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Insomniac Games responds to the QTE criticism in Spider-Man for PS4

Lifeline

Member
I do agree that the QTE's are terrible looking. Like just recently they noticed that their cutscenes would be too long and decided to add interactivity to them and big blue circles was the easiest to implement without bothering the design team.

I think they should improve the look of them, but otherwise I rather have interactive moments in the cutscenes then just sit and watch. A lot of that also depends on what happens if you fail though, like in the crane scene if he just stumbles a bit instead of insta-dying.

Plus the part where you have to stop the helicopter by falling by shooting web in first person would have made little me so happy.

Yea ppl are really confusing a vocal minority message boards to the overarching public.

Most viewed E3 2017 trailer with tons of likes over dislikes. I don't think the majority cares about them making the cutscenes interactive.
 

Servbot24

Banned
The line is when you take something and make it binary. Are you doing this specific action, or not? If you are, you pass. I can choose when to parry in WindWaker, I don't get to choose wether or not I want to run away from that boulder in RE4. If you're going to make me do something, don't restrict my control for cinematic reasons, especially when it means needing to 'replay' what is essentially a cutscene over and over until I get it right. At least give me the option to just turn them off and enjoy it as a cutscene.

Or get more creative and come up with set pieces that don't require taking control away from the player.

That makes sense, but even then I think there's a lack of clarity. Take MGS4. Is the microwave scene a QTE? You have direct control over Snake but can only do one thing. (And the scene communicates a physical feeling to the player in a unique way as well).

In the El Gigante fight, you have the option to shoot the parasite rather than cut it, so that's not a binary option. Once you hit A to cut you are committing that action and can't get out of the cutting scene, but on the other hand you can't cancel out of attacks in Souls, and those certainly aren't QTEs. So I'm wondering how your explanation of binary action would apply to that.

Or, as a hypothetical... I don't recall what the buttons prompts were for the boulder in RE4, but let's say they changed it to tap A to run, L to dodge rubble left, R to dodge rubble right. Would that still be a QTE, and would it still be an issue?

(I don't have a point I'm arguing, just trying to better understand your position).
 

Seventy70

Member
I mean, yeah, you can blame people for being dumb and ignoring everything else from the demo.

If you hated raisins and I gave you a raisin cookie, you would say "No, I don't want it, it has raisins!". And then in response, I would say, "But most of the cookie is still just a cookie! There's only a few raisins here and there! Besides, raisins are good! EAT IT!"

Many people feel that for 2017, that was still too many QTEs to show in a game. You can have the opposite opinion and that's fine as well. I don't know why we have to call each others opinions wrong.
 

Sande

Member
That's exactly the reason why i'd want it changed in the first place instead of a random button...I press the web button outside or inside the set piece and Spiderman does the web. That's the nature of QTEs for the most part these days.
I agree with this. That's exactly why the Uncharted 4 QTE you linked works: because that's the button for using the rope and that's how the rope works in regular gameplay. Essentially the scene doesn't even need a button prompt because you already know what you're supposed to do.

Picking a random face button to show on the screen is a very unnatural and "video gamey" way to do it, and exactly what makes QTEs feel jarring.
 
That makes sense, but even then I think there's a lack of clarity. Take MGS4. Is the microwave scene a QTE? You have direct control over Snake but can only do one thing. (And the scene communicates a physical feeling to the player in a unique way as well).

In the El Gigante fight, you have the option to shoot the parasite rather than cut it, so that's not a binary option. Once you hit A to cut you are committing that action and can't get out of the cutting scene, but on the other hand you can't cancel out of attacks in Souls, and those certainly aren't QTEs. So I'm wondering how your explanation of binary action would apply to that.

Or, as a hypothetical... I don't recall what the buttons prompts were for the boulder in RE4, but let's say they changed it to tap A to run, L to dodge rubble left, R to dodge rubble right. Would that still be a QTE, and would it still be an issue?

(I don't have a point I'm arguing, just trying to better understand your position).

MGS4 I don't mind because it's one scene.

El Gigante was just one example, there are worse ones in the game. But the fact that you fight El Gigante a bunch of times doesn't help.

That's basically what the prompts where for the boulder stuff. I mean even Crash Bandicoot manage to make boulder escapes tense and difficult without needing to remove control and add QTEs. Either make it a cutscene or don't, stop this middling ground nonsense.
 

