Dear Game Devs: QTEs are not fun

[Jag]

I finally got around to reading Jason Schreier's excellent Blood, Sweat and Pixels. A common theme that runs through successful game development is the question "is it fun?". This applies to everything from the UI, the mechanics, the story, the gameplay, etc.

I always thought my most hated game mechanic was the mandatory slow or injured walk. You are wounded or in a dream sequence and you are forced to move ever so slowly while a story is told. It sucks. You want to tell a story beat. Make a cutscene. Don't make me hold a button and go agonizingly slow especially in a game that is fast paced. It sucks.

But I digress.

I finally picked up COD: WW2 on PC. I love a good WW2 FPS. Put me on the beach at Normandy and let me channel Band of Brothers and kick Nazi ass. So I'm storming the beach. Dying to random explosions and gunshots. Get that bangolore into place and I'm the bunkers. Then it hits. The first QTE. After about 10 frustrating tries I luckily get it. I don't feel accomplished. i'm annoyed. Then I get another which I couldn't do so I rage quit and eventually got back and beat.

But it got me thinking how much I hate this mechanic and really want it to die. There are some places it works like the new God of War and other console style button mashers. Even in non-Western games. Which is fine. Spider Man got it perfect by making it optional which was the very first thing I disabled.

Maybe I'm just a crotchety older gamer, but I would be happy to never see another QTE again.

 

[Magneto]

They can be fun :



(And i think the mandatory slow walk you're talking about is the worst thing ever)

 

[jay]

Yu Suzuki disagrees and he is always right.

 

[nsilvias]

just show me a cutscene i say

 

[Amnixia]

OP did not press X to Jason.


Outside of my bad joke, I agree. QTEs are bad.

 

[Hanbei]

Someone needs to play Spider-Man 3.

 

[Christo750]

Just show me a cutscene and speed it up.

QTE's are one of those things where we mostly don't like them but just accepted that they get put into everything. They've never been fun and almost always take me out of the experience.

 

[Mars People]

Asuras Wrath though.

 

[Soul Lab]

They're funny in The Wonderful 101, especially if you fail.

 

[hanmik]

 

[BigHatPaul]

The only QTE that ever gave me issues was Telltale's Jurassic Park. The game would straight up freeze at some of them which meant instant failure. Bonus points for having to replay the entire chapter for a trophy that required you to not die at all.

 

[Tidalwaves]

I've always felt more immersed by them personally. It gives me the feeling that "I" did something cool instead of watching the character do something cool, even if all I did was press x 50 times or time something right

 

[Violet1370]

Never really had issues with QTE's and i actually enjoy them even. I hope that Shenmue 3 has tons of them!

 

[Fonst]

QTE aren't so bad, it brings you into the story and makes you pay attention.

 

[Kirksplosion]

I like 'em.

 

[Cactuar]

Spider Man got it perfect by making it optional which was the very first thing I disabled.

Click to shrink...

I knew they were optional in Spidey and I left them on anyway. I had fun. So I guess I disagree.

It's not all or nothing. Depends on the game, depends on the implementation.

 

[sheaaaa]

I like QTEs ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

 

[Finale Fireworker]

I like them just fine. I feel can't remember the last time I encountered a QTE and thought it was bad. Maybe RE5?

I also have no problem with "forced walking segments" and would vastly, vastly prefer to play the scene and have the character's experience reflected in how the game controls than sit and watch a cutscene. Why would you prefer a cutscene to gameplay?

 

[Deleted member 49319]

Depends.
Crushing Poseidon's skull in second person was good.

 

[fontguy]

They're okay sometimes. Platinum QTEs are typically pretty great.

 

[Deleted member 3815]

They also bad on an accessible levels, as they require the players to rapidly mash the buttons or have quick reflects.

Which is fine. Spider Man got it perfect by making it optional which was the very first thing I disabled.

Click to shrink...

I disabled it them at first but it just made the game boring as it was so obvious when a section in a video game was suppose to have QTE so I just turned them back on.

 

[Deleted member 49535]

It's an incredibly dumb mechanic, I agree. Sometimes it's not a problem like for instance limit breaks in Final Fantasy (Squall, Zell, Tidus, Auron, etc), but I can't stand them in moments where it's very clear it should have just been a cutscene.

 

[Deleted member 16876]

Yakuza, Shenmue, GOW, RE4 means I disagree.

They shouldn't be shoved into everything but they can absolutely work.

 

[FarZa17]

QTEs can be fun, if they don't require players to react like 0.2 seconds.

 

[MarcelRguez]

It's like every other design choice out there: either they fit the game, or they don't. They're fine in Resident Evil 4, The Wonderful 101, or Metal Gear Solid, for example, but they suck ass in Bayonetta due to the way they're executed. Hell, they're a focal element of the game in some cases, like Asura's Wrath.

 

[benzopil]

Hard disagree

 

[Deleted member 8852]

I don't like them when the result of failing is instant death.

 

[Kyoufu]

TLOU did its QTEs really well.

 

[daninthemix]

Game developers don't care about your fun, OP. They only care about exerting power over you.

