Most Enjoyable Cinematics

[climbjtree]

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.

[JWIV]

Alpha Centauri.

[Margalis]

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

[stray]

WC3

[Sairon]

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.

[K9]

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, 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 too.

 "War; war never changes".

[Morfiend]

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)

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

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

[Nebu]

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. 

[K9]

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

[climbjtree]

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

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

That reminded me of these:

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

[photek]

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

[Brogarn]

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.

[raydeen]

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 A bit long, but I still like it.
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.

[Samwise]

The Black Mesa tram ride was a good one.

[stu]

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

[Margalis]

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

[Velorath]

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

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.

[raydeen]

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

[Jade Falcon]

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.

[Stormwaltz]

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.

[Samwise]

One recent *VERY* cutscene heavy game was Phantasy Star Universe.

Is you playin' yet?

[FatuousTwat]

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.

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

[Morfiend]

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.

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.

[photek]

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 

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.

[Comstar]

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

[raydeen]

One recent *VERY* cutscene heavy game was Phantasy Star Universe.

Is you playin' yet?

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.

[rk47]

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.

[Merusk]

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

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

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

The Dream Twister
Cyborg Factory
Clinical Immortality
The Cloning Vats

[Fordel]

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

Gotta love the Atlas   

[Mrbloodworth]

Chrono trigger.

[climbjtree]

Gears of War Commercial

[Phildo]

Wild Arms

[Kail]

Personally, my favorite cutscenes are from Metal Gear Solid.

From Final Fantasy XII, anything with Balthier and Fran (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 is amazing.

I always get a kick out of the intro to Allegiance, for some reason...

Thought the ending for Thief 3 was cool, too, but I'm probably alone in that.

[SurfD]

Wild Arms

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

[Mazakiel]

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.