I'm not very familiar with the Telltale games, but from what I can tell, in reviewing some of the comments on various forums, the game seems tailored for consoles. The button mashing you describe is very typical of console games using a controller. If a button appears on the screen that means you need to press it, if it brightens in color or pulsates that usually means you need to press the button as quickly as possible. In some cases these games will present combinations that will require you to press a single key repeatedly (like you described with the Q key) and then another key will appear at the moment it needs to be pressed. If you miss the chance, the sequence usually starts over again.
There are a couple of complete walkthroughs out there, but they are somewhat general (and overrun with advertising) in an attempt to accommodate both PC and console versions. IGN's version seems to be fairly popular:
IGN Wiki/Walkthough They (Telltale Games) also have a community forum that allows you to post questions on the games:
Telltale Games Forum: Game of Thrones