From Newsgroup: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action

Return of FMV? Or that's what the ad I ran across said.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/3898860/Roommates_Romance_and_Ringing_Hearts/?rdt_cid=5695141998298748250

Japanese FMV romance game. Though it looks more like sex sells what
with girls shooting each other with squirt guns in bikinis.

It just made me laugh, so I thought I'd share. No I haven't and don't
intend to try the demo. Game isn't out for a couple months, and no I
don't plan to buy it either.
--
-Justisaur

ø-ø
(\_/)\
`-'\ `--.___,
¶¬'\( ,_.-'
\\
^'

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From Newsgroup: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action

Return of FMV? Or that's what the ad I ran across said.

The only FMV that worked for me was Realms of the Haunting (which I never finished for whatever reason). I'd bought the bigbox for it off ebay, along with other many-disc games that seemed important to collect, like Black Dahlia, Bladerunner, Phantasmagoria, Riven, Gabriel Knight 2, etc. Even if the video itself was decently acted, generally there was an abrupt cold
splash in the face transition to a crude pixelated shooter or adventure
game. Nowadays that transition can be much better handled and smooth,
witness Quantum Break for instance.

Here's ROTH if anyone wants to give it a go!! https://www.gog.com/en/game/realms_of_the_haunting

rms

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From Newsgroup: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action

rms wrote:

Return of FMV?  Or that's what the ad I ran across said.

  The only FMV that worked for me was Realms of the Haunting (which I never finished for whatever reason).  I'd bought the bigbox for it off ebay, along with other many-disc games that seemed important to collect, like Black Dahlia, Bladerunner, Phantasmagoria, Riven, Gabriel Knight 2, etc.  Even if the video itself was decently acted, generally there was
an abrupt cold splash in the face transition to a crude pixelated
shooter or adventure game.  Nowadays that transition can be much better handled and smooth, witness Quantum Break for instance.

Here's ROTH if anyone wants to give it a go!! https://www.gog.com/en/game/realms_of_the_haunting

rms

FMV is arcane. The entire Mortal Kombat franchise is built upon it.
--
Through you we push down our foes;
through your name we tread down
those who rise up
against us.
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From Newsgroup: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action

On Tue, 24 Feb 2026 08:30:50 -0800, Justisaur <[email protected]>
wrote:

Return of FMV? Or that's what the ad I ran across said.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/3898860/Roommates_Romance_and_Ringing_Hearts/?rdt_cid=5695141998298748250

Japanese FMV romance game. Though it looks more like sex sells what
with girls shooting each other with squirt guns in bikinis.

It just made me laugh, so I thought I'd share. No I haven't and don't >intend to try the demo. Game isn't out for a couple months, and no I
don't plan to buy it either.

*--

I believe you Justisaur! I know you wouldn't play it unless it isn't
extremely difficult! ;-)

-pw
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From Newsgroup: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action

On Tue, 24 Feb 2026 18:48:09 -0700, "rms" <[email protected]> said
this thing:

Return of FMV? Or that's what the ad I ran across said.

The only FMV that worked for me was Realms of the Haunting (which I never
finished for whatever reason). I'd bought the bigbox for it off ebay, along >with other many-disc games that seemed important to collect, like Black >Dahlia, Bladerunner, Phantasmagoria, Riven, Gabriel Knight 2, etc. Even if >the video itself was decently acted, generally there was an abrupt cold >splash in the face transition to a crude pixelated shooter or adventure >game. Nowadays that transition can be much better handled and smooth, >witness Quantum Break for instance.

Here's ROTH if anyone wants to give it a go!! >https://www.gog.com/en/game/realms_of_the_haunting

The FMV genre never entirely died... or rather, it has made a few
tenuous stirrings of life over the last five or ten years. "Her
Story", which came out in 2015, used FMV as its primary medium and
wasn't a terrible game for it (albeit not one really to my taste).

It's not really the FMV that was the problem; it was how it was
used... especially in the '90s. Everybody was so excited that they
COULD that they didn't really think about how to best utilize that
tool.

A few games managed it pretty well. "Wing Commander III" wasn't
entirely an FMV game, but its video-segments were a pretty big part of
what made that game memorable, and they still stand up pretty well
today. "Novastorm" was basically an FMV rail-shooter, with sprites
overlaid a CGI video-stream, but --simplistic as it was-- it was still
a pretty fun game.* And the self-aware cheesieness of the video in the
"Red Alert 2" games remains cherished by many to this day.**

But for every good FMV game in the 90s, there were a dozen bad ones.
"Flash Traffic", "Harvester", "Cyclemania" and "Creature Shock" are
just a few that spring to mind. Held back by their poor gameplay, poor
video quality, and god-awful writing and acting, they soured people
very quickly on the technology. But FMV has its merits, and used
judiciously and well, it can enhance a game as easily as it can break
it.

(That said...even modern game developers sometimes still go overboard.
2016's "Quantum Break" embedded an entire five-episode TV series into
its game and the experience was the worse for it).






----
* it had an absolutely rockin' soundtrack too, which really helped https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iWvhoi2gYCE

** Spaaaaace! Yes, that's Tim Curry! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=niZpcdp2v34


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From Newsgroup: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action

On 2/25/2026 7:01 AM, Spalls Hurgenson wrote:

On Tue, 24 Feb 2026 18:48:09 -0700, "rms" <[email protected]> said
this thing:

Return of FMV? Or that's what the ad I ran across said.

A few games managed it pretty well. "Wing Commander III" wasn't
entirely an FMV game, but its video-segments were a pretty big part of
what made that game memorable, and they still stand up pretty well
today.

