The only QTE in the combat are the executions. Otherwise is plays like a mix between Assassin's Creed and the Batman but with a focus on blocking rather than dodging and countering. For an example of this http://www.twitch.tv/microsoftstudios/b/477303820 here is a 50 minute live stream with lots of combat. If you don't want to watch the whole thing, skip to around 12 minutes. It's clearly not a QTE fest, so why are so many people still claiming this?

Now I'm sure people will cite things like the gameinformer preview about dialing numbers. But the thing they conveniently left out of their preview was they were playing an early part of the game with a fully upgraded end game character with everything unlocked. So of course it was easy and just pressing buttons.

The newest combat trailer itself also shows that the only QTE are the executions which I don't really mind. At least my fingers are doing something rather than every execution just being an automated animation.

I'm not claiming the combat will be good, that remains to be seen, but there is so much misinformation about this game it explodes my brain. Even if the combat does turn out to be not great, it doesn't look nearly as bad as people are making it out to be, and it sure as hell is nothing at all like what people are claiming it is.

Hey guys, I here this game is just a total QTE fest. Better avoid it.

You seem to have a lot invested in this game no one has played.

I'm not even getting an Xbox One.. I'm sorry for being informed about what things actually are before talking about them?

Honestly, I don't see much in those videos that I would call "gameplay." It's a QTE fest, at least it looks extremely "steered." They just dressed those QTE sequences up pretty nicely.

PRESS B TO AVOID

Don't really bother with it. I actually think it looks pretty cool myself too but hey, who cares what people say. Dead Rising 3 is also looking good so there are some good Xbox One games.

Whatever, I love Shenmue.

Batman must be a QTE fest to you too then.

Sure. I'll continue to call it a bad game based on what I've seen.

Investigation Failure

@cptbedlam: in as much as any game is a quick time event where one is required to press several buttons in quick succession to move your character or attack enemies, then yes it's a QTE fest with literally hundreds of button presses required.

You just sent a link to a video which is mostly cutscenes and QTEs and complain people are saying the game is mostly QTEs?

I mean come on, 90% of the first 50 seconds is QTEs and cutscenes.

As we all well know, being prompted exactly when and what button to push while the character in game goes through intricate stylized combat is totally not QTE.

He's an Xbot, guys, get him! ...I kid

I don't know, do you actually have any physical movement in the game? Everything just seemed like you were stationary and guys were coming at you while you beat them up one by one, almost Arkham Asylum/ Assassins Creed style if you just stood there. Counter, counter, slice. Counter, counter slice. Is there any movement/ dodging around foes? Or more importantly anything to do other than just cut dudes? At least God of War kind of mixed it up with platforming and puzzle segments. This kinda seems like a next gen Streets of Rage or something like that.

@humanity: @krullban: The Batman games walk a fine line but you're always free to move elsewhere in mid-combat, free to not do the strike and free to engage a different enemy. In Ryse everything is practically on rails when you encounter enemies, as opposed to the Batman games, you're "stuck" in the sequence. Whether you hit the button or not, it only changes the animation, you kill the guy anyway.

Also, Batman's combat at least strings together fluid animations. The chopped up animations in Ryse look pretty horrible.

No kidding, did you see that demo? Utterly ridiculous.

You have full movement, exact same as the Batman games.

the QTE fest thing is ridiculous hyperbole, i played the multiplayer portion of the game, it is really like a slower assassins creed/batman game combat wise.

when i think QTE fest thats more something like asuras wrath (but goddamm the story it told was great though)

Ryse is a QTE fest in the vain of like no more heroes.

Yeah I know man, that QTE fest batman. Just constantly being prompted to press Y. What a QTE fest those Batman games are. I'm glad those games are always called QTE fests since that's obviously what they are as you're always being prompted to press a specific button to do an animation that stylizes the combat.

QTE or not, I have no interest in this game.

I like the time period i like the company making rise, if i had bought a Xbox one this would be my launch game.

I don't mind the combat but I really REALLY hate the slow-mo fast-forward then slow-mo. It was cool when 300 did it, but now it's done to death like how The Matrix was.

I know it is easy to go for the "Man what about Batman!?!" but "Free Flow" doesn't behave like what is shown in the videos.

Also, what is wrong with QTE? Overusing QTE is a problem but if a game can work well as a brawler with QTE in the right moments. I too think slapping the label on this game is dubious but I also don't necessarily see the problem either.

that's the things about first impressions, you can only make one.

I see they are really putting effort into making this game as historically accurate as possible.

