Simon Says: Nix the QTE’s

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Why the Quick Time Event Mechanic Needs to Die

As a child of eight, on those cold and miserable days I could do nothing outside, I played a causal game of Simon Says, repeating the patterns of light that flashed across that hard plastic case; red, blue, yellow, green. It was something I did to fight against boredom for a time, before I moved on to other things that any 8 year old kid does growing up. My myriad G.I. Joe figures needed me to help save the world from Cobra, He-Man needed me to protect the secrets of Castle Greyskull and so on. Suffice to say, it wasn’t something I cherished doing as I got older. It wasn’t something that consumed my teen and adult life. It wasn’t something I wanted to do as I found more mentally challenging things to occupy my time. Because as I grew older, I outgrew all of these things.

I do not know what happened to that old Simon Says, nor do I care. I just never thought, as I got older and video games became a favorite past-time of mine, that I would still be playing this childish game in the very games I now play. I suppose in a way it has evolved; instead of being called Simon Says it’s called by another name – the Quick Time Event. This memory marathon that requires people to mimic certain button presses, certain controller patterns, in order to accomplish any myriad event in a game; from dodging damage to defeating the game’s end-boss. Ideally, it was supposed to instill more player agency in gamers. It was supposed to make a game more interactive. But in the end, as it saturated the medium to the point that the very mechanic is all that there is to some titles now, it’s no longer enjoyable. It’s just more Digital Simon Says.

Outdated. Childish. Over-used rubbish.

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As I get older, I’m starting to see that the Quick Time Event is robbing players of something vital; creativity in problem solving. Instead of relying on players to overcome a particular obstacle on their own, now it’s all seemingly hand-waved for more “causal” gameplay. You can’t solve this difficult boss battle any other way except to do what Simon Says for you to do. Anything out of that line of thought penalizes you. Didn’t see and mimic that brief, half second command prompt in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare when that dog’s about to rip open your throat? Sorry, not only do you die, horribly, but you have to now replay the last ten seconds of your life after the game reloads to try, try again until you get it right.

For some games, that’s all there is to battle. Ninja Blade, Asura’s Wrath, Resident Evil 6. Three games that could’ve done without the whole QTE concept. Not only were they aggravatingly lengthy at times, some didn’t even make sense to do. Of course, I’m not the only one who shares that sentiment. Former GameInformer editor Adam Biessener hates the concept just as much as I do. “When was the last time you were bummed out because you walked up to a locked door, pressed A, and your character automatically used the key from his inventory, opened the lock, and went through?” he said in a 2012 editorial. “I’ve never thought to myself that ‘gosh, I’d be so much more invested in this world if I had to follow a series of onscreen prompts right now to heroically turn the key in this lock.’ Wailing on circle to turn the crank that opens the ancient temple door doesn’t increase the connection between the player and Nathan Drake; it just wears out controllers and inflames repetitive stress injuries.”

Some games won’t even let you progress past that QTE point until you get them right. I don’t know how many times in Star Wars: The Force Unleashed I had to repeat certain moments in those boss fights because I missed hitting that one critical button/controller prompt at the last minute and was then sent back two more QTE prompts until I finally got the pattern down just right. And who can ever forget that one crowning moment when you finally got to face off against that Star Destroyer they’d been teasing you with in those pre-release videos, only to have it boil down to a teeth-gnashing, gut-wrenching 10 minute long button prompt slog that had you juggling between evading TIE Fighter Squadrons while the ship corrected itself and basically set you back to zero?

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When they were first used in Shenmue, Quick Time Events were novel. But like so many fads in video gaming, they fade. That novelty has worn off. I’m tired of playing Simon Says. I want options in my gaming. Context-sensitive options in my gaming to be precise. Let me problem solve on my own how best to beat this boss. Something that, if I choose to ignore using them, I will not be penalized for making that decision. I will not have to restart the entire fight all over again because I didn’t hit X to pick up that broken beer bottle to use as a temporary weapon. Options. Not limitations.

Games like I’ve mentioned – Ninja Blade, Asura’s Wrath, Forced Unleashed and Resident Evil 6 – they weren’t bad games. But they would’ve been so much more without having those QTE moments. In fact, there’s not one game I can think of that would benefit from having those moments placed in there. And I think it’s time that we, as gamers, started looking for more substance and less hand-holding in our games. I’m tired of pressing the digital equivalent of blue and red and yellow and green flash pads. I’m tired of playing digital Simon Says. I’m not that eight year-old kid anymore. I do not want to play it as an adult now.

And, quite honestly, neither should you.

2 Responses to Simon Says: Nix the QTE’s

  1. Baron Fang says:

    Should have had you on the QTE Point Streak – I’ll bet you would have got the quiz question right!

  2. Young Sammich says:

    I love the analogy of Simon Says to QTEs. It fits perfectly.

    There was one line that really grabbed me though: “…the Quick Time Event is robbing players of something vital; creativity in problem solving.” I think that is the biggest problem with how QTEs are used in games today. I can’t think of any game off the top of my head that has combat mechanics that could be used to defeat an enemy or a boss but the game wants you to play as it dictates.

    Excellent read my friend.

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