Quick time events. Ugh.

[SnootyEnglishman]

QTE's are a bit annoying if they break the flow of a game when they're just inserted at random during an actiony fight. However they can be done correctly and a good example of that is in Asura's Wrath. Most of that game is littered with them but they don't break up anything.

 

[Scow2]

Heavy Rain was an interesting game with QTEs because, after the initial surprise of "Hey, a game built on QTEs," it never broke the flow. Uncharted on the other hand, you are climbing along and all the sudden the ledge breaks and you need to "Press X not to die." And because I'm not precognitive, I die.

That is bullshit. If they come at you as an immersion breaking surprise then that is when they become annoying.

You don't need to be "precognitive" - merely reflexive. If a ledge suddenly breaks out from under you, you need reflexes to survive. Now, what would make it offensive is if
A.) It's the middle of a cutscene in a game that isn't mostly cutscenes already.
B.) It's assigned to an arbitrary button, instead of the games' context-sensitive environment-interaction button.
AND
C.) It results in instant-death.

Mass Effect did an awesome job with "Quick-Time" events with the Paragon/Renegade interrupt mechanic.

 

[DustyDrB]

Yeah, it's the only game mechanic I've experienced that is always terrible. Always. Be it in The Witcher 2, God of War, Heavy Rain, whatever. Why do they still make these? They are consistently among the most hated game mechanics.

 

[Nimzabaat]

Quick time event have been successfully implemented into enough games that it's clear that they do work and can add to a game. So any game where they don't work isn't the fault of quick time event but the developers failing to implement them.

What games are QTEs successfully implemented in, in your opinion? I honestly can't think of a game where I was glad a QTE was there. Maybe that one famous one in MGS 3?

Shenmue had a great QTE system, and those two games practically created it.

They even had consequences if you screwed them up too much. For example not catching up to the boy who stole your stuff, and having to ask around to find the hideout instead of being lead there if the QTE's were successful.

Shenmue was basically just QTEs, walking, and dialogue right? Maybe the best implementation is all QTEs or no QTEs.

EDIT: or, in light of the occasional fight sequences in Shenmue, heavy use of QTE (as in more than RE4) or no QTE makes more sense.

I'd agree. Either have actual gameplay or QTE but not both. I hate QTE's showing up in games because then I have to watch for which button to press instead of what's going on. I practically needed a friend on hand for The Force Unleashed to tell me what was happening while I was watching for which stupid button to hit next.

 

[Aris Khandr]

Yeah, it's the only game mechanic I've experienced that is always terrible. Always.

Always? I'm sorry, but you're really going to have to quantify that.

For example, the Rock Band/Guitar Hero series is literally nothing but QTEs.

 

[Adam Jensen_v1legacy]

I just don't understand how after all this time developers still can't figure out that WE FUCKIN' HATE QTE's!!!

The only game that does a good job with QTE's is God of War.

 

[Ryotknife]

depends on how the qte are done. if we are talking a la resident evil 5, then no that was terrible.

GoW, just cause 2, and even final fantasy 13-2 i did not mind them as they added to the gameplay experience.

 

[verdant monkai]

In the games I've played with QTEs, (RE4 and 2 Call of Duty Games), they spice up the gameplay and make it more immersive.

Dont know about more immersive, but they can be good like in RE4 when you run away from rolling stones (not the band) you have to shake the wii remote, it makes it feel more intense. If handled right I think they can be good.

But like most people have quoted Yhatzee already "pressing X not to die" sucks, hammering a button to power up for a special move is good in my opinion, basically QTE's are mostly bad in my opinion but if handled in the right way they can add to the experience.

 

[sorpaqq]

The only game that ever got QTE's right was Resident Evil 4.

 

[the abyss gazes also]

Heavy Rain was an interesting game with QTEs because, after the initial surprise of "Hey, a game built on QTEs," it never broke the flow. Uncharted on the other hand, you are climbing along and all the sudden the ledge breaks and you need to "Press X not to die." And because I'm not precognitive, I die.

That is bullshit. If they come at you as an immersion breaking surprise then that is when they become annoying.

