>>718727063
>First of all. I don't agree with that. Second of all that's not how budgets and video games work. Holy shit Video games are not movies. I big block buster "scene" in the game's engine doesn't command the budget to suddenly skyrocket.

Set pieces are flashy segments meant to be memorable and wow the player. The entire opening segment of SH1 is a set piece for instance. In another instance, the helipad in MGS is a set piece -there is no actual reason the game needs a helicopter other than it's cool and it makes a nice boss fight later on. Someone has to sit down and build these models, record the voice acting, etc.

Set pieces are time intensive. That's why some later games become very streamlined hallways simulators stringing set pieces together with little exploration.

The early segment of SH2 especially is light on set pieces, and doesn't do a lot to wow the player. It's lacking that first alleyway nightmare from Sh1 that wow's the player.