Quick Action (or) PRESS X NOT TO DIE events.

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Quick Action

 
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Noctrine
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Quick Action (or) PRESS X NOT TO DIE events.

Post by Noctrine »

How do you feel about them, are they necessary to make people get into the feel of how epic a character is? Or are they just a sly way to package a movie as a game.
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I don't know, initially (what was it God of War?) I thought Quick Action events were amazing. But now I can't really say so much. As both a player they kind of annoy me, as a designer, I try coming up with ways to embrace them and avoid them.

The main reason for me is, they destroy what little most games cling to that design powerterm the Suspension of Disbelief oh yeah, iz a professional.... I mean sure, there is an epic scene of awe inspiring badassery going on in the background but can I enjoy? No! Why? Because a Giant freaking picture of a button appears on screen. So what little time I have to watch whatever random action the player character is pulling off with all the grace that we gamers are apparently incapable of executing if its not simplified is taken away because when they happen in a chain the next one always covers up what action your taking at the moment. And spreading out the event timing makes it less like a game, and more like a movie that likes to randomly pause and occasionally restart itself from the last chapter (or god forbid the beginning of the stage even sometimes..

Now I am not going to discount everyone on this, some people spend time to make the symbols less obvious.

Then, what makes it worse. With some games, I don't even feel like I get to enjoy the cut scenes that are cut scenes. Nothing is more annoying than watching what I believe to be a brief interlude (a time when I used to be able to grab another caffeine and/or sugar laced beverage). Only to have it quickly turn into some harrowing climatic something that returns me to the beginning of the event. or god forbid, the stage.


But yeah, they do serve to show a certain epicness. But at what a cost, WHAT A COST!?!
(what was it God of War?)
Yes, I quoted myself. In the same post.
Also, it just occurred to me as I was typing. God of War wasn't the first time I encountered quick time events, The first time was Shemmue, and the experience was so horrible that I didn't remember it until I finished getting some of the backed up rant off of my chest. (Which is why I said God of War). The horrible thing about them in Shemmue was, if you didn't save constantly a few times every day you were SCREWED. You could literally walk down the street thinking everything is cool, then BAM quicktime event, you missed a button a person hates you. Sure the ones where you die let you fix them but the little random ones those always ended up suckish.
Jesse Dorsey
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hallsofvallhalla
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Re: Quick Action (or) PRESS X NOT TO DIE events.

Post by hallsofvallhalla »

Shemmue took literaly 4 hours till the first combat. Very dull and boring game that was ruined by the mass amount of cut scenes. Games are better off leaving cut scenes a a build up to a great battle or a interlude to the next scene but leave them just as they are...a cut scene. ..
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Noctrine
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Re: Quick Action (or) PRESS X NOT TO DIE events.

Post by Noctrine »

That was actually going to be my next topic :p, cutscenes. And yes, I agree with you there don't forget how fast the first combat was over also. Oh and also, so much story pushed to you that if you didn't play for say a week you wouldn't have a damn clue of where you were. Buuut Quicktime
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hallsofvallhalla
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Re: Quick Action (or) PRESS X NOT TO DIE events.

Post by hallsofvallhalla »

haha its funny I bought the dreamcast so I could mod it and play nes, snes, sea, games onit, and shemmue came with it...i found myself playing mario 3 more than that game....
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kyraneth
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Re: Quick Action (or) PRESS X NOT TO DIE events.

Post by kyraneth »

I think a good use of cut-scenes is MGS4. Cut scenes actually take more time than game play, but they are just friggin epic. The animation and graphics are breathtaking, the story too, the soundtrack is awesome. I don't want to sound as an advertisement, but MGS4 is my idol in game making materials. And they incorporated a very special interaction method in the scenes. You can press or not the button that appears on the screen (which by the way is very discreet) but that's just to spice up some things, and does not interfere.

For example: a girl talks to the main guy about how she faced horror in war. A circle button appears, if you press it, a 4 sec flashback in black and white kicks it showing the hero's family killed etc.. while the cutscene is still underway.

Or another example (which really influenced me): the camera is at third person, the hero is talking to a girl in a supposedly cleared out area. for the player, in previous sequences the girl seems suspect. You are tense waiting in the area, the hero is walking around the room, talking to the girl. than, as he faces the window, a quick action button appears. when you click it you switch to first person view for two seconds, and see a shadow passing under the window. The hero doesn't notice, but the player does. You can't believe how effective this is, the player is tense knowing that he is in a hostile area, whith unknown mysterious ennemies, and the hero is unknowing of it.

Sorry if i wasn't clear or if this was too long, but i had to point out that cutscenes + action buttons can have amazing results
Just FYI, the post is above, so stop looking down here and do something useful.

king noob. Nice.
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Viper
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Re: Quick Action (or) PRESS X NOT TO DIE events.

Post by Viper »

kyraneth wrote:I think a good use of cut-scenes is MGS4.

Sorry if i wasn't clear or if this was too long, but i had to point out that cutscenes + action buttons can have amazing results

EXACTLY. I was about to mention this game as well. This game alone made a purchase of a PS3 worth while.
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Noctrine
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Re: Quick Action (or) PRESS X NOT TO DIE events.

Post by Noctrine »

I thought MGS4 was a pretty good movie. The gameplay however was a bit short.
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