What's with all the complaints about the cutscenes?

[HeroLinik]

Whenever I see someone asked about what they didn't like in this game, one of the first things, or usually guaranteed things that pops up, is the amount of cutscenes in the game, and even stuff like there being a cutscene involving Hau/Lillie every time, or most of the time, you step into a new location, and I'm seeing people wanting the cutscenes removed or at least be skipped in USUM.

I personally, enjoyed a lot of the cutscenes, and it felt like a big step up from XY, which lacked much substance story-wise, in that it isn't just about catching Pokemon and battling with them. It also made the game feel a lot more cinematic and on par with other games like the Zelda games and Final Fantasy games, and even brings forth character development much more nicely. I understand the complaints about the first cutscene because it makes it harder to reset for your starter, and I understand the complaints about the ending cutscene because it makes it near impossible to reset for a good nature on Koko and it isn't apparent you don't have to go through the E4 again, but still, like I said, it was a change from how bland XY's plot was, and the cutscenes were one of my favourite parts of the game, with the exception of the first one and the last one. This issue really sticks out as one of the worst to the point that if you admit you like the cutscenes, you'll end up getting shot down by others. Also, another problem is if they did remove the cutscenes for USUM, the plot will go with it, and thus people will complain that there is no plot, and now that they've given us a bunch of cutscenes and a detailed story, people are complaining that we can't explore enough.

Why do lots of people complain about the cutscenes in this game?

 

[Alakazam17]

First of all, thank you! I was beginning to think I was the only one who didn't mind the cutscenes. I didn't really read what people were saying about the games until after I had beaten it, and I was genuinely surprised to see this reaction everywhere, especially since I had no problem with it. I've encountered problems with them in other games however, especially when I had to restart a certain level or area and was forced to watch it over and over and over again. However I never had this problem with Pok?mon, though maybe others have. I haven't properly replayed it yet, so perhaps I'll notice it more when I do.

To each their own I guess. But I will say that, like most of those other games I mentioned, Pok?mon should at least have an option to skip cutscenes. I wouldn't do it, but like Pok?mon-Amie(which I never use aside from getting Sylveon), it's good to have for the people who do like it. ^_^

 

[neoshai]

Tbh I didn't mind the cutscenes throughout the game to much but I did feel like it took forever in the beginning and forever and an extra eternity when you actually finished the game for the first time. Those were the only moments the cutscenes really bothered me.
Aside from that I didn't mind them to much.

 

[PageEmp]

I guess it's because they are time consuming, but thankfully I started a Sun nuzrun where I got the nature I wanted for my starter on the first damn try(as in literally the nature I wanted). Of course unlike my original playthrough when I spent half an hour trying to find a nature that didn't suck(so I didn't even get the nature I wnted). So yeah, I guess you can say I have greatly grown on the SM cutscenes.

 

[Somewhere_]

I never had a moment where I wanted to skip a cutscene in SM. I enjoyed them...

 

[strangerhypno]

It's good that GameFreak's trying on story unlike XY where it downgraded from BW and B2W2 level with one dimensional characters like Tierno. But one complaint I have about the cutscenes is that they should make some cutscenes skippable because it would improve the replay value and older players can skip through the tutorials

 

[Mister Coffee]

I don't personally have much of a problem with the length of the cut scenes through my first play through. The characters were entertaining and I enjoyed seeing them being developed throughout the story, but I do think what a few of the other posters mentioned would have fixed the issue of so many complaints against the cut scenes. Game Freak should have made the cut scenes skip-able. If there was the option for the scenes to be skipped then the people playing the games who don't care about the story can just skip them would have no complaints.

I also think that if the scenes were able to be skipped the game would probably have more replay value as well. I really liked the story line and enjoyed the cut scenes, but since I know the entire story now, I wouldn't really be interested in playing the game again knowing that I would be forced to watch all of the lengthy cut scenes.
Just having the option to skip the cut scenes doesn't require a lot of work to implement and it would probably help keep more of their audience happy.

 

[Hikamaru]

I didn't have too much of an issue with them, since the player character is new to Alola and he/she likely didn't know all of Alola's major differences from Kanto where they previously lived.

 

[blue]

I really enjoyed the cutscenes in SM, especially the ones towards the end. I personally don't see the real problem with a game having a lot of cutscenes, if anything it adds character imo .

 

[Nah]

There was a thread about the cutscenes shortly after Sun/Moon's release, and iirc, the complaints about them mostly came down to two things (though not literally every issue people took with them was one of these):

1) For people who don't give a shit about story, cutscenes essentially prevent them from playing, so having any significant number of them with any significant length is a negative point for some people.
2) It makes it take forever to soft-reset for certain things, and soft-reseting/rolling on the RNG is not really something that anyone wants to take more time than it already does.

