Cut Scenes at 50 and New Players

Okay, I get it. All you folks who have been playing this game for a while have seen the cut scenes in the level 50 dungeons and other group content, but new people have not. Some of us would like to watch the cut scenes as they happen during the instance.

Please don't tell me to watch them later in the inn room. It's not the same as you well know. This is a great story driven game, and I'm enjoying it immensely. My daughter is enjoying it as well, or was rather, until she had to go into the first and second of the required dungeons to progress the story at 50.


No one stopped and waited for her to view the CS, and when everyone just keeps on going, the cut scenes keep coming back to back. By the time she's watched them all, the other party members are long gone and since she's never done the dungeons she has no idea where to go. The map isn't even helpful either, since the fog of war doesn't let her see where the other party members are.

Up until these two instances, the community here in FF has been great. This is terribly frustrating however. She's now stuck outside a boss fight since she stopped to watch the CS and the party started the boss without her (and another person or two as well).

Again, watching the cut scenes later in the inn room isn't the same. You should be entitled to watch them once in the instance if you never have before. In the lower level instances, apparently other party members can't move if you're watching a CS. Why isn't it the same for these later dungeons?

Please veteran players, keep in mind that a lot of new people are playing now. New players are a good thing right? Please try not to run us off with impatience before we even get through all the main content.

Note for the devs: These two instances seem to have a ridiculous number of cut scenes. Trimming the story down to just a couple per instance in the future would help tremendously.

Unfortunately, it's a toss up when you'll get that group where the other 7 or 6, etc will actually wait for CS watchers. I've been on the receiving end of it as well, except, I was skipping CSes, but you still get held hostage by load screens(I hate that more than anything in this game..). Usually what I do is leave waymarks, so CS watchers don't get lost, especially in the case of the Praetorium.

Now preventing them from being locked out of boss fights.. can't do anything about that..

I totally get this, but it won't change. What I do with fc mates is get as many people as I can then use the party finder for the rest. It's cumbersome, but it really is the only way to properly enjoy them in castrum and prae.

Sadly this has been an issue with Castrum Meridianum and Praetorium since launch. SE is aware of it and unless they put something similar at the end of HW, no instance has been that CS heavy since. With the duty finder it is really luck of the draw if you will get a group that will wait for you. For those two instances I recommend using the Party Finder to form a "story based" party and/or asking friends and LS/FC members to help.

I feel bad for the new people, but at the same time I think the right of the majority trumps that of the enjoyment the new person might get from the subsequent viewing. I also don't think anyone is going to quit just because they were forced to skip a few scenes they can watch later. If you wish to prevent this you should queue with your FC because typically random and roulette groups are on farm status. This way you get more control over the composition and pacing. On the other hand I would not enjoy something that locked out everyone from progressing because of one person viewing a cutscene.

At this point it might be moot anyway. You won't need a full party to go through so people will have a couple FC members or friends just run them through. And yes, I think SE learned their lesson and we won't see such heavy use of cutscenes in the middle of raids.

Eh, if the rest of the party want to ditch you, let them. You can still enjoy the cutscenes, and then afterward re-queue the place for the boss fights.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by lordoftheapes79

I totally get this, but it won't change. What I do with fc mates is get as many people as I can then use the party finder for the rest. It's cumbersome, but it really is the only way to properly enjoy them in castrum and prae.

---

My FC stands firmly on the side of cutscenes. When a new person wants to run the dungeon, we fill as many essential roles as we can, then go to the DF for missing DPS.

There's always some "rights of the majority" person who acts like new people shouldn't get to enjoy the story of FF. Everyone gets bonus tokens to take new people along; earn them by giving them a good time.

I wait for people in cutscenes, mostly because I don't play video games like a job and know how to have fun with noobs. :)

Anyway, sorry OP! It's just the luck of the draw whether you get nice people in roulettes. The last scenario roulette I was in, over half the group waited for the 1 noob, so it's not all bad. We even explained how to use the cannons. :)

Can any Lv 60s confirm that SE solved this problem by not putting CSs in the middle of the final Heavensward dungeons?

Thanks for the replies all. I won't answer one by one, but will say a few bits:

We don't have a FC other than the one we made for our family. We like it that way, though we understand that there will be some things that are more difficult to do in game because there are only three of us. While getting people in your FC to help is a great solution if you happen to belong to a FC with lots of people, it shouldn't really be the only answer to situations like this one.

