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Should Microsoft just embrace "cinematic" third-person action adventure games?

Perhaps cinematic games are easier and more effective to market? Gameplay alone can only do so much to get people's attention before they are actually playing the game. They are probably easier for streamers to get more traffic out of them (with reactions to plot twists and whatnot).

I agree MS should keep trying with these type of games. It could bring in more people and increase the chances of other kind of games being noticed too.

Sony is investing in doing the same with multiplayer games, last I read. And Nintendo... I don't know what Nintendo lacks, but they should totally join in adding variety too.
 
Why will I want Microsoft be a one trick poly? 😂 I rather they diverse their game genres.
 
There's a ton of their games that could benefit from the "Sony touch" when it comes to production values, ability to re-invent themselves, and overall cinematic engagement. They don't need to be third person action/adventure though. It just needs to apply to ALL their big game releases.

Halo is a laughing stock when it comes to these properties. It hasn't matured in two decades and has actually regressed. The gameplay is fun. The storyline/cinematics are worse than a Saturday morning cartoon. That's a big part of why Halo is out of favor - aint nobody care about the lore or story due to how comically bad it is presented in the games.

Ditto for Gears of War - needs a major reboot and get back to the roots. Perfect Dark will need to nail this aspect. Anything from their Zenimax acquired studios needs a MAJOR revamping in this regard.

People criminally underrate the importance of presentation and production for these tentpole games. It's why RDR and GTA are so massive as well.
 
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Black_Stride said:
Its also exactly what killed Fasa Studio.

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Imagine if MS just gave them more leeway we would probably have more Mech Assault games and more Crimson Skies games on Xbox right now.

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My God. Someone remembers Mech Assault. My man! Those games were the shit. I'm pretty sure my OG Xbox Live gamertag actually ended up in a commercial for the game's Xbox Live component too. Although it could have been a fever dream because I was a kid back then.

James Sawyer Ford said:
Halo is a laughing stock when it comes to these properties. It hasn't matured in two decades and has actually regressed. The gameplay is fun. The storyline/cinematics are worse than a Saturday morning cartoon. That's a big part of why Halo is out of favor - aint nobody care about the lore or story due to how comically bad it is presented in the games.
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Hardest of disagrees here. Infinite did a fantastic job using a cinematic camera to tell its story. Every shot seamlessly zoomed out of first person into a 3rd person camera and IIRC used an "unbroken shot" style of cinematography. The story in Infinite itself is well told and sets the Halo universe up for some _very_ interesting stuff in the future. And all I see on Twitter is people wanting MORE in that story and MORE campaign. Not less. I think you have your wires crossed on this one.
 
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As someone who owns a PS5, the LAST thing I want is more games trying to be The Last of Us

I want video games to be video games, not the demo reel for the lead developer that failed at being a filmmaker.
 
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Fuck no.

Double Fine
Obsidian
inXile
Undead
Bethesda
Arkane
id
MachineGames
Tango
Playground
soon, ABK

I love their acquisitions specifically because the devs AREN'T copy paste Gears/Uncharted wannabes. They make unique titles in less popular genres.

There are plenty of third party games in that space, and they have Coalition and Ninja Theory.
 
No thanks. They already got Hellblade for that. A game where the first hour is probably 50% unskippable cut scenes, 45% walking around, 5% fighting action.
 
Mythoclast said:
I'll begin this by saying that I own all consoles, so there's no fanboyism or even brand loyalty to a particular company. I go with whatever is the best value prop at the time.

It's sometimes disappointing to see Microsoft keep trying to push a variety of games in different genres beyond the typical FPS or over-the-shoulder action adventure (e.g. Pentiment, Hi-Fi Rush, Flight Simulator,...) only to be critically successful but commercially a flop. Say what you wanna say about the war chest or fear of industry consolidation, but Microsoft gives their studios at least SOME creative freedom and they try to fill up GamePass with a variety of experiences.

