Ultimate Weapon finale ruined

So after 50 levels of dumping water on drunks and running messages back and forth from the same NPC's over and over and over and clicking through forgettable and boring dialogue that should've been taken out and streamlined, I finally get to.... The Exciting Conclusion of Our Tale. Cutscenes finally start getting not shitty and boring. The dialogue is still pretty bad but at least cool things are happening so you don't skip through it as fast. Ultimate weapon has been reborn from his 13 or so previous incarnations (he's as consistent to FF as Cid, biggs, and wedge are).

Queue popped! its here! All that grinding and money and time is about to reach its conclusion, for vanilla FF anyway, so its stlil kind of a big deal. Oh sweet lets see whats happening. Oh, looks like they went ahead. Oh its time for another scene? Well its all plot critical stuff so I don't want to miss it. Oh there's another, oh another, another, and... wait. What does it mean light group?
It's.. over? I didn't even SEE ultimate weapon. I saw a few cutscenes with him. My chat box says there was all kinds of dialogue. I guess I fought that lahabrea or whatever his name is? Wait, no I didn't, my group raced through and pwned him. I basically got to RP what its like being a random private on the sidelines. "Man that was some battle, remember when he did X? Oh, sorry, yeah you kinda had to be there." Except I was supposed to be, and wasn't.

At first I was furious at my group. Maybe they've seen it hundreds of times. I, and I'm guessing maybe one or two others, haven't. This was a core experience of the entire game that we wouldn't have again. Ruined. I never got to be a hero vanquishing ultimate weapon for hte first time. Now i'll be part of some mindless zerg plowing through it in duty roulette while some other hapless player gets to experience the fun of being a nobody. Ultimate weapon and his lair was supposed to be an experience. Thanks for nothing. You didn't even get gear, and I'm glad. My only consolation was that the expansion will continue the story at least (so in due time it too can be ruined at its exciting conclusion).

And this is why no other dungeons has nearly as many cutscenes, or long ones either, during it themselves. Castrum and Praetorium or the only ones with that big of an issue, SE learned their lesson.

You can rewatch the cut scenes at an inn if ya like. Yes it's not the same I know (/soothe ).

Then I realized this was probably more the fault of SE and poor design. People want to get their loot/reward and go home. They've seen Ultimate weapon dozens of times. So SE, please, in the future, and preferably hotfixing the present before I get to the lvl 60 finale, use solo duties for the big storyline stuff. Or as an easier fix, lock bosses until everyone has seen the cutscenes. I get that people want to get in and get out, but that shouldn't ruin the Final Fantasy experience for the rest of us brand new to it. Better they wait than spoil the magic that is basically FF's thing, vs other MMO's.

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Originally Posted by Sessurea

You can rewatch the cut scenes at an inn if ya like. Yes it's not the same I know (/soothe ).

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That's it exactly. It's NOT the same. I wanted an experience at my pace, like with the way better done job quests (every 5 levels of meaningful scenes and solo content rather than ridiculous filler bullshit). I think there was a tribune boss? A few others? I literally didn't even SEE any bosses except the first one. IMO that's a broken dungeon setup.

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Originally Posted by Sarnen508

That's it exactly. It's NOT the same. I wanted an experience at my pace, like with the way better done job quests (every 5 levels of meaningful scenes and solo content rather than ridiculous filler bullshit). I think there was a tribune boss? A few others? I literally didn't even SEE any bosses except the first one. IMO that's a broken dungeon setup.

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Once again they learned their lesson already, the final parts of the story are much less cutscene heavy within the dungeons themselves. Maybe a little longer for one of em then usual but thats about it, not overylong.

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Originally Posted by Dualblade

Once again they learned their lesson already, the final parts of the story are much less cutscene heavy within the dungeons themselves. Maybe a little longer for one of em then usual but thats about it, not overylong.

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I guess its just frusterating that FF14 has been out how long? And they still don't gate or lock the bosses is anyway so this continues to happen to new players 2 years in.

Just an fyi, they did fix it for level 60 story. The dungeon is light party only, so it is near impossible to steamroll it for a good while of ever. You might run into being vote kicked, but you can use PF to fix that. Also, the very last thing can't start until everyone is there, so you can enjoy the cutscenes at your own pace.

Hope you have a better time in Heavensward :3

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Originally Posted by Alex_W

Just an fyi, they did fix it for level 60 story. The dungeon is light party only, so it is near impossible to steamroll it for a good while of ever. You might run into being vote kicked, but you can use PF to fix that. Also, the very last thing can't start until everyone is there, so you can enjoy the cutscenes at your own pace.

Hope you have a better time in Heavenaward :3

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Well that's a relief. I might even get to SEE the boss at the end :D Or even be aware of what bosses were being fought at all :D

yea, all of the lvl 60 final story dungeon's Cutscenes added together don't equal as much time as Gaius's Monolog before the Ultima battle.

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Originally Posted by Kaiser-Ace

yea, all of the lvl 60 final story dungeon's Cutscenes added together don't equal as much time as Gaius's Monolog before the Ultima battle.

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It doesn't unruin my experience with ultimate but I guess at least the expansion is better put together. Now I know how teenage girls feel.

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Originally Posted by Sarnen508

It doesn't unruin my experience with ultimate but I guess at least the expansion is better put together. Now I know how teenage girls feel.

