QTEs are lame regardless if the game auto-completes or not. If you want a quick cutscene during combat, just do it, there's no reason to pretend there's an actual interaction.
I love the God of War series and their combat, but I still think it would be WAY better without them.
I really like them when they’re done well, but it’s rare. You should have to do something to earn them, they should allow you to interact with an enemy in a unique way, they shouldn’t significantly interrupt the flow of battle, and they should be cool as hell.
No more “press 7 buttons to parkour in slow motion”.
Until Dawn did a great job with them imo. Characters would die if you missed one and QTE’s were used for the quicker but riskier routes. There’s one section of the game where you can chose between safe and risky patches and if you don’t chose the QTE’s and get them all right it causes another character to die because you were too slow to save them and anytime a character dies it changes how the story continues to play out.
Being rewarded for doing QTE’s while also having consequences if you mess up adds to the tension I think but just adding them into a running action scene is fairly boring and their inclusion doesn’t change or add to the story at all, you could remove all QTE’s and the same cutscene could play out.
Until Dawn (OG at least) also had some QTEs that were safe to fail and some that weren't, even in the stressful parts. Early on there was a sequence you could miss 2 or so and succeed, so later when you couldn't miss any you still had hope after missing and would keep trying. Plus it meant QTEs could be difficult because you often were allowed one miss.
Also hard QTEs would often be there if you didn't have the right item which helps converge choices into sequences for dev scope, gives a final chance, and still rewards the player who got the item.
Only rough ones were the sit still motion ones, those were inconsistent.
Couldn’t agree more! And yes omg I went through the whole game with the ps5 controller vibration on and had no problems with the don’t move section until the VERY last one with Sam and no matter what I did I would fail. I put the damn controller on a soft surface so it wouldn’t move and also held it super still myself and it would always fail at the last second. I just turned the vibration off because it was due to a glitch and not my stupidity lol.
I remember vindictus had one in a succubus fight which if failed lead to an instant party wipe. The funny thing is she was basically seducing you during the qte's so you know the people who failed the qte were paying attention to something else..
Exactly. A QTE should be something awesome that your character wouldn’t normally be able to do with standard control inputs.
I want the kind of QTEs Vanquish had, where for example you grab a giant cannon round in mid-air, spin it round with the analogue sticks and shove it back into the barrel lol
Quick cutscene in combat is basically what Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth Synergy abilities are and they are great. "Press button when we tell you to" has always been dumb. I've never understood the point.
Their big flashy boss fights are essentially extended QTE sequences anyways. Ya know. Like they were when they first did them in 13-2 and pretended they were new in 16.
I like em in Xenoblade, keeps you on your toes and makes certain attacks/events feel more impactful. They're all integrated with the combat system though, never part of a cutscene lmao.
Just beat Ragnarok and yeah so many final death animations for bigger enemies with QTE’s feel unnecessary. I just got done timing and mashing my way through a huge battle but my final kill shot needs a few more button presses.
They really are the worst game mechanic ever, they should just put a cutscene in place rather than pretend we're actually affecting the game in any way
Playing Ragnarok right now and totally agree. I wouldn’t mind so much if the buttons we were expected to press were at least intuitive to typical combat controls, but when it’s like “quick, now spam circle to shield!” I’m sitting there wondering “what’s wrong with the L1 button you already assigned for that?” Makes an otherwise exciting boss fight into an arbitrary session of “Bop It!”
That era of gaming was painful when QTEs were everywhere, especially button mashing. That shit was never immersive, just annoying. Either give me a proper cutscene or real gameplay.
I turn them off in ever game. I don't mind single buttons, but any button mashing sequence just sucks ass. Especially God of War where you do it a ton. Turn them off in accessibility settings and enjoy the cutscenes.
While I dislike QTEs in general, I was greatly amused that the most difficult/complex sequence in 007 First Light was reserved for Bond putting on a bow-tie.
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u/Vichnaiev Sep 11 '26
QTEs are lame regardless if the game auto-completes or not. If you want a quick cutscene during combat, just do it, there's no reason to pretend there's an actual interaction.
I love the God of War series and their combat, but I still think it would be WAY better without them.