Why Does Everyone Suddenly Need to Skip Cut-Scenes?

This is starting to concern me.

Back in the original PlayStation days, the cut-scene was a new phenomenon, and was most commonly on display in RPGs like Final Fantasy. Another franchise that put a big emphasis on the non-interactive cut-scene was (and still is) Metal Gear Solid.

They were telling a story. Of course, some of the cut-scenes went on a bit long; I still remember the whining associated with Xenosaga, which featured several 20-minute cut-scenes. Even when Final Fantasy X came out, there were a few who complained, although the majority still loved the game. It was also important to note that the vast majority of cut-scenes in that game were no more than a few minutes in length.

These days, however, it seems gamers can’t sit still for thirty seconds, let alone a few consecutive minutes.

“You need to skip the cut-scenes in Second Son… REALLY?”

Recently, developer Sucker Punch was asked to explain why the cut-scenes in their acclaimed new title, inFamous: Second Son, are unskippable. They said such cut-scenes were used for various loading and setting purposes, so they can’t be skipped. My first and only question concerning this news is above.

inFamous is an open-world game in which you spend 99.99 percent of your time actually playing. If you added up the total number of interactive gameplay minutes and compared them to the total number of non-interactive gameplay minutes, the ratio would be ridiculous. All told, you’re almost never “just sitting there.” And yet, that’s not good enough. People can’t even sit through a few cut-scenes, none of which are even remotely as long as cut-scenes used to be.

NOW they’re complaining about it in Final Fantasy X/X-2

Some reviews for the Final Fantasy X/X-2 HD Remaster criticized the collection for not implementing the option to skip cut-scenes. That’s just incomprehensible to me. The games were, according to many, story-driven RPGs that relied on those cut-scenes. Without them, you have no idea what’s going on or why, nor do you get to know the characters. See, that’s back when people actually had to write and develop characters for RPGs; they didn’t give the player the freedom to just be whatever he or she wanted.

And you know, the cut-scenes aren’t that long. They’re just not. Again, if you compare the cut-scene time to the actual gameplay time, it’s obvious: At a bare minimum, it’ll probably take 35 hours or so to finish FFX, and there really aren’t more than 90 minutes of cut-scenes in the entire game, if that. If you really want to fully experience the adventure, it’ll be closer to 100 hours, anyway.

These are games that hinge upon the cut-scene. Making them skippable defeats the purpose of the game; if you have to skip cut-scenes, don’t bother.

Does all this indicate an increasing attention problem?

Games are much faster and flashier than they’ve ever been. If you think about it, so is all of our entertainment. Camera angles continue to frantically switch viewpoints, dialogue sequences lasting longer than a minute put people to sleep, and we need larger, louder, more visceral imagery to keep the viewer entertained. Attention deficit seems to be running amok, and a great example of the necessity to constantly be moving is the immense success of online multiplayer shooters. There are no cut-scenes there and if developers tried, I have a bad feeling some gamers would have some sort of breakdown.

I’m just wondering if it’s getting increasingly difficult for gamers – and anyone who does a lot of video entertainment these days – to sit still for any length of time. To simply sit and watch without receiving some sort of stimulus that goes beyond dialogue. To appreciate a beautifully drawn world, an interesting cast of characters, or merely that particular virtual situation. If we’re losing all patience, what exactly will our games look like in the near future…?

Like I said, it worries me.