Anyone else have a problem with this? I know pre-release footage sometimes differs from the quality of the game, but I’ve never seen a release-day trailer that tried so hard to convince people that the game is completely different that what it actually is.
I will always choose a player’s YouTube video of the gameplay in a game over a game trailer.
So will I. I rarely watch trailers, and saw this one only because someone posted it at Grogheads. But if gives such a false impression of MOO that it just rubbed me the wrong way.
Master of Orion is just like Mass-Effect? Cool!
Heh. In hindsight I probably should have posted in the MOO thread, but I thought this could also be a jumpingoff point to discuss deceptive game adertising in general. Not that I want to go all the way back ti game boxes in the 80’s.
I don’t get it. It’s just a CGI trailer, we’ve seen thousands of them. I admit to not having played in the early access, and I generally don’t give two shits about trailers that don’t show gameplay, but I don’t understand how it’s be deceptive?
Thats more like an intro cut scene than a release trailer.
If all you knew about MOO came from that trailer, what would you think the game play was like?
And before you tell me how you would have done your homework, or everyone here knows what MOO is, you’re right. But you’re not some kid, or, that kid’s grandparent, shopping for a birthday present, who can barely figure out how to log onto Steam.
That is why I buy them Steam gift cards :)
I think the trailer is misleading; but it doesn’t mean they were trying to be deceptive.
I have no problem with CGI trailers. If anyone thinks “hey this game is going to play like this CGI trailer!” then they are being stupid and deserve to part with their money.
What I find much, much worse are trailers that seem ingame, are claimed to be ingame, contain amazing stuff, are used as advertisment right down to lauch or even on store pages, and then it comes out that the amazing stuff in them is nowhere to be found in the actual game. Hello No Man Sky et al.
I would think it was a 4X game of interstellar conquest that allows me to eXplore, eXpand, eXterminate, and eXploit. Where I could play one of 10 diverse races and take on real-time tactical battles and explore numerous paths to victory. Because that’s exactly what it says on the tin.
It’s a CGI launch trailer, like the hundreds of other ones I’ve seen. It seems like this has been the norm for decades, so I’m just a little confused why it’s being called out here.
Maybe all the salt from No Man’s Sky and Mankind Divided is starting to infect people.
See also: every Blizzard trailer since, fuck, I dunno.
Blizzard is in two businesses: making gorgeous, over-the-top CGI mini-movies set in very derivative universes (and now meta-derivative universes), and also making polished multiplayer-focused wundergames.
FWIW, I do get annoyed at trailers (such as those that show up on the Steam page for games) which shows me absolutely nothing about the gameplay and this one does fall into that category. It’s just been the norm for the industry as long as I can remember and I don’t find anything unusual about it, it seems like launch trailers are almost always like this, I have to skip through a view videos before I find a gameplay trailer.
I get it, though. Especially for strategy games, it’s harder to make an spiffy wizbang geewiz video to ensnare someone’s eyeballs.
Support a nascent esports scene through beta/Early Access, then do a supercut of SICK PHOOTAGE from tournies!
I asked what the trailer tells you, not what the tin (whatever that is) says.
It was the description under the video that I was referring to with that saying. What I’m trying to say is I can’t remember launch trailers ever telling me much about gameplay. They’re typically some CGI movie designed to grab people’s attention. I don’t find it to be deceptive, they’re just not very informative.
I don’t think being informative is their purpose, though, they’re there to capture someone’s eyes and get their imagination going. You see a catchy trailer and then you read the 1-paragraph description of the game.
The trick is to look for GAMEPLAY trailers and ignore the cutscene stuff that is just made to look awesome.
Not to single out No Mans Sky again but I have been enjoying the videos people are stitching together by overlaying the actual janky post-release gameplay onto the screens at E3, Pax, GamesCon preview events. It provides a humorous look at hype culture when you have videos of people excitedly cheering and losing their minds to run-of-the-mill unscripted janky gameplay, glitches, and network errors. There is something oddly satisfying about that; a lighthearted defanging of multimillion marketing budgets, contracts with Youtube “Influencers”, and brand evangelism.
I think more of those need to be made for games in this era.