shadow skill said:
QTE's are not a feature, in fact they are not anything other than what you normally do in every other video game ever made. The only difference between QTE's and everything else is the explicit prompt.
There is an explicit difference between a QTE and the more common interfaces presented in games.
With QTE's you are generally faced with an improvement in the current character state if one successfully navigates them and can reasonably assume their state will be diminshed at best if a QTE is failed. Thus, the QTE represents a binary switch in the best of terms - eithr one passes or fails the task set before them. What is being measured here is not one's capacity to correctly judge a situation and deliver an approiate respone (which is the more usual high level mechanic in play) but rather the player's capacity to recognize and respond to explicit data presented by the game. My input as a player has been reduced to a pass/fail test - either I correctly respond and move forward or I do not and am set back in some fashion.
If one were to look past the most obvious complaint in QTE's (that they are simply annoying) they will likely find that the true complaint lodged against the mechanic is that the player's input has been fundamentally reduced. Rather than being free to choose a less than optimal path the QTE forces a binary state - either one suceeds at a given task or they fail. While this gives the developer certain freedom in determining how a cartain action ought to play out, it comes at the price of reducing the player's input determining the ultimate fate of a character. To put it simply, even the simplest form of shooter allows for a margin of failure when guaging success. In Doom one can do incredibly poorly throughout the course of a gunfight and still succeed in the end by sacrificing resources (health, ammunition, etc). In a game like Heavy Rain, my own input is fantastically limited in order to allow for a more tightly controlled narrative. It is entirely possible that this method can be worthy of both my time and money but this determination must be made largely on the factors that I, as a player, do not control.
Historically speaking, the developer does not have a history of delivering a coherent and rasonble narrative and has relied more than once on a 1% solution, otherwise known as a deus ex machina. Resolution to player problems has historically beeen the product of magical or othewise unexplaiend solutions being presented. While some may enjoy such a thing, this device in general has not been in favor in centuries specifically because it requires no skill on the part of the author or artist to implement. Once the internal reality of the narrative is breached, one is free to do anything they wish which often results in a degradation of immersion. In short, the magical solution is generally considered a tool of the unskilled writer and artist. In indigo prophecy, much of the game was the result of relativly mundane relatable things but in the end the resolution literally involved the invocation of magic. For those that are unaware, magic in any narrative is simply an analog for anything the creater does not properly understand.
The deus ex machina can work perfectly fine of course, and so long as a story stays true to it's internal logic there is no problem. Magic is utterly acceptable in a narrative that presents a reasonable set of rules governing the use thereof. Thus the second problem presents itself. If the story is, in fact, true to its internal logic, it will rely on the strength of writing, animation and acting to carry it forward. If my input has been reduced to a simple series of pass/fail tests then the narrative and characters must propel it forward. Thus far I have seen sufficient evidence to judge that the physical acting (animation) is sufficient but I have yet to see any example of either writing or acting that convinces me the game is worthy of the investment of time and money. I certainly hope that I am proven wrong because the core premise being delivered is interesting, in spite of my distaste for the QTE. Again, from a historical perspective, both voice acting and the writing itself tend to see immense improvement in the latter stages of development and I hope to see improvement in the coming weeks. As I have already said, my current interest is sufficient that I will almost certainly play the game, but I am not readily willing to pay $60 for the experience at the moment. This is a rare example where I will almost certainly be forced to await the reviews of trusted sources before I make the call.
