The reason The Order was criticised for the lengthy cutscenes and QTEs was because it was billed as an action game, but then delivered frequent and long cutscenes instead. It was treading an uncomfortable line between interactive fiction and a third person shooter and ended up not being particularly good at either. I hated MGS4’s long cutscenes for the same reason. It’s an action game, so tell the story through gameplay! It’s like watching a movie with 20 minutes of scrolling text explaining the back story.
With regards to QTEs, these things need to die. The only conceivable reason you would have a QTE is to shock the player suddenly (like a “THINK FAST!” moment), and it can be effective in breaking up the monotony of a section of gameplay or to unsettle the player. However, something like that is FAR better done organically to the gameplay rather than having a button prompt come up. If you’re using QTEs during cutscenes to “keep the player immersed” then your cutscenes are too long, and you’re an idiot, because a big flashing X button just reminds me I’m playing a game with a controller.
A bad QTE is one that expects you to press buttons that don’t match the action on screen, for example telling the player to press the jump button to have their character duck under a tree. It forces you to think about the buttons on your controller and breaks immersion. It requires no skill other than your knowledge of the control pad, which a properly immersed player should have forgotten about.
A good QTE is one that happens during gameplay. The player is running around exploring and suddenly a tree starts to fall so they hit the roll button to avoid it. No button prompt needed, you’ve made the player jump and have to react quickly and you’ve done it without flashing a stupid icon on the screen.
My rant is over.