Heavy Rain is nothing but a qucktime movie.

[QUOTE="skrat_01"][QUOTE="Leejjohno"]

Why do people hate quick time events?

Mckenna1845

Look at what Half Life did to the FPS genre - there needs to be more thoughtful thinking like for the action adventures etc. when it comes to creating cinematic moments that are not cutscene or QTE, and just nail it.

However its not to say its impossible. Look at Shadow of the Collossus, the game has a very high degree of player control, its very cinematic, and there is not a single quick time event. Its intuitive controls, and character design, combined with the core game design worked hand in hand.

Even Another World / Out of This World (the renamed US version), way back in 1990 provided a very cinematic platforming / action experience, where the player had complete control over the character. However unlike SoTC it was much more trial and error and so- very very hard. Never the less its about as close as a side scrolling game has come to being like a film - except with a high level of interactivity.

Another problem is developers generally go with 'do what works'. I have spoken to a few designers, who suggest, at the end of the day, you just roll with it, if the situation requires. As uninspiring it is, there is a fair point, as putting resources and time into figuring out one small design solution, and implementing it can be a huge hassle, even during pre production.

Honestly I just think there needs to be a bit more creative thinking, and less copying of successful easy methods, that have become saturated, and look elsewhere for examples. For instance in the Heavy Rain video, I think something on the lines of giving the player direction control over evasion - like an evasion button mapped, that can be used in conjunction with the analogue sticks, however with a degree of a.i assistance. While it seems rather simple though the variables increase tenfold, as an action sequence, like the one shown is completely unscripted in how it plays out, and as a result might not look nearly as good as the choreographed scene.

That and alot more can go wrong, and its complexity is so great.... However once you tackle this you can apply it to other action sequences, and as a result giving the player a higher degree of control (and background assistance that makes things a little more leaniant without handholding), you could have something much more engaging and personal than a more compex QTE method.

Because, well, this degree of interactivity really is what makes gaming stand out.

Phew.
Well I guess any talk of design usually guarantees a wall of text from me.

Why do people hate quick time events?

Leejjohno

ask the people who hate rail gun shooter ;)

i've been very cautious about thisgame,but after watching gametrailers tv onspike, thepreview of the game looks like nothing but quicktime events. But with that saying the game looks great.

DISCUSS

kenmid

It is threads like this one that make me understand just how FEW people ever played the amazing Indigo Prophesy. This game plays just like IP did. You play the investigation scenes, talking to people, exploring, maybe even the shooting sequence. Then action sequences are done via cut scene. Meanwhile, the game and story play out based on how much you've explored, who you talked to, what you said, clues you found while investigating, etc.

The whole game isn't movies. That is just what the trailers show because it is where the best action sequences are.

[QUOTE="kenmid"]

i've been very cautious about thisgame,but after watching gametrailers tv onspike, thepreview of the game looks like nothing but quicktime events. But with that saying the game looks great.

DISCUSS

ZIMdoom

It is threads like this one that make me understand just how FEW people ever played the amazing Indigo Prophesy. This game plays just like IP did. You play the investigation scenes, talking to people, exploring, maybe even the shooting sequence. Then action sequences are done via cut scene. Meanwhile, the game and story play out based on how much you've explored, who you talked to, what you said, clues you found while investigating, etc.

The whole game isn't movies. That is just what the trailers show because it is where the best action sequences are.

(interesting) wall of textskrat_01

I loved Shenmue

I'll love this.

As long as Im not looking for sailors for about 3/4's of the game. It'll be alright.

hayato_

[QUOTE="skrat_01"](interesting) wall of textMckenna1845

Though yes, you do have a point. At the end of the day its whatever title gets more attention, the more the developers will get credit for it. Heck QTEs go all the way back to Dragons Lair, and you still see gaming publications cite Shenmue as being the innovative title. Hell there was possibly a title before DL.

However the amount of innovation might be minor, but it can have huge repercussions. It doesn't even need to be that innovative. The best recent example is cover systems, which have been around for ages. However Gears of War essentially reinvented the cover system with its design context, and implementation, also getting alot of publicity.

What this spawned was a design trend craze - suddenly critics began to expect cover systems when dealing with third person, and developers began implementing it to add flair to their design.

