Reaction Commands are Quick Time Events

[zerossoul]

Reaction Commands are Quick Time Events. Fairly polarizing statement, and I can't believe I didn't realize it till today.
I was reviewing a comment made by Nomura on the development of KH3 when he said.

"For example, in Kingdom Hearts II we introduced the reaction command system. I felt like fans didn't take to it well, and it wasn't that popular. So in Kingdom Hearts III. we took that system out, but then fans said. 'Why'd you take it out?'"

I didn't think about how he got the impression that reaction commands weren't liked till now. Likely, he didn't get the specific feedback about reaction commands, but rather on Quick Time Events in general, and that they were becoming overused and hated. Since hitting triangle to trigger a cinematic is the essence of a QTE, I could see how he could make that leap in logic.

By that logic, Even if you think they are different, I suspect Nomura thinks they are similar enough in function that he thought they were the same. Anyway, the implementation of Reaction Commands is by far better than any other implementation of QTE's so I'm still okay with this theory, even if it is true.

 

[Launchpad]

I don't entirely agree that Reaction Commands are quick time events. When I was younger, I wrote off the mechanic as just that-- I hated them because I remembered them as all-flash-no-substance animations that broke up the gameplay in an attempt to make the encounters seem more impressive than they actually were from a gameplay standpoint. In hindsight, I was only half right.

There really are two types of Reaction Commands (or RCs). Twilight Thorn may have a 2 hour cutscene RC, and the Hydra fight might ask you to watch a 30 second scene of Sora flying around, and the Earthshaker RC might be the most long, pointless animation ever, but these are the big, epic boss battle moments. They're for trailers. They're meant to show off how cool the graphics are. I get it. But I'm not a huge fan.

However, the fact that almost every Heartless and every Nobody has a unique RC that you can trigger mid-battle to do a unique attack that gives you an advantage? That shit rules. For example, you might be in a mob fight that has Rapid Thrusters (those small yellow, flying heartless with propellers). When you attack them, you can trigger the Speed Trap RC, which isn't a scene, it's a simple animation of Sora spinning his keyblade in a wide arc, and it can strike multiple enemies, not just the Rapid Thrusters. This doesn't feel like a QTE, this feels like a bonus attack granted by a specific circumstance being met.

Similarly, the Samurai Nobodies have the Duel Stance RC. It's a very short minigame in the command menu, but if you hit it correctly, an AoE attack is triggered that can strike all the enemies in the area and put you in an instant advantage state. I think the evolving opinion of Reaction Commands largely comes from these types of utility RCs, RCs that give each enemy an extra wrinkle of nuance and interactivity.

It's funny that Nomura said he took RCs out of KH3, when there are actually a few. The Magic Mountain Coaster is essentially a classic movie RC, with just a slight extra amount of interactivity. The Skoll boss has a pretty iconic RC with Marshmallow and Sora teaming up to stop the dark ball from descending, and Marshmallow's boss has the tree whip RC. If anything, KH3 kept the inferior RCs and got rid of the fun ones, and I say this as a KH3 enjoyer and KH2 criticizer

 

[AR829038]

Never understood the hate for RC personally. When I was kid I always loved KH2 specifically for the RC. Some say it's "press triangle to win," but the cinematic quality you get from it is too cool to disregard.

 

[zerossoul]

the fact that almost every Heartless and every Nobody has a unique RC that you can trigger mid-battle to do a unique attack that gives you an advantage? That shit rules. For example, you might be in a mob fight that has Rapid Thrusters (those small yellow, flying heartless with propellers). When you attack them, you can trigger the Speed Trap RC, which isn't a scene, it's a simple animation of Sora spinning his keyblade in a wide arc, and it can strike multiple enemies, not just the Rapid Thrusters. This doesn't feel like a QTE, this feels like a bonus attack granted by a specific circumstance being met.

Hmm... you bring up some good points. Specifically, we choose if we initiate the RC, where as in QTE's you rarely have a choice. (that said, there are still many that punish you for not triggering them.) That alone might be enough to call them different things. (And yeah, this mechanic was what made KH2 the game that it is)

But the point of my post was to say that Nomura likely thinks they are the same thing, which is likely how he got the opinion that RC in KH2 was unliked.

Here's hoping RC's make a return in KH4!

 

[Ansould93]

house of hazards​

Reaction Commands are Quick Time Events. Fairly polarizing statement, and I can't believe I didn't realize it till today.
I was reviewing a comment made by Nomura on the development of KH3 when he said.

"For example, in Kingdom Hearts II we introduced the reaction command system. I felt like fans didn't take to it well, and it wasn't that popular. So in Kingdom Hearts III. we took that system out, but then fans said. 'Why'd you take it out?'"

I didn't think about how he got the impression that reaction commands weren't liked till now. Likely, he didn't get the specific feedback about reaction commands, but rather on Quick Time Events in general, and that they were becoming overused and hated. Since hitting triangle to trigger a cinematic is the essence of a QTE, I could see how he could make that leap in logic.

By that logic, Even if you think they are different, I suspect Nomura thinks they are similar enough in function that he thought they were the same. Anyway, the implementation of Reaction Commands is by far better than any other implementation of QTE's so I'm still okay with this theory, even if it is true.

That's an interesting point of view and I totally agree.

 

[Phoenix]

I love reaction commands, even the cinematic ones. Yeah, they could be the progress the fight button, but you also had cool shit like the duel mechanic, or the risk and reward one in that clash with Xemnas. And nothing tops that moment when you're pressing X and triangle as both Sora and Riku defending from the blasts.