I Truly Don't Get the Quicktime Event Hate

[StriderShinryu]

My biggest issue with QTEs is when they do three things:

1.) They try to make trivial tasks "action packed"
God of War is a perfect example of this. Need to open a chest or push open a door? Cool! Let's make it into a button. mash. every. single. time. you. open. a. chest.

2.) They end up making maybe cool repetitive tasks into simply repetitive tasks
God of War is a perfect example of this too. Gonna rip off that guys head and stuff it up his butt as a finisher? Awesome! Now let's make you do the exact same QTE with the exact same animation every time you fight that guy. Oh, and you fight that guy hundreds of times so I hope you really like hitting O, X, Up, Down, /\.

3.) Let me do something really cool looking, but only in one specific instance and without any regard for how my guy acts the rest of the game.
Frankly most games with QTEs do this one but let's use RE4 as an example. Okay, Leon is a super bad ass knife fighter extraordinaire.. but only in the fight with that one guy. Pull out your knife during actual gameplay and it's a sometimes useful but horribly silly weapon to use with no real finesse or skill shown at all. If Leon really is that great with a knife, why can't I play the whole game with it doing super badass stuff? Why can my uber ninja character throw 40 shurikens with one hand while swinging a massive katana in the other while falling from a burning building in a QTE scene but not even have usable shurikens in actual gameplay? Yes, you could say that's just bad design, but 90% of the time QTEs are used, they're used for this sort of thing.

 

[Vykrel]

i dont get how you dont get it... how many quicktime events have you actually liked? sure, sometimes they are done well, but the problem is that that is rarely the case, and they are usually done far too often in a single game, making them insanely repetitive. and they get to be incredibly repetitive.

the absolute worst thing is when screwing up makes you start over. this was easily the worst part about Far Cry 3.

 

[Sniper Team 4]

I used to think they were pretty neat, back when Resident Evil 4 came out. Then I tried that knife fight on veteran or whatever the hardest setting is. And I started to hate them. Having to rewatch that fight over and over because I wasn't fast enough to press a button, or I mashed X one time too many when the game suddenly switches to square, pissed me off. There are times when I just want to watch the cool cutscene that's playing out, not sit on the edge of my seat the entire time.

And then there was Resident Evil 5's QTEs on veteran. The time frame for the buttons was cut in half. The amount of button mashing to stay alive as Chris in the final fight while Sheva uses her knife is not possible as a human. I did it ONCE after playing for an hour straight with someone. My hand was killing me.
But the biggest kick in the face? The unholy level of reflexes required to dodge Wesker's attacks in the DLC. The speed that your brain needs to translate the visual and send the information to the right fingers on the correct hands is something that most gamers simply cannot attain. I think it is literally less than a second, and the fact that he puts you into a dying state in just one hit is just icing on the cake.

So yeah, I've grown to dislike QTEs now, unless they are a simple, single button push like in some of The Tomb Raider games.

 

[default]

I seriously dislike them in all forms.

I dislike them because they have literally nothing to do with the rest of the game's mechanics the player has been learning up to this point, and it shows to me a certain laziness when it comes to building a game around your core gameplay. You could make an interesting and engaging bossfight that incorporates all of the skill, reflex and knowledge a player has learnt up to that point, or you could make them mash 'A' as fast as they can once they stagger the boss or whatever.

It doesn't matter how incredible at the game they are, it doesn't matter how skilled and fast they are, if they can't mash fucking 'A' fast enough to get through the quicktime event all that skill and learning doesn't mean shit. It still doesn't mean shit if they DO beat the quicktime, because all they've accomplished is pressing 'A' a bunch of times. Let ME as the player perform the actions! It's one of the reasons Dark Souls and other games like it are so rewarding to me, because I made the performance, not a cutscene where I pressed a bunch of buttons in sequence!