Sony, on the other hand, seems to have found what works best for them commercially and they don't seem very eager to move beyond these "cinematic", Michael Bay-ish, overly emotional games like TLOU. Not only that but at least TLOU was born like such a game. Now God of War, Final Fantasy, and arguably Spider-Man have been transformed into these cinematic third party action adventures. The "movie-game" meme is real. That said, I have played all of those Sony exclusives and they are great. There's a reason why they appeal to people and sell so much. But I feel that that's money at the cost of progress, curiosity and innovation of the industry.

Microsoft is a behemoth company, it's not that they're struggling. But they do have a much lower market share when compared to Sony in the gaming industry worldwide. I just hope Sony doesn't rest on their laurels and can start going beyond these kinds of games.
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Neither Nintendo, Microsoft nor Valve need to make cinematic movie games. They all just need to find success in their own way just like Sony did after spending a decade trying to compete with Nintendo platformers and 2 generations trying to make a Halo killer. In the end it was Sony's own unique style of game that succeeded (Uncharted 2) and paved the way for the Sony we know today.
 
Vox Machina said:
Hardest of disagrees here. Infinite did a fantastic job using a cinematic camera to tell its story. Every shot seamlessly zoomed out of first person into a 3rd person camera and IIRC used an "unbroken shot" style of cinematography. The story in Infinite itself is well told and sets the Halo universe up for some _very_ interesting stuff in the future. And all I see on Twitter is people wanting MORE in that story and MORE campaign. Not less. I think you have your wires crossed on this one.
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Hardest of disagrees back at ya :)

The juxtaposition of just how fun Halo Infinite's core gameplay mechanics are against the god awful story and world building really soured my taste on the experience even though I'd still give it a 7 or 8 overall. I could not care less about Cortana, the drama between the main antagonists, or the world. It's so poorly stitched together despite having so much potential. It's really a shame how bad it is.

I also want MORE STORY, and MORE CAMPAIGN....I just want the GOOD kind. Not one with some melodramatic Cortana crap mixed with an annoying Russian bro thrown in the mix. It is absolutely terrible, but with a massive improvement in that regard it would really do a tremendous service in turning the series around when it comes to capturing the attention of audiences again and rekindling the former glory the series had.
 
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64bitmodels said:
Hi-Fi Rush. before Hi-Fi Pentiment. before that, Psychonauts and ori.

so not that long ago. It's just that games like those aren't as marketable as big budget IP.
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And they got a lot of good credit in the bank for HiFi Rush even if it wasn't huge commercially. Psychonauts not really because it was a multiplat Kickstarter game but they definitely will for future DoubleFine games

For a lot of people like me Xbox has been unappealing because it's been all multiplayer focus for a long time, so the more ambitious single player content they add the more appealing Xbox is. I don't care if it's cinematic or not, just give me high quality single player focus
 
Sony games get high acclaim not because of the genre, but because of the insane level of polish.
Good gameplay, story, graphics, sound, performance, marketing, QA, etc.
Nintendo games have a similar effect (for different reasons)

Xbox studios just doesn't really have that level of consistency at the moment.
You don't know what kind of output you're gonna get out of their studios.

Making a 3rd person cinematic game doesn't automatically equal high quality.
 
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James Sawyer Ford said:
Hardest of disagrees back at ya :)

The juxtaposition of just how fun Halo Infinite's core gameplay mechanics are against the god awful story and world building really soured my taste on the experience even though I'd still give it a 7 or 8 overall. I could not care less about Cortana, the drama between the main antagonists, or the world. It's so poorly stitched together despite having so much potential. It's really a shame how bad it is.

I also want MORE STORY, and MORE CAMPAIGN....I just want the GOOD kind. Not one with some melodramatic Cortana crap mixed with an annoying Russian bro thrown in the mix. It is absolutely terrible, but with a massive improvement in that regard it would really do a tremendous service in turning the series around when it comes to capturing the attention of audiences again and rekindling the former glory the series had.
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I hear ya. Infinite's campaign is... divisive, I'd say. I've seen extreme opinions of it both ways, and I can't sit here and say mine is right, being an opinion after all. I really enjoyed it and really wanna know what The Endless are and what's next in that story.
 