Yeah that's the only game that I really enjoyed that had it. WC IV also
had it, and improved on it a bit, but the game play wasn't as good.
IIRC the acting in the FMV wasn't as good either.
--
-Justisaur

ø-ø
(\_/)\
`-'\ `--.___,
¶¬'\( ,_.-'
\\
^'
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From Newsgroup: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action

On Wed, 25 Feb 2026 07:13:26 -0800, Justisaur <[email protected]>
said this thing:

Yeah that's the only game that I really enjoyed that had it. WC IV also
had it, and improved on it a bit, but the game play wasn't as good.
IIRC the acting in the FMV wasn't as good either.

I mean, the acting in "Wing Commander III" wasn't always the greatest
either. It helped that the game had a relatively small cast, and a
good chunk of 'em were recognizable actors. The poorer acting by the
less talented actors was obscured by the skill of their betters.*

"Wing Commander IV", too, went with a completely different tone. If
"Wing Commander III" chased after the epic feel of the "Star Wars"
films, "Wing Commander IV" went more for a "Star Trek" vibe; it was
more character drama, more about the interactions of various factions.
It was not (IMHO) a good fit for the genre of game. Too, there were
more side-characters played by less renowned actors, and they occupied
more screentime. So you had less Malcolm McDowell and Mark Hammill,
and a lot more Chris Mulkey and Elizabeth Barondes.

The TL;DR is that I think, overall, the acting in WC4 was actually
better than that in WC3, but it felt worse because the big names got
less time, and the story and characters weren't as appealing.

IMHO, YMMV. It's still a hell of a lot better than what we got in
something like "Mantix: XF5700 Experimental Fighter" https://youtu.be/YQShxJV7JTs?t=1834




----
* there was one character in "Wing Commander III" in particular --I
think it was the mechanic?-- who was famously played by an adult film
star. Not to besmirch the woman, but based solely on her performance
in "Wing Commander III" I'm pretty sure she got the role in any of her
movies based on assets other than her acting chops. But she wasn't
alone in that; aside from the big-name stars in the game, most of the
scenes with the other actors were... iffy. But that was some of the
charm of the game.
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From Newsgroup: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action

On 2/25/2026 8:19 AM, Spalls Hurgenson wrote:

On Wed, 25 Feb 2026 07:13:26 -0800, Justisaur <[email protected]>
said this thing:

IMHO, YMMV. It's still a hell of a lot better than what we got in
something like "Mantix: XF5700 Experimental Fighter" https://youtu.be/YQShxJV7JTs?t=1834

Wow that has the distinguished acting of porn.

----
* there was one character in "Wing Commander III" in particular --I
think it was the mechanic?-- who was famously played by an adult film
star. Not to besmirch the woman, but based solely on her performance
in "Wing Commander III" I'm pretty sure she got the role in any of her
movies based on assets other than her acting chops. But she wasn't
alone in that; aside from the big-name stars in the game, most of the
scenes with the other actors were... iffy. But that was some of the
charm of the game.

Speaking of...
--
-Justisaur

ø-ø
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`-'\ `--.___,
¶¬'\( ,_.-'
\\
^'
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From Newsgroup: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action

On Tue, 3 Mar 2026 06:54:25 -0800, Justisaur <[email protected]>
said this thing:

On 2/25/2026 8:19 AM, Spalls Hurgenson wrote:

IMHO, YMMV. It's still a hell of a lot better than what we got in
something like "Mantix: XF5700 Experimental Fighter"
https://youtu.be/YQShxJV7JTs?t=1834

Wow that has the distinguished acting of porn.

And a good example of one of the two major reasons why FMV is so
reviled today. The production values were, in too many games,
terrible. So often, the development teams grabbed just /anyone/ to
act. Often it was just one of the programmers or Nancy at the front
desk, and their skill and enthusiasm varied wildly. A few games
managed to snag some real actors (for example, "Wing Commander III"
had Mark Hammil, "Hell: A Cyberpunk Thriller" got Dennis Hopper,
"Johnny Mnemonic" had Keanu Reeves) but most games got C-list or worst
("Myst" famously just used the two main programmers as its stars).

And even when you had good actors, you rarely had great directors to
guide them. The cinematography was usually pedestrian, and the sets
were simple.

Even when it all came together well --good directing, good sets, good
writing, good acting-- the end result was rarely as good as you might
have gotten just doing it with old-school animated methods. Especially
in the mid 90s, before CGI had really gotten up to speed, film SFX
were never able to match the imagination of the designers. Even with
tens of millions of dollars, movies all looked like puppets, wooden
sets, and models. And games rarely had that sort of budget. More
often, they looked like the cheesiest of direct-to-video films.

FMV was too often more about showing off the technology (and maybe
Hollywood connections) rather than being useful to the telling of the
story. "Look how long and smooth our video playback is! Look who we
got to be in our game!"

And gamers noticed all this, and --after the initial fascination with
seeing full-screen video on their monitors-- began to rebel at the
idea. Especially since those video productions were costly and ate
into the development of the actual games. Wing Commander III
reportedly cost about $5 million to produce; it was a record high for
any video game developed to that point. The bulk of that was for the
video production. The game itself was, while not bad, somewhat
lackluster in comparison. Imagine if that money had instead been spent
on making an awesome game.

And all that is before you start considering how FMV was used in many
games... which is to say poorly and resulting in awful game mechanics.
But that's another topic entirely ;-)

TL;DR: There's reasons why FMV has such a bad reputation.

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