The problem with cutscenes

/sarcasm mode on

Who the hell need a story ? We just want to mindlessly smash mobs in the face so we can be arrogant about the stuff they drop

/sarcasm mode off

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Originally Posted by Laraul

Yes, I know that everyone thinks they oogle the in game cutscenes in awe. But in reality before prime/boss fights people always encourage you to skip these cinematically. If you don't they do and many times when a player emerges from a cinematic the fight is already well in play. If a cutscene is skippable then it probably doesn't belong. People aren't interested in the cutscenes so much. They just want to win.

The biggest problem with cutscenes though is they disrupt the "flow" of the game. It. Regardless how cool they may look they act as an interruption with the gameplay. It doesn't help that cinematic often feel disjointed since they aren't often viewed in linear sequence. Ultimately many of the cutscenes feel like an interruption to the gameplay rather than an addition.

I should also add many of the cutscenes are long-winded. Other cutscenes are poorly placed (like the one that plays every time you use the lift) or the cutscenes at the start of some of the instanced dungeons.

This is a multiplayer game, not Mystery Science Theater 3000. Cutscenes should be far and few in-between.

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You can just go back and watch them later who cares.

Being able to skip cs breaks my game immersion.
I would like to have that disabled.

I am all for an auto skip after first viewing option, With the option to skip that first viewing, non party Entry cs's should be watchable at the players leisure before time becomes a issue with primal and dungeon runs. Ie the first time you interact with the entry entity that's when it plays. the victory cs should play on the Exit from the dungeon/primal.

Also I could do with a lot less flavor scenes mid run. Going into the wayback machine for this one but, You know what would boost immersion in dark hold? Not having to take a break from the action to watch a cs where I kneel down and fiddle with those damned devices. Hell if you want to do that, just make it so the person who was going to get that kneel down and fiddle with it with out the loading screen. its just the /kneel emote any way.


Now before some one takes this the wrong way. I love the hell out of the stuff they are doing. I am just in favor of smarter and less inconvenient use of the cs's during content.

Here are some cut scenes and game videos uploaded by myself and others in the past. I've only got a small number to choose from and I don't feel like uploading any others at the moment. But they might explain what I'm trying to say.

A bad dream

This Cut-scene is actually quite good. It just appears at an awkward moment. When you first log in to the game. It opens with the big red moon "Dalmoon*" in the sky. And then everyone fades away... leaving you at the feet of your arch-nemesis.

Other than being a bit intrusive (you are given *no* warning that the first thing you see after the the spinning "loading" text is this when logging on), it's short, stylish, and conveys enough to the player so that he or she knows what is (sort of) going on.

* "Dalmoon" often refereed to as "Dalmund" probably because unlike the moon, it's not made of cheese but almonds! (Yes it's a joke).

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PLD Intro Quest
DRG Related Quests

These we're not recorded by me, so I don't want to take credit for someone else's work. But the JOB and Class related quests and their accompanying cut-scenes are a thorn in my side. You have to wade thru mountains of text both in and out of cut-scenes. It's way to much. And the cut-scenes are only visible to members of your group with the quest active. Everyone else just sees you standing there. While everyone is all psyched for the battle you wade thru a bunch of lore that could simply be presented within the journal!

It's frustrating for everyone When you are the only one in a group viewing a cut-scene before an instanced battle, you do feel pressure to just skip past all it to spare your compatriots the anticipation of the fight. WHY ARE THESE PRESENTED IN THIS WAY? These are the problematic cut-scenes! And none of this is necessary for the game plot. In fact the job quests tie very little into the plot of the game.

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Originally Posted by Laraul

Here let me demonstrate... how do these two cut scenes relate with the game plot? (BTW what was the game plot?)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=79AQgsg0n7I

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oKXseDACsU4

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If you never wanted to see the Hildibrand CS, should never have engaged the Hildibrand storyline and stayed out of inns.

Simple as that. You benefited after sitting through those... which I'm guessing you thought were horrible... skits with Hildibrand and at the end you got a level 20 earring in which you may have found value.

And if you went on any site and looked up the end resulting reward and said, "I HATE IT! WASTE OF TIME! THESE DAMN CUTSCENES!" Then I'm sure you, being the sensible consumer you are, would have completely ignored the entire quest-line except the beginning to get your inn access.

And then the nightmare... what? Do you hate art?

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Originally Posted by Laraul

Here is a [poor] demonstration of one the issues with the in game cutscenes. These two cut scenes relate to each other but serve questionable purpose. The second one is ten minutes long also. And if you are into cutscenes and haven't seen all the Hildibrande ones then you may wanna skip these.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=79AQgsg0n7I

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oKXseDACsU4

The first one, the nightmare, is about a minute. The second is over ten minutes though.

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You're kidding me right. Those have nothing to due with battle or anything that disturbs "gameplay flow".

The nightmare cutscene was perfect, it made your character not so 2D and lifeless.

Just play a different MMO if you have no care for story or cutscenes, because you're probably going to hate what Rebirth brings. more cutescenes, more story, more side plots, and more character development.

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Originally Posted by AlaulaTheGreat

And then the nightmare... what? Do you hate art?

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Clearly the OP does. I'm just glad she's part of the minority here. It just baffles me why anyone would want to remove one of the game's strong points. Clearly the OP finds better enjoyment in most of the recent mmorpg's where you get a window with the text in it. Which nobody then ends up reading and just clicks "accept".

Nothing really against the OP. As it is his/her personal opinion. Still, I can't understand why you would hate those two cutscenes, just because they're long. I'm happy to see cutscenes, at least it breaks the regular repetitive tasks of this mmorpg.

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Originally Posted by Vydos

Clearly the OP does. I'm just glad she's part of the minority here. It just baffles me why anyone would want to remove one of the game's strong points. Clearly the OP finds better enjoyment in most of the recent mmorpg's where you get a window with the text in it. Which nobody then ends up reading and just clicks "accept".

Nothing really against the OP. As it is his/her personal opinion. Still, I can't understand why you would hate those two cutscenes, just because they're long. I'm happy to see cutscenes, at least it breaks the regular repetitive tasks of this mmorpg.

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To the defense of those quests with just a "window of text". While some of them are plain boring, there's quite a few with some good humor.

For exmaple:

Guildleve -Pleasure & Pain:
The piercing of various "sensitive" locations on the body has become popular amongst the consortiers and courtesans employed at Ul'dah's many pillowhouses. As a result, Eshtaime's Aesthetics stock of earrings has dried up, forcing the guild to seek eager goldsmiths willing to create them more. All interested are to visit Baron Roarich of Ashgana's Exports to receive the necessary materials.


Kinda feel sorry for the translators and localizers who at least try to make some good dialog to read just for them to be skipped.

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Originally Posted by Laraul

The biggest problem with cutscenes though is they disrupt the "flow" of the game. Regardless how cool they may look they act as an interruption with the gameplay.

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I agree. Yesterday I ran DH with a group for the first time to get WHM AF and knock out a GC quest and just before the fight with the ogre there is a CS. Of course the group leader told us to skip all the CS and I did, but by the time I had skipped the cut scene and the dungeon reloaded the group had pretty much wiped. I am not sure if everyone got the CS or if it only plays for players that have never been, but the placement of this cinema is terrible.

I can understand your frustration.