To really get into the nitty gritty of the ridiculous quick time events, though, you have to reach back to the source. The instruction booklet to Shenmue was, so far as etymologists can tell, the first place that the phrase "quick timer event" (sic) appeared. It took a few years for the mechanic to really catch on, by which point the series was dead in the ground along with the console it debuted on. Yu Suzuki's Dreamcast epic may never be complete, but it will never be forgotten. Because it was frequently absolutely bananas. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y5Hq5f5olE0 More so even than Quantic Dream's output, the Shenmue series was clearly a games developer creating his dream film the only way he knew how. And apparently that involved using quick time events for literally everything, from using vending machines to stacking crates in a fork lift truck to bar fights to escaping having your throat slit by a Chinese gangster. Yes, these are all things that happen in these games. Which are supposed to be about tracking down the man who killed your father. You willingly submit to driving a forklift truck. And it works via QTEs. Strange to think why the Dreamcast never caught on...
Tom Baker is the Comics Editor at WhatCulture! He's heard all the Doctor Who jokes, but not many about Randall and Hopkirk. He also blogs at http://communibearsilostate.wordpress.com/