You don't need to be "precognitive" - merely reflexive. If a ledge suddenly breaks out from under you, you need reflexes to survive. Now, what would make it offensive is if
A.) It's the middle of a cutscene in a game that isn't mostly cutscenes already.
B.) It's assigned to an arbitrary button, instead of the games' context-sensitive environment-interaction button.
AND
C.) It results in instant-death.

Mass Effect did an awesome job with "Quick-Time" events with the Paragon/Renegade interrupt mechanic.

THe particular instances i'm thinking of a B. It gets thrown in with buttons that don't make a lick of sense.

I get the reflex test, my "precognitive" comment is hyperbole but comes from where i have had not had any indication before random moments that this is a game with QTEs. Maybe its my fault for not doing the research. (Hey, maybe they should come with a surgeon general type warning. "May contain 5% random QTEs." (!))

 

[BehattedWanderer]

I don't mind them. Used right, they allow things to flow correctly, and retain character ability without sacrificing something like credulity. Uncharted 3's ending comes to mind. Since the villain was actually human this time around, and a shot to the head tends to kill any normal human, using an extended QTE sequence as the fight, across terrain, and interspersed with the normal melee/counter mashing of the rest of the game, it works quite well. When they don't break the immersion or are done consistently enough that it's a core mechanic, there's not really an issue. Guitar Hero and Rock Band were fun because of their song-based QTE's, after all.

As to the Prototype 2 final fight...well, that lackluster, abrupt fight wasn't exactly the highlight. Nothing as good, or as challenging, as the Prototype 1 fight, where you have multiple ways of dealing with the boss, you're on a timer, and there's all kinds of cluster fucking around you, getting in your way, messing with your controls, all that. That they peppered in the context-sensitive stuff with Mercer at the end made sense, given that there's a finite window where you have the upper hand, but still somehow undercuts how powerful Mercer has been up until now. Kind of sad, really.

 

[Tuesday Night Fever]

I don't mind QTE when they appear during gameplay.

What pisses me off is when they appear in cutscenes. Like a few posters before me, when I'm watching a cutscene, I'm watching it for the game's story and I'm certainly not thinking about pressing buttons since that tends to skip cutscenes. So when a game throws QTEs into cutscenes, I end up focusing entirely on the QTE and barely at all on the cutscene. RE4 and RE5 were huge offenders here.

And while I'm thinking about RE5... get cutscene QTE chains right the fuck out of Co-Op games. I tend to be pretty good at QTE's (when I'm paying attention to them), but my husband is goddamn awful at them, and he admits it. When we were playing RE5, we had to play on the lowest difficulty so that the QTE buttons wouldn't change after each death, that way he could just memorize the order after having died a dozen times. We tried to increase the difficulty for a second playthrough, but it was so incredibly frustrating to both of us that he couldn't get past those cutscenes that we just gave up. I ended up having to play the game at its highest setting solo with AI Sheva instead (which was a massive hindrance whenever it wasn't a QTE cutscene).

 

[Hookman]

If done well then they're completely fine, its just that so few developers know how to use them. CyberConnect 2 are on of the few. Their Naruto games had amazing boss battles because QTEs gave them the freedom to do what they wanted.

The whole 'Press X to not die' thing is just terrible game design!

 

[Chairman Miaow]

I don't mind them, in fact I like them, on two conditions.

1)No button mashing, this is unforgivable.

2)If it's on a PC, make the buttons reasonably positioned, don't get me to press numlock or some shit.

 

[Sonicron]

QTEs can be great if they're well implemented. It's not that I want an entire game to be constructed around them (like Heavy Rain), but they're fantastic in hack-and-slashers - if they're established as a core mechanic right off the bat.
Cases in point would be titles like Ninja Blade and Asura's Wrath - solid combat mechanics, and QTE sequences used for ridiculously over-the-top extended finishing moves. The former game even grades you on QTE performance; not getting it 100% right won't result in failure, but nailing it completely will reward you with an even cooler finishing move.

 

[MysticToast]

I have no problem with QTEs and I never get pissed off when they show up in a game.

Seriously, they're not that hard to do and unless you're not paying attention to the game, they don't really come out of nowhere