They're good and bad. Latching onto the Kayran's tentacle is good and not a great departure from the norm. Running from the dragon in chapter one was uninteresting from just about every standpoint possible. The bar fights are aesthetically interesting but not at all fun to take part in. I think they tried something new. Sometimes it worked and sometimes it didn't. They'll learn from it and hopefully get better at knowing when they make sense or feel right and when they just don't.

so stupid, even in my very first playthrough, I fishfighted to earn a few orens .

Don't look listen to those slow moving turtles CDPJ, add in QTE make the game more interactive !!!

Correct me if I am wrong but you are saying you have a problem with QTE and therefore it is ruining the game? However you are not actually saying why that is... apart from the fact you find it difficult to complete them... ???

While it is not my intention to be the Devil's Advocate in here I have finished the game with some (though little) problems with QTEs and have found that they work successfully at keeping my attention on what is going on at any time on the screen.

I fail to see how this is running the game... perhaps you could be more specific...

.... trying to elaborate:

- first post had been written after dying more times then needed in the last few seconds in Flotsam
-- here the QTE-indicator shows up only if you really confront (position/orientation wise) those three women.
Miss this spot two times, and you loose your battle against the counter, means that in the end you're stuck inside chapter one of three.
That is why I felt like the game had been ruined.

Outside of that: you might call me a RPG addict, and normally I am very sure of what games to get. Means: I will stay away from Arcade elements especially. Somehow I must have missed the presence of those QTE sequences - I would not have purchased the game otherwise.
In my opinion those QTE's are breaking the mood (it is easy to get captured by the visuals of this game, and - the plot is not that bad, either).
So, in the middle of beginning to be a part of the story and action you are presented with a sluggish, hard to miss (not only because of the "size") pointer that urges you to concentrate not on what is happening on screen, but only to keep an eye to a progress bar.

No problem in arming a ballista, even the dragon run is no problem (once you got it that you might do well to run into the camera).
The rubbish starts at the Kayran: lots of things going on >>>> one hysteric sorceress yelling things about the use of the right sign, tentacles to avoid, tentacles to smash, ducking thrown chunks of masonry.
Then - all of a sudden - you are literally riding the beast, and >>> at this precise moment "they" present the QTE indicator. Believe me, at 1600x1200 this thing is SMALL, and you've still got the Kayran do kill.
Took five runs to finally notice the indicator. But ok, maybe I am slow or handicapped.

(Wrote already about Flotsam and the QTE there)

So, and because I have nothing but respect for the dev's, I tried to think about a good reason why those QTE's would add to the game instead of being a pain in the ass (sorry).
I might be a dunce, but the only reason that remained had been that they implemented QTE sequences only to show that they can do it. Maybe Assassin's Creed did impressed them that much, I do not know.

Looking at the majority of the anwers to my initial post, well: it is better to feel not that much alone - opinion wise - and if this actually changes nothing up until now, maybe one of the next patches will bring the ultimative "no QTE button".

It's not the difficulty, it's the lameness. It looked stupid and there was no game involved. I'm not an eye-candy whore, so I can deal with looking stupid, but for a game with such gorgeous cutscenes (and I generally hate cutscenes, mind you!), it's a missed opportunity to make it a bad looking QTE rather than an awesome cutscene. Or maybe a terrifying battle?

Really, anything would have been better than this. It sucked.

Why not? There are several issues with that.

1) Why this "chase" is there in the first place? That particular scene is just stupid. The dragon that destroyed the whole tower minutes ago could just destroy the whole bridge by just jumping on it, no need for a chase.
2) Why it's not a cut scene? There is nothing interesting in this scene to begin with to make it pseudo-interactive and the fact that its badly designed makes the impression even worse. At least the well made cut scene could be designed more realistically and more impressive.

Not everything has to make sense in games. Sometimes fun > logic. That's why you don't get crippled in FPS games when you're shot in the leg.

Deal with it.

Where was the fun part in that scene? Did we play the same game? That would be nice to have fun but, unfortunately, the fun part was missing, and logic > stupidity.

QTE is a very very very innovative idea!

I guess my quote wasn't specific enough. I was referring to your remark about the dragon destroying the bridge instead of chasing you.

As for the fun factor, that can be very subjective. To me, that scene was quite fun (hilarious when watching my friends try it :D)

QTE rocks! lol. I think it's the best improvement in this game.

To me it wasn't. It was lame and stupid. The game element wasn't fun, and the scene looked stupid. Had they done it as a nearly impossible combat where you need to try everything in order to discover how you can survive, that would have been fun, even if it was unrealistic (what with the dragon being able to just demolish the ground you're on). Had they done it as a cutscene where you miraculously jump across a collapsing bridge, that would have been good too. Had they skipped it completely, I would have been fine with that. What they ended up doing was to me at least the worst thing they could have done.

Okay... all I'll say is... while I can see that the qte can be a little annoying... it's not a game-breaker, once you get used to the fact that the little bar will appear once in a while... it's really no nuisance at all.

Honestly: it doesn't bother me.

The only thing that bothers me is unrealistic elements... to me, the qte amounts to just a few little crumbs.

Well, it's not a game breaker for me either. The game has plenty of awesome to make up for a few lame or annoying scenes. But it's clear that for a lot of people, the QTEs detract from the game. Especially for the big climactic monster battles, a real fight or an awesome cutscene would have been far more appropriate.