Quick time actions in Halo 4? (spoilers)

Games Other Halo
#1

The following article is a review from a UK site that’s played Halo 4. Yes, there are spoilers contained inside. Here’s the link:

I read this part and instantly felt this feeling of dread.

> That is until you’re faced with some quick time action (which feels strange for a Halo game). To avoid falling debris, you have to guide Master Chief left and right as he scales the ship, which by now is coming apart all around you. There’s also a bit of button-mashing required to open some doors.

For those that don’t know or understand, quick-time actions are scenes where your character performs an action that isn’t that standard shoot, throw grenade, jump ability and almost always takes the player right out of the perspective.

Take Resident Evil 4, 5 and 6, or Kingdom Hearts 2 for example. You encounter an enemy but must defeat his enemy using something other than your weapons. In RE it was like a reverse kick or a pile driver reaction. In Kingdom Hearts 2, random buttons would appear on the screen and would have to press them in the right order to complete the combo or kill the enemy.

343, WHY DID YOU DO THIS???

These types of actions killed my interest in both of the games mentioned above. While it was cool every once in a while, it also made these games too predictable and too easy to beat. I could literally pile drive every Las Plagas walker in RE4 and not expend a single round of ammunition. In RE5 and 6, you’re just a walking jiu jitsu machine that pummels everything to death.

In KH2, the enemy’s health meter would drop to almost nothing or nothing at all which immediately took the whole challenge right out of the fight.

Please tell me these kinds of actions aren’t going to a standard feature now? I’m okay with (most) the visual and mechanical changes you’ve made to Halo 4, but if these types of actions are everywhere in the game then you’re going to kill my interest in this series too. I want to play an FPS, not a silly action game. Put this kind of silliness into a cut-scene at the very least.

I don’t play RE or KH now because of this. Please don’t do this to Halo. If I’m misunderstanding then please feel free to clarify, but if I’m right, please think twice about including this in Halo 5 and 6.

#2

All the QTEs I have seen in Halo 4 so far keep you in first person.

#3

Kingdom hearts and RE4 were good ._.

#4

Play it on legendary. I bet it wont be as easy as you think.

#5

As long as they are only brief and not too common, I’m fine with it. They can really add to the gameplay and story if implemented right.

#6

There are few of them.

And 343i wants to make the player feel more like a supersoldier, more immersed. What better way to do that than to have you pry open doors and scale a ship falling apart?

#7

> Kingdom hearts and RE4 were good ._.

I liked RE4 too, but there was no challenge to the game. I stopped playing KH2 an hour into it because of all the action buttons required to play it.

#8

> As long as they are only brief and not too common, I’m fine with it. They can really add to the gameplay and story if implemented right.

That’s what I’;m asking for as well, but in the two examples I provided it happens with nearly every enemy you encounter.

This is what I do not want.

#9

> > Kingdom hearts and RE4 were good ._.
>
> I liked RE4 too, but there was no challenge to the game. I stopped playing KH2 an hour into it because of all the action buttons required to play it.

Admittedly though no RE games really had a challenge. The biggest challenges were that of patience having to backtrack for every damnable puzzle and the camera for bosses. If you could keep them on one screen it was easy to sidestep until they died.

That said RE4 is where the series went down kill for me.

#10

> There are few of them.
>
>
> And 343i wants to make the player feel more like a supersoldier, more immersed. What better way to do that than to have you pry open doors and scale a ship falling apart?

I’ve felt like a super-soldier in the previous games, so this type of action really isn’t necessary. What this is is a next-gen gimmick that’s appearing more frequently in newer games because some people seem to enjoy it.

So when you say “a few” how many would you say appear in just the first mission? You sound like you’ve played the game already.

#11

Like God of War QTE’s?

#12

I personaly won’t hate QTE in H4.
If they are well made they can be a great addition in cinematic or gameplay scenes - thats my oppinion.

Imagine the game “Turok” w/o buttonmashing or QTE fights. It would be total stupid. (Also we have Josh Holms from that game in the 343 team so…)
And how you should “simulate” the force you need to open a blocked door (for example) w/o buttonmashing?!

I think: If QTEs are well made, nice balanced and (IMPORTANT:) fitting (!) to a situation they are good to raise a games level up.

I would say: Iam a friend of QTEs and BM (=Buttonmashing) scenes; but I can also understand that some ppl won’t like these parts.

I also think we should keep a difference here between “FPS” with an empty guy (in German these games are called: “Ego-Shooter”) and “FPS” with a main cahracter.

QTEs can be good to make a story deeper, as long as we talk over a FPS with a main character! (In opposite of Halo ODST for example).
So it would be the next logical step for 343 to make MC more a character and less an empty guy.

→ So in my oppinion it is a good idea and I like it. As long as they don’t screw it up… but I guess they won’t.

#13

I suck at quick time events…D;

#14

> I suck at quick time events…D;

Normaly QTE shouldn’t be playerkiller. (“Better to easy than to hard, or all will hate it”).

That’s why I said: well balanced ;p
And hopefully w/o instand death triggers…

#15

I suggest reading this article for better information.

They’re merely an extension… of what you would normally do in contrast to other games. Apparently a good chunk of the first mission has it.

Also, has everyone forgotten about that busted door on PoA? That required a button press too. I hope the QTEs will only be on Normal and Easy. It would be pretty inconvenient for it to occur on Legendary or LASO.

> All the QTEs I have seen in Halo 4 so far keep you in first person.

There are third person events but they are separate:

> Separate to these sequences are what O’Connor described as “conventional cinematic techniques”. One of these, which takes place during the third level, sees the camera pull out to show Chief pull a level to turn off a pylon (you can see this in the Eurogamer Expo Halo 4 developer session video, below). In these cinematics the player is not in control of the Chief.

> And hopefully w/o instand death triggers…

That would certainly ruin my day.

#16

If you would have read what you quoted you’d know that there are no quick time passages while fighting enemies…

#17

> > I suck at quick time events…D;
>
> Normaly QTE shouldn’t be playerkiller. (“Better to easy than to hard, or all will hate it”).
>
> That’s why I said: well balanced ;p
> And hopefully w/o instand death triggers…

Tell that to RE6 D;

Mean mean MEAN QUICK TIME EVENTS!

;-;

Oh how I loathe insta deaths.
Halo 4, be nice to me, I’m a FPS shooter player not paparapa the rapper.

#18

I want a QTE where I can rip an elites head off. Seeing some gore would be nice. Or killing him with his own energy sword by snapping his arm and decapitating him.

#19

I heard that it’s kind of a new take on the QTEs …Like in the E3 build where he punched a knight, people said that that was a quit time event.
Also, you don’t play RE or KH simply because of literally the simplest feature? WOW!