Well, Dragon's Lair is one long QTE cutscene and was the prototype of it, its very gameplay mechanic, which at the time of the heyday of arcades was just purely epic.
Then of course came Shenmue which made it a central defining mechanic and even giving us the very term of Quick Time Event. The QTEs of Shenmue were more better executed for three reasons.
1. The button you had to press was big and in the middle of the screen, there is no way you can miss it. Also, the buttons had brighter different colours to give your mind the extra punch, unlike today's bloomed environments.
2. The QTEs were in realistic situations, that is, dealing with thugs, dodging people in the street during a chase sequence or so.
3. The best part of the entire thing, Shenmue allowed you to TRAIN your reflexes with QTEs. Two minigames at the arcade in Shenmue allowed you to recognise and train yourself up for QTE events, which believe me, after playing enough of that, will get you right into action when they pop up story wise.
Not all games other than Resident Evil 4 have done this badly though even if Resident Evil 4 is the main perpetrator of making the QTE a trendy thing in games, even if it executed it quite well, then compare to, say, Tomb Raider Anniversary which makes it arbitrary.
QTEs can be a great thing, if used properly, preferably by not jumping at you in a cutscene which while understandably original, is not so good when you get fucked over horrendously for it.
Then of course came Shenmue which made it a central defining mechanic and even giving us the very term of Quick Time Event. The QTEs of Shenmue were more better executed for three reasons.
1. The button you had to press was big and in the middle of the screen, there is no way you can miss it. Also, the buttons had brighter different colours to give your mind the extra punch, unlike today's bloomed environments.
2. The QTEs were in realistic situations, that is, dealing with thugs, dodging people in the street during a chase sequence or so.
3. The best part of the entire thing, Shenmue allowed you to TRAIN your reflexes with QTEs. Two minigames at the arcade in Shenmue allowed you to recognise and train yourself up for QTE events, which believe me, after playing enough of that, will get you right into action when they pop up story wise.
Not all games other than Resident Evil 4 have done this badly though even if Resident Evil 4 is the main perpetrator of making the QTE a trendy thing in games, even if it executed it quite well, then compare to, say, Tomb Raider Anniversary which makes it arbitrary.
QTEs can be a great thing, if used properly, preferably by not jumping at you in a cutscene which while understandably original, is not so good when you get fucked over horrendously for it.
