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I'm curious what comes to mind when y'all think of great cutscenes. I'm sure there are many I haven't seen on PS2 and 360.

So, post your favorite(s), what's good about it, and a YouTube link if you can find it.

I've always thought that Diablo 2 really upped the ante for all games when it came out. Plus Tyrael was one bad dude.

(http://youtube.com/watch?v=yNRyaeT7now)

edit: expanded to cinematics in general, since that really broadens the discussion.

Alpha Centauri.

No More Heroes has some great cutscenes. I love really fucked up things and No More Heroes might be the most fucked up game.

WC3

FF7 really had superb cutscenes for its time, that's one of the few games where I can still recall being impressed by the cutscenes.

Diablo II was great, its something where you could watch the cutscenes again after playing the game for enjoyment; I hope Tyrael makes it into D3, definately one of my favourite RPG NPC characters. I'd agree with Sairon that FF7, if not the whole Final Fantasy Series, tends to have very well done cutscenes. For myself Sephiroth walking into the fire (http://youtube.com/watch?v=XraxFpmVicg&feature=related), although short, and not amazing in and of itself, is still one of the most memorable cutscenes from any game I've played.

I'd give an honourable mention to Fallout 2 (http://youtube.com/watch?v=_mcJAI6oRYY) too.

 "War; war never changes".

When I think of cutscenes, D2 is always my first thought, followed by Starcraft.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qFARMkSPAok

Am I the only person that hates cutscenes?  Like, loathing them with a passion? 

I want to play the game.  If I had wanted to watch a movie, I would have gone to see a movie.  Let me turn off the curscenes forever please.  I don't want them getting in the way of my fun.  Thank you.

Maybe I have ADD. 

Assasins' Creed made me feel that way, but in general I like them.

That reminded me of these:

Dawn of War: http://youtube.com/watch?v=AyjCmnkGB1I (http://youtube.com/watch?v=AyjCmnkGB1I)
Mechwarrior 3: http://youtube.com/watch?v=YR_ym3Gj2vE (http://youtube.com/watch?v=YR_ym3Gj2vE)

For me, nothing can ever compare to the awesomeness of Warhammer : Mark of Chaos cinematic. I would pay 100$ to see a full movie like that.

http://www.digicpictures.com/movie/eng/popup_WHIntro_high.html

Never played the game but must have watched that at least a dozen times. Should a full movie ever be made, I'm there with you on opening day.

Well, here goes. My all-time favorite: Ys Book I-II - Turbografix 16 + CD. 18 years ago, this blew my mind. Nothing else out there could touch it. Still have it and it still pretty much works though I noticed at one point that audio tracks would start to get messed up towards the outer rim of the disc (laser out of alignment I guess). That game had some of the finest music ever.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3deS-hClpDE&feature=related (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3deS-hClpDE&feature=related) A bit long, but I still like it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RwZ-WEEwLN4 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RwZ-WEEwLN4) Couldn't find the english version of this one.

Runner up would have to be the Valis II and III cutscenes from the TG discs.

And anything from the NES Ninja Gaiden series.

The Black Mesa tram ride (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3x3wQ7Opltg) was a good one.

Some pretty good ones here. The begining of the second clip Raydeen linked reminded me of Urotsukidoji for some reason. Probly the guy's voice. The Mark of Chaos vid is balls deep.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CkO7ocAPlvw

For the most part they do annoy me, but I like the really well-done ones.

I'm getting that way more and more these days.  I used to love story heavy (and thus typically cutscene heavy) games when I was younger, in particular most of Square's output.  Nowadays though cutscenes grate on me because I think they're just used as a crutch for developers who are trying to tell stories but aren't talented enough to do it in a way that's interactive, which one would think is pretty much the whole point of video games.  Of course I also think stories that get a lot of praise among gamers would get torn to shreds by critics in virtually any other medium.  The MGS series in particular is the epitome of amateurish pacing, and complicated rather than complex plot twists.

One recent *VERY* cutscene heavy game was Phantasy Star Universe. I thought I was really going to hate it but I ended up loving it. It's set up in episodes like an anime series complete with opening theme, ending theme and previews of what will be coming in the next chapter. I haven't gotten the expansion yet but plan to soon.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MOukEiJYQQo (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MOukEiJYQQo)

Company of heros.The one that comes to mind is walking up the road chatting away when the machine gun nest opens up and the squad dives for cover.

What made their cutscenes more interesting was the camera zooming back up and continuing from where the cutscene ended.

I have a soft spot for the Hall Fight scene in FreeSpace1. It was the only time they ever showed what a Shivan looked like. More impoirtantly (to me), they did a decent job of designing a ship interior that looked like it was made by a zero-g native race.

Is you playin' yet?

For some reason, that trailer had turned into a WAR video for me...

I hadn't seen that before. That is great. I also got a little more amped for WAR after watching it.