I will think about going the "story mode" party finder route when my character is at that level, but honestly, I'll probably just watch the cut scenes and if the party doesn't like it or leaves me behind, so be it.

An interesting thought here: Every dungeon in the game gives bonuses to all party members if there is a character in the party that hasn't run the instance, correct? What happens if that new character gets frustrated and drops group after being left behind? I guess those other folks won't get those bonuses, right? Perhaps the new folks should just drop group when this happens, and try for a group with a smidgen of patience.

Frankly, it sucks being new in a way; you hate to hold people up (at least I do), yet you still want to enjoy the story. Double thanks to the folks who are patient with the new people, whether by waiting or by leaving a trail to follow. We appreciate you!!!

What do you expect?, you would want 6-7 other people to wait for hours while those other new players watch every cutscene?. You want them to literally sit down for 1 hour in front of the boss and not do a single thing?. This is not the communities fault it is the devs.

i got locked out so many times in final 2 story dungeons in 2.0.. playing on ps3 with the dreadful loading times lol always warned people when dungeon 1st started that was on ps3 but 90% of time always got locked out xD

I'm getting like close to 200k EXP for facerolling through the Main Story Roulette. I don't mind animation locking everyone until every player in the party have finished watching. Stop with the gogogogogo attitude.

If I recall, party members used to have to wait through those cutscenes. This was changed as CM used to be one of the main end-game grinding dungeons. People complained about having to wait through other's cutscenes when they just wanted to grind their tomestones. But now that hardly anyone grinds that dungeon anymore, perhaps they should switch the cutscenes back to the way they were before.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Dinadan

If I recall, party members used to have to wait through those cutscenes. This was changed as CM used to be one of the main end-game grinding dungeons. People complained about having to wait through other's cutscenes when they just wanted to grind their tomestones. But now that hardly anyone grinds that dungeon anymore, perhaps they should switch the cutscenes back to the way they were before.

---

Were they like that? I don't remember anything about that. I only remember people running in and wiping because I was one of the healers watching a CS, as no one had any gear back then.

No they were not like that before, tbh SE have learned from those mistakes as we have not had any cutscene heavy instances for a long time now and getting people to stop and wait while you watch a cutscene is not fair on the people who want to help you get through the instance, all in all people shouldnt stop and others shouldnt complain at least be thankful you got carried as people used to get kicked for watching cutscenes in the dungeons.

Dead Horse ghost lingers.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Waliel

Were they like that? I don't remember anything about that. I only remember people running in and wiping because I was one of the healers watching a CS, as no one had any gear back then.

---

Oh, I must be thinking of the settings option they added in to auto-skip cutscenes.

It's just as selfish to demand that 7 people wait for 1 person to watch cut scenes as it is to be upset when they leave you behind.

You should just watch them if you want, and be okay with it if they want to go on. You can always queue again later and do the fights.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by IndigoHawk

There's always some "rights of the majority" person who acts like new people shouldn't get to enjoy the story of FF. Everyone gets bonus tokens to take new people along; earn them by giving them a good time.

---

Well, Soldiery is gone now, but it becomes useless very quickly from my experience, so people are not so thrilled about the bonus anymore.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Raim

I feel bad for the new people, but at the same time I think the right of the majority trumps that of the enjoyment the new person might get from the subsequent viewing.

---

And it is a player's right to watch cutscenes. Who made other players boss of what I can do? Heck, I was in a raid and 2 of the groups just ran off and tagged the boss. Left 3 healers outside the area, as I was watching a CS in a new place I was in and 2 people had loading lag. On the bright side, I got items without having to lift a finger.

It is stupid. I remember when people asked for a flag in the Duty Finder for people who want to just farm so they can get all together. But don't think you're all high and mighty to tell others what to do. Unless you pay for my account then you can tell me whatever.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Twilite

Well, Soldiery is gone now, but it becomes useless very quickly from my experience, so people are not so thrilled about the bonus anymore.

---

Why do people still run this roulette? I only ran it as a fresh 50 as a decent source of myth to help boost my ilevel to something more manageable.

