Skipping cutscenes in certain dungeons/duties

[Ashtar Higorei]

So this guy made a thread, and it got closed by now, but one of the things that came up was the skipping of cutscenes, and I think that warrants some further discussion. I'm sure this topic has been discussed before, I just wanted to see what people think.

So the game is heavy on cutscenes in a lot of areas, and apparently some dungeons or duties are really good for experience, which leads a lot of people to go back in there, even when they already know the story and don't want to watch the cutscenes again.

At some point, as far as I know, some of these cutscenes were skippable, and some were made unskippable.

Having leveled up past 50 for the first time recently I really wanted to see all the cutscenes and I often ran into situations where I was the only one watching them and the other guys were either waitng, and I felt bad about it, or they went ahead and started the fight, which I also felt bad about. It's a tricky situation if you put story and cutscenes into content, that are supposed to be repeatable content. Here is one of my posts from that thread that describes one of my experiences.

The cutscene situation is a pretty stupid one. I am now playing through the content for the first time, and I want to see all the cutscenes, and in dungeons where people can skip the cutscenes, and they do, they often pull the boss while I am in a cutscene. In one dungeon they pulled the boss and brought him to 20% while I was still in the cutscene. I barely got to see the fight.

In one of the story dungeons, I didn't get onto the elevator in time and had to wait, so the group went on without me. I completely lost my group. Didn't know where they went. They watched the cutscene without me and just told me to wait til I get teleported. But I want to see the cutscenes too. So I left. Second time I go in there, I walk with them, but the cutscene doesn't trigger, even though it does for everyone else. I ask them why. They tell me I was supposed to pick up some key so I could get into the magitek armor. How was I supposed to know? I went in there a third time and finally finished it. Was a nice experience. The magitek segment was actually really fun. Would have sucked to have missed it.

So for people playing the game for the first time playing together with a group of people that already know the story and just want to rush through there, it is really frustrating.

I would say the problem lies in having designed the game like this to begin with. Don't put so much story and cutscenes into content that is supposed to be repeated like dungeons.

And don't have such a huge incentive to repeat dungeons over and over in the first place. The game has a cool multiclass system, but barely any quests outside the main campaign, and levequests are terribly boring, so of course people are gonna run dungeons over and over if it's fast leveling.

Now, aside from all that, I think there is a somewhat ok solution, that I don't know if anyone has thought of. And that is, there is really no reason, why the cutscenes shouldn't be skippable on an individual level as long as the person that skips them is for example frozen in place. I've seen this in the Sanctum of Domination fight with Sylvanas. When you skip the first cutscene, you get back to your character, but he's like stunned for 30 seconds. You don't have to watch the cutscene, but you still have to wait for others to finish it. That still means you have to wait a long time, but at least you don't get sick from seeing the same scene over and over.

And the second thing is, if everybody skips the cinematic, I don't see a reason why the group shouldn't be able to continue. Often, even in 8-man groups, I was the only one who apparently had never done the dungeon before. So there's a pretty good chance in any run, that everyone would skip the cutscene. And then you should be good to go. Everybody agrees to just move on, because they've already seen the story. I think this might even be the way it works for SWTOR cutscenes. I vaguely remember people telling me to skip cutscenes so we could move on.

So I think it's a horrible situation, and maybe I'm overlooking something, I'm just going by what I've seen and heard so far, but I think that's at least a solution that makes things somewhat better.

[Byleth]

What people are referring to in that quote is a 1 off dungeon that you do as a part of the main story. It is repeatable for good XP, but that is a choice you make when you queue for it, no one has to suffer it unless they're prepared to for the juicy reward.

The other point is that this whole conversation is redundant as of 2 weeks ago, as the developers announced that they know this dungeon is a pain point and have plans to fix it coming up in the next expansion.

[Ashtar Higorei]

What people are referring to in that quote

That people is me

The other point is that this whole conversation is redundant as of 2 weeks ago, as the developers announced that they know this dungeon is a pain point and have plans to fix it coming up in the next expansion.

