God Of War Quick Time Events

In defense of the quick-fourth dimension event

QTEs can exist very effective when used well

By Aug 31, 2020, eight:58am EDT

Image: Crystal Dynamics/Foursquare Enix

A video taken from the beta of the new Avengers game recently surfaced on Twitter and speedily went viral.

The video shows a cinematic cutscene of police force battling criminals in the streets, shifting into gameplay as the player flies in as Thor, wielding Mjolnir. And so — swoosh — a boring-motion transition to a scene with an on-screen prompt to hold the triangle button and perform a slam attack. The game pauses until the player performs this action. The tweet, and video, take since been deleted.

Now, for context, it seems like this particular scene is function of the game's intro, and the interruption does non appear in the residuum of the game. This interaction is really either office of the tutorial or — in my stance — allows for players to make Thor do the "cool superhero thing" instead of just watching the cutscene without interaction. Neither option seems very controversial, peculiarly in the realm of an Avengers game, which heavily borrows from movie tropes (for obvious reasons), where the movies are ripe with slow motion and even freeze-frame scenes for effect.

The cyberspace, however, was pretty quick to jump to the conclusion that this is a apply of a quick-fourth dimension event, or QTE, within the game. All hell broke loose.

I thought this would be a great time to analyze quick-time events from a game pattern perspective, explaining why some people dislike them and how I personally think they're used best.

Permit's dive in, shall we? Don't worry, though: If you lot're not ready, I won't move into the total article without you.

Quick-time events and cinematic storytelling

When we refer to quick-time events within games, we're talking about a series of button presses, often timed, in either stock-still or random order to get through a cinematic story segment.

Push button presses are related to character actions, and commonly, the game is paused or slowed downwardly while waiting for thespian input. Failing these QTEs usually either results in the player failing the segment and dying, or having to redo it from the start.

In the God of War serial, quick-time events are a vehicle for the commitment of cinematic segments. They brand players mimic directional pulls, struggle, or physical strain by translating that to the controller. The game wants to avoid delivering the cinematic catastrophe of a huge boss fight without the player's input, while preserving the movielike experience of framed shots and camera pans.

Thematically, having these events not be peculiarly difficult skill checks on the role player'southward end makes sense, since Kratos is one-half-god. While we want to preserve the action, defeating monsters should not feel hard for Kratos, just rather powerful and cinematic. It'south your visual spectacle payoff for the fight.

But QTEs are one of the mechanics in games that are sometimes described as the "virtually hated" among players, largely considering we perceive them as cheap and unskilled mechanics. And through a lens of a skill cheque, that is certainly a valid argument to make.

QTEs are pure reaction tests in many means, are tedious to perform, and offer no value forth the lines of mastery since you can't really become better at them in any meaningful fashion over the course of the game. Redoing them is either tedious or, when the consequence of failing them is a unlike story path, tin experience similar not getting a fair take chances to perform or take agency.

In this case from Heavy Pelting, nosotros run across the QTE organization somewhat falling apart in real fourth dimension equally the player simply chooses to miss every unmarried button prompt.

I love this particular video, though, considering it shows a strange ingenuity of the arrangement: Completely declining and not engaging with it still provides a valid game feel, even if it's silly. How many other game systems do you know where that's the case? Once you free yourself of the unnecessary elitism of viewing QTEs through the skill lens, you may but meet their unique value.

All the same, I would fence that viewing QTEs through the lens of skill checks and role player operation might not be the most useful bending to clarify the utilize of the mechanic — or even the best fashion to appreciate their implementation.

In many means, QTEs were invented as a style to make cinematic storytelling an interactive feel. In some games, you could argue that trying to take hold of onto the side of a cliff as you lot fall — or other similarly intense situations modeled with QTEs — is an attempt to brand you feel that sudden panic of a real-world accident or unsafe event. In my opinion, the induced stress of that gets pretty shut to reality.

If you recall most your actual symptoms of a fight-or-flight response, or the stress of having an argument and trying to pick your responses in real time, so QTE implementation makes a lot more sense: sweaty palms, raised heartbeat, clenched jaw, tensed muscles. All these reactions are usually what a stressful QTE segment can invoke in you when playing — but like real-world examples of these situations.

Of course, that isn't unique to QTEs. Simply I'd argue that in some games, they do what they are designed to achieve pretty well. Until Dawn is one of my favorite examples, with dire consequences for incorrect decisions or failure. Yous tin watch an instance hither, but exist advised: In that location's a jump scare.

It's non a skill check. It's a ways of invoking similar bodily responses that a stressful and time-sensitive state of affairs would produce in the real globe. It's a question of immersion, not skill.

Think of it this way: Timed dialogue options are just QTEs with a narrative layer on top, but we perceive them as decisions rather than skill checks.

Should nosotros get rid of quick-time events?

The at present-deleted video of Thor's epic moment in Marvel's Avengers went viral considering information technology was being perceived as an annoying QTE (despite information technology being a one-off intro moment). Just I personally call up the video shows a way of using QTEs in an interesting and accessible manner. The game allows the role player to treat the epic entry of Thor as a spectacle.

Marvel's Avengers gives me time to have in the scene, frames it for me in a cinematic manner, and allows me to engage with it one time I'm ready. Arguably, that is a thematically sound way of implementing QTEs, given that superhero games are both meant to be cinematic and are all virtually ballsy shots. Movies often insert slow-motility moments or freeze frames to add spectacle, as well equally a pacing device, to the activeness.

QTEs are perfectly established and reasonable mechanics in many other contexts — every rhythm game consists entirely of QTEs, actually. In the context of a rhythm game, despite the perception of it not existence a QTE system, we go an easier sense of progression and are therefore more likely to accept it. Rhythm is also a less tangible skill for most gamers, with less connection to elitism and difficulty.

I'd personally dearest to run across a little less hatred for the arroyo, so game designers take room to push the mechanic further and contextualize it amend. Leaning more than into the cinematic feel, going the aforementioned Avengers route and giving me a visual freeze-frame spectacle that I can pan effectually before proceeding would — for example — make me feel curious about the possibilities of evoking an emotional response.

And let's not forget that paused QTEs that can't be failed are a very valid way of making them accessible for all players! Playing with implementations that allow for pausing the game, using it every bit spectacle, and other modernistic ideas are actually wonderful ways to explore making QTEs more than accessible and interesting at the same fourth dimension.

The detest for QTEs is, in my stance, an unnecessary expression of difficulty elitism. A well-implemented QTE organisation has lots of great cinematic opportunities to offer, and provides plenty of ways to make interactive cutscenes feel more tangible.

I'k looking forward to innovation around quick-fourth dimension events, and hopefully, with information technology, a histrion base with a deeper understanding of the mechanic's potential without outright dismissing its value for storytelling and cinematic experiences.

Source: https://www.polygon.com/2020/8/31/21401256/avengers-quick-time-event-qte-game-design

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