I will echo the sentiment though that, as someone who was not bothered by the cutscenes in S/M, they really should've made them skip-able, or at least give us the ability to like fast forward them. It's a common thing to have in games with cutscenes, and there's little reason to not have that ability in the game.

 

[Death]

The cutscenes for me were alright. I didn't particularly like or hate them- although the main player character's ever happy face did kind of bother me.

 

[pkmin3033]

Cutscenes should be engaging, informative, or exciting. They should be just as involving as the gameplay itself, serve a purpose beyond showcasing a game's pretty visuals, and drive things forward. Given that SM's "story" was mediocre at best, had waves of unbearably banal dialogue, and a thoroughly unlikeable cast on top of that, I don't find it all that surprising that some people objected to being forced to watch them prattle on about things that were never particularly consequential or given any real thought or feeling.

There were a couple that were relatively well done in my opinion - although they often ended too soon, unlike the rest which tended to drag on and on and ON - but for the most part they didn't really serve any purpose other than to show off the game's visuals...which were a step down from the 2D sprites. That they weren't skippable was a problem not unique to GF, but still a pretty damning offense in the days where skip functions for text and cutscenes are pretty much a given even in text-heavy titles like visual novels.

Overall, they were just badly designed, and made a bad game even worse by slowing it down to a crawl where it was already travelling at a snail's pace. I'm not even sure they were a step up from XY's if I'm honest about it...

 

[BlazingCobaltX]

I really liked the cutscenes, but they do become bothersome when you are forced to look at a very long one before you can undertake a specific action (pick starter, SR'ing a stationary Pokémon). The cutscenes can become very annoying then. I got pretty frustrated during the cutscene after you defeat the league; it dragged on and ooonnn and before I knew it - I had to catch Tapu Koko! Not very player-friendly.

 

[Star Arcana]

I really liked the cutscenes, but they do become bothersome when you are forced to look at a very long one before you can undertake a specific action (pick starter, SR'ing a stationary Pokémon). The cutscenes can become very annoying then. I got pretty frustrated during the cutscene after you defeat the league; it dragged on and ooonnn and before I knew it - I had to catch Tapu Koko! Not very player-friendly.

I completely agree with you; trying to catch Koko without getting to save right beforehand was stressful and annoying. I hadn't really stocked up on leggie-catching balls, my lead Pokémon was off, and Koko can hit hard as well. This whole issue could have been avoided had you just been able to save before entering the final room in the ruin. And perhaps a couple Ultras, in case you had no... capturing devices.

And I have to say, not being able to save right before picking a starter wasn't very fun. I had a friend who tried for days to get a shiny Rowlett, and must have watched that scene over 100 times. He was pretty fed up at the end, to say the least. I only had to reset a couple of times, and I found that painful as it was... (and it kinda took the magic out of the following cutscene, because you didn't know if you'd keep that individual in the first place)

However, overall, I really liked that they tried to make the game more story focused. I was getting tired of the traditional formula, and while S/M wasn't a huge step away from the usual stuff, I do feel it's progress. I found that in the heavier moments of the games, the cutscenes did add extra emotion and depth to the plot...

Except the protag's derp smile in all the inappropriate moments. That was... something.

But yeah, I hope they refine the cutscenes a little more in US/UM and make at least the tutorial ones skippable. I think that would be a good way to please both camps.

 

[mysticalflute]

My only complaint about the cut scenes was the no saving before fighting Tapu Koko. Man that is an annoying fight! But otherwise, the cut scenes add so much more life to the story that I really can't picture the games without them.

 

[Mawa]

My problem with the cutscenes is that after a while, I got bored. I mostly read them very quickly and not give them that much attention. So overall, that makes me enjoy the game less. I feel like I don't enjoy the game much, I mostly rush in the cutscenes.

 

[Sushy1991]

Having played all pokemon games since pok?mon yellow, I feel the cutscenes now are much better.
The only thing I'd probably change is the "tutorial" on how to catch pok?mon that they still put in some games... it should be optional.
Other than that, I feel it adds a lot to the story!

 

[HeroLinik]

Honestly the worst cutscene offense had to have been not saving before battling Tapu Koko, but this was very easily remedied by going back to Tapu Koko's altar, saving before it, and fighting it however many times you want.

But like I said in the original post, it isn't made apparent you can just go back and rebattle it. If you're a veteran of the series, it's really easy to think that you have to go through the E4 again in order to get it to respawn, and knowing that the E4 are actually challenging, this can be tough and off-putting. Considering you can't save beforehand, this is a tough choice to make - would you just blindly chuck your Master Ball at Koko or simply kill it, risking having to go back through the E4 again? This also doesn't take into account possibly having to grind just to get past the E4 a second time, just to have another chance at catching it again.