Fuck QTE's. They're lazy and silly. I'm usually totally chilled out when it comes to any sort of opinion or game mechanic I don't quite like, but I see no redeeming feature for QTE's and they've seriously tarnished many games for me.

 

[SmallHatLogan]

You compare QTEs to Simon Says and FMV games then wonder why people don't like them?

I don't like QTEs because they're boring and repetitive, much like Simon Says and FMV games.

 

[DeadProxy]

I love them, and they're done best in Asura's Wrath, which hasn't been mentioned at all on this whole page. Sure, it was more like an anime than a video game, but it was still a game. The prompts were easy to understand, made sense with what was going on on-screen, and made me feel like I was doing something.

I don't really have a problem with QTE's, I guess I just like pushing buttons and being rewarded with flashy visuals.

 

[Zhukov]

They feel like an annoying compromise to me.

The developer wanted to put in a cool scene.
Except they also wanted to make a game instead of an animated movie.

So they show you a cutscene and make you press a button while watching the cutscene.

The end result is that I don't get engaging gameplay (Press X to not die, whoop-de-doo) but I also can't sit back and enjoy the cool cutscene because I'm having to watch for the button prompts. Worst of both worlds.

Best case scenario, QTEs are just kinda there. Worst case scenario, they're irritating as fuck.

 

[Nazulu]

2. It takes me out of the game flow.

Really? Odd, cause generally, given how cinematic the QTE's usually are, like an upclose and personal knife grappling scene, or some epic power struggle with one of the gods of Olympus, it's always felt way more dramatic and engaging to me.

To You. Well, I guess it depends on the game. However, it has always dragged the experience down to just a mini game, and I believe it's a pathetically cheap way of trying to "immerse" us.

I haven't played every game with QTE's, so I haven't seen a great example yet. However, I can not imagine a way that would make it more satisfying than using what I've learnt with the games main mechanics and over-coming the challenge with my own skills. QTE's are just a fucking mini game. And I'm not a fan of cinematics taking over for the big moments either, unless it really is creative in a special way. And that's very rare.

 

[Bat Vader]

It really depends on the QTE sequence for me. There are bad QTEs and good QTEs. Walking Dead seasons 1 and 2 and The Wolf Among Us have really great QTE sequences. Tomb Raider on the other hand for me had really bad and boring QTE sequences.

 

[kommando367]

For me, it depends on how often they're used and the speed of the QTE.

If QTEs show up regularly, and give me at least 3 seconds to press the button, then I'm good.

If they only show up after bosses or otherwise very rarely in the game, then they just throw the whole game off.

 

[Flutterguy]

I liked the ones in God of War because they were new to me and the cutscenes, much like the game itself, was stupid machismo action fun. So immersion was a none issue.

Resident Evil 4's Krauser fight was really good, enjoyed that cutscene quite a bit, but the rest of the game misused QTE pretty terribly... especially those damn boulder running scenes...

All in all they can add to the game, but I find it pretty rare. When done to easily, pointlessly, or so difficult it actually halts my progress for more then a couple minutes, that is when I get frothing mad.

 

[Pseudonym]

I think a big downside of them is that they pull you out of the experience and make you remember you are playing a game. When I am playing a game I want to be able to focus on the game, be it the gameplay or the story or whatever it is the game does right. A QTE immediately makes it apparent you are playing a game because you suddenly see buttons and are reminded of the fact that you are using a keyboard/controller/handheld. I was just focussing on the game's story or gameplay or whatever but now I am focussed on the game as a game, which is not good. See also the name of this website.

 

[Vrach]

Because scripted bullshit. I like my character control and QTEs (the cinematic kind, not stuff like Batman games blocking and such) are just a movie where I have to play Simon Says to keep it from restarting.

 

[blackdwarf]

It really depends on the implantation. If i feel that the buttons I have to press are disconnected on what happens on the screen, then It takes me out of the game and the only thing I see then is a QTE. I like the QTE's in Vanquish, because you had to do motions when you did movements. Punching you did with the attack buttons and sometimes you had to button mash, but the action in the background made it feel justified. I hate when when you are button mashing because your character and the enemy are pushing each other. Looks dumb to me.