Now while Gears didnt truly innovate, it did nail it and publicise to a degree that is was very influential.

Even just taking QTEs and shaking them up could do wonders for action adventures, in a same context as what cover systems did for shooters with Gears. The only problem is people will ultimately copy the copy, and we will all come to expect it - then it will become predictable and have to be reinvented.

There just needs to be a developer that does do something with the design, and if its good, you hope it makes an impact to other developers, in the right way. I guess its just about taking the iniative and being thoughtful about it.

QTE are worst things that could happen to games, its basically an interactive cutscene, requireing no skill to actually play the game

kidonre

Am I the only one who likes QTEs? Especially if done right. And besides, the gameplay doesn't entirely consist of them, it's only apart of it.Episode_Eve

ive playied indigo prophecy and i just can't wait for Heavy Rain

Yeah it's gonna flop harder then Ninja Blade because in NB at least you got to fight and stuff!! haha.Englandfc1966

i probably have to post my opinion on this after seeing the gametrailers tv episode.

i myself don't delve into RTS's simply because it's not the game for me. i enjoy watching my friends play it but i just can't immerse myself into actually playing the genre, although i love only a few select titles.

and when it comes to 3rd person RPG or action/adventure, i'm all in. if you can't really enjoy a game then don't bash it because not only has this game an M rating, but it relies heavily on the player's immersion to the story/plot. that being said, we now know that this game is so much restricted on the people that will truly enjoy what this game has to offer (18+ adults that enjoy storytelling, that is).

and i think this game is trying to not only broaden the spectrum of video gaming (which is awesome, since these kinds of games like Mirrors Edge are just creative and innovative, i like devs who try out lots of things and are not afraid and bravo to Sony for publishing a game that doesn't guarantee sales but has a great concept) but is trying to achieve what MGS4 had, and that is for two different forms of entertainment's (gaming and movies) differences to be near nonexistent. it's really hard to pull that off.i think mgs4 pulled it off even though the story is exclusive for fans, especially since there's alot of references throughout the game.

in addition, alot of people may reply to this as 'yeah right' or anything likewise, but as long as they have valid arguments then that's fine. sorry for any grammatical errors since english isn't my first language.

so what i'm trying to say is, if it's not your thing then don't go around telling people it will be a bad game. i just bash games from genres that i enjoy, and if the game turned out to be a -8.5 score for me *coughs* Assassin's Creed *coughs*. anyone can easily tell that Heavy Rain isn't meant for everyone, but hey, we (or is it just me?) can accept non-traditional gameplay once in a while as long as it's not inconvenient. XD

compared to this

oh snap.

^ lol i see what you did there. and the new title of the game would be Heavy_Rain.mov, am i right? :D

Shenmue had its fair share of QTE's and I loved it. I'm just hoping Heavy Rain's gameplay doesn't revolve around QTE's.

What I think most people aren't realizing is all of the footage that is being shown is of the action. Trailers are designed to this to draw people in, same as movies. It will have much more depth than that, and to base an opinion on what is obviously just one element shown is plain out dumb.

Probably the only game I'll buy day one ever again.

Anyway, onto the argument. Let's get this out of the way first: no game so far has done QTEs on the level of Shenmue yet. Shenmue had some really ingenious ideas, and like the abuse of some drugs, QTEs have also been used and abused the wrong way.

Unfortunately, QTEs were prolific in Farenheit, and they rear their ugly head again in Heavy Rain. The funny thing is, I'm not entirely sure if there is any more efficient and accesible way to deal with action sequences in such a game. Remember that Heavy Rain is an adventure game, and uses context-sensitive controls. In an action sequence that requires reflexes that are not normally found in an adventure game, how could you approach such a scene without totally screwing up? The moment you try and sophisticate a combat system you have to make more room for the action in the game, and I don't think that's what Quantic Dream wants.

But QTEs are the superificial element of Heavy Rain. What does it mean to be a 'quicktime movie'? Heavy Rain is doing what games should be doing and making everything entirely cybertextual. This isn't Half Life or Grand Theft Auto where the story is entirely linear and there's only one way to complete the game. There are multiple ways to complete the game depending on your choices at a specific point in time. I mean hell, you can even get the main characters killed and the story will keep going.

So no, Heavy Rain is a video game through and through

This game just doesnt look like any fun... :(