Vox Machina said:
I hear ya. Infinite's campaign is... divisive, I'd say. I've seen extreme opinions of it both ways, and I can't sit here and say mine is right, being an opinion after all. I really enjoyed it and really wanna know what The Endless are and what's next in that story.
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For sure I think the lore and stuff is actually really great

I just don't think they do a good job presenting it. this is a problem many games have tho. but I feel like improving this one aspect turns Halo back into that 10/10 must have that it used to be
 
64bitmodels said:
no, just manage studios better & put complete games out on time. Nintendo doesn't have "cinematic" third person action adventure games and they're doing peachy. Advertise them more, too. bring up more buzz instead of leaving people on mute for certain games like hellblade 2 or avowed

we really don't need another Sony in terms of game catalogue.
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What's Tears of The Kingdom then?
 
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It would be a much better use of time and resources to just try and have some great offerings in that category while excelling elsewhere. Or, simply create a very diverse set of high quality, impactful games across a greater variety of genres.
 
No No No GIF


Fuck no please. I barely manage to finish these cinematic games because of boredom. I feel like we're back to "games" being more popular than ever. Imagine if BG3 with dice rolls can be so successful. Fuck cinematic.
 
Buggy Loop said:
No No No GIF


Fuck no please. I barely manage to finish these cinematic games because of boredom. I feel like we're back to "games" being more popular than ever. Imagine if BG3 with dice rolls can be so successful. Fuck cinematic.
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Now we just need an RTS to come out and grip the mainstream and we'd be right back to the golden age
 
I wouldn't mind but I don't think they want short and extremely expensive 'one and done' type games in general. If they're going to keep pushing GamePass they need games that keep people engaged and want to come back to, either through multiplayer, being content heavy, relying on DLC, being episodic etc.

Even if they'd go for it I don't think the end result would feel very much like what we're used to with Sony.
 
I do think people are way harsher on Microsoft than they should be. Like, I don't see how Spiderman is amazing and Gears is mid. They are both technically amazing and gameplay mid. There is a lot that MS does that is perfectly good, an abundance of quality experiences, so much that I don't have time for half of it. It does seem that only a very specific type of game is accepted as a flagship and representative of the identity of a console. The key to success is making sure the games you promote line up with what does that. In this regard MS is failing in the way Sega failed, just delivering the wrong good experiences.

The games that used to do it for MS have fallen off. They have come out with a ton to replace it, and if you think of it as a generalized experience that GamePass showcases where "we have a variety of fun for everyone" then they actually do succeed, and it can be argued that their ecosystem is the best, but it's just a matter of those flagships being mid or (in the case of something like Forza) not what gets you famous. Beyond this, Japan has never truly been with them, so if that's your flavor you are just going to feel like you're treated second class on Xbox. Starfield seems like the first shot in a long time that one of their flagships actually delivers. If it falters that is really, really, really bad for them.

I think they are also REALLY bad at marketing. Like SO INCREDIBLY BAD. Psychonauts 2 is a legit game and where was the marketing? I don't remember it at all. Shadow dropping Hi-Fi Rush was a play for the enthusiasts but who else heard of it? Was it properly identified as an Xbox game to contribute to the Xbox identity? There are plenty of examples like this. They are so invested in the "Look at these 100 1-second flashes of all our games to know GamePass has a lot" thing that nobody ends up really being aware of when they do succeed with making a good product and crediting it to them. Focused single-game noise then spreads only on their failures.
 
Arkan, Obisdian, InXile, Double Fine making TLOU and Uncharted clones instead of immersive sims and cRPGs? yuck.
 
Maybe go for one or two in a franchise. Like perfect dark, but hell no don't make it a common thing.

Also, make one amazing one and have it be 14 to 18 hours long ish. Bring that back pleeeease.

