by Lan Di-sama » Sat Nov 17, 2012 7:17 pm
Fun read, thank you for sharing.
As for QTEs - I don't think they are too unforgiving in the slightest. The ONLY ones that were a bit outrageous were the final 2 planks in Ghost Hall (trial and error, and now, the notes I jotted down 10 years ago and still retained helped me get through that part) and the Dou Niu one is challenging, only because they are quick and you have to fight him again. But even the Baihu fight, which contained the QTE sequence at the end of the second round, is forgiving enough in the sense you don't have to start the fight over if you fail the sequence.
And the level of difficulty of the first game's QTE is laughable at best. It only uses 2 buttons! Still, immensely satisfying, especially the chase QTE at the end of Disc 2 and the motorcycle QTE in Disc 3.
As far as upping the difficulty and level of action, Shenmue II did everything right when it comes to improving the formula to make a quicker paced game (despite the slow start). What I didn't like was the de-emphasis on learning moves (from other than Xuiying) and actually being able to practice, and improve. In addition, the gimmicks with buying and selling Zippo lighters and capsule toys was rather silly. Still an endearing touch.