[holy cow, I just previewed this post... how did I just type this much?! cripes]
I'd say I'm not a big fan of QTEs either, based on what you describe. Luckily, my only real exposure to them so far was Prince of Persia: Two Thrones. I liked skipping combat that way, as I wasn't really happy with the way enemies took longer and longer to defeat in a straight-up fight as the series went on. The fact that I got a free rewind with every enemy assassinated made it far more enjoyable. Screwups? What screwups? I didn't make a mistake there, that was perfectly executed! Perfectly!
It would depend on the game, but I think an "Attitude" setting would be more interesting than quicktime events. I mostly got the idea from the various behaviors you could choose in Twinsen's Odyssey/Little Big Adventure. Basically the mood you're in when you trigger the event would be how the split-second outcome plays out.
For example, Reckless vs. Cautious.
You're in Reckless Mode moving down a hallway, when you trigger a pit trap. You fall in. If you were in Cautious Mode, you'd see the trap ahead of time, or stop just before falling in. That's kinda unfair to the Reckless person however, so you could also have an opportunity to grab the pit's edge if you hit "grab" quick enough, or maybe to wedge your weapon in something if you hit "attack". Hitting "jump" is a fail - there's no ground beneath you, bonehead. Being Reckless gets you across the pit faster (if done right); being Cautious means you have to figure something else out or make a running jump. But not all traps are pits, obviously...
Say another example - you Cautiously open a door, checking what's through it. It's a few enemy guards, who immediately attack, though they have some trouble getting through the door to get you. Or you could Recklessly just slam the door open, whereupon the screen blurs, and you automatically have your sword at a shocked guard's neck. Click attack to stab him. 1 guard down, but now you're surrounded! Funfunfun!
(For added hilarity, this could happen anytime you open doors in Reckless - like, say, entering a tavern. Or an outhouse. As long as you have no weapon drawn, you'd slug people in the face instead of stabbing them! Sure, you don't HAVE to click attack at the end of your blur, but NPCs will still be like WTF?!)
(Ok, maybe not.)
I don't think dialogue options should be limited by what Attitude you're in, as a writer just can't plan on what personalities people will ascribe to their chosen characters. But perhaps NPCs could read body language, so they might react differently - the High King isn't so pleased when a seemingly uncouth Reckless hero saunters into his throne room. The Barbarian King, on the other hand, respects you! Being ready to attack everyone around you is just sensible, unlike mousy Cautious people, who look like they're ready to run away. Pah! Naturally, he challenges the Reckless hero to a duel, on grounds of Fighting is Good. Cautious hero gets that option too if he wants a fight, but has to insult the king in some way to unlock it... or something...
Or perhaps not - just keeping it as a replacement for QTEs should presumably work just fine, even if it didn't carry over into other portions of the game like that.
I don't know how I'd organize all that, much less how it would fit into a game (I couldn't program stuff to save my life). It's all just some scattered ideas. I'm pretty sure I wandered off the topic of QTEs somewhere in there as well... eh whatever.