Bladelaw

Member
Honestly I'd rather just watch the cutscene if me not pressing the buttons results in a game over. Because otherwise a mistake just results in replaying an unskippable cutscene (Which is typically frowned upon and seen as bad game design in itself). It's not like QTEs are particularly engaging or fun.

If you're going to give me a sequence that is already 99% spectacle you might as well just go all the way so me accidentally pressing triangle instead of cross doesn't result in me having to watch what is essentially a cut scene again.
This right here. Having to replay however much gameplay to get to the "cutscene with prompts" for whatever failures is a pain in the ass.

So if Insomniac has said failure in a QTE isn't a game over but has other consequences (is this a thing that was said or my own fever dream? Please correct if I'm wrong) that's interesting and certainly better than straight up game over. It's still punishing folks for either not having the reflexes or mashing skill (in the web spam part for example) to clear the QTE properly. Also people who just want to see the spectacle play out get burned as they're scanning for the next prompt.
 
The types of set pieces they showed off in the demo are not feasible to pull off with normal gameplay. No game has managed to do something like that using it's core gameplay, we are years and years away from that being possible. On top of that, the general public expects set pieces like that from Spider-Man. Every single film has moments like that, and if the game lacked them people would be upset.

Also QTE=bad is a dumb hot take, like any mechanic it is all about implementation.
 

Crossing Eden

Hello, my name is Yves Guillemot, Vivendi S.A.'s Employee of the Month!
I agree with this. That's exactly why the Uncharted 4 QTE you linked works: because that's the button for using the rope and that's how the rope works in regular gameplay. Essentially the scene doesn't even need a button prompt because you already know what you're supposed to do.

Randomizing a face button to show on the screen is a very unnatural and "video gamey" way to do it, and exactly what makes QTEs feel jarring.
Basically exactly this.
 
OléGunner;241845456 said:
Here we go!
I'm a little bit surprised at the QTE backlash, it was like 30 seconds of a 9 min long demo.

I'm sure this comment by Insomniac won't calm anything down though.

Yup.

I doubt many ppl are the first thought running thru someone's mind isn't o look at that a Qte game is a fail, it's holy crap this looks so good it's like I'm playing the movie
Source:Watching casuals react to Spider-Man PS4

Actually had no idea ppl were making a big deal out of it until I logged online Day after e3

This.

With the graphics, lighting, animation and smooth transitions from cutscenes to gameplay being so polished that they look movie quality, some of these QTE complainers must have thought the whole demo must have been a QTE or something, instead of just like 30 seconds worth, since the visuals remained consistently insane throughout the entire 9 minutes.

Plus as has been said, it's Insomniac, they are going to nail that balance in these set pieces. They've always been great at gameplay.

E3 is the one time of year that gaming has the most eyeballs on it

Sony and Insomniac put out a trailer that people who only casually follow the hobby watch, this trailer gave enough people a bad impression of the final product that insomniac had to put out statements clarifying that the trailer is representative of a small portion of the game. If so many people were misinformed then the trailer did a poor job conveying what the full game will actually be like. Not everyone pays attention to gaming as much as we do.

Actually, the casuals who caught this trailer at E3, including movie reviewers who don't really follow games as closely, were mostly floored by the trailer if you look at the coverage the demo got.

They're also mostly still in awe at how good it looked and how they achieved in-game animation that actually made him move like Spider-Man.
 
Does the game feature some sort of "spidey sense" or whatever? If you're on the crane (limited control, you can move along and backwards on the crane and aim/shoot webs at things around him), time slows down for a bit, and you see a 'mental image' of spidey jumping off a point ahead and shooting web at the building to your left, you'd be inclined to do the same (with the same buttons you'd do in normal gameplay, you can still have prompts) - and the momentum of the web would throw spidey back into the crane, like the scene.

That way you still have the spectacle, but the player interaction, although limited, is dictated by actions/buttons he's already doing in the game, instead of one press doing a whole set of actions. This might make the sequence take longer, mind you, but it might be something worth experimenting with to strike a better balance - like how the W101 QTEs (well, a lot of them, mostly those not focused on being hilarious) correspond to the motions you do on regular combat.
 
Pro-Tip for Insomniac: Don't use the bad parts of your game to show off your game... or just take the bad parts out and make it a cutscene.
 