You can move around in Ryse while in combat. What are you talking about? It's not at all on rails. You have full movement, a ranged attack, 2 attack buttons, a parry button, a block button, the attack buttons are hold or press for a different function, parrys can lead into different types of stuns that do different things. Executions will happen when the enemy is almost dead. Which is where the color prompts come in. It has special moves and a bunch of different upgrades. I agree that the regular combat animations aren't very fluid. But you're pretty wrong about the game being on rails..

Meh, Asura's Wrath was supposedly all QTE's. And somehow that became my second favorite game of that year. Bump up the difficulty and it gets precise and deep in the free combat systems.

I hope Ryse can at least nail that sort of mix, although I agree that there's a difference between QTE's and execution prompts. I'm not even getting an Xbox One for a year or two but I hope it's a cool game.

That's nice to hear. They really should've show more combat like in that video than just what they showed at the XONE reveal.

So what it's an Xbone game so it's gonna run at 480P.

Mash X to 720P.

Cevat where u @?

edit: also more seriously that guy chops a lot of arms off yet no blood splurts out, wat?

Have they ever said what happened to it being a Kinect game? Or are they just pretending that never happened.

@krullban: Can you point me to a positive preview cause I haven't seen one yet.

We shall see, QTE's can be sneaky, and if you actually wanted to avoid misinformation you should know better than to trust ANYONE's preview. Lets wait until we have it in our collective hands

IGN, Polygon and Rev3 were positive about it, and the other previews that were not always completely positive all said things like:

From Destructoid - Battle system isn't QTEs

From Gamespot - [QTEs] appear only when you are ready to finish off your growling opponent, and the game signals them not with a button prompt, but by highlighting your foe with a temporary glow that corresponds to the color of the button you must press. Before you can perform this backstabbing ballet, however, you engage barbarians and brutes with standard attacks and counters that recall the fluid combat of the Arkham Batman games

From Joystiq - Ryse's fighting has a lot in common with the free flow combat of the Batman games

Played a build at FanExpo in Toronto at the end of August. It was a gladiator co-op gameplay sequence (executions awarded extra points as represented by the crowd cheering). Saw very few button prompts, or anything one would call a QTE. I didn't love it. The comparison to Assassin's Creed and Batman is apt, except what I played had little to no traversal and was totally linear and super boring.

That's all fine and dandy, but what "p" is this in?

Reflecting arrows back at people with your shield? Picking enemies up over your head with your sword, before hurling them several meters away? So much for that "historically accurate combat" you were touting, Crytek.

...still tentatively curious about the game, though.

The slowing down shit looks like it would get old really fast.

I don't think you can blame anyone for believing it's just a bunch of crap QTEs when the E3 demo was nothing but crap QTEs. Everything they've shown prior to these last few videos has been awful. That's their fault.

Also, looking at the footage.... exploding barrels? Seriously?

I don't know what it is, I just know it's not Timesplitters and therefore fuck that.

I just like the setting because there are very few action games set in that time period/location. Would I have played it had it stayed a Kinect game? Probably not. Will I play it because the setting looks cool and the graphics look purty? Yeah sure why not?

It's not all QTE but it still looks like limited Batman combat, which I'm fine with, because I don't have to flail my arms around like an idiot. And besides a game can still be good even if it is all QTEs, as proven by Asura's Wrath, but I guess making assumptions about things we haven't played yet is what we the VGC are best at...

also reflecting those arrows looks funny as hell!

Actually I've heard that most of the complaints have shifted to the fact that it's just plain boring.

The constant slo-mo looks like it would be maddening after about ten minutes.

This is still a video game. If a game was entirely historically accurate, you'd die and the disc wouldn't be usable anymore. No new game. Just death.

and PS he doesn't even throw the guy a meter away. If it's the same throw i'm looking at right now. Maybe about 2 or 3 feet in front of him.

@xyzygy: It doesn't have to be that extreme. A next-gen Bushido Blade would get me to buy a new console immediately.

I'm going to believe what you say because it's on the internet and post similar opinions as fact.

Who cares if it has QTEs or not. It looks boring as fuck and thats a bigger problem.

Ryse was originally a Kinect game. I don't understand why everyone is so surprised or defensive about the guided nature of the gameplay.

My cousin's friend's uncle worked on the game and totally confirmed this.

There was a Kinect version of Ryse which was scrapped and now there's this version. I don't see anything in this game that's more guided than the average controller-based game.

The slow-mo executions are terrible, that 300 shit is not cool when it comes to games.