Support NeoGAF

[The_Observer]

Does anyone know the reason why developers love putting save points before unskippable cutscenes and sequences? I’m playing Black Ops 6 currently and it’s horrible. Everytime I die for example before a boss encounter I have to watch the shitty introduction scene again and again. Is this some kind of a punishment for failing or what?

 

[Kupfer]

Maybe because sometimes something comes up and players have to leave or turn off the console during the cutscene.
A save point before the cutscene gives them the chance to watch the cutscene in its entirety when they resume the game and not miss anything.

But it could also just be crappy game design - especially since you mentioned CoD

 

[Gamer_By_Proxy]

I just want every game to let you pause cut scenes. I swear my wife waits for scenes you can't pause to start talking to me.

 

[Lux77]

Unskippable cutscenes are crime against humanity

 

[Hollowpoint5557]

The real issue is unskippable cutscenes in 2025. Save before, save after, whatever dont care but I should be able to skip when I want to skip.

 

[AJUMP23]

I just want every game to let you pause cut scenes. I swear my wife waits for scenes you can't pause to start talking to me.

My wife has a knack for walking in when I beat a game and the end is playing.

 

[Metnut]

I just want every game to let you pause cut scenes. I swear my wife waits for scenes you can't pause to start talking to me.

My 3 and 6 year olds really love to come out of there beds and need something right during a big unpausable cut scene.

It’s one thing if I die in Elden Ring, not a big deal, but missing big scenes sucks.

 

[adamsapple]

One of the PSP God of War games was infuriating about this, an unskipable scene right before a boss fight, if you died, you had to watch it over and over again.

 

[hemo memo]

Why? Because we paid millions for it. You have to watch it.

 

[deriks]

That's bullshit

Obligatory walking sessions also is bullshit

 

[The_Observer]

Maybe because sometimes something comes up and players have to leave or turn off the console during the cutscene.
A save point before the cutscene gives them the chance to watch the cutscene in its entirety when they resume the game and not miss anything.

But it could also just be crappy game design - especially since you mentioned CoD

This could be fair if after watching the cutscene we get another checkpoint.
So yeah, I think I’ll go with crappy game design. It’s just ridiculous because I remember I had this problem already in the PS2 days so I assumed there might be some technical background for this maybe.

 

[T4keD0wN]

Its probably just to inflate playtime to make people feel they get more value since gamers love to shame short games i think. Luckily the time period where everyone loved to flex how big, bloated and long their games are is over.

 

[NeonDelta]

This annoys me too, infuriating. Just let me get back into the action

 

[Kacho]

I replayed Onimusha and it has this problem.

If you die at the wasp boss, you have to run all the way, take a boat to the door that triggers the fight, then watch a cutscene. It's like 3 full minutes before you try again.

 

[intbal]

Ryse has an unskippable cutscene that plays right before the final boss fight.
And since the game features questionable timing-based combat, turned up to 11 in this particular fight, you'll be watching that one several times.

 

[Kenneth Haight]

So dumb

 

[Kupfer]

This could be fair if after watching the cutscene we get another checkpoint.
So yeah, I think I’ll go with crappy game design. It’s just ridiculous because I remember I had this problem already in the PS2 days so I assumed there might be some technical background for this maybe.

If you thought about it more than the developers probably do, you could excuse it by saying that if there was a checkpoint right after the cutscene, you would have missed the cutscene and wouldn't be able to watch it again by turning the console off and on after the cutscene or loading the last save state.

 

[Cyberpunkd]

Unskippable cutscenes are crime against humanity

They are pure developer hubris "look at this great cutscene I created!". Every cutscene in an SP game should be able to be paused and skipped from the very first playthrough.

 

[mayham2199]

Does anyone know the reason why developers love putting save points before unskippable cutscenes and sequences? I’m playing Black Ops 6 currently and it’s horrible. Everytime I die for example before a boss encounter I have to watch the shitty introduction scene again and again. Is this some kind of a punishment for failing or what?

I think it's just a mistake basically. Only explanation I could come up with.

 

[SolarFry]

Don't they use these to mask loading screens too?

 

[Rivdoric]

This is your punishment for playing Call of Duty.

 

[Sooner]

I just want every game to let you pause cut scenes. I swear my wife waits for scenes you can't pause to start talking to me.

Just get a new wife.

 

[Gamer_By_Proxy]

Just get a new wife.

This one is already paid off though.

 

[Kataploom]

That and random encounters is the reason I will never replay Final Fantasy X... Shit's infuriatingly badly implemented because the cutscenes are like 5 or more minutes long some even with the fast forward feature... Like I swear there's a boss fight where the prev cutscene is around 12 minutes long

 

[Sooner]

This one is already paid off though.

Impossible.

Unless, of course, it was mail-orderd. In which case, they have a very generous exchange policy.

 

[The_Observer]

Don't they use these to mask loading screens too?