 

[joest01]

2. It takes me out of the game flow.

Really? Odd, cause generally, given how cinematic the QTE's usually are, like an upclose and personal knife grappling scene, or some epic power struggle with one of the gods of Olympus, it's always felt way more dramatic and engaging to me.

No frothing rage here, but you come off patronizing and I for one get taken out of the gameflow by cut scenes anyways and if I can't skip or get another beer during then it's even worse. Add the possibility of having to suffer through multiple times and potentially having to repeat a boss battle because of it? I think you have an explanation right there why some people might dislike them.

 

[EyeReaper]

eh, I'm kinda on your wavelength, OP. I never really understood QTE hate, I mostly just attributed it to "Yahtzee said it was bad let's hate it." Of course, some QTE systems are bad, like the aforementioned Bayonetta and RE4, but a bad apple or two should not ruin the bunch, I say!

Basically the problem is when they come out of nowhere, with no provocation. I died more to cutscenes in RE5 than anything else because I wouldn't know when buttons would pop up,As opposed to say, Saints Row or the Splatterhouse remake, where you initiate QTE's by choice and thus know what you're getting into, like with Dragon's Lair.

Honestly the best qte's in gaming (in my humble opinion) is from the underrated ps2 game Dark Cloud (or Dark Chronicle, outside of the US) for three main reasons:
1) Before every event, the screen would freeze and a giant exclamation point would start flashing, getting your attention.
2) It played more like DDR, with a line running across the screen and you had to hit the button when the prompt hit the middle of the screen
3) Best song in the game only played during these parts.

 

[Casual Shinji]

I really don't mind as long as the game doesn't spring them on me out of nowhere. You need to have some reaction time and an indicator that something is about to happen. The Pittsburgh ambush sequence in The Last of Us is a good example.

Action games can only have so many control options untill the focus is lost, and in-game QTEs can add to the versatility of your actions without making it depended on you attacking something. It's not perfect, and it'd be nice if someone came up with a more natural option, but so far it does its job.

I've never had QTEs ruin an action game for me unless the QTEs where the only way it knew how to make the action interesting.

 

[Yopaz]

Snip

I really couldn't agree more with this.

But that's my point. Every game limits you by the number of options that the devs code into it. Yet QTE's get an extreme amount of dislike, even though there are plenty of games that arbitrarily restrict your options due to programming, yet they don't seem to get demonized for it.

Sure, that might be your point, but your point is wrong. Have you ever seen gameplay videos of people trying to be creative in accomplishing challenges? I've seen some awesome ways of handling bosses within the limits of the game. There are some who get creative and do it in ways that are just mind boggling and funny to watch. Some people set challenges to beat the bosses in RPGs with only one party member, sometimes with just 1 HP left.

Journey before destination. It's not always about the goal, it's about the fun you can have along the way. Quick time events take away all of that. There's little to no variation in what happens. Also if you fail you have to watch it all over again. Cut scenes should always have the option to skip them, at least if you have seen them before, but QTE can rarely be skipped. If you fail you have to watch the same sequence again... and again... and again... and again...

I am a great fan of cutscenes that have reasonable lengths (and can be skipped), but I much prefer gameplay. A QTE sequence doesn't give me satisfying gameplay, nor does it give me the opportunity to relax and enjoy a cutscene.

There may be good ways to do it, but I honestly can't say what I would do to make them enjoyable. The only thing I could think of would be to get an unoriginal controller with a different button layout and different colours on them than what the game is meant to work with and have a friend play the game and laugh as he continues to fail and get enraged.

Now the fact that in order to find games containing QTE that people didn't hate we have to travel back to the first half of the 80's... isn't that a bad sign? I'm fairly certain that's a bad sign.