Video games have come a long way since the Atari. What was once an environment of gameplay and excitement has now turned into a festivity of eye-popping graphics and more reality-based games.
What am I talking about? FMVs, of course. FMVs (Full Motion Video) are really detailed pieces of media designed to make a person feel as though they are in the environment. It's mainly used to attract realism. Are games with FMVs still good games?
The answer depends on how the person playing the game see FMVs. Take Final Fantasy VII, for instance. Without a doubt, it was one of the best looking games there was, even the commercials used the FMV from the game to hype it up, but is it still fun? While some people may say it is because of the FMV in the more pivotal scenes of the game, others say that it is the start of the FF series' downfall because the programmers sacrificed much of the story just for good eye-candy.
Now Parasite Eve, there wasn't a moment in the game where FMV was shown. Even small aspects of the were pre-rendered. Also, like the FF VII comercials, they used the FMV from the game to hype it up, and people bought into this. Now, in my opinion, while both games have some good parts, they're not all that great once you played them a couple of times.
Let's now discuss games with little or no FMV at all. If there's a game that comes out now with little or no FMV, it gets bashed and people start crying about how little eye candy there was. For example, Tales of Destiny. While it was one of the best RPGs out there because of the gameplay, I think, it got bashed all over by magazines and web sites all because there was no eye candy.
Have we become a population in which everything has to emulate FF 7 that if there isn't anything like it, we don't give it the time of day? Have we become so fixated on graphics and realism that we don't see other options in making a good game? Now I don't mind a little FMV myself, but it should not be the central focus of the game. We play video games to escape reality, not re-live it, so if everything in a game seems to be like real-life, then no one will want to look at it, much less play it. In closing, FMVs may be ideal for a few things, let it not become the aspect in which you choose to play a game.
--Dynamite Force.
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