I tried to get into this game once before, and I couldn't do it. Is it worth sitting through the 15 minute cut scenes?
Also, an a slightly related note, the first time I tried to play the game, before it started, all that was displayed was a bunch of commercials or something before the menu loaded for the first time. Can anyone shed some light on what this was?

It's a cinematic experience, and cut scenes add to that. If you don't watch them, you'll miss out on a lot of story.

Oh I watched around 4. I just want to skip the hour worth of them I have already seen.

So, if you're not into cinematic experiences, I guess that means this game ain't for you. Try Splinter Cell for a more action-oriented tactical espionage shooter.

It's really a very good game, but the cutscenes are ridiculous. There's "cinematic" and then there's just making a movie with the game engine. 15 minute cutscenes are only the beginning, they actually get much longer later on.
The worst part of it is that the story being told really doesn't warrant all that. I mean, it's a videogame plot so you're already getting something of dubious quality at best, but it's arguably the least interesting story in the entire series because it's mostly concerned with tidying everything up, and it's pretty clear Kojima hadn't planned out how everything would wrap up beforehand. He's just kind of saying a sci-fi equivalent of "a wizard did it" to explain most of the mysteries throughout the series.
It's a good game, to be sure, and if you've stuck with the series up to this point it's worth seeing how it all ends up, but Kojima got far too indulgent with what wound up being his worst material, and it's only saved by the sheer spectacle of the production values and occasional moments of real greatness.

Yes, there are long cutscenes in the game. But that's part of the charm of the experience. Sometimes it seems like he's trying to send everyone away from his games screaming, so he can move onto the next game or just retire, but people are always in love with the way he tells his stories. He knows game players are much more willing to sit on a couch for ten hours straight, so he uses the opportunity to create some of the longest narratives ever. I hope that he gets to work on something new and exciting that isn't Metal Gear (Castlevania doesn't count, as he said he's supervising that).

Hideo Kojima's ego is completely out of control. I don't know who the idiots were who kept telling him over the years that his ridiculous story lines were brilliant, but they've created this monster.

If you don't like the games or story, fine. But a lot of people do.

I'd love to see a new and groundbreaking IP from him. He's only been criticized for churning out more or less the same games every few years, and I'm sure with more leeway he can be free to create something cool.

Zone of Enders and Boktai?

With lots of action and violence and killing and all that cool stuff? Not so much. A new new new IP would be cool.

That's the thing...the games are actually quite good. It's the increasingly long (and always ridiculous) story lines that ruin the games.

The game is lot better anyways if you just skip the cutscenes and run through the game shooting everything. Oh! And dont forget to yell "KYRPÄ!" everytime your character dies.

I actually attempted to do that on the demo... It didn't work out for me at all.