Hazabaza, the reason quick time events are hated is threefold:
1. When misused, they are essentially "PRESS X TO NOT DIE" (as Yahtzee has pointed out numerous times) events, having no real consequence other than to continue the game.
2. They are a crutch for lengthy, uninspired and boring cut scenes.
3. They distract from the gameplay of the product as a whole (FPS, RPG, etc.) and usually pop up unannounced, like a bully in your grade-school classroom who had to give a set number of swirlies a day to forget how his dad beat up his mum.
Now, when you have an adventure game, you usually do point-and-click and puzzles, point-and-click and talk to NPCs for fetch quests, ad nauseum. If you fail, you reload the game and try to figure out the right steps. Heavy Rain (which I believe to be essentially an adventure game and less an RPG) is moving away from this method by utilizing quick time events. I believe this is a more appropriate use for QTEs than has been used in the past. Think of it as replacing point-and-click actions - giving the game a better flow, focusing less on action as an FPS might, and more on the consequences of your choices. Yes, it comes off as more of an interactive novel - however, with a dynamic story where your choices genuinely affect the flow of the game (and not just end up with game over screens when you make bad choices), I believe this is an appropriate use of QTEs. It's a central element of gameplay, not a distraction; it fits the theme and flow of the game's narrative; and it explores a new way to control an adventure game.
