Cinematic videos of games

[Deleted]

Games at some platforms (like Steam) usually have some screenshots and videos attached to them. Almost all publishers give out some videos to present the game and to make players interested. But a whole lot of those videos only show some rendered battle scenes, not ingame-graphics / parts of the interface / etc. As an example (a very well made video in my opinion): one of the Dragon Age: Origins trailers.
But somehow, those videos don't influence me if I'm going to buy a game or not. While they are nice to watch, a gameplay-video or something presenting the features in the actual game do influence me a lot more. I'm usually searching for those, and looking up reviews / asking friends who already played the games.

So I was wondering: Do such videos, only showing some cinematic sequences of the world, with no information on story / gameplay / graphics etc of the actual game, influence you?

[Wilian]

Cinematics like that will never make me buy anything. It's all bells and whistles and unless there's a proper playable gameplay demo for the game, I won't be bothering with it until it hits the sub-5e bin.

And mindless "AWESOMESAUCE COMBAT WITH OVERTHETOP COREOGRAPHY" cinematics like that one tend to actually turn me off, as they offer nothing of substance.

[Shemsu Hov]

In my opinion, if you want to attract people to your game, you don't just give some flashy video, because then you commit the biggest crime in advertising: you don't sell the consumer on the idea. I watched the Diablo RoS cinematic and it didn't make my rush out and buy the game. It was my friend pestering me to get the game that got me into Diablo. I know that RoS wasn't an advertising the the point is a cinematic didn't sell me on the game or even provoke my interest.

[wombinator04]

I don't watch most of them because why would I waste my time watching a video trying to promote a game without showing any actual gameplay in it.

The only cinematics I ever watch are WoW's. Only because they're very well made and are interesting.

[Val the Moofia Boss]

Unless it's a Blizzard cinematic, which tells me exactly what's happening in the new expansion, then I pay very little - if not none - attention to video game cinematics.

..And mindless "AWESOMESAUCE COMBAT WITH OVERTHETOP COREOGRAPHY" cinematics like that one tend to actually turn me off, as they offer nothing of substance...

Pretty much sums up my reaction to every other video game cinematic trailer. Case in point: The Elder Scrolls Online cinematics.

[shokter]

I've seen enough fancy cinematic trailers and have played enough games to know the quality of the game has nothing to do with the shine of the trailer. At all.

[Jester Joe]

It depends honestly to me, but I seem to have the opposite opinion.
I love the cinematic trailers. Some of them are flat out amazing, and sometimes the fact that I have no idea what the heck is going on intrigues me, because I'm interesting in finding out what is going on. For example Tales of Xilla 2, but this is usually to games that I know I enjoy, like, if it's an RPG or something, or the fact that I played Xilla 1 and enjoyed it.

Then there's others that intrigue me for all the wrong reasons..

[Wilian]

Oh I enjoy well made cinematics very much. Sadly, many of them go down the route of flashy+big+complex(overly) instead of atmoshperic, intelligent visual delivery.

http://youtu.be/y8SGFeK-79Y?t=1m2s

That zergling cinematic from SC1 is far better than about every SC2 cinematic out there even if not technically at the same level due to age.

[Mormolyce]

Yeah a bit. They give you a feel for the game that text doesn't.

Cinematics in general are excellent storytelling devices in games.

[Deleted]

I love wathcing cinematics because im interested in CGI - it is always cool to see the designs and renders from skilled artists. And i think they can create a buzz for a game - a good cinematic tells me that the product is well funded and made by proffesional. It also tells me about genre, style and such (humor, horror, Cartoony, scifi etc etc)
But i will always check out gameplay and read previews before buying a game.

[Ergar]

Oh gawd OP i had forgotten that trailer. It was so well done, that it actually made me buy dragon age: origins. during the first day. I love that trailer.

[Charge me Doctor]

I've never heard anyone saying "wow cinematic in this game are so good i should play it!". And i, personally, don't even look at these videos when i think about buying a game, because i know it will make me hyped about it, i watch them after i buy a game, as part of the said game. If game isn't interested me, i don't buy it and don't watch trailers

[Vankrys]

no effect.

I love watching them, but i do know there are games and genres i don't like that have great cinematics, they are not representative of my future enjoyement of the title.

Some cinematics bring nothing to the game and are there just for marketing purpose (WoW) and some cinematics do bring something to the story telling or emotional impact of the game like mass effect (mordin scene on tuchanka) or last of us (the intro).

[Jakexe]

I love cinematics, I'll watch them over and over again looking at the little effects like how they added bloom and smoke diffusion. I'll find 'making of' videos and study them in detail and try to replicate what they do with varying success.

I'm fairly confident when I say I watch video game cinematics a lot more than even the dedicated gamers but there has never been a moment in history I've watched one and decided it's a game I want to buy, look further into sure but not purchase. They rarely give any real insight into the game beyond the settings and story.

[Drunkenfinn]

I love watching them and they do hype me up a bit but in the end it's the actual gameplay-videos / information that seal the deal :P

[Deleted]

I like watching a well made cinematic, but its not going to make me buy a game

[Deleted]

I like watching a well made cinematic, but its not going to make me buy a game

yeah the same for me, love cinematics and they may stir up interest but they're definitely not enough to have me purchase a game.

[Libram]

I usually just ignore the video and read the summary of the game. After that I'll look up some gameplay videos to make a final decision.
Games that I've really enjoyed and know that I will buy, I'll often watch the trailer.

[Delaios]

It really depends on the game. Those videos can get me excited if it's from a franchise I love. Although sequels these days are not exactly guaranteed to be good. Examples of games with good gameplay and good launch trailers would be Oblivion and Skyrim. But it can also lead to some major disappointment if a sequel doesn't live up to it's predecessor. Rome 2 would be a good example of that. I played and modded the original Rome (and Medieval 2) to death and was lucky enough to not have the hardware to run it before it came out. I've read/seen about it's launch state and it was horrible from what I could see. I've got a new desktop coming in tomorrow and if I had that before Rome 2 launched, I might have pre-ordered it. I dodged a bullet on that one, but I have no clue in what state the game is now.

If the videos are about a completely unknown game they have to be of exceptional quality to get me even slightly interested. Even gameplay videos aren't something that will sway me towards purchasing a new game. I'll always watch some reviews before purchasing, if I know nothing about the game. If a game gets a decent score from critics and a good score from users, I'll be very inclined to give it a try. If a game receives overwhelmingly positive critic reviews, but low user reviews, I'll avoid it like the plague. SimCity would be a good example of the latter. It gets a user score of 2/10, but there's a "critic" giving it a 10/10 and nominating it for Game of the Year.

[zealo]

A well made cinematic can certainly make it catch my interest but compared to a gameplay video they mean next to nothing.