I agree, this clip does fire me up for WAR also (I am in the beta!), but this clip is Warhammer perfected. I also love the video Blur did for EA Mythic and the fight between the Slayer and Black Orc is awesome, but compared to the Eastern European studio who did this video.. Rocks and mountains. Mark of Chaos trailer is Warhammer come to life, for me at least, and I'm very picky about my Warhammer. Might be cause I'm a major fan of this particular setting and Chaos / Elven Shadow Warriors  :awesome_for_real:

Also I hope the last part of the video Blur is doing will be great, and I'm sure it will, but since most MMOs lately have the cliche "Show fightscenes from various races / classes", I love seeing a deeper story like in this Mark of Chaos trailer, or even Warcraft 3 videos. Heck, RTS games have better trailers then MMO's I guess.

SMAC's Secret Projects for me. It's a great pity GalCiv II never had them.

I played online for a while and then left it go for a month or two. When I tried to get back in, I found out that at one point they tried to bill my credit card and something didn't go through properly and they promptly canceled my account. Oh well, no big loss there. I've got the game backed up on an external and I'll get around to finishing the single player and maybe buy the expansion at some point.

I think cutscenes should be simply rewards, don't use it as some intermission or 'here's what happens after that' explanation. Ppl just want to get to that point, why are you slowing it down? Intro is not a bad way to use cutscenes either. Set up the mood. Because having a cool cutscene but ending me just whacking one king foozle from 100k hp for 10 mins over and over (my main gripe with JRPGs) is not cool.

Not really a cutscene, but I always like Mechwarrior 2's intro.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=Fn5waevrI3k (http://youtube.com/watch?v=Fn5waevrI3k)

I'll also nominate the SMAC's project movies. Those were fantastic.

The Dream Twister (http://youtube.com/watch?v=Lva8L-J8x04)
Cyborg Factory (http://youtube.com/watch?v=Wmjn_vrShmU&feature=related)
Clinical Immortality (http://youtube.com/watch?v=GBVCi0PmW24&feature=related)
The Cloning Vats (http://youtube.com/watch?v=rGCaACqy1Ro)

While on the Mech2 theme, From Mercs: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ciDrXkVl29g

Gotta love the Atlas   :-)

Chrono trigger.

 Gears of War Commercial
 (http://youtube.com/watch?v=ccWrbGEFgI8)

Wild Arms (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ISSAZrUU9aU)

Personally, my favorite cutscenes are from Metal Gear Solid (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bgpVz76BGQU).

From Final Fantasy XII, anything with Balthier and Fran (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ii8-t0XfsQg) (for the love of Xenu, it's a pain finding FF videos that aren't fan made Linkin Park music videos or some crap).

Damn near anything from Blizzard (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A20Dcw9Izyo) is amazing.

I always get a kick out of the intro to Allegiance (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4sdHhl3VnCM), for some reason...

Thought the ending for Thief 3 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AQPh43xvnI8) was cool, too, but I'm probably alone in that.

man, now i have an urge to play Wild Arms again.

Don't try to relive the nostalgia with Alter Code:  F.  They remade it using pure shit.  Go with the original disc, or grab it off the PSN if you have a PS3.

Rogue Galaxy (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Gcs6gh8OSg)

I don't want to be mean but that was horrible.

Blizzard always make great cinematics but I submit this one for extra old school points :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uvAt3hDcNT4&feature=related (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uvAt3hDcNT4&feature=related)

That game had the coolest box. And then the gameplay wasn't nearly as cool (if I recall, it was a top view/isometric shooter).

Hmm. I'd have to throw a vote towards WoW's intro cinematics upon character creation. The way they wove in straight cinematics with a camera swooping across the live game-world was really well done.

I liked WC's a lot more. Those WoW ones were just... Cool looking, but had nothing to do with the storyline to make them really cinematic. Just people using their powers and not saying anything.

Thrall and Illidan's openings were cool..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EbVveoPNrAA (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EbVveoPNrAA)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C2OQQr2MSU4&feature=related (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C2OQQr2MSU4&feature=related)

Command and Conquer - Tiberium Dawn - NOD ending (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dtT2gvOfp9Q)

Yeah, I really loved the cut scenes from that game.  I think these are actually my two favorites:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=iY57ErBkFFE&feature=related   Planetary Data links
http://youtube.com/watch?v=iwqN3Ur-wP0&feature=related   The Self Aware Colony

Thanks to the superior Googling of a coworker and fellow FreeSpace fan:

Hall Fight (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KpAcztB2F-Y)

I would never have thought of it on my own, but I'll second that.  Those games were superbly atmospheric for their time, in part due to the cutscenes.  The first one also has a musical score that I'll never forget.

One I saw recently, though it probably doesn't technically qualify - the scene in COD4 after the nuke blast sends the chopper down.  Sgt Jackson crawls/stumbles out of the back of the ruined machine amidst chaos and corpses.  I put him on his feet a couple of times expecting him to pick up a dropped rifle or something, only to have him fall down repeatedly and then....he just fucking died!  Awesome.  Wasn't technically a cutscene though, as I was controlling the action.