Seventy70

Member
The types of set pieces they showed off in the demo are not feasible to pull off with normal gameplay. No game has managed to do something like that using it's core gameplay, we are years and years away from that being possible. On top of that, the general public expects set pieces like that from Spider-Man. Every single film has moments like that, and if the game lacked them people would be upset.

Also QTE=bad is a dumb hot take, like any mechanic it is all about implementation.

Why do you conclude it's not feasible to pull off with normal gameplay? Look at the crazy stuff you can do in a game like Just Cause. I would be far more interested in what they have shown if it was all done in gameplay.

Also, why is my opinion dumb? Out of every game that I've played that has QTEs, I've never been pleased with any of those scenarios. Is my opinion wrong? Am I feeling things wrong?
 
This dude flat out said something like this?

He claims that he talked to other developers and they said it was fake

Listening to Rebel FM and Arthur Gies brought this game up as one of his highlights. He said when he'd talk about it with other devs at E3, they didn't believe it's even shipping in '18. Said what they showed wasn't even a game. No canned animations, etc. Curious if they're in any way right.
 

jayu26

Member
He claims that he talked to other developers and they said it was fake
Lol, are these "other" devs also the ones who said God of War 2016 trailer was "smoke and mirrors"? I also love the fact that when he is proven wrong he will just say that that's what he heard from "other" devs.
 

Kinyou

Member
While I don't quite like they way they've implemented the QTEs (simply not responsive enough) I have to say that I still prefer this a lot over just watching a cutscene without any input at all.

He claims that he talked to other developers and they said it was fake
This sounds like nonsense. I mean you can clearly tell by watching the demo that those fight scenes aren't canned animation.
 

Unknown?

Member
If you hated raisins and I gave you a raisin cookie, you would say "No, I don't want it, it has raisins!". And then in response, I would say, "But most of the cookie is still just a cookie! There's only a few raisins here and there! Besides, raisins are good! EAT IT!"

Many people feel that for 2017, that was still too many QTEs to show in a game. You can have the opposite opinion and that's fine as well. I don't know why we have to call each others opinions wrong.

Eh we're past that I thought. I remember QTE being accepted, then not accepted, then back to being accepted. We're back to not accepting them or what? At least it's not RE4 bad.
 
I've been thinking about why the Krauser knife fight in RE4 actually worked really well. First you need to look at why people don't hate them in the game at all. The game establishes QTEs as a mechanic early on in the game, so you as a player should know to never relax the controller. This is in line for the horror aesthetic of Resident Evil, and tells you you're not safe even in cutscenes. That first "oh shit" moment where the Ganado with the axe comes flying out at you and Luis tied up is surprising, given that it's done after a sizable, quiet conversation.

Apply that element of surprise to the life-or-death knife fight with Krauser. He ambushes you and any moment could be your last. Even if you know when the prompts are, there's a randomization element in play so you still need to be on your toes (fingertips?) to make sure you don't die. It's not "press X to awesome" it's "press (random) to avoid the blade." The context of the fight sells it. The scene looks amazing and the premise is simple, but fantastic. Don't ever let people tell you RE4 is an action game. Despite the different style, it's a horror game through and through and why people still revere 4 and not (in the same manner) 5 and 6 with their half-assed QTEs. You can't just pluck QTEs from thin air and place them anywhere that looks cool...

...Which is what a lot of developers did last generation. They were everywhere and became such an overused mechanic, people everywhere started to revile them. Hell, even some of the previous Spider-Man games had them. Nowadays people see them as a crutch to include 'setpiece, blockbuster' moments, but make them completely controlled and scripted so the player doesn't break something they haven't animated.

So the question becomes "how many 'setpiece, blockbuster' moments are there in Spider-Man?" Considering this is a really highly anticipated game with a no-doubt massive budget, I'd have to say "a lot." I'd say...climax of each villain arc at least. I can live with the final moments before/after a boss being a big bombastic QTE adventure, with the meat of the game being the moment-to-moment gameplay we've yet to see in depth. I can see how people are concerned with that ratio, given how I described how half-assed QTEs can be above and I understand where they're coming from, and I hope the developers do too. It's a fine line to walk between knowing how to balance a story moment with QTEs, letting a cutscene play out or simply letting the player do what they want.
 

