The first time I ever heard the term Quick Time Event was an hour or so into Final Fantasy 9. QTE's in Final Fantasy 9 were just like little mini games of quick button presses that could earn you items, or reveal tiny pieces of the overall story. Press the buttons in the order that they appear on screen and you can watch Zidane swordfight Blank, or see how the Moogles really deliver mail, but the Quick Time Events were never a big deal, and completely skippable. That sure did change quickly.
Resident Evil has suffered the most from the QTE revolution. Before RE4, I would watch a cutscene where Nemesis smashes through a wall, and when the game resumes, I get to personally blow him the fuck up. Now, an entire boss fight can take place inside the cutscene, from start to finish, with a few button presses prompted instead of actual gameplay. RE2? Grab the rocket launcher, sprint to the other side of the warehouse and unload on Birkin before he catches up to you. RE5? Watch the cutscene as Wesker walks out of the volcano, then press X, watch Chris punch him, then press A to dodge the counter attack. Watch helicopter arrive, press X to kill Wesker, press Y to beat the game.
Quick Time Events are the main reason I skipped the entire God of War series, (that and Greek mythology is getting really fucking boring). I would argue that God of War shouldn't even be considered a video game, because the developers would rather show you what the coolest fight would be, instead of letting you control the battle yourself. The memorable moments are forced on you, when the gamer should be in charge of making the memories. Games are sandboxes or beautiful environments that the player takes control of, not the other way around. Its laziness. Over-budgeted laziness.
The industry seems to be moving away from QTE's, which is a good thing, but games like Resident Evil 6 and Arkham Origins show that not every company has figured it out. We should all be boycotting this nonsense until it goes away completely, and we can enjoy games again by playing games again.
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