I still love the Warcraft 2 intro, I remember thinking that was the coolest thing ever when it came out.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZU-n8UZM5Cc

I've been playing Crisis Core: FF VII and pretty much all the "FMV" cutscenes are cool since they are near FF VII: Advent Children quality.

Here's one of the more epic ones:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l6ZaSipHuO4

Heavy Gear 2 intro (http://youtube.com/watch?v=mlbJCwWsJEk)

You say Mech2 Mercs...and show the end credits?  :uhrr:
Intro: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=at9hxU864Fg

Oh, and the MechCommander intro as well: http://youtube.com/watch?v=2MQPWE_M_EM

Edit: Obviously, "Everything Blizzard has every done" goes without saying. :-)

You could ask him to find the final Scene from "Wingcommander: Prophecy", too.

The Cinematics in this game were awesome all together. But the ending was just that much better- and your Hallfight brought that one up again for me :)

Giants: Citizen Kabuto had some great in-game cinematics. Not always funny, but almost always fun: Timmy's death (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z-drkK3OpyA), Yan the Samurai Smartie (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zm5w4d2Mt7M) and  how to build a base (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EKV_y_yIjeU)

I think this was the first game I ever played with 100% spoken dialogue and no text.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pv4KmT-2_QE

Heavy Gear was always interesting in that it was more 'realistic' in terms of what giant robots might do on the battlefield.

To round it all out:

Mech 3 Intro : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YR_ym3Gj2vE

Mech 4 Intro: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QxfKZZ4RNng



What's interesting to me, is the contrast in mech designs. Mech 3 stayed "true" to the art, while Mech 4 attempted to visual the Mechs to actually be functional.

Final fight in Metal Gear Solid 4 and how it transitions to the final boss battle is my current all-time favorite.

I can't believe this thread has gone on for this long without.....


wat u say?! (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h4AuN6pN1kY)

Probably because it A) sucks and B) quit being funny a million years ago.   :oh_i_see:

I loved everything from the Thief series... for some reason the stylistic animation really struck a chord with me. The original intro (http://youtube.com/watch?v=1uR8pcqV_HY) still gives me chills for no good reason.

Heh heh, I know. I hadda do the rickroll anyway, sorry.

Apologies for the GameSpot link, I didn't find a Youtube of the Arx Fatalis intro.

http://www.gamespot.com/video/371212/2885429/arx-fatalis-intro

I watched those D2 vids again the other day on the D3 site and I have to say that Marius' voice acting is excellent. Voice acting in games is very often shocking, but Marius is up there With Thief quality.

I like SC's cinematics best of all the ones I remember seeing. Though some of them are pretty ordinary.

Old thread, but just saw this tonight:

Dawn of War II: Chaos Rising Intro (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yu4ABhVd28U)

The part with the Dreadnought is awesome. "I have come to destroy you!"

I found the pinheads on the marines, and the fact that their weapons were even more oversized than on the miniatures quite distracting.

The first DOW intro video still trumps that one, and remains one of the best I've ever seen.

Don't know if it exactly qualifies as it is interactive, but I would vote the Star Control II dialogues as the best cut scenes. I mean, hell, you get to have sex with a bikini-hottie!

(http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y222/Abagadro/SyreenComm.png)

Beaten to it.

FFX Intro - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AqYbAKlA9Yo
Path of Neo, final boss intro - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S8ktmkP7H4c

A lot of the renegade options in Mass Effect II.

Best I can think of are when you shoot the cargo crane over the mercs, it falls on top of two of them, explodes and the bodies fly past another with the merc's expression of OMGWTFjusthappened is priceless.

Mass Effect 1 when Anderson walks up to Udina and punches him out to get to his computer.

Also, Mordin singing Gilbert and Sullivan (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v9CUqJh98sE).

Oh hey I'll just pull this ro-OH GOD GET IT OFF (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GFCbiZHMYEs&feature=related).

Anarchy Online gets an honourable mention. :-)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6YKJM0vOroc

Its definitely one of my favorite cinematics, but partly it comes from my love of 40k to begin with.  Even if it isn't one of the best over all, the moment with the dreadnought is definitely at least one of the best moments in a cinematic in my opinion.

I'm going to throw in the "Armies of Exigo" vids.
The game was a pretty standard Sword & Sorcery type RTS at the time, although I still quite liked it, probably for old times sake; first game I ever played on PC was Dune II, but I had to finish it if for nothing else than to open up the cutscenes  :heart:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nlv_ipbjfvw

That's the intro, but there were 5 of em in total (one for every race and a grand finale), music is excellent and the overall quality wouldn't look out of place even today imo, I remember them really sucking me into the story.

Weren't some of the visuals for SMAC's wonder cinematics taken from a couple of Japanese films? I remember reading about it at the time.

Fuck, now I want to play SMAC again. Really just loved the factions and tech and game dynamics. I would really love to see a SMAC 2.

Probably not really ENJOY, but the scene from Panzer Dragoon Zwei where the dragon dies always makes me tear up.