Walpknut
This ghoul has seen it all
Actually emotion as a mechanic IS the way to do it. Give those story points actual gameplay weight, don't just make them cutscenes and turn on the "FEEL THINGS" neon sign.
No, that totally works, too..... when done correctly. There are games that are MASTERFUL at eliciting the desired emotional response from their players, and purely by having cutscenes to do it. Granted, these are often reinforced by GAMEPLAY that helps players identify with characters. But the point is that the "turn on 'FEEL THINGS' neon sign" by way of cutscenes is a viable method.don't just make them cutscenes and turn on the "FEEL THINGS" neon sign.
It's not an easy way out, though, contrary to how you're painting it to be. Valve going through considerable studies so they can plan out the designs of their levels to showcase events where the players will usually want to look are at best an anomaly when it comes to video game storytelling. If you want to watch how characters act, there are no perspectives that show this off better than a forced perspective, otherwise there are serious incongruities with the scene. You can have the player character witness something, like Isaac Clarke witnessing Chalus Mercer do certain things in Dead Space, but unlike simply being a passive observer, when the character interacts with other characters, like Isaac Clarke interacts with Ellie Langford in Dead Space 2, half the time a cutscene is appropriate. Granted, DS2's style of cutscene differs from the "traditional" model in that the perspective still SEEMS to be in the same over-the-shoulder camera angle... only with the control temporarily removed from the player. But it's still a cutscene; it focuses on the important players of the scene so the game player can observe them, and given most video game models, this is important. A psuedo-ADD behavior always seems to take place in video games, and locking the player in for a few seconds helps them focus on what's important.It's viable because is the easies and less effort needed way. Videogames storytelling is still on the same level as Young Adult fiction, and they refuse to actually take advantage of the interactivity of the medium in favor of just playing a pre-rendered video.
So then I guess MGSV is the game for me. I have never been a fan of the MGS series because of the cutscenes and story. Also I played the Gamecube remake of the first games first and the controls pissed me off. Will I be too lost if I get on to the game without having played the others even with the lower focus on story?
It must also be said that Quiet is one of the stupidest characters the series has ever introduced. The blatant sexuality of the character is actually hilarious in the sense that Kojima actually thought it was good. Ashamed of our words and deeds? Kojima you twat. The shit is ridiculous. Having a character prance about half naked is one thing, but the way they pull it off is so bad. She might as well start swinging on a pole while the Diamond Dogs throw money at her. The only other main female character is also practically naked. I'm the last person to complain about stuff like that, but it was blatantly obvious that that stuff was in there for guy boners.