 

[saenima]

I disagree. They can be fun and engaging when done right. Until Dawn wouldn't be half the game it is without them. It's all about execution.

 

[MorshuTheTrader]

I like them. There are certain actions that are just too complex to be directly player controlled, so QTE's are a nice way of adding back at least a little bit of interactivity.

 

[Pimienta]

They are easily the worst part of Resident Evil 6, and I love Resident Evil 6.

 

[Viale]

Depends on the game. I enjoy them a lot in Yakuza for instance.

 

[XR.]

I like them just fine. I feel can't remember the last time I encountered a QTE and thought it was bad. Maybe RE5?

I also have no problem with "forced walking segments" and would vastly, vastly prefer to play the scene and have the character's experience reflected in how the game controls than sit and watch a cutscene. Why would you prefer a cutscene to gameplay?

Click to shrink...

Forced walking or QTE is not what I would consider gameplay, so I'd rather have a cutscene personally.

 

[Shopolic]

I like them in games like God of War.
For example God of War (2018) has some epic moments between boss fights that you can only see them like a cutscene and I think they could be even better if they had QTEs.

 

[Jag]

I've always felt more immersed by them personally. It gives me the feeling that "I" did something cool instead of watching the character do something cool, even if all I did was press x 50 times or time something right

Click to shrink...

Single button mashing is fine. But twitchy mechanics in a non-twitchy game just don't belong. Again I don't have a problem with them in some console type fighters, typically non Western games which I don't play for that reason.

I like them in games like God of War.
For example God of War (2018) has some epic moments that you can only see them like a cutscene and I think they could be even better if they had QTEs.

Click to shrink...

I mentioned God of War which I think is an exception because it was just such an amazingly well done game.

 

[Clive]

I like 'em except for when they are unpredictable, have a very strict timing requirement and the checkpoints are unforgiving. If I fail at a QTE at the end of a boss fight then I don't want to redo the entire fight. Send me back 10 seconds without a loading screen to before the QTE though and it's fine. Doing a QTE can even give you the feeling of being badass which a non-interactive cutscene won't.

I think it would be great if devs make QTEs and rhythm-style minigames optional though for those who struggle. It's not an uncommon complaint after all.

 

[flaxknuckles]

I agree. They just feel like they are taking away most of my controls and then making me play a rhythm game. The only game that gets a pass is Asura's Wrath which used it to amazing results. There were no insta-fails and every QTE felt logical.

 

[Spaghetti]

They absolutely can be, and are a totally valid gameplay decision.

 

[squall23]

My first experience with them was Die Hard Arcade. I've been a fan of them ever since.

 

[Servbot24]

Don't listen to OP game devs

 

[Robotoboy]

I disagree. They can be fun. There are the poorly implemented QTE's that feel randomly thrown in after several long cutscenes that appear back to back. Or ones that give no room for error lol. However something like Asuras Wrath is like 75% QTE and I quite love that game.

 

[danmaku]

I like them just fine. I feel can't remember the last time I encountered a QTE and thought it was bad. Maybe RE5?

I also have no problem with "forced walking segments" and would vastly, vastly prefer to play the scene and have the character's experience reflected in how the game controls than sit and watch a cutscene. Why would you prefer a cutscene to gameplay?

Click to shrink...

Because holding forward isn't meaningful gameplay. I can decide to walk or stand still but the game doesn't progress until I decide to walk. It's like the useless dialogue box in many RPGs: do you want to pick up the health potion in a game with no weight limit? why are you even asking me if no one will ever pick the no option?

If the game gave me the option to do more than just walking forward, than it would've been different.

 

[zma1013]

Remember that infinite QTE bug at the end of God of War 3?

 

[roly82]

They were extremely fun

 

[Deleted member 2254]

The last time I legit found them exciting was Fahrenheit (Indigo Prophecy), and that wasn't exactly recent. They can be okay, but rarely I find QTEs to be particularly good, just a way to make cutscenes a little more interactive. But more often than not the implementation is so poor that you will fail more than once because the instruction is not clear or downright unexpected. Few feelings in games are more annoying than failing because the game's instructions are unclear, and it becomes baffling when it's a single input or movement. So many games that had a stick shown or something and it wasn't clear which, or whether you press it or move it around and so on. I'm better off without QTEs for sure.

 

[Deleted member 2254]

Remember that infinite QTE bug at the end of God of War 3?

Click to shrink...

iunderstoodthatreference.jpg

 

[R.T Straker]

Itsuno's Devil May Cry 4 and 5 are still the best way to implement contextual attacks in a game that look cool without resulting to silly button prompts or dumb mashes.

 

[nib95]

As long as they're not overdone, are implemented in an engaging way and have consequences, I generally actually enjoy them. I find QTE's often make use of interesting angles, dynamics and camera usage, allowing you a more detailed insight into certain animations and situations that typical gameplay often doesn't.

 

[808s & Villainy]

Ehh, depends on the QTE. I can understand the argument for them not being fun if they're arbitrary button prompts to do random actions
But I will defend with my life QTEs that involve mashing for things the character is also doing quickly (ie. in God Hand when you clash with the Devil Hand). I love those and nothing gets me more amped about a fight