Zukkoyaki

Member
Now they need to respond to Arthur Gies' claims that everything shown at E3 of the game was faked.
What? We have dozens of accounts from high-profile industry people saying it was 100% real and that the section is longer than what was shown.

This guy, lol.
 
Honestly I'd rather just watch the cutscene if me not pressing the buttons results in a game over.

This right here. Having to replay however much gameplay to get to the "cutscene with prompts" for whatever failures is a pain in the ass.

So if Insomniac has said failure in a QTE isn't a game over but has other consequences (is this a thing that was said or my own fever dream? Please correct if I'm wrong) that's interesting and certainly better than straight up game over.

To repeat what I said earlier, it was either a Beyond or Kinda Funny Podcast where they talked about the closed-door showing of the game and QTEs aren't insta-fail.

I agree with this. That's exactly why the Uncharted 4 QTE you linked works: because that's the button for using the rope and that's how the rope works in regular gameplay. Essentially the scene doesn't even need a button prompt because you already know what you're supposed to do.

Picking a random face button to show on the screen is a very unnatural and "video gamey" way to do it, and exactly what makes QTEs feel jarring.

I was under the impression it said X because that's probably the jump button and there's not a symbol in the game for jump since you likely do it a lot, as opposed to the Uncharted rope-swinging where you could only use it on select branches/ledges and needed a prompt for it.
 

Brunire

Member
Do we have a strict definition of QTEs or are we just including any time visual button prompts are used? Or is it the fact that you cannot move your character with the left stick that determines a QTE?

The part where he is webbing the crane is clearly more timing based than quick twitch, almost like a rhythm game. The circle closes in on the point when you should hit the button.

Other parts were the "rapidly press button" design. Is that a QTE? When I think of QTE, I think of Shenmue when you are asked to just hit the button on screen one time as fast as possible.

So do we include music/rhythm games as just strings of QTEs? What about a golf game where you must hit a button at the right time based on a moving bar on screen?

How can "all QTEs are bad" apply when there are many different ways that a visual button prompt can be used in a video game?
 
I think the QTEs got a lot of attention because they were the only parts that looked particularly different than Batman with webslinging instead of gliding.
 

j-wood

Member
I don't understand why so many are complaining about the QTEs from the demo.

Honestly, those are things spider-man does and should be able to do in the game, but having the player do those things without it being a QTE? That's a nightmare.

Could you make it just a cut scene? Yeah i suppose, but then you are just watching the cool moments. At least in this manner you have SOME form of input.
 
Why do you conclude it's not feasible to pull off with normal gameplay? Look at the crazy stuff you can do in a game like Just Cause. I would be far more interested in what they have shown if it was all done in gameplay.

Also, why is my opinion dumb? Out of every game that I've played that has QTEs, I've never been pleased with any of those scenarios. Is my opinion wrong? Am I feeling things wrong?
Except none of the regular gameplay in Just Cause even comes close to what they showed off in the Spider-Man demo. On top of that, when Just Cause wants to have crazy setpiece moments, they also have scripted segments with limited ineractivity. Just Cause is also another poor example because it has massive performance problems. They are not even comparable. The reason why I'm saying it's not possible in normal gameplay is because the level of destruction and the physics of the crane falling, etc. etc. are too much for the PS4 to handle as normal gameplay. Take for example Crackdown 3, which in order to have a high level of destruction (without the insane graphical fidelity of Spider-Man) they have to use cloud based processing and as such can only implement that in multiplayer.

You are entitled to you opinion, but it is still an incredibly reactionary one. Plenty of games have implemented QTEs quite well, for example the Left Behind DLC for The Last of Us, Uncharted 4, Asura's Wrath, Until Dawn. You may not like the implementation in those games either, but just because you don't like something doesn't mean it is always bad and should never exist.
 
If you hated raisins and I gave you a raisin cookie, you would say "No, I don't want it, it has raisins!". And then in response, I would say, "But most of the cookie is still just a cookie! There's only a few raisins here and there! Besides, raisins are good! EAT IT!"

Many people feel that for 2017, that was still too many QTEs to show in a game. You can have the opposite opinion and that's fine as well. I don't know why we have to call each others opinions wrong.
I'm not calling the opinion wrong, I'm calling it a dumb opinion in context with what was shown. People are entitled to it.

And raisins are great, unless you're somehow allergic, eat the fucking cookie.
 

