothing less from a topic with a neogaf quote and a clickbait title that wouldn't be out-of-place in that site right in the opening post.

Iwata: So [modern games] are backed by this huge amount of effort and technology, but it feels like very few people remember them [story moments] or players skip over things within the game.

Kawakami: It certainly feels like there's too many cut-scenes these days.

Iwata: Of course, you can use them effectively; I'm not trying to dismiss them completely, but I can't help but wonder what could have been instead done with the energy [time, money, resources] that went into them. Miyamoto has never used many cut-scenes, in his games, but recently I think he has begun to think the same way, too.

By the same logic, he's "hating" modern games and Miyamoto. Not useless cutscenes.

If you ever felt the need to skip the long shounen-clone No.12756 cutscenes in Final Fantasy XIII, or just skip the Call of Duty cutscenes to, you know, the actual gameplay... because -god forbid!- you thought they are shitty uninteresting writing fluff (though they probably had two or three employees working full time on modeling and scripting the event for those)...
Does that makes you someone who hates "modern games"?
"Modern games" only aspect is only 45 FMV cutscenes of:
a/ Someone speaking to Lightning while she's being all angsty and perfect immaculate hero
b/ if Lightning is not on stage - "Where's Lightning?"
Am I right?
Does Bayonetta counts as a modern game? Its cutscenes are skippable.
I guess Metroid Other M is the best modern game ever. It focused on unskippable cutscenes instead of useless gameplay.
Who in their right mind would skip the cutscenes? they're what make a modern game!


You brought "The Last of Us" I think as an example of a modern game you think Iwata is bashing? So you think he's against story elements in games?
Well:
* Iwata's achievement that has earned him the head of HAL studios position was his work on Earthbound/Mother 2, a very story-centric game. Miyamoto was crucial to the development of the first Mother game, despite it being overly story centric. They saved Mother 3 from definitive cancellation. If someone brings out localization I'll just point at Nintendo of America, both for the canned 1991 release (NoA wanting to focus on the SNES - they also delayed lots of early gen SNES games so that their first party ones stand out better) and the 2006 game (by that time NoA cancelled the Art Style and Rhythm Tengoku games to help the DS sales - Polarium GBA had to be published by Atlus in NA, Mother 3 devs on the JP side approached NoA with proof-of-concept localized builds and got denied)
* Aonuma's first game he directed that earned him the immediate respect of Miyamoto to the point he immediately gave him the Zelda series was Marvelous Another Treasure Island (JP only), a SNES point-and-click game with a heavy focus on story.
* Nintendo did tons of visual novels. They got help from anime directors even.
* Nintendo hired Love De Lic ex-devs (even paying one lots of cash while he was still working there to help with Paper Mario 1) to help with all of Mario RPGs, Chibi-Robo, plus some games that never got localized, all sharing a heavy focus on story. Love De Lic had the mindset of prioritizing story over gameplay to really excessive lengths.
* At one point in the SNES era they stepped in and offered to localize Front Mission, a videogame series written by crime live action TV show writers published by Square, that not even Square had faith in localizing it because it was "too much story and FMVs and little gameplay, too much of a military feel" (and this is coming from the company that spent millions on cutscene CGI for Final Fantasy 7). Not to be deterred by the deal falling through, they localized Terranigma and Illusion of Gaia (the decisions made by Japanese executives).

Also, Nintendo did Bayo 2, Disaster Day of Crisis, Last Story, Metroid Prime, Xenoblade, Pandora Tower... the beloved cutscenes are still there but the difference being they're better integrated to the gameplay, better written and most importantly not eating up 90% of the game budget or development time like other "modern games".

 

[shinkodachi]

Not so much surprise Nintendo bashing, just my thoughts. Your post is very insightful, thanks for taking the time to respond and not write this off as clickbait.

 

[Fun_Zephyr]

Honestly - I agree that modern games have WAY too many cutscenes. Yeah, they can look pretty etc but if I wanted to watch a damn movie I would have not put a game in to play. Just the same as too much dialogue can ruin a game. Thus if I wanted to read a book I would have picked up a damn book.

