Execution / Game

[Cuyir]

Never played it, it's been in my list forever but I don't really want to bother trying to get it to run on a contemporary system.

I sort of enjoy MGS but it's an incredibly overwritten and cutscene laden experience. Cutscenes aren't inherently detrimental but a lot of games, MGS included, use them as a crutch. "Here's all this info we couldn't give you in any other way so pay attention''.

It's like with jump scares, people usually hate them but they aren't inherently detrimental. For jump scares to work the atmosphere has to be perfect so it makes you AFRAID of a possible jumpscare...without anything happening. But that's neither here nor there.

I loved Morrowind. It's one of my favorite games of all time, it was clunky then and it's clunky now. Doesn't mean it's not an incredible game, just means it doesn't fulfill stuff I wanted it to fulfill in a specific manner. It was the perfect roleplaying game and it made me feel like I was going on an adventure but still, the narrative was delivered in a clunky way because of how the gameplay was structured (ie do whatever you want) so the narrative takes a backseat. It has always taken a backseat in TES games. One element isn't taken to its maximum potential because of the gameplay.

To me, a game's gameplay is usually against odds with the rest of the package. It doesn't kill the experience at all (or else I wouldn't play games) but the division is really perceptible, unlike the ''purer'' arts.

And in regards to your edit: not necessarily saying that (or maybe I am, I don't even know). Just saying how the element that makes it unique (gameplay interaction) is usually the one's that's at odds with the rest of the package. Some games DO balance the elements well but not well enough and the ''seams'' are visible.

I don't consider the Penumbra or Amnesia games great (REAAAAALLY good games though, just not ''great''). The ''seams'' in them have always been really obvious, which made my experience feel clunky in some level.