I remember them talking about Cape Westwind and some plans to make it soloable. I don't know what plans they have for the Praetorium. I don't remember them mentioning it. Either way, every dungeon I have been in so far has had some kind of cinematic. This problem is going to persist in some form. And next expansion means in 2 years at the earliest. Possibly later if they don't get to it. And then we'll see if their solution is worse than the problem.

[Lane]

Castrum and Prae are both becoming 4-mans, Cape Westwind will be a solo duty and I believe Lahabrea will be as well. They're also changing or removing the magitek part in Prae. You'll be able to do all of ARR dungeons with NPCs too. I believe all of this is coming in 6.1, with HW in 6.2 and SB in 6.3 if I remember correctly. Makes me wish I'd waited a year to get into the game, but it'll be nice for alts.

ARR is the worst about cutscenes, they're not that bad going forward. Usually just one at the beginning of the dungeon and one before the last boss, if others skip them you won't miss much because they're typically not that long.

[Byleth]

I remember them talking about Cape Westwind and some plans to make it soloable. I don't know what plans they have for the Praetorium. I don't remember them mentioning it.

I've seen from your post history that you explain details of the live letter at length... I'm not sure how you could've missed this info, which it was announced literally 30 seconds after the cape westwind part...

I'm sorry that you had a bad experience with your first Prae. Everyone does. That's why they changing it, along with all story dungeons joining the trust system over time.

Not sure what more you could want really?

[Ashtar Higorei]

I've seen from your post history that you explain details of the live letter at length... I'm not sure how you could've missed this info, which it was announced literally 30 seconds after the cape westwind part...

I'm sorry that you had a bad experience with your first Prae. Everyone does. That's why they changing it, along with all story dungeons joining the trust system over time.

Not sure what more you could want really?

I don't remember them mentioning it. But it can get lost in their weeb laughs and ching chong language.

I don't think making it into a solo experience will make it better, I think that will make it worse.

[CalamityHeart]

I don't think making it into a solo experience will make it better, I think that will make it worse.

Why? Cape Westwind is a meme, a laughable 10-second training dummy. I would much rather see it taken out of the Trial roulette and turned into a solo duty that's a little closer to an actual fight, than to have that be a sprout's first Trial.

[Ghost of Cow]

The stupid thing about the cutscene complaints is that the whole reason that you get a huge chunk of XP from the MSQ roulette dungeons is because of that longer stretch of time.

That and it's 100% your choice if you queue for it every day to get that bonus XP.

I can't understand why anyone would complain about this.

- - - Updated - - -

I don't remember them mentioning it. But it can get lost in their weeb laughs and ching chong language.

Yikes, dude.

[gorkos]

The stupid thing about the cutscene complaints is that the whole reason that you get a huge chunk of XP from the MSQ roulette dungeons is because of that longer stretch of time.

That and it's 100% your choice if you queue for it every day to get that bonus XP.

I can't understand why anyone would complain about this.

- - - Updated - - -



Yikes, dude.

This. Before when the cut scenes were skippable, those dungeons did not give the massive amount of exp that we get now.

From the 4.2 patchnotes

To ensure new players are able to enjoy the cutscenes in Castrum Meridianum and the Praetorium, all cutscenes in these dungeons can no longer be skipped.
Because this will increase the time required to complete these dungeons, completion rewards and Duty Roulette bonuses for these duties have been increased.

Link to patch notes

So at this point its your choice to do it and sit through the cutscenes or do something else. Dungeons/Trusts, fate trains, deep dungeons, daily quests. There are plenty of ways to get exp.

[ranzino]

Why? Cape Westwind is a meme, a laughable 10-second training dummy. I would much rather see it taken out of the Trial roulette and turned into a solo duty that's a little closer to an actual fight, than to have that be a sprout's first Trial.

first 8 man trial, the very first is Ifrit.

[Ashtar Higorei]

Why? Cape Westwind is a meme, a laughable 10-second training dummy. I would much rather see it taken out of the Trial roulette and turned into a solo duty that's a little closer to an actual fight, than to have that be a sprout's first Trial.

I was talking about Praetorium in that instance.