I had no idea, what Dragons Lair is, so I asked Wikipedia... oh, yes, interactive movie were once a thing. Only fitting that some of the most discussed modern QTE-games are in many regards interactive movies.

That said, there are QTEs and QTEs. A QTE to let a cutscene move on is always bad game design. It moves away focus from the cutscene to concentrate on the QTE and in most cases it results in death. So you play a cutscene, miss the QTE, then replay it to get the QTE. There is nothing in that, that gives a feeling of accomplishment.

Other QTEs are more integrated into real gameplay, you can do a special move in a heated fight sometimes. So you have normal fighting gameplay and with a successful QTE you get some bonus. That is a much better use. If you fail all QTEs, you can still win, it gets only harder. Also you are already concentrated on your controller (in difference to a cutscene) and so it doesn't break your flow.

God of War made QTEs popular because they were handled so well, it's a shame few developers can implement them nearly as well.

I was thinking the same thing. I believe they never went completely away but they've had a comeback since the 7th gen, makes sense since it allows for design that is a lot more predictable which saves rendering and processing a great deal of effort.

But does it suck? Yes, yes it does... Resident Evil 6 was downright ridiculous with its QTE's everywhere.

I first noticed them in Resident Evil 4. I like QTEs if they're done well.

God of war

I guess Shenmue can be considered the game that brought back QTEs!

Yeah God Of War does it the best.

They had a comeback with God Of War, where QTE's were used extremely well in finisher moves, and I beleve people really enjoyed it. The series is stil the best in its use of QTE's, the animations are amazing.

QTE's done right can work very well, I thought they did their job in Resident Evil 4, for instance. The problem is that a lot of games go way overboard with them and replace actual, true interaction as a cheap means of saving time and money. A lot of QTE's simply seem misplaced.

Shenmue an then god of war....both games i strangely love