The award for best install sequence goes to...

[Ryam BaCo]

lands of lore 2 had a beautiful installation routine. as far as i remember. this is a long time ago.

and broken sword where you where able to play a game in breakout-style was also nice.

[toblix]

I never understood why telling the story in lame in-game cutscenes were an improvement over telling it in corny filmed and pre-rendered sequences. In the early C&C/RA games, those movies were like prizes for completing the levels level. The scenes in Generals aren't even remotely that satisfying.

[Intrepid Homoludens]

I dunno. It depends on the quality of the cutscenes ultimately, not just on how it's presented. I enjoyed the CG in Syberia. But I loved the in-game cinematics of NOLF2.

[Chris]

I never understood why telling the story in lame in-game cutscenes were an improvement over telling it in corny filmed and pre-rendered sequences. In the early C&C/RA games, those movies were like prizes for completing the levels level. The scenes in Generals aren't even remotely that satisfying.

I'm sure a lot of it has to do with costs. To create nice cinematic sequences you essentially need people trained to do that, and as pre-rendered animation gets higher and higher quality, gamers expect more and more, so developers have to keep up. On the other hand, they're already keeping up with in-game graphics anyway, so it makes sense for them to work with what they're good at. Also, as a result of in-game graphics getting more advanced, the need to have pre-rendered scenes is diminishing.

[Marek]

what exactly was so bad about Tiberian Sun?

I played it before I thought it was necessary to have an opinion on things. All I know is that I quit playing it after like level 6 of GDI. I guess I had much bigger expectations. I blame all the C&C2 wishlists that were on the net for five years.

[Erwin_Br]

STARLANCER! Anyone even played that game?

--Erwin

[Redwall]

I'm sure a lot of it has to do with costs. To create nice cinematic sequences you essentially need people trained to do that, and as pre-rendered animation gets higher and higher quality, gamers expect more and more, so developers have to keep up. On the other hand, they're already keeping up with in-game graphics anyway, so it makes sense for them to work with what they're good at. Also, as a result of in-game graphics getting more advanced, the need to have pre-rendered scenes is diminishing.

Not to mention James Earl Jones must have been pretty expensive to hire...although Joe Kucan, the guy who played Kane, was just a Westwood tech guy.