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I know, and I feel for ya. I was one of the first couple of groups to clear Praetorium so when I ran it all 8 of us were watching it unfold for the 1st time. (It was a big enough accomplishment then to where there were inter FC Team Ups to run it on the PF. My group was one of them)

So I really don't think it's fair to force people to skip the Cutscenes in real time and kill that "You're Mine Now!!!" feeling for fighting big baddies the 1st time. (Also, back then i70 was raid gear and i90 was instant Elite status. Ah the 2.0 1st month glory days.)

Did you ask the party to wait? I mean, many don't, but some are kind enough to wait and let people experience it. It really just depends.

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Originally Posted by BubblyBoar

Did you ask the party to wait? I mean, many don't, but some are kind enough to wait and let people experience it. It really just depends.

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DF parties are loathe to wait for 30 minutes of cutscenes.

I refuse to do MSQ roulette as a result of these and already warned my friend that I came with to not bother.

When I did it, even skipping cs I got locked a lot because I was playing on a potato.

So you only care about the story when it references older Final Fantasy games and you are crying because people won't do everything you want when it suits you?

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Originally Posted by MXMoondoggie

So you only care about the story when it references older Final Fantasy games and you are crying because people won't do everything you want when it suits you?

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Agree that it kinda sucks. Especially when they do the large group scenes, where all eight party members are involved, and you can't see that at the replay in the inn.

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Originally Posted by MXMoondoggie

So you only care about the story when it references older Final Fantasy games and you are crying because people won't do everything you want when it suits you?

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Considering all of the people who came back to XIV with the release of Heavensward people should be taking this into account and not acting like morons. Also, not everyone got to participate in Early Access and are still actually playing through the Heavensward MSQ line. I get the rush for CM and Prae, they're a bit ridiculous with the CS usage, but it's not just limited to there. Early Access wasn't even over yet and I was running into impatient people in DF for various story related dungeons.

People need to mellow out and understand that it's not just their experience to be had and that they're not in a party with NPCs who don't care about what's going on.

Story cutscenes now play after the final boss for the most part, so once everything is done and you are leaving you start the story cutscene. It fixes this issue.

This topic has been beaten to death.
Yes, SE messed up, yes people think only of themselves (including the person who wants 7 other people to wait for them to watch 30 minutes of content thats almost 2 years old).

The important thing is that they learned their lesson and there will not be an issue like this again. The heavensward finale is 2 sections of 4 minute cutscenes before the last boss.

I'm sure it's been beaten to death, but it doesn't change that it's sad not to let first-timers have a proper experience. If you want to rush through, you can make a party through party finder, or deal with the fact there will always be a chance there are newbies and they might want to enjoy both cutscenes and fight. It should never be an either or-situation.

Never leave anyone behind, that's my motto, and that goes for any dungeon at any time, no matter what bullshit the rest of the party might come with. It's immature to tell them to choose or complain about them choosing to watch cutscenes. Someone new should never have to pace themselves to more experienced ones by skipping cutscenes.

Because it's a beaten-to-death concern means it's a consistent concern. Since players need to complete ARR's MSQ in order to get the Heavensward content, every player that picks up HW is going to need to get through this content. SE did what they could without changing the instance by offering first timer bonuses, but instead of being viewed as incentive to help newcomers, it somehow is misconstrued as a bonus for 7 man speed runs.

Not only does this ruin the newcomer's experience of the dungeon, but it cheapens the very presence of them being there. Plenty of times I've zoned into MSQ instances, the newcomer bonus pops, and someone says, "Oh boy, bonus tomes!" Not "newcomer, " they could care less about the presence of someone experiencing the story for the first time. They see the newcomer as a means to an end, procuring tomes as fast as possible. It's just as much of a player fault as it is a design.

I for one am content to wait for cutscenes to roll despite having run the instances dozens and dozens of times. I don't expect to be regarded as a paragon of patience (although honestly, it kind of feels that way), but I do feel for you newcomers that have the effect of these encounters diminished on your first run. Ultima especially has fun mechanics, great atmosphere and excellent music. It's a shame to end up missing that entirely. At least you can rest easy, as, like others have said, Heavensward cinematics are much more thoughtfully placed, not to mention much more engaging through and through as well. Don't let a run-of-the-mill hasty band of adventurers sour your time in Eorzea, there's lots more for you to see, and it's much more doable at your own pace.

Sorry this happened to you, most of us would have had the same experience in that dungeon. In future, you can make a party finder group for any dungeon, trial, raid etc. and check the box "no cutscene skipping", although like others have said, the newer dungeons only have very short cutscenes so you are generally tolerated by others if you watch them.

I was lucky to have friends with me - a tank and a second healer - and they waited for me. It didn't make much of a difference, as there were others that could heal in our party when my friend refused and I was watching cutscenes for the first time, however having the support to not skip cutscenes and knowing someone waited for me was really nice.

If only se made 3 qeues
- 1st timer qeue
- have seen it before/ cleared it
- idc whatever
So content would stay new to the 1st timer group while ppl who want speed runs do the "seen it" qeue & the ppl who don't care does the idc q which merges u with the other 2 qeues.
The daily roulettes would only put u in the have seen it q.

So that way new players can experience it with ppl alike that r new too.

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Originally Posted by Yumi_umi

If only se made 3 qeues
- 1st timer qeue
- have seen it before/ cleared it
- idc whatever
So content would stay new to the 1st timer group while ppl who want speed runs do the "seen it" qeue & the ppl who don't care does the idc q which merges u with the other 2 qeues.
The daily roulettes would only put u in the have seen it q.

So that way new players can experience it with ppl alike that r new too.

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I don't think that would work out all too well, but I think locking areas in dungeons would be better, to be honest.