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Is there a publisher who does cutscenes better than Sony Interactive Entertainment?

SilverX

SilverX

Member
Jan 21, 2018
12,993
I say publisher because it feels like the teams and studios at SIE have the cutscenes in all the games looked at or worked on by a talented group of people who ensure that every game published by them are consistent in the high quality they are. The productions values in the cutscenes of games like God of War, Spider-Man, Horizon, and now Death Stranding are just phenomenal and really knock it out of the park with the angles, music, and just how convincing the performances and animations of the characters are.

I have played games like Crystal Dynamics' Tomb Raiders and have found that just the way the scenes are done (like the angles of the character's faces when talking or the distance from the backgrounds) and the flat, factory processed emotions of the characters have me unable to care about the dialogue or even what the cutscene is about. So it really is quite difficult to produce and deliver with them, but I think SIE have mastered it at this point.

Are there any other publishers or studios who have impressed you in the same way with the quality of the cutscenes?
 
vivftp

vivftp

Member
Oct 29, 2017
19,753
Sony's studios do an amazing job both due to the raw talent a ton of support from WWS and access to top notch mocap facilities. I'm certain TLOU2 will easily take the crown for most impressive cutscenes when it lands. I can't wait to see what all of these studios will be capable on the PS5
 

LukasHeinzel

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
643
Rockstar and a lot of Japanese Developers are way ahead, I also think Microsoft is incredibly amazing with the Halo Series.
 
BDS

BDS

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
13,845
If we count pre-rendered CGI cinematics then the king is probably still Blizzard.
 
Phendrift

Phendrift

Member
Oct 25, 2017
32,293
Well no but it's kind of an hollow victory since it's only because they have Kojima now

Four years ago, it was Konami
 

Deleted member 46948

Account closed at user request
Banned
Aug 22, 2018
8,852
Rockstar, CDPR and Blizzard. I'm actually struggling to think of memorable cutscenes in Sony-published games, except for Naughty Dog ones.
 
TissueBox

TissueBox

Member
Oct 25, 2017
9,988
Urinated States of America
Claven said:
Rockstar, CDPR and Blizzard. I'm actually struggling to think of memorable cutscenes in Sony-published games, except for Naughty Dog ones.
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Naughty Dog's cutscenes are pretty boringly competent imo. Serviceable but they let the writing and performances shine, rather than focus on technicality or inventive camerawork. Not indicative of the 'Sony library's' most eye-popping stuff.
 
Cactuar

Cactuar

Banned
Nov 30, 2018
5,878
Better? No. I think Rockstar is close with RDR2, but at no point during that game did I feel the emotions that I did during LoU cutscenes. Another studio who I think is close is CDPR with Witcher 3, unfortunately I haven't been as impressed from what I've seen of CP2077. It's impossible to convey that quality in first person, though I hear there will be some third person in cutscenes so that's a positive.

I think few others even compete. The thing with the Sony scenes is the amazing voice acting. I'm really interested in what FFVIIR is gonna do, but based on the shit English voice acting in that trailer its gonna be a cringe fest. This is the No. 1 reason why I'll be playing FFVIIR in Japanese, I think the scenes will be much more powerful.
 
Strings

Strings

Member
Oct 27, 2017
31,381
Cactuar said:
Better? No. I think Rockstar is close with RDR2, but at no point during that game did I feel the emotions that I did during LoU cutscenes. Another studio who I think is close is CDPR with Witcher 3, unfortunately I haven't been as impressed from what I've seen of CP2077. It's impossible to convey that quality in first person, though I hear there will be some third person in cutscenes so that's a positive.