I find myself, at times, skipping a number of cutscenes and dialogue so I can just get on with the game and continue having fun playing rather than watching... Thankfully devs are allowing scenes to be skipped (though not allowing important ones to be skipped is completely understandable)

I have returned several games back to ebGames because after 15min I am still going through the intro and can't skip all the cutscenes and initial dialogue. Yep, returned before I even got to play the damn game. It is absolutely ridiculous that they force such things to be viewed / watched rather than allowing you to skip (granted, many games allow you to skip them as well)

At the end of the day the amount of time, effort and resources spent making those scenes could be put to better use. Return for effort is not normally that great in my opinion.

But also, do not get me wrong, cutscenes and dialogue have a purpose and a place in gaming... But they simply should not run gaming... When there is say 5min of what seems quite pointless dialogue and you can't skip it... Frustrates the heck out of me.

There needs to be more of an even balance within games rather than what feels like an overpowering amount of scenes and dialogue

I know the 'Tales' series are renowned for all their dialogue etc but damn - too much... Takes way too much away from the gaming experience... But I love the series for the game play and story lines. But again, not so much dialogue is required to make the story line work (as an example)

I find myself returning to many of the NES games of the past because they are just gaming the way I enjoy it. Yes, I love modern games and gaming but sometimes you can' beat an old classic. (DuckTales Remastered - how awesome was that)

As an FYI my main gaming genres are: Puzzle, RPG, Action, Adventure and platform. (Hack n slash, final fantasy series, Zelda, Mario's, Metroid, LoLo, Fable, Blue Dragon, Lost Odyssey, Lego Series etc etc etc) I have been a gamer for the past 30 years and started with the little handheld devices with one, two or even 3 screens.

I am not a fanboy of any particular console or company. I like any console that developers produce a great game for. I own or have owned most of conesles throughout time and currently only missing the PS4 as any game I want is on both the Xbox One and PS4 and already own the Xbox one.

Anyway - I can completely understand where Iwata is coming from in what he has said. Cut scenes can be beautiful and definitely have their place... But they are not the be all and end all and the time and resources sometimes could be better spent elsewhere in my opinion

 

[Terenigma]

Im going to focus my comment on the cutscene comment and say he's right.

Way too many games are focusing on pushing the limit of "cutscenes" instead of focusing on actual gameplay, whenever i see an advert that shows a cutscene and has the little tag under it saying "not actual gameplay footage" i laugh because i know that 90% of people are skipping those cutscenes and all that effort is wasted. Especially with racing games (seriously, who watches racing game cutscenes?)

I dont know about everyone else but i will fully watch cutscenes maybe 1 in every 10 games i play (unless forced to) and even then its usually not on the first playthrough. I have played through MGS3 about 15times but i dont think iv ever watched those "history flashback" cutscenes in any of those runs. All that time and effort spent finding video footage of 1950 was completely wasted on me and im fairly sure it was wasted on most of you too.

With all this said, i dont hate cutscenes but i think they need to obey a few simple rules:

- ALL cutscenes should be skippable on the FIRST playthrough. NO game should force you to watch them.
- Only 1 cutscene between gameplay segments and the gameplay segments need to be at least 10mins long before the next cutscene.
- No cutscene should last longer than 1min unless it is the intro or outro to a game
- Any cutscene that takes place mid-dungeon should not be longer than 20seconds.

 

[shinkodachi]

- ALL cutscenes should be skippable on the FIRST playthrough. NO game should force you to watch them.
- Only 1 cutscene between gameplay segments and the gameplay segments need to be at least 10mins long before the next cutscene.
- No cutscene should last longer than 1min unless it is the intro or outro to a game
- Any cutscene that takes place mid-dungeon should not be longer than 20seconds.

I also do agree with Iwata to some extent, however what you're proposing just makes me ask: why are there cutscenes in games in the first place?

 

[XDel]

He's right, the video game industry has became formulaic for the most part, very little comes out any more that truly stands out.

 

[Terenigma]

I also do agree with Iwata to some extent, however what you're proposing just makes me ask: why are there cutscenes in games in the first place?

