#Cinematic Games

[blazehedgehog]

How do you feel about the Like a dragon/Yakuza series? Cause on a surface level at least, it has all the elements many take issue with in modern big budget games A big focus on a cinematic experience and realistic looking presentation. But I rarely hear that criticism for those games.

I dunno. They have different feels than what I'd consider a "cinematic" or "prestige" game.

For starters, Yakuza games aren't really any more cinematic than, say, an typical JRPG. You get a lavishly produced cutscene every few hours, but a lot of your dialog interactions aren't even voiced, as far as I remember.

A lot of scenes are classic scrolling text and canned animations.

Two, I think it's important that the Yakuza games do not take themselves seriously. Even Uncharted, with its pulpy adventure, still takes itself seriously.

The primary Yakuza game I've played is the first Judgment, and that's a game with claw grabber (UFO) machines, arcade games, drone races, there are questlines advertising real Japanese restaurants that are full of cheeky product placement dialog, there's a whole quest where you're photographing stray cats, a quest that's a big parody of Phoenix Wright where you have to gather evidence and make a case for who stole a cake, etc.

Like those games have a very serious core, make no mistake. but there's a lot more going on that runs a wide gamut. Prestige games mainly seem focused on being real, and dramatic, and "epic." Yakuza games will do whatever they want as long as its fun and interesting.

Prestige games are also seemingly in a race to see who can spend the most money. Again, we can go back to the Insomniac leaks to reveal Spider-man 2 cost half a billion dollars and they'll be lucky to break even, for a game most people might not even notice is any better looking or more technologically complex than the last one.

Meanwhile I think someone at Sega said "The Man Who Erased His Name" took them 18 months to put together, and since probably 50-75% of the game's story sequences don't even require voice acting or complex animation, they both go together quickly and don't cost much to make. That's not to say they're cheaply made games or that it's totally problem free, far from it, but they are more economical than something like a Horizon, or The Last of Us 2, or whatever.

I mean, Digital Foundry noted we haven't actually gotten a proper new Naughty Dog game since The Last of Us 2 in 2020. But in the last four years, we've gotten two Yakuza games? Three? Maybe even four? That's not to say quantity beats quality, and I think to some degree Sega should be careful about burning people out on this series and its spinoffs.

But whereas Spider-Man 2 could be a game that sinks Insomniac if it doesn't meet its nearly impossible sales figures, I don't think Sega's in too much danger if a Yakuza game under performs.

A cinematic/prestige game is something trying to pretend it's not a game at all and is an interactive movie. Very little about the Yakuza franchise has ever felt ashamed to be a video game.

[fogaminghub]

https://www.fogaminghub.com/post/until-dawn-explore-decision-making-in-horror-gaming

🌙✨ Ready to face your fears? Explore how decision-making drives the narrative in Until Dawn! From Dr. Hill's office to the fate of your characters, every choice counts. Will you embrace friendship or succumb to unease? 🌌🍂 Dive into our latest blog post to unravel the mysteries!

[tmarshconnors]

 Avoid being an ignorant fanboy or fangirl.

Xbox is the element of community. The Xbox player base enjoys multiplayer games and has bonds that can last for years. PlayStation is the element of single-player games. They range from being cinematic to having great gameplay. PC is the element of freedom PC gamers appreciate the most popular and niche titles and the community has some really funny mods Nintendo element of variety they love to experiment and be innovative when they find something that works. They make it incredible. It��s important to see the good in all gaming platforms. This is how you avoid being an ignorant fanboy or fangirl. The four nations lived happily until the mobile gamers attacked.

[wickedcriminal]

Silver for Sonic Movie 5

[sunrithyll]

I think it's weird how some people talk about how stupid "walking simulator"/cutscene & storyheavy games are and how they would never ""play"" such a ""game"" because that would be so extremely boring, but then they talk about a movie they recently watched

[arcanegifs]

LeBlanc and Vladimir in Welcome to Noxus - Bite Marks (ft. TEYA) | 2025 Season 1 Cinematic - League of Legends

[notacluedo]

lil gods own country Andrew and Neil

[lyricthecat-12]

Typical Sonadow Hater be like: "Sonic and Shadow hate each other, they could never survive in a relationship"

Meanwhile, Sonic and Shadow in almost every medium where they appear:

[welcome-to-green-hills]

Shadow the Hedgehog breaks the Guinness World Record for the largest shadow projection in New Jersey

SOURCE

[supine-ly]

Peter’s wall crawling on nothing

doodle for @luciaintheskyainthi’s work Existential Crisis Mode

[universallyfansworld]

Jeff Fowler shared the first concept art with Maria and Shadow. And he is so fascinatingly beautiful that there are no words.

[yellodisney]

[illyanarasputinfan]

[wanderingibon]

regrets

[peepawispunk]

Spin this wheel to get assigned a husband from the Pedro Pascal Cinematic Universe.

[jonnywaistcoat]

Hi sir! Do you have any opinions on the new dungeons and dragons rules??

The same opinion I've had on D&D rules for over a decade now - they're fine, pretty bland and I'll play it if I have to, but I'd always rather play an RPG that's actually interesting.

The impression I get is it's a coward's update, too scared of alienating the 5e players to actually make any change that matters. I mean, I hear the illusionist changes are fun, and everything else has been smoothed down a bit too much and overbalanced, but they've certainly not done anything to render the system actually compelling to me.