I think few others even compete. The thing with the Sony scenes is the amazing voice acting. I'm really interested in what FFVIIR is gonna do, but based on the shit English voice acting in that trailer its gonna be a cringe fest. This is the No. 1 reason why I'll be playing FFVIIR in Japanese, I think the scenes will be much more powerful.
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We still have no idea who the cutscene lead on VIIR is >.< Some of the individual beats in trailers have looked stunning, so it could be Jun Akiyama, but I feel like they would have mentioned him? Plus he's just as likely to be on the Division Three game or whatever.
Claven said:
Rockstar, CDPR and Blizzard. I'm actually struggling to think of memorable cutscenes in Sony-published games, except for Naughty Dog ones.
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GoW is occasionally stunning (that entire boat ride back to the beginning followed by unearthing the you-know-what, unfgh). Iunno why Spider-Man was included in OP, I thought it was super vanilla from a cutscene perspective, outside of the one lovely scene where Spidey is swinging and texting (I thought the entire game was super vanilla though, so meh).
Crossing Eden said:
The industry is full of studios filled with incredible talented and well funded animation teams to the point that it's ridiculous to declare one publisher as the top tier when it comes to cinematics. đź‘Ź
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And despite that, the majority of the cutscenes we get are mostly 'competent' and nothing else imo.
 
Crossing Eden

Crossing Eden

Member
Oct 26, 2017
53,300
The industry is full of studios filled with incredible talented and well funded animation teams to the point that it's ridiculous to declare one publisher as the top tier when it comes to cinematics. đź‘Ź
 
Z-Beat

Z-Beat

One Winged Slayer
Member
Oct 25, 2017
31,838
Blizzard's cinematics and in-game custcenes have become top tier, and their cinematics were already great to begin with
 
Shoichi

Shoichi

Member
Jan 10, 2018
10,451
Blizzard definitely does the best cutscenes if we are talking general ones including CGI. there's a reason why fans of WoW have wanted a CGI movie/tv series from them since they started doing them more consistently
 
Conkerkid11

Conkerkid11

Avenger
Oct 25, 2017
13,946
We talking publishers who do CG in-house, or does something like Blur count? Because they're up there.
 
Mr.Knows

Mr.Knows

Banned
Nov 3, 2017
80
SilverX said:
The productions values in the cutscenes of games like God of War, Spider-Man, Horizon, and now Death Stranding are just phenomenal and really knock it out of the park with the angles, music, and just how convincing the performances and animations of the characters are.
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I loved Horizon but I don't remember the quality of the cutscenes being anything that great. Especially in comparison to the other titles mentioned.
 
Xx 720

Xx 720

Member
Nov 3, 2017
3,920
Art is subjective but yeah, I'd say Naughty Dog is the tops, with Rockstar, Capcom and Microsoft up there
 

Deleted member 61179

User requested account closure
Banned
Nov 7, 2019
121
Yes defintley. They put a huge emphasis on delivering games in a near perfect state.
All games from wws have suberb cutscenes, they never look cheap or rushed.
Even when the games aren't 10/10, when you see the 'Sony Interactive Entertainment' logo at the start, you know you get high quality production values.
 
defaltoption

defaltoption

The Fallen
Oct 27, 2017
11,483
Austin
Am I the only one struggling to think of any cinematics in Sony games? I haven't played death stranding or uncharted 4 but I've played most everything else and can't really remember any.

edit: you know what Spiderman has good one's but nothing that made me think they're the best
 

Deleted member 2652

user requested account closure
Banned
Oct 25, 2017
3,434
not sure publishers have anything to do with it directly, but it's the by product of something (funding? buying talented studios)
 
Strings

Strings

Member
Oct 27, 2017
31,381
Keyser S said:
Once you include studios MachineGames does amazing work (Wolfenstein)
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The New Order is probably my pick for best this generation. Really consistent / interesting cinematography, and they nailed both extremes (action and dialogue scenes). Yakuza 0 is also super strong (going through Judgment slowly atm, and it's been kind of a disappointment in that respect).

The New Colossus had some great individual scenes, but there has to be some significant plot stuff they cut, because after a story event halfway through, they start to imply shit with cutscenes that doesn't pay off at all and is super distracting.
 
Chettlar

Chettlar

Member
Oct 25, 2017
13,604
Claven said:
Rockstar, CDPR and Blizzard. I'm actually struggling to think of memorable cutscenes in Sony-published games, except for Naughty Dog ones.
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Yeah, Death Stranding and games by Naughty Dog look really great in cutscene. Most of the rest is very comparable to others I feel. Wolfenstein cutscenes recently have been just about as good as Naughty Dog imo, or very very close.

I still appreciate the level of polish they ensure that their first party games have.
 
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