That could be a reason, but the game is reloading anyway so it’s not instant. And you have of course regular save points so it would be just as possible to create a save point after the cutscene then reload it from there. I don’t know, I’m just trying to find an explanation because this shit has been going on for decades now and I don’t want to believe that it’s just simply because devs don’t care about it. Most of them surely play games and realize that this sucks. There must be some technical explanation for it. Though looking at the quality degrade in other aspects of this (and many other) game I would not be suprised if it’s just because they don’t care.

 

[CompleteGlobalSaturation]

I just want every game to let you pause cut scenes. I swear my wife waits for scenes you can't pause to start talking to me.

Lol this.

Not being able to pause cut scenes in 2025 is inexcusable.

 

[jason10mm]

I don't understand why we can't IMMEDIATELY go back to the beginning of a level. It's already loaded into memory, just need to reset the start position.

I also know nothing about how vidja games use memory.

 

[mitch1971]

There was a cut scene in the early levels of A forced unleashed that got on my tits. Just before entering the room with the rancor a small tracking shot would play out before the fight. It was a slow one take shot that basically hinted at how to make you wait to the exit of the level via a console. Once is fine. But, when you are on the hardest level and the rancor is slapping your arse, that one shot led to umpteen slow one takes. No pressing x to get to the fight just a 20 second (felt like an hour) laborious shot of 'what to do'! Why the checkpoint there!

The fight wasn't pissing me off, it was the bloody pointless cut scene every fucking time!!!

 

[BlackTron]

I just want every game to let you pause cut scenes. I swear my wife waits for scenes you can't pause to start talking to me.

I use a home menu button in situations like this to force the game into stasis. No use on PC though

 

[chilichote]

I hate that! And I don't understand!

 

[Bert Big Balls]

I just want every game to let you pause cut scenes. I swear my wife waits for scenes you can't pause to start talking to me.

There should be 3 options.

1. Turn off cutscenes
2. Button to pause cutscene
3. Button to skip cutscene

Unskippable cutscenes do my FUCKING head in.

 

[HRK69]

Maybe because sometimes something comes up and players have to leave or turn off the console during the cutscene.
A save point before the cutscene gives them the chance to watch the cutscene in its entirety when they resume the game and not miss anything.

Nah, that can't be right.

If your theory holds, then it's really strange that they didn't included a skip button

And we are talking about a CoD game. They're notorious for their "all labor, no love" approach to development

 

[Soodanim]

Maybe because sometimes something comes up and players have to leave or turn off the console during the cutscene.
A save point before the cutscene gives them the chance to watch the cutscene in its entirety when they resume the game and not miss anything.

But it could also just be crappy game design - especially since you mentioned CoD

I don't disagree, but making cutscenes unskippable is never a prerequisite for achieving this. It's being thoughtful and accommodating yet thoughtless and spiteful at the same time.

 

[ANoa]

I just want every game to let you pause cut scenes. I swear my wife waits for scenes you can't pause to start talking to me.

I'll never understand games that don't let you pause during cutscenes. That's like the most basic convenience you can add to your game. No excuse for like the MGS Master Collection to not let people pause during the frequent 20 minute cutscenes.

 

[NeoIkaruGAF]

The wasp boss in Onimusha and the Yunalesca fight in FFX have already been mentioned.
So I’ll mention the two consecutive boss fights in Xenogears - the second being kind of a gimmick fight where the boss retaliates brutally if you don’t defeat it as soon as you can - preceded by literally five minutes of text boxes.
Plus, the Maleficent fight in Kingdom Hearts. That dialogue is forever burned in my memory.

I spent literal hours on these two.

 

[N0S]

Lucky me I beat that wasp bitch first try

 

[Zacfoldor]

Any cutscene in any videogame ever should be skippable and I should not be slowed down arbitrarily to artificially expand the length of the game. No excuse.

 

[MSduderino]

unskippable cutscenes?

 

[BigLee74]

Quantum Break, final boss. You will die so many times, and hear the start of his spiel so many times.

Grrrr (and not a sexy grrr)

 

[The_Observer]

There was a cut scene in the early levels of A forced unleashed that got on my tits. Just before entering the room with the rancor a small tracking should would play out before the fight. It was a slow one take shot that basically hinted at how to make you wait to the exit of the level via a console. Once is fine. But, when you are on the hardest level and the rancor is slapping your arse, that one shot led to umpteen slow one takes. No pressing x to get to the fight just a 20 second (felt like an hour) laborious shot of 'what to do'! Why the checkpoint there!

The fight wasn't pissing me off, it was the bloody pointless cut scene every fucking time!!!

I know exactly the feel. Some good examples in the thread but no one could come up with a fair reason for this bullshit. If only a developer could chime in…

 

[nkarafo]

Whenever i get an unskippable cutscene i always imagine the devs with a smug face judging me because i don't care about their oscar winning story and writing.