I've been poking fun at Ninja Blade's reliance on quick time events for quite a while now, but it seems the joke has come to a head with the game advertising QTEs as a unique selling point on the box. The game, which released this week, seems to think that people will buy it based on the fact that the much-maligned gameplay crutch is heavily featured. Really?
Something strikes me as oddly amusing that a game would have "Ninja Vision! Extreme Action! Quick Time Events!" plastered on the back of the case, which is why I decided to share this. As far as the game itself goes, it looks pretty and, QTEs aside, should be a neat little action title. We'll be having a full review of the title very soon, so stay tuned for that.
Jim Sterling serves as reviews editor for Destructoid.com, head of the Podtoid podcast, and produces a number of news stories, original features, one-of-a-kind videos. With his passionate argumentative style, controversial opinions, harsh delivery, and dedication to brutal honesty Sterling is a name that you can't help but recognize.
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Contest:
5:00 PM on 04.15.2009
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Example:Waking up is a QTE. Going to the bathroom is a QTE. Eating is a QTE. Going to work is a QTE. Having sex is a QTE (awesome!). Every action you make is a QTE. Even thinking about it is a QTE!!!
Besides, Ken is not Ryu Hayabusa, and you can tell because Ken doesn't mind wearing stark-fucking-pink.
http://www.giantbomb.com/news/pop-quiz-what-does-qte-mean/1128/
Fuck, Summa and Workman were right about you.
BTW where's the Summa podcast, I see you took it down, I guess you thought you came across like a douche hu??
So what exactly are you mad about. I followed the link, and then the link there to the MTV Multiplayer post by Totilo, and I don't get what you are mad about.
I'm mad because Serling bites the majority of his posts from other sites and never "mentions" the original material, I personally don't think a nondescript hotlink, that very few people are going to click is credit enough. I guess I'm the only person that thinks this way.
Just thinking about it brings me back to the QTEs at the final boss fight in God of War 2. What a buzzkill; beat the massive final boss, then die four times trying to nail the damn QTE button mashing cutscene at the end, all for a fucking non-ending! Christ.
Fail QTE to wake up, you die in your sleep. Fail QTE in the bathroom, and your bowels explode (eww). Fail QTE eating, and you choke and die. Fail work QTE and you get fired, and jump out a 50 story window. Fail QTE during sex, and I don't wanna go there. ._.
Sounds fun.
It does one thing well with the QTE, it made them a major part of the game.
Honestly I think this will be the first game I will play that has QTE as a major part.
Sounds fun
Even cooler, depending on how you press the button, the scene plays out differently, if you do it last second, that's represented in the game, you do it perfectly, that's how it looks like in the game.
Hell if you fail it, time just rewinds and you do it again right from that QTE, its not like RE5 where you have to do all the other ones.
Honestly, people still whining about QTE's in this day and age are just a bunch of big babies with the reflexes of a 90 year old man.
@unanban
Because Ninja Blade is a lot more accesible and Demon Soul's is a ridiculously hard super hardcore game that would have sold like 3 copies if they brought it over and I assume you haven't played Ninja Blade.
And what's this about Summa and Workman and Sterling? I want to know.
Haze was overhyped from the moment screens of it showed up, this came out with little fanfare so your analogy is incorrect.
Well, yea. But back then during the early 80's every game was 8-bit graphics. QTE was something new back then, so it was unique. Also, by using only QTE, they were able to make hand drawn graphics for the game. Watching a hand drawn game now, might not be great today, But back then it made people shit themselves in fear and awe.
So would a game consisting nothing but QTE make a good game today? I don't know, but I betting no.
I think the "whining" has genuine merit. While I think QTEs have their place, to overuse them is to sacrifice interactive gameplay in order to do things the developer can't or won't do properly.
Take, for example, the new Wolverine game. There is some cool looking stuff in that game that is fully interactive, but which were originally intended to be QTEs. Given a year of extra development, they changed the QTEs to actual gameplay sequences, proving that it could be done, and that time constraints forced them to sacrifice real gameplay.
When QTEs come at the expense of gameplay, that's a problem. I am not saying whether or not Ninja Blade is a culprit, but I'm saying that there is a good reason why QTEs have earned themselves a bad reputation. Too many people have abused a once-decent idea.
"While I think QTEs have their place, to overuse them is to sacrifice interactive gameplay in order to do things the developer can't or won't do properly."
thing is, you cant do this stuff in gameplay. We cant play a game that looks like The Matrix final battle otherwise we all complain about camera angles and shit.
Nah. I'll sum it up six words: Like Ninja Gaiden, but absolutely terrible.
'QTEs have their place, to overuse them is to sacrifice interactive gameplay in order to do things the developer can't or won't do properly. When QTEs come at the expense of gameplay, that's a problem.'
But does the same argument hold for the overuse of cutscenes in the Metal Gear Solid Series? Was Kojima too lazy to change them to actual interactive gameplay? i personally, dont think so... i find both QTEs and Cut scenes as engaging as gameplay. Actually I prefer to have QTEs, hence prefer GoW2 to MGS 2-3, MGS 1 is one of my top 5 games ever played, but thats besides the point.
But, I also must agree with Superflous Monikir, QTEs should not be subtle and based on trial and error, at least the first one should be given more room for error as a warning and prepare me to start thinking in circles, triangles and squares, instead of having to fight Zeus all over again, bring pillars down, avoid bolts, etc... (@Nanbu - might not be 90 yet, but sure as hell have their reflexes, nothing to be ashamed of)
That is all.