To OP don't do DF if you want to watch the cutscene for first time entry.
Better ask someone who know you and willing to wait for your cutscene.
As for me I don't mind but not all player are have that kind of patience.

I don't mind watching them at Inn but not all player are like me so I respect their freedom and not forcing others to follow their rules. Don't worry OP later on you will not facing that issue anymore because long story driven cutscene is separate from group instance.

I always wait for people to watch cut scenes if they say they are new, otherwise I won't know. Sounds like your daughter got rude people for a party. Also, new players provide us older players with a bonus, so waiting a bit extra for them is a worthwhile tradeoff in my opinion.

When I came back and encountered this in the last of the ARR dungeon story content while catching up I almost quit. It was so frustrating. SE needs to do something not just for the new but the old content too. I can't even begin to tell you how many times I got locked out of a boss fight because I was watching a cut scene. I shared a similar experience to your daughter when I came back to the game after a break and did nothing but watch cut scenes for the whole dungeon and I don't even think I finished them by the time everyone else completed the content.

Whatever SE does though I don't want it to necessarily "streamline" the story. The story is important but it is the placement of it that is one of the biggest problems. Putting lots of story in content that is supposed to be repeated consistently for gear is an issue. They've started to fix this by putting the cut scenes mostly at the end of content like Crystal Tower. I still feel heavy cutscenes have a place in actual Main Story quest dungeons and since they aren't meant to be used to grind gear I feel that is ok. Viewing cutscenes in the Inn room isn't the same and players shouldn't have to do that. By continuing to redesign where they put their cutscenes in gear oriented content and putting safety features in for Story related content, so players can enjoy the story without fearing of being left behind, and boss fights across the board, I feel a happy medium can be made. Even for gear grinding content they could even use the steps before that unlock them to play the needed cutscenes for the story, which they do mostly already.

TLDR- Bottom line. They shouldn't water down the story to fix this but should instead be smart where they put it. Safety measures should be put in place so new players/people who want to enjoy the story can do so without fear of being left behind and missing fights in Main Story Quest content/dungeons. Content designed to be repeatable for gear grinding should have the story played out before and/or after the dungeon, mostly, and in all content people shouldn't be locked out of boss fights for watching the boss cutscene. This is a Final Fantasy numbered title and SE should ensure that those who want to enjoy that unique story experience can do so as is their right.

Sigh..so many selfish people in this thread. Just let it go lol.

Personally, if someone insists on watching CS, I will generally wait. And since I'm usually the tank, that means everyone waits or leaves. However, I will ask that person politely to watch them in the Inn later because they're holding everyone else up.

While I sympathize, I also tend to think what's best for the group as a whole. To be frank, you and your daughter wouldn't even be able to do the story dungeon that you need to progress if it wasn't for veteran players willing to help you out.

Except for perhaps 2-3 examples, I can't think of any other DF content where it's more beneficial to watch the CS in the instance. You're better off not holding everyone up and just watching in the Inn later.

IMO, what you really should do is use the Party Finder for story dungeons, not the Duty Finder. You can specify in the Party Finder that you're "taking it slow" so people know ahead of time to expect you to watch CSs.

I admit I get really annoyed with people that just are all rushing through when I want to watch the cut-scene, hell no watching them in the inn sometime later is not the same thing either(tired of hearing that argument) BUT at the same time I can see the other side of this argument. Some of these cut-scenes are long and frequent and you cant expect people that already seen them(especially multiple times)to stop each time and wait, that would severely increase the time in the dungeon/raid. Really the only option is to make sure to form your own group that wouldn't mind waiting for the cut-scenes, I am one that honestly doesn't mind waiting at all but many aren't and I can understand at least a little bit, or watch the cut-scenes now anyways and fight later(be careful, few people would actually boot you for that @@). Not much else you can do. =/

I believe now we can enter the dungeon without gear synch isn't it and with less than 4 or 8 player.
Ask your higher lvl friends to assist you, some player might think that you're selfish for holding them back.
For me you have your own right to watch it, it's just the veteran arrogant attitude.
Now with the new expansion I see everyone is watching cutscene.
Can I asking them to "let it go" and watch it at Inn because I've already watch it?

That's the selfish impatience jerk veteran attitude, they are nothing more than a just a failure loser who have less accomplishment.

Ignore them.