Crossing Eden

Hello, my name is Yves Guillemot, Vivendi S.A.'s Employee of the Month!
The types of set pieces they showed off in the demo are not feasible to pull off with normal gameplay. No game has managed to do something like that using it's core gameplay, we are years and years away from that being possible. On top of that, the general public expects set pieces like that from Spider-Man. Every single film has moments like that, and if the game lacked them people would be upset.

Also QTE=bad is a dumb hot take, like any mechanic it is all about implementation.
Not even. The rendering fidelity has increased, but in reality, that segment is not much different than what gets implemented. Look at how he's running perfectly straight up the crane, how wouldn't that be controlled via the left stick, we're not talking about controlling Spiderman during something like this which would actually be near impossible to implement limited control that would actually have some semblance of control
HjTosMa.gif

we're talking a dude running in a straight line for literally four seconds before taking away control, he's not weaving between different sections of the crane he's going straight up and flat out ignoring how cranes work, he's not even hopping or anything:

which conceptually, isn't that different from this:

we're talking about for brief moments taking control away from the player by providing them with an incredibly limited scenario while simultaneously giving the [Illusion[/I] of full control via making the player do things that when boiled down, are what they'rve already been doing during the core gameplay before switching directly to a cutscene. This is something ND and Rocksteady do often and why the QTEs in those games are rarely complained about.
 
Do we have a strict definition of QTEs or are we just including any time visual button prompts are used? Or is it the fact that you cannot move your character with the left stick that determines a QTE?

The part where he is webbing the crane is clearly more timing based than quick twitch, almost like a rhythm game. The circle closes in on the point when you should hit the button.

Other parts were the "rapidly press button" design. Is that a QTE? When I think of QTE, I think of Shenmue when you are asked to just hit the button on screen one time as fast as possible.

So do we include music/rhythm games as just strings of QTEs? What about a golf game where you must hit a button at the right time based on a moving bar on screen?

How can "all QTEs are bad" apply when there are many different ways that a visual button prompt can be used in a video game?

I define them as 'If I usually have full control of a character and you remove that control temporarily and replace it with stretches of 'Press X to do thing', then that's a bad QTE. I'm Spiderman, let me use my cool abilities and the skill that I've built up while playing to solve problems.

Rhythm games and golf games are different, because those button presses are the entire control scheme for those games.

Bad QTEs give me a similar feeling to the batmobile stuff in Arkham Knight. I spend most of the game playing as Batman, doing bad ass things in situations that I control, yet once in a while that's removed and I'm forced to play some bad tank combat. Don't let me be a superhero, then force me to give up control and do some dull stuff for the sake of a 'cinematic experience'.
 
It blows my mind this guy still has a job in the industry.

Exactly. Perfect time for shocked well not that shocked that he would say this.

Lol, are these "other" devs also the ones who said God of War 2016 trailer was "smoke and mirrors"? I also love the fact that when he is proven wrong he will just say that that's what he heard from "other" devs.

This. LOL.

Also, you're right he's probably still stuck thinking God of War and Horizon Zero Dawn are also faked even though we can play HZD right now and SSM, like Naughty Dog and Guerilla joining them take turns one-upping each other, always outdo themselves pulling off impossible shit that always even looks even better by the time of release lol.
 
That's exactly the reason why i'd want it changed in the first place instead of a random button...I press the web button outside or inside the set piece and Spiderman does the web. That's the nature of QTEs for the most part these days. I would trust the player under pressure to know, "oh that's the symbol for web swinging" compared to "oh that's...X..(which has a different function than web slinging cause circle and triangle were both used there?)"
Here is the thing, you're actually wrong about the action taking place. Watch the trailer and look at the bottom right corner. There are multiple buttons and actions wherein the web shooting happens. Triangle for take down,and pulling yourself toward objects. L2 and R2 for swinging and perching. L1 to pull objects toward you. X for jumping, circle for dodging. They even show "active finisher" at one point (not sure if misspelling of "activate"). Square for melee.

EDIT: I will say that I hope how it is being played is explained in more detail. They could probably communicate the crane portion a little better, such as if you're the one controlling the running and the X is just timing based and a fail-state if missed.

