Replace cinematic with RELEVANT 2D animations

[sudden lotus]

The biggest weakness of the game on release seem to be the insane story, told through rendered cinematic, referred to as “zoom calls” by many players. They are completely unrelated to the missions, and seem to be about a separate story spliced in between the missions. However, the missions themselves are good. They are distinct from skirmishes, have varied objectives and are generally fun to play.

Therefore the cheapest way to fix the campaign is likely to replace the cinematic without replacing the missions. Homeworld style of 2D animation will help reduce the cost. New cinematic should aim to explain the relevance of the missions. They should contain strategic update from the rest of the galaxy and the tactical update explaining the missions at hand. More specifically:

• Battle report from the rest of the galaxy on the galactic map, explaining what other nations and factions are doing.
• Summary and analysis on other ongoing actions.
• Newsreels from the other factions
• Commentary from fleet intel on how the current mission fit into the strategic picture.
• Pilot / Captain AAR on the last mission 
• Tactical briefing on the objective of the next mission
• Engineering’s commentary on the capability of friendly and enemy ships
• Engineering’s commentary on the state of the mothership
• Science officer’s report on observed phenomenons. 

That should be it, please make mission briefing be about missions at hand, and not about spiritual connection to hyperspace and the enemy. It will make the story considerably more relevant.
Thank you.

[tribal bridge]

(Almost) anything would be better than this

[sudden lotus]

We don't have to settle for better, it has potential to be good.
For example the character of incarnate can be established with just one line:
"Somtaaw command reports the enemy made only limited effort to avoid siege cannons".

[tribal bridge]

Heartfelt monologue about how our heroine is stepping up to her greatest challenge yet and drawing on all her life lessons, and bbi decided her butt was the most relevant visual to accompany it

[spiral sky]

I think it is just bad storyboarding

[sudden lotus]

Mot sure why they never consulted anyone about the story until release.
I think this idea is quite doable and fix maybe half the concerns with the campaign.

[mighty tiger]

Are there any talented artists in the modding community to do new 2D artworks?

[sudden lotus]

@spiral sky said they are work on a mod.

[spiral sky]

I am not working on it yet, I am considering if it would be a worthwhile effort - I am a 3d artist, so I would probably contribute something in style of DoK cutscenes

[sudden lotus]

I also hope BBI attempt this in an official capacity because it doesn't seem expensive in relation to cost of game development.

[spiral sky]

I did a couple of prototype renders - using preexisting assets

...I also agree there should be more information about the state of the campaign/galaxy in the cutscenes between missions

[calm ferry]

Yes this is nice, and then each mission they could add a bit to this strange sense that the nemey forces just dont care they get wrecked, would defenitly help with the idea they are under some kind of controll or spell

[sudden lotus]

right ? HW2 didn't have a great villain character neither but the presentation made it work.
There should be a sense of a bigger war going on.

[tribal bridge]

They neatly cut off any need to come up with silly details like "wtf is going on in the rest of the galaxy" with the briefing at the beginning of the game about how there would be no further communications from the admiralty for the rest of the game

[sudden lotus]

However that information could have been more relevant and entertaining than the spiritual journey.

[spiral sky]

if they wanted to downplay the events in the rest of the galaxy, they could have said that the anomaly is disrupting long-range comms
it would also make Hiigaran high command look less like complete retards

[silver shadow]

Hell, their identity was established perfectly with one line.
"We are her will incarnate."
Just never show us the Queen and these guys are fuckin' spooky.
That alongside "You are fighting individuals, with a will to live. Exploit that."

[sudden lotus]

yeah sometimes less is more. I think writers and modders are capable of great things if they are given the freedom to do so.

[thick fog]

I didn't shoot the footage for this, but I did all of the graphics https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V3Gd8BRufP0

[sudden lotus]

that is impressive.

[arctic shard]

I'm of the rare opinion that the cinematics look pretty good, but I agree with this 100%. The story lacks substance, most of the cinematics are based between Karan and the queen.

To me the story would be much better if it was about the story of Homeworld and its Galaxy instead of focusing on the personal beef between the characters. These characters are gonna be gone by either HW4 or HW5 ... I care about the story of Homeworld. Not this "emotional fairytale" that we got.

[thick fog]

not only are they not very well produced, they are also irrelevant and disrespectful of the viewers time. There are infinitely more things that the game could show us than Imogen or Isaac's face

you cut to someone's face either when they are speaking with any sort of emotive significance, or a reaction

the one time it works is when Imogen opens her eyes to realise that the stupid lullaby was the encryption key, any other time it's not anything we need to see. Other games understood this.

[sudden lotus]

Yeah everyone agree that irrelevance is the biggest issue here. if they are 3D rendered or in-engine machinema, but are relevant to the current mission, they'd be a lot less hated.

[sudden lotus]

I think that the fairy tail would not be visible from the intel perspective if we are given the strategic and tactical briefings.
Because all of the fairy tale is internal to one character, which wouldn't matter at all if the player is only presented with tactical information.

[sudden lotus]

Additional idea: There could be a setting in the options to toggle between the new cinematic and the current set so nothing is wasted.

[arctic shard]

yeah this would fix a good bit of things without ruining the old .. i wish they would just tear this down and start over though .. campaign is honest to god dogshit

[sudden lotus]

that would be a separate, much more expensive project.

[tardy cave]

is sounds like merging aspects of home world mobile, still good idea.

[mighty tiger]

I like those lines

[mighty tiger]

No, missions are fun to me

[silver shadow]

Agree with Akryum, it's not dogshit.
The writing is just bad. The actual missions are good.

[snow musk]

I dont agree with cinematics, this is good this make progress

[sudden lotus]

Seconded, beside it would be a lot more expensive to redesign the missions.

[spiral sky]

A test of 3d rendered Mothership launch with postprocessing

[somber heron]

i know you didnt just throw some AI slop in here lol

[thick fog]

I am a little bit tempted to work on this, to do the graphics/schematic stuff, I would need assets

maybe if we start with one existing cinematic that is especially egregious, that we know there are other things we can show that are not either Imogen or Isaac's face

should be working on my own games argh :<

[mighty tiger]

We need a script first don't we?

[thick fog]

well that's my question, can we use one of the existing cutscenes VO verbatim

[fiery salmon]

Apes together strong?

[silver shadow]

Booooo no thrusters

[spiral sky]

I don't think we see the ships to use any thrusters to hover, or do we?

[silver shadow]

i dunno i just see thrusters a lot in play