This thread is about the opening cinematic in video games. Not the into cinematic right after the game starts, but the thing that shows its (hopefully) beautiful face every time the game boots up (right before the menus). As many times as we just take them for granted and spam Start until we get to the main menu, I'd like to take a moment to appreciate the effort some random person in the credits (that no one ever reads) put into making the intro look polished and convey the general mood of the world before starting on a new adventure.
SSBM:
We all love this (hopefully), it integrates components of all universes, and it was the first GC game I owned. This cutscene showed me the power the GC had.
Sonic Riders:
I personally love the stylization of the racers, how they each represented their different colors, and how the art style made the racers light up the intentionally dull environments and raced through tunnels, exemplifying the speed at chich they were going. This cutscene knew what it wanted to convey and executed it well (wish I could say that about the gameplay).
NWN:
NWN was a CRPG in the early 2000s that had a deep lore, a player-created character, and a cool, semi-new feature was the extensive battle animations (clanking weapons if they blocked, a number of hitting/slicing animations it cycled through, etc.), which was not standard at the time. This cutscene showed an intense battle between a Minotaur and Lord Nasher (using the Sword of Never), while the forging of the Sword of Never comes in for a couple seconds every once in a while (although you need to get pretty deep into the lore to understand specifics Nasher's adventures). It was intense combat and got you hyped for the game that was to come.
NFS HP2:
When I got this game, I was about 6 years old. Like any other 6 year old, I wanted my toy cars to come to life. This cutscene was the closest I ever got to having my cop chase with exquisite cars running and winning with Hot Action Cop playing in the background. I guess it wasn't all that great of a cutscene, but I loved it nonetheless.
DQ IX:
This perfectly sends you into the world where DQ IX takes place. It puts you in battle with a Dragon (which you won't encounter for a while, but still cool), walking around a town, going in the tavern, and most importantly, exploring the vast world around you. This cinematic is wonderful to start an RPG and I can think of few openings that better set the stage for the game you are about to experience.
NOTE: I excluded FFX because that game has the same opening cinematic as the intro cinematic.
EDIT: Added descriptions as to why I loved the cinematics.
SSBM:
We all love this (hopefully), it integrates components of all universes, and it was the first GC game I owned. This cutscene showed me the power the GC had.
Sonic Riders:
I personally love the stylization of the racers, how they each represented their different colors, and how the art style made the racers light up the intentionally dull environments and raced through tunnels, exemplifying the speed at chich they were going. This cutscene knew what it wanted to convey and executed it well (wish I could say that about the gameplay).
NWN:
NWN was a CRPG in the early 2000s that had a deep lore, a player-created character, and a cool, semi-new feature was the extensive battle animations (clanking weapons if they blocked, a number of hitting/slicing animations it cycled through, etc.), which was not standard at the time. This cutscene showed an intense battle between a Minotaur and Lord Nasher (using the Sword of Never), while the forging of the Sword of Never comes in for a couple seconds every once in a while (although you need to get pretty deep into the lore to understand specifics Nasher's adventures). It was intense combat and got you hyped for the game that was to come.
NFS HP2:
When I got this game, I was about 6 years old. Like any other 6 year old, I wanted my toy cars to come to life. This cutscene was the closest I ever got to having my cop chase with exquisite cars running and winning with Hot Action Cop playing in the background. I guess it wasn't all that great of a cutscene, but I loved it nonetheless.
DQ IX:
This perfectly sends you into the world where DQ IX takes place. It puts you in battle with a Dragon (which you won't encounter for a while, but still cool), walking around a town, going in the tavern, and most importantly, exploring the vast world around you. This cinematic is wonderful to start an RPG and I can think of few openings that better set the stage for the game you are about to experience.
NOTE: I excluded FFX because that game has the same opening cinematic as the intro cinematic.
EDIT: Added descriptions as to why I loved the cinematics.
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