I'm so fed up with 35 to 50 hour third person Sony cinematic games. I love their shorter ones. Just give me a super tight well paced 20 hour game.
 
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Nah, i just want a console with a first party library that beats the Wii U and or PS Vita, and Microsofts track record with games means the Series has a long way to go to competing with those. Starfield will bridge some of that gap.
 
If they are giving creative freedom to their studios, i don't think they can decide this.

Their studios are talented and capable of producing interesting games on their own. MS should stick to what they are doing.
 
That would be more games to skip. I didn't buy an Xbox for that. I already have zero interest in Hellblade, no need for more games like these. People who want this kind of games are better off buying a PS.
 
yo mean games that forces XSX to 720p or 30fps ?? welp that's Sony and Switch jobs

Also Starfield is about to break the internet in less than a month
 
Nope. They should embrace being a bethesda support studio/ publisher. Just give me the next doom, wolfenstein, elder scrolls, evil within, fucking dishonored and I'll not only buy your console, but your games too.
 
Wdym by 'embrace'?

Imo, MS has a non-existent cinematic experience. And by that I mean triple A games that go head to head against the PlayStation ecosystem. MS should learn to walk before they run. They didn't get it right last generation and somehow 3 years into this gen, they're still flopping around.

Where is the sunset overdrive for this gen, nowhere to be found.
 
Buggy Loop said:
No No No GIF


Fuck no please. I barely manage to finish these cinematic games because of boredom. I feel like we're back to "games" being more popular than ever. Imagine if BG3 with dice rolls can be so successful. Fuck cinematic.
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They need more games like original mass effect trilogy. It's obviously not perfect but it was good. Too bad BioWare is basically dead.
 
It's okay. They'll have a boring cinematic, third person action adventure game if and when Final Fantasy 16 releases on it.
 
Killer8 said:
They should lean into RPGs more. They own Bethesda, Obsidian, inXile and the Playground studio making Fable, so it makes sense. The success this year of Baldur's Gate 3 shows that if you build a good RPG, the audience will come. In fact, Microsoft should be cracking the whip a bit more and giving some of these studios less freedom. I have no idea why inXile are straying from their excellent Wasteland roots to make a terrible looking BioShock Infinite rip-off. And Obsidian have arguably wasted a lot of time on some quite mid games when they could've been making the thing people actually want - Fallout: New Vegas 2.
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Obsidian was only able to make New Vegas because Bethesda made Fallout 3.
They are a tiny studio.
 
Kinda hard to know. The "post acquisition spree" hasn't really borne many fruits yet. For me the X mostly gathers dust. It'll come out for starfield, if they did have a load of third person adventures it would certainly get a lot more of my game time. But it would if they released any actually good single player games with good gameplay and engaging narrative.
 
If they wanted to do that, they should have bought Crystal Dynamics and not the studios they did buy. It is difficult for Microsoft because a lot of the studios they bought do need money and some fresh ideas in terms of game formats, but Microsoft are not especially qualified to do that process, and doing something like telling studios to imitate Naughty Dog would be a terrible idea.
 
I don't want to put anything down and clearly Sony's games are very popular but for me, I'm not very interested. I thought the recent Tomb Raider games were ok, and so wouldn't be averse to something along those lines, but I think Microsoft's first party line up is really good for offering up variety. I'm not sure why they don't get more praise for that.

So, yeah, a bit of everything is nice, but a lot of one thing? Not so much.
 
If I wanted that type of game I would've gotten a PlayStation. The first Hellblade was interesting to me as an AA game, and I think it had some potential (with a sequel) to make the gameplay more interesting (I know Ninja Theory can do better combat than HB1; DmC had good combat despite not being a good DMC game for instance).

Instead it looks like they've doubled down on the "cinematic" aspects of it with Hellblade 2. Looks boring as fuck. So I guess for fans of that style of game there HB2…
 
As long as they keep on making weird, unusual games with a sense of humour, I don't really care what perspective they are from. And, yes, personally I don't really need them to imitate Sony because most of their games are not very interesting to me.
 
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