In this case, X is the button you need to hit during crane portion because it makes Spidey jump off of the falling debris and wrap web around it in angles you're otherwise not looking at (making it very difficult for "core" mechanic instead of QTE moment), whereas Triangle is also used to shoot a piece that he isn't running on. The whole set piece plays out like this, from pulling the rotor with L1 to the take-down in the heli with Triangle, and "attacking" the chopper with Square. Even L2 and R2 make sense since those are web shooting from each of his arms.
 

David___

Banned
If you hated raisins and I gave you a raisin cookie, you would say "No, I don't want it, it has raisins!". And then in response, I would say, "But most of the cookie is still just a cookie! There's only a few raisins here and there! Besides, raisins are good! EAT IT!"

If I didn't want raisins I'd decline and get another cookie if I wanted one and not endlessly whine that you dared showed me a cookie that had raisins in it to the point the baker and to mention not all their cookies is filled with raisins
 

Seventy70

Member
I'm not calling the opinion wrong, I'm calling it a dumb opinion in context with what was shown. People are entitled to it.

And raisins are great, unless you're somehow allergic, eat the fucking cookie.

Except none of the regular gameplay in Just Cause even comes close to what they showed off in the Spider-Man demo. On top of that, when Just Cause wants to have crazy setpiece moments, they also have scripted segments with limited ineractivity. Just Cause is also another poor example because it has massive performance problems. They are not even comparable. The reason why I'm saying it's not possible in normal gameplay is because the level of destruction and the physics of the crane falling, etc. etc. are too much for the PS4 to handle as normal gameplay. Take for example Crackdown 3, which in order to have a high level of destruction (without the insane graphical fidelity of Spider-Man) they have to use cloud based processing and as such can only implement that in multiplayer.

You are entitled to you opinion, but it is still an incredibly reactionary one. Plenty of games have implemented QTEs quite well, for example the Left Behind DLC for The Last of Us, Uncharted 4, Asura's Wrath, Until Dawn. You may not like the implementation in those games either, but just because you don't like something doesn't mean it is always bad and should never exist.
To be clear, I'm not concluding that the game will be bad. But, I'm allowed to have my own opinion based on what they've shown so far.
If I didn't want raisins I'd decline and get another cookie if I wanted one and not endlessly whine that you dared showed me a cookie that had raisins in it to the point the baker and to mention not all their cookies is filled with raisins
I mean....this is probably where the analogy breaks. I love Spider-man and think that it has tons of potential as a game. I also have been a big fan of Insomniacs work in the past. I don't see why it's so wrong to voice impressions and give feedback? Maybe they will use this to correct their gameplay direction? As I said before, I think a more sandbox, dynamic approach to making a Spider-man game would be great. I really do hope the QTEs are only in a small portion of the game and you can still do crazy stuff as Spider-man.
 
So ridiculous they had to respond to this idiotic criticism. It's as though people have never played a game released in the last 10 years. There is always normal gameplay with the occasional set piece.

"I saw a QTE so that must be the entire game."
"I saw four areas in Mario Odyssey so that must be the entire game."

That is literally the thought process of a small infant who doesn't understand that things it doesn't see still exist.



Yes you absolutely can blame people for thinking this. Unless the intelligence of the gaming audience does not deserve even the slightest modicum of respect.

I largely agree. And what a douchebag thing to say to the dude Insomniac was responding to.
 

jayu26

Member
Why do you conclude it's not feasible to pull off with normal gameplay? Look at the crazy stuff you can do in a game like Just Cause. I would be far more interested in what they have shown if it was all done in gameplay.

Also, why is my opinion dumb? Out of every game that I've played that has QTEs, I've never been pleased with any of those scenarios. Is my opinion wrong? Am I feeling things wrong?
In Just Cause they don't have to worry about player killing innocent civilians. You are not going to get a game over screen if the player fails to stop a crane or other debris from falling onto a group of civilians in Just Cause. That's why a sequence like that does not require QETs in Just Cause. If that kind of freedom is given in Spiderman game then you will have people who just choose to go after the helicopter without bothering to stop the crane. If the game gives game over screen for failing to stop the crane, then people will complain that game made it seem as though there was a choice when there was none. If they want to create a set piece that keeps up the pace of the sequence while also not frustrating player, then QETs are acceptable compromise. If they get rid of the set piece altogether then people will say that there no big "Spiderman" moment where he saves the day and gets the bad guy in the nick of time. Although I agree that button prompts should be normal web buttons (trigger and shoulder buttons) rather than X.
 
