FMV's Renaissance Continues with I Saw Black Clouds on PS5, PS4

I've always been fascinated by 90s FMV games. They can be great in theory but so many of them are incompetent, like would it be hard to hire some decent writers or producers who have movie or TV experience? I haven't played any modern ones even though I have Erica in my backlog so I might give this a shot.

That video perked my interest. It's been many years since I played one of these. I'm hoping to see they've come a long way in the acting department. I think I'll try this. Love a good Psychological Horror/Ghost story.

WIll it utilize the ps5's specs well

@TechaNinja Yeah... being FMV it doesn’t have any meaningful graphical upgrading to be done on PS5. Faster load times? Haptic feedback? Probably not much different from the PS4 version I would think.

I remember how the FMV game, She Sees Red is supposed to of released on PS4 October 2020 and it still hasn't. It's been on Xbox since then. I wonder what happened to it?

@Snake_V5
Hmm, weird...did a search on it. Looks like it already came out on microsoft and steam, but when I checked ps4, the only mention that popped up was from pushsquare, saying it was going to come out Oct. of last year.

@LordSteev Yeah, that's what I find strange. I don't know what happened to it.

Where FMV was once an innovative way to overcome gaming's technological limitations, it's now just kinda corny and lazy imo (I'm looking at you Remedy). I grew up on games like Phantasmagoria, Tex Murphy, Ripper etc, and I look back on those fondly but not everything needs to make a comeback.

Having said that, if this your thing, more power to you. I don't get it but these days there's a lot of things I don't get; the earth keeps spinning nevertheless.

@zupertramp
I don't know, sometimes I just want a passive experience, more like watching tv. I remember Phantasmagoria, that's what I meant by hoping the acting was better now. Still, I liked it then, and it's been long enough since that I think I'd like one now. Maybe it won't be great, but it's a safe bet that it'll be short.

@LordSteev @Jimmer-jammer You're probably right that it's not going anywhere. And, given the economic framing outlined, I have a greater appreciation for its appeal from a dev/studio perspective. I can see the desire for passive gaming as well though I'm not sure this has to come in the form of FMV. But admittedly there's potential there so who knows, if given enough, idk attention and resources, maybe I'll become a convert. Or a re-convert?

I mean, I wouldn't say no to a Phantasmagoria 3.

@zupertramp
I always thought maybe Hollywood could do a better job with this style than game developers. Like Jimmer-jammer said, it'd be smart of them to maybe look at pairing up with a developer and trying to make something special. No one's going to theaters and they're having to release new movies on tv anyway. I think a big budget joint effort could end up paying huge dividends, with the added side bonus of bringing gamers something interesting to play/watch.

Dream Interlude: Peter Jackson working with Quantic Dream might turn out alright.
End Dream Interlude.

@Jimmer-jammer
I agree. Maybe even less interaction than that. No matter what the team, the Hollywood Director type should lead, and the developer follow.

I really love games that explore moral decisions, but feel the gameplay itself usually gets in the way. With some Hollywood style production values and a really good writer/director, I think a deep dive could be made into this idea.

It sounds like the game in this article wants to lean into that, I'd just like to see someone with more financial clout team up with some really great writers and give it the old AAA try.

@zupertramp i wouldn't call it lazy , i mean now its just an interactive movie which i think is pretty cool imo.

@twitchtvpat I guess I just mean rather than taking the time to render everything via animation, which seems fairly labor intensive, they just hire people to act everything out.

And I feel the need to reiterate, you could still do an interactive movie without FMV. That's kinda Quantic Dreams' whole schtick and while I don't really get into their "games" I do think they look cool. Cooler than just filming actors doing things and giving the viewer/player a few choices along the way a la Bandersnatch.

TLDR - it seems lazy creatively speaking. it'd be like Bob Ross showing up with a photograph and calling it a day.

@zupertramp @PegasusActual93 I suggest you try "The infectious madness of doctor Dekker". It's a FMV game with free text input.

Huh wow. Looks pretty cool actually! Im all about ghost stories!

I quite enjoy these. Haven't played Erica yet, but The Bunker was fun, as was Late Shift. Good when you want something to play, but want a slower pace.