I think I just might be.
In my opinion, the more QTE’s a game has, the better it is. I wish QTE’s were in MORE games, actually.
I think I might be the only person in existence who holds this opinion. : p
QTE’s can be used in a reasonable way, but they’re usually not even movie files nowadays and it’s been a LONG time since they used Quicktime.
Usually now they’re rendered in engine but pre-scripted motion capture sequences triggered by an event. I loved their use in Yakuza IV in the fighting system. When you got special fighting abilities for your character, triggering them would cause the whole screen to darken with manga lines then you go into a QTE and do massive damage to those around you. Very satisfying!
Compilation of heat action moves here:
But thats a rare good use of them, usually I hate QTE’s.
I found them to be very effective in setting a dramatic tone for the opening part of the rebooted Tomb Raider.
The first one? Most people complained that it had too many QTEs in the first 40min or so and I have to agree. The problem with QTEs is that they’re usually used during a cinematic sequence where the developers seem to belatedly say “Oh, right, this is a game so we better make it interactive”. The hero slides down a hill and has to avoid rocks or is getting mauled by a wolf. The resulting mixture is that I’m barely paying attention to the action because I’m busy waiting for a prompt or pressing the “E” key and I’m not having fun from a game sense because, again, I’m just tapping the “E” key until it tells me to tap the “D” key.
Honestly, I’d feel more dramatically involved if I just watched the hero slide or get chewed on, cinema style and then resumed the fully-involved game play portion. In fact, when I DO play a game that has a cinematic sequence I often can’t just sit back and enjoy it because I’m waiting for a stupid prompt to pop up. I don’t want to be staring in wonder at the galaxy passing by my spaceship and miss “Press E to avoid the asteroid”.
I think it really depends on the game. I agree that it can take some of the magic out of the cut scenes, but if you are in the game for the action it is awesome. I am an old school resident evil fan, not being huge into the newer ones. In the newest one, i believe, there are quite a few that are terrifying. I loved it haha.
They just don’t feel like “Action” to me. Action is when I have agency over what I’m doing and am deciding myself when it the best time to dodge, jump or shoot. I come out of a situation because I selected the best course of action, not because I can repeatedly tap a button on command.
Idle,
What do you like about them? Did you enjoy Dragon’s Lair?
May I recommend the original Dragon’s Lair (and it’s sequel, for that matter)? It is basically nothing but one long QTE. Enjoy. I think they’re awful.
QTE’s, IMHO, happen in two situations:
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The developers have officially ran out of ideas. They can’t figure out proper game mechanics for this bit of “gameplay” so instead it’s: OH look out! hit X + right trigger, oh noes, hit up on the Dpad 3 times! Whew! that was exciting, right?! RIGHT?!
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It’s a movie. You’re playing a movie. The devs have realized that they’ve made nto a game, but a movie. There are just too many damn cutscenes and your player is probably falling asleep so: LOOK OUT! Hit Left trigger + A! Oh my! Go right, Go left! Go up! Our movie… eh game is so interactive!!
Meh, stop the pretense. If your game is all about the narrative then make that narrative tie into the gameplay. If you’re just telling a story, own it. Use level design and movement as ways to discover the narrative, without resorting to QTE’s. If you can’t make some gameplay mechanic work, scrap it, or do something else, anything other than a QTE.
To the moon, Gone Home, Firewatch, all games that are really story driven experiences manage to use interaction in smart and limited ways without succumbing to the dreaded QTE.
Shadow of Mordor used QTE’s really well for death avoidance scenes. If done right, they can work really well. Done poorly or too much…screw that.
I’m not against the concept in general- something like having to manually eject in a mecha or aviation game is something sort of akin to a QTE, and can be pretty exhilarating, but the classic “guided” QTE with screen prompts is a cheesy throwback to the 1980s, and is usually an attempt to add interactivity to something cinematic.
The Telltale “Game of Thrones” game does this a lot- for the most part, they’re dialogue-driven games where your dialogue choices make the game progress, but they have occasional goofy QTEs that detract from the rest of the game IMO.
QTEs have never used Apple Quicktime.
And they can be done well, they just aren’t, very often.
I don’t mind them for stuff like killing blows or other events that tie directly into the rest of the game mechanics. If the game lets me actually control the fight and ends with an option to press two buttons at a prompt to perform a cinematic throat slice or overhead hammer smash then that’s cool. Especially if ignoring/missing it just means the guy dies normally as I whack him with my weapon.
It’s the cut-scene interruptions ones or the fight that’s 100% QTE (Lara Croft fighting the big dude on the tanker in Tomb Raider) that annoys me.
Ever played Heavy Rain? 90% of the action is QTE and quite seamless QTE too
This is the game I wanted to mention. I think it’s pretty much the only one I’ve ever played where I didn’t mind the QTEs.
And you know why? Because Heavy Rain is barely a game. It’s an interactive story. There’s no fast-paced action. Everything is about the building of tension. In this case it works, and it works damned well.
In actual action games, though, I hate them. Have you ever played a game with QTEs on an unfamiliar console? I know what each of the buttons on a PS4 is, but the xBox controller is unfamiliar terrain.
I remember not completely hating them in God of War for finishing moves on combos, but then after a while they got super annoying.
So to answer the OP, yes, you’re a crazy person who is saying nonsense things.
Sure they have, 90’s CDROM games on mac and windows often did actually use Quicktime for movie playback and installed the windows version as part of setup. That history page is somewhat lacking in that it mentions Laser Disc games and then skips to Shenmue in 1999 completely missing out on the earlier 90’s PC / Mac games which earlier used QTE’s.
Does the “interrupt” mechanism from* Mass Effect 2* and 3 count? Because that was awesome. There’s nothing like stopping a conversation by pushing a guy out the window.
Personally, I’d argue that the Walking Dead games are basically QTE games. The action bits mostly have you pressing a few buttons. And it does add to the experience.
I also know a lot of people who like the QTEs in the God of War bosses.
The main thing is, don’t tack them onto a cinematic. Make the player feel like they are doing something.
I don’t think it counts. It’s always one of two buttons based on whether it’s a paragon or renegade action. You’re not being shown “right trigger + pat your tummy 3 times!!” on the screen one time and then “Fart and bend over while smashing x really fast!” another time. 
I love games like Dragon’s Lair - totally bought into that back in the early 80s in the amusement arcades. The one that bothered me lately was the jet ski escape at the end of Resident Evil 4. I was stuck on that damn QTE for ages! So close to the game end yet so far…