In today's interview with Eurogamer the following was put to him, a wonderfully perfect question and most certainly the one I would have asked, probably in harsher tones:
"I tell him my view on the matter is based on a quote by Roger Ebert: "No good movie is too long and no bad movie is short enough," and apply the same principle to cut-scenes. This being the case, I suggest that some of Metal Gear's cut-scenes are too long to convey what they need to."
His response:
This paints a thousand words. I know some of you like his lead-weighted, forty-minute self-indulgences and OTT personal meme waving, but for me whatever cinematic good he managed with the likes of Snatcher has been drowned from MGS2 onward. There's great stuff in there, but I can't abide all the endless twaddle you have to sit through to see it.Kojima wrote:"Ultimately, it's what I believe," he says. "It comes down to what I think. If I think it's too long, I cut it short. That said, of course we rely on focus groups, on monitoring, on testing. I try to get all the information that I can. But another thing that's very important is we always need to regulate how much information we give to the player. How much are we stacking the player with information? And for cut-scenes - especially for briefing - it's kind of necessary."
His answer illustrates that he doesn't actually know when something is too much. He has focus groups and feedback, and doesn't pay attention. His story lines make little to no practical sense: they're verbose in the criminal. If you've ever looked at the MGS series files and tried to draw sense of the timeline activities, it's akin to pulling fingernails out.
I think it's a shame, personally - he certainly has some vision - but I'm really, really happy clarification for this came from the horses' mouth.
Just to note: I'm not discussing the MGS games. I've already made my feelings clear on that. It's just about Hideo as a celebrated creative.
Full interview here:
http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2014- ... deo-kojima