To sell the game. Stick a couple of cool looking cutscenes on an advert for the game and it sells because you're hiding the actual gameplay, thats why Assassins creed: unity sold imo. I remember that advert being like 95% cutscene.

I wish games didnt have cutscenes entirely but that will never happen, hence my rules. I got bought final fantasy x for the VITA at christmas (a game iv completed before) and i forgot how god damn long and dull the cutscenes on that game are. 4 hours iv played the game so far and if i could skip the cutscenes, i would of got to the point i am now in like... 40mins.

 

[shinkodachi]

To sell the game. Stick a couple of cool looking cutscenes on an advert for the game and it sells because you're hiding the actual gameplay, thats why Assassins creed: unity sold imo. I remember that advert being like 95% cutscene.

I wish games didnt have cutscenes entirely but that will never happen, hence my rules. I got bought final fantasy x for the VITA at christmas (a game iv completed before) and i forgot how god damn long and dull the cutscenes on that game are. 4 hours iv played the game so far and if i could skip the cutscenes, i would of got to the point i am now in like... 40mins.

Do you think even the first games with cutscenes would be better off without? E.g. Ninja Gaiden for NES

 

[Terenigma]

Do you think even the first games with cutscenes would be better off without? E.g. Ninja Gaiden for NES

I dont know honestly, i cant think of any game that iv played that "needed" a cutscene so maybe yes?

 

[shinkodachi]

I dont know honestly, i cant think of any game that iv played that "needed" a cutscene so maybe yes?

Interesting theory... I remember as a kid always skipping everything possible. Now as an adult I actually enjoy cutscenes once in awhile. :o

 

[eriol33]

Hm, that makes sense.

Nintendo needs new blood and with an outdated CEO like Iwata Nintendo will never move forward.

well, to be fair Nintendo is quite old-fashioned but they better stick to their old-fashioned way than becoming another EA or Ubisoft. Imagine a world where we must pay day-one DLC for nintendo games.

honestly, the only thing I don't like from nintendo is their obsession over regional lockout. but they have always been innovative. and they will never fail because they have mario. at first I thought Wii U was doomed to fail like PS Vita, now it's alive and kicking while PS vita now is waiting its death bell.

 

[WiiCube_2013]

That looks very interesting but is the eShop Wii U version censored like the SNES edition? It costs £6.99 but according to a website it lasts for 32hrs or so.

 

[shinkodachi]

well, to be fair Nintendo is quite old-fashioned but they better stick to their old-fashioned way than becoming another EA or Ubisoft. Imagine a world where we must pay day-one DLC for nintendo games.

I don't think Nintendo would end up that way. EA is American and Ubisoft is European, both are Western companies who target the Western audience. Nintendo makes creepy s**t that's often based on Japanese folklore and is meant for the Japanese market. You rarely get to fight a fetus in a video game. If Nintendo was more open-minded we'd have amazing stuff. But I think the problem is not Nintendo per se, but more the hypersensitive Western countries in which we live in.

That looks very interesting but is the eShop Wii U version censored like the SNES edition? It costs £6.99 but according to a website it lasts for 32hrs or so.

Actually, the eShop version is a bit more censored than the SNES version. If you're going to play Mother 2 because of the censored content in the releases we have in the West, you're making life too difficult for yourself. All you're basically missing are sexual and religious references and a naked adolescent boy. By all means get the eShop version. It's very good.

 

[WiiCube_2013]

Actually, the eShop version is a bit more censored than the SNES version. If you're going to play Mother 2 because of the censored content in the releases we have in the West, you're making life too difficult for yourself. All you're basically missing are sexual and religious references and a naked adolescent boy. By all means get the eShop version. It's very good.

All right then, I'll definitely consider it and it's on my Watch List on the eShop so if the price drops to £3 I'll grab it or whenever I feel like it.

Nintendo surely could charge less for the NES (£3), SNES (£6) and GBA games (£6). Dropping a pound from the NES and £4 off SNES/GBA would be ideal.

 

[Silentsurvivor]

Last "modern" western game I played sat me through 3 years of cringeworthy cutscenes with ugly ass uncanny valley abominations until the title appeared. That's when I dropped it.