I’m sure very few people read this headline and rolled their eyes.Really, I can’t blame you; there’s a reason for that QTEHate. However, I’m here to convince you that every game developer’s petty guilt is actually pretty awesome when used correctly.
QTEs (or “Quick Time Events” by their Sunday name) revolve around bombarding players with momentary button cues.Their first known usage usually dates back to classic laser disc games such as dragon’s lair and road blasterNote that said laser disc game is more reminiscent of a movie with button prompts than a game.It will be another 10 years or so before QTE fully crosses over into more traditional games like Sega Die Hard Arcade or Shenmu (Shenmue director Yu Suzuki is credited with coining the actual term “Quick Time Event”).
So why are these little events so unpopular? To really understand what makes a good QTE, we first have to give some bad examples.
Imagine you’ve spent 20 hours wading through the guts of orcs Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor. Talion’s revenge story is finally drawing to a close and you’ll be ready for an epic climactic encounter with Sauron’s Black Hand. You’ve finally found your nemesis… the whole bossfight is a series of button presses that replace the pre-existing fights in the game. This brutality is the last thing you do in the game. It leaves a bad taste in your mouth; undoing the work of many good old days.
So here’s the first (and most egregious) bad QTE: Gameplay Replacement. This was a standout during the seventh generation of consoles, replacing great sequences or boss fights using the game’s well-established mechanics with interactive cutscenes.death knell at Arkham Originsnavarro uncharted waters – and the list goes on. QTE combat works sometimes. Resident Evil 4The knife fight with Krauser comes to mind, but the point is that it’s not your last encounter with Leon’s opponent, but rather a silly cutscene.
Resident Evil 4 brings us to another of the worst offenders in the QTE kingdom: the instant death QTE. Have you decided to put down your controllers to watch a cutscene? Whoops, you missed a button cue and died! Time to watch it again. And, of course, you can’t skip it – that would be stupid.one of the worst offenders was the original Bayonettaa game full of these mid-term cutscene deaths (these deaths affect your ranking worse at the end of the level).
Slightly less annoying, but more generally “trivial QTE”.think about it Mars; How many times did you have to press the square button to open a door in that game? Good paste can be used effectively to create tension, but what’s the point without tension? These slow-time events felt like filler, and had the opposite problem of Shadow of Mordor: instead of replacing gameplay with cutscenes, they replaced what should have been cutscenes with gameplay.
Bayonetta Being one of the worst offenders is rather ironic, since developer Platinum Games is one of the best in a hundred when it comes to good use of QTEs.
Let us take the representative of Platinum as an example – metal gear rises revengeAs soon as things started, Raiden was tasked with fighting a lone Metal Gear Ray. Now, in the Metal Gear story, the last time Raiden fought Thunder, he was armed to the teeth with a seemingly endless supply of rocket launcher ammo.
This time, the White Devil is armed only with a sword (and his robot body). After wailing at your opponent’s feet for a moment, Rey’s massive blade arm suddenly flies towards Raiden…you block it! The ass rocking begins and you’re asked to mash the X button like crazy. When he lifts a 70-foot behemoth over his head like Hulk Hogan in WrestleMania 3, you’re instantly in Thunderbolt territory.
Timing, tension, intention—it’s the exact opposite of what I call a “mash open door” cue. Rather than turning cutscenes into pointless gameplay, Rising takes what could have easily been cutscenes and makes the moment more impactful based on player input.
After Resident Evil 4, Director Shinji Mikami Continues With This Cult Classic hand of god; is almost entirely about hitting people. The main character, Gene, hoards power when you hit people. When you have enough strength, you can unleash the titular God’s Hand, allowing you to hit people faster. When you bombard enemies with your combos, you can stun them, which in turn allows you to perform Fist of the North Star-style punches and kicks with the press of a button. Mimic the character’s movements again with your own input.
Later in the game, you’ll meet Azel: the owner of the Devil Hand, which, you guessed it, allows the wielder to unleash quick punches. Now that they are evenly matched, Azel and Gene have a chance to burst into panic at the same time.This results in the same mash-up gameplay, but now with the added background of a fight over an opponent real See who can hit the best (or mash the fastest). Mechanics, meet narrative.
Another platinum masterpiece—— Wonderful 101 – Full of good QTEs. The finale “Mash A to protect earth” is brilliant, and the cast of supporting characters mixes and matches with you, making it even more exciting. Usually, by using the “une morph0h” mechanic, your time to perform these momentary heroic feats is slowed down.Games make it easy to sit and watch these moments, but you always It feels like being part of the action in The Wonderful 101. It also helps that almost every QTE in the game has a humorous cutscene should you happen to fail. Incentives even on failure – unlike the instant death in Bayonetta.
Many players mistakenly attribute QTEs to laziness. If someone has played Shadow of Mordor and written off the mechanic forever, I can’t say I blame them, of course. But, really, QTEs aren’t all bad.Actually; I think they’re great when used correctly. When used to compliment and enhance gameplay rather than replace it, they are like a balm – a moment of reflection, orgasm, or relief.
Released in 2022 Bayonetta 3, sonic frontierand Kirby and the Forgotten World All seem to get it; deploy them with care and tact. So maybe the days of anticlimactic button-pressing boss fights are over and we’re entering a new QTE revival.
Let’s just hope it’s not a quick, timed event.