Not even. The rendering fidelity has increased, but in reality, that segment is not much different than what gets implemented. Look at how he's running perfectly straight up the crane, how wouldn't that be controlled via the left stick, we're not talking about controlling Spiderman during something like this which would actually be near impossible to implement limited control that would actually have some semblance of control


we're talking a dude running in a straight line for literally four seconds before taking away control, he's not weaving between different sections of the crane he's going straight up and flat out ignoring how cranes work, he's not even hopping or anything:


which conceptually, isn't that different from this:


we're talking about for brief moments taking control away from the player by providing them with an incredibly limited scenario while simultaneously giving the [Illusion[/I] of full control via making the player do things that when boiled down, are what they'rve already been doing during the core gameplay before switching directly to a cutscene. This is something ND and Rocksteady do often and why the QTEs in those games are rarely complained about.
Except that running up the crane is a small portion of a much larger sequence, in which the majority of the actions are more like the second one you described, in which it is not possible to give the player full control due to the complexity of the actions presented. Sure, if your argument is 'during the few seconds in which Spider-Man is running up the crane, the player should have limited control using the Left stick' I totally agree. But the majority of the setpiece is not moments like that. In addition, that level of interactivity could still be implemented. It's not like the game releases this Holiday season.
 

Crossing Eden

Hello, my name is Yves Guillemot, Vivendi S.A.'s Employee of the Month!
Here is the thing, you're actually wrong about the action taking place. Watch the trailer and look at the bottom right corner. There are multiple buttons and actions wherein the web shooting happens. Triangle for take down,and pulling yourself toward objects. L2 and R2 while swinging and perching. L1 to pull objects toward you. X for jumping, circle for dodging. They even show "active finisher" at one point (not sure if misspelling of "activate"). Square for melee.
I noticed.

In this case, X is the button you need to hit because it makes Spidey jump off of the falling debris and wrap around it, whereas Triangle is also used to shoot a piece that he isn't running on. The whole set piece plays out like this, from pulling the rotor to the take-down in the heli, and "attacking" the chopper with Square. Even L2 and R2 make sense since those are web shooting from each of his arms.
But here's where the contradiction lies in that, he's jumping but then Spiderman, not me-->the player, uses webs on his own. And if O is for dodging, then why the is prompt for dodging being used yet again for webs to stick things to the building. It's not very consistent with the core gameplay. But you're right they did put some thought into that but didn't go all the way with it. And then we come back to my main complaint, which is how out of place the symbols look. I'd prefer the web symbol of the button for jumping starting off. Or for the web symbol to be the universal way we control webs during set pieces in the same way that L1 is the universal way that Drake uses the rope.

Except that running up the crane is a small portion of a much larger sequence, in which the majority of the actions are more like the second one you described, in which it is not possible to give the player full control due to the complexity of the actions presented. Sure, if your argument is 'during the few seconds in which Spider-Man is running up the crane, the player should have limited control using the Left stick' I totally agree. But the majority of the setpiece is not moments like that. In addition, that level of interactivity could still be implemented. It's not like the game releases this Holiday season.
The part where Spiderman uses his webs is the part where the control would be taken away from the player completely in the same way that control is immediately taken away from the player when the player uses the melee button in TLOU during that ambush. All three times he goes around the crane he does the same run. Followed by a press of the web button. You're right that it could still be implemented but i'm rarely seen a QTE set piece go through major changes from the demo and the release. :/
 

adamsapple

Or is it just one of Phil's balls in my throat?
We wouldn't have so many complaints if the game was multiplatform.

Probably, but lets not go down this chain of discussion. It's irrelevant to the topic at hand.

Now they need to respond to Arthur Gies' claims that everything shown at E3 of the game was faked.

Wait .. what .. is this true ?

* about arthur's comments, not the demo being faked.
 

Lifeline

Member
we're talking a dude running in a straight line for literally four seconds before taking away control, he's not weaving between different sections of the crane he's going straight up and flat out ignoring how cranes work, he's not even hopping or anything:

They said that scene when he's running in the burning building, you can control where spider-man is moving. But he's auto-running, you can control where he moves but not the speed. So he can keep up with the chopper outside and the destruction inside without the player just standing in one place.

They probably did the same with the crane, again if the player just stands there the crane falls and they have to shoot a new fail scene.
 
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