Castrum Meridainum - My (a noob) WORST experience so far

So I reached level 50, and have been playing my main story quest and reach the final dungeon! I have fallen in love with this game, met some really cool people, made friends. I que for the last dungeon, 40 minute wait, I have plenty of stuff to do! Que pops!

"Hi guys! This is my first time :)"

Naturally I watch the intro cut scene, until now, every single person I have met has been willing to wait.

Then it all turns to crap, I get locked outside the first boss fight, no worries though.

"Oh, I got stuck outside because I was watching the cut scene, do you mind slowing down a little bit? :)"

Tank replies: "No, I'm not waiting around an hour for you to watch cut scenes"

I literally missed the ENTIRE LAST DUNGEON! The whole experience ruined for me. Until this point I have been saying how nice the community was, these people literally wouldn't wait 20 seconds.

I understand some of the cutscenes are long, but come one, everyone was new at some point. I am just gutted.

SE is very much aware of this issue and they haven't designed dungeons like this after those two at the end of the original main scenario. What you can do right now is to ask 1 level 70 or 1-2 level 60 players to run them with you unsynced (just the 2-3 of you in party, no level cap) so that you get to both see the story and experience the fights. :) So ask people from your FC/LS or Novice Network or Party Finder.

This was an issue even when they were first released because the cutscenes in that dungeon are SOOOOOO long. (There's literally a half hour+ of them, depending on your reading speed)
Taika's advice was pretty solid. To fully experience them you need to find those willing to wait before you go in.

Yeah, it is a well-known problem with Castrum Meridanium and the next dungeon (Praetorium.) Few people are willing to wait the extra half-hour it would take to watch all the cutscenes - especially not when they themselves have already done the dungeon dozens if not hundreds of times before.
Luckily no other dungeons share that design with so many cutscenes during the run.

You can watch the cutscenes afterwards from inside an inn, but that won't give quite the same experience.

Best option is, as has already been advised, to find some people willing to take you through the dungeon with all cutscenes - and it is well worth the trouble doing so at least once.

I've been through that back in January 2014 on my first character. It clenched my heart then, and it clenches my heart now to read about others experiencing it.

As others have mentioned, this has been a common issue, which Square-Enix got word of, and they never did this again. Instead, they bunch cutscenes before and after dungeons after that. But even then, I'm sad that people are unwilling to wait on other players, because the Main Scenario roulette (which is what brings the majority of non-new players in those dungeons) have a reward for it, and that roulette's existence was precisely to help new players along in dungeons that people wouldn't need to run ever again otherwise. It's supposed to be for them to help new players and be patient with them, in exchange for the roulette's reward. But most of the time, they don't. Sometimes, they even have the gall to be rude to the new players, and that's where I draw the line between tolerating actions that shouldn't be (them not waiting on the new players in spite of the roulette's rewards they are seeking being the incentive to help in the proper manner), and being downright upset at those people. :(

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Originally Posted by Frizze

This is a well known and well covered issue. The last two instances(this one and praetorium to follow) from the ARR storyline are very cutscene intensive. Like seriously close to 30 mins worth of in-dungeon cutscene between the two. Most of the people running it are doing so via the main-scenario roulette, and have run the instances hundreds of times. They dont want to wait for a new person to watch said cutscenes, they just want to be done and claim their currency. And them blaming you for a wipe is total BS. The dungeons can be completed with 2 or 3 people missing, so your not being there isnt why they failed. It also sounds like they were abusive, which you could have reported them for.

So thats the problem, whats the solution? You have two easy choices. One, grab a friend or two from your FC or a LS and run the dungeon unsynced. This would mean you dont get any exp, but 1 or 2 level 60-70 people can easily carry you through the entire dungeon giving you time to watch the cutscenes and still participate in the fights. Option two, instead of the duty finder use the party finder. This lets you pre-form a group of like-minded people to run content(dungeons, trials, raids, whatever). Set up a PF for praetorium and specify that you want to watch cutscenes and participate in the fights. Since this is your storyline clear, anyone who helps you will get a bonus for doing so(extra exp and tomes plus a khloe bonus point - they already know this). By setting up in PF you set the expectation up front, so youll get people who want to help and you dont get any of those "This is a speed run, keep up or quit" idiots.

And while this is no comfort now as you are still in the middle of the problem, there is good news. The devs learned from the problem this caused. None of the dungeons in your future beyond these two share this design. They get any "extra" cutscenes out of the way either before you que to go inside, or after the dungeon is clear. The pattern youll(mostly) see going forward is intro fly-through style cutscene, final boss appears cutscene, and good job we won lets pose cutscene. So best of luck, and i hope you stick it out. The story keeps getting better, there are some killer dungeons ahead of where youre at now, and the classes keep evolving over time.

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Quoting my own responce to the last person to bring this up 5 days prior. Strikethrough for the portion of the text that doesnt apply.

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Originally Posted by Arcuran

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In see you are on Omega, just whisp me and I'll see if I can take you there unsych so you can both watch the cutscenes and do the fights ;)
Aranie Crowley

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Originally Posted by Holy-chan

It's supposed to be for them to help new players and be patient with them, in exchange for the roulette's reward. But most of the time, they don't.

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Primarily, it's supposed to get people through the content at all, because it's mandatory. Without it, people wouldn't even rush through it, they'd let the newbie sit in his 10+ hour queue and never let them proceed through the story in the first place. That's precisely why it got introduced.

I'm not going to blame people for being unwilling to play along with the 15 bonus minutes of pure cutscenes in Castrum and 30 minutes in Praetorium either. They're not even coming in one block, it's a constant stop and go, so you can't even AFK and do something else while waiting. It's simply terrible design and I'm going to shift the entire blame on SE on this one - they should have seen that issue coming from a mile away and make the entire thing a solo duty.

I had the same exact experience with Praetorium yesterday, and I totally agree it is a terrible feeling for newcomers who want to enjoy the story. I think the worst part is that people seem, I don't know, rude (?) about it. They seem to see people who want to watch the cutscenes as complete assholes. I mean I can understand not wanting to see it again when you re-run it, and the dungeon is clearly baddly designed in this regard... so not sure there is a good solution for it to be honest.

So yeah, like you I felt really gutted at that moment. I did not even get to participate in the final battle at all. I would not wish this on anyone who is having their first experience because it really screws up everything. What kind of made it worse for me is the fact that the people rushing it actually gets a bonus because I as a new player is on the team... Just what a way to reward someone for kicking you while you are already down, haha.

is still possible to watch cutscenes in inn room ? if yes then do it . its bad experience but what can you do with that ....

Dear Everyone,

That they changed their approach since ARR doesn't fix the issue of new players who are still putting up with this CM cutscene bullshit. Where is the goddamn fix?

we actually got queued in there and we were talking how SE should make this dungeon a solo instance.
Because it is a nightmare for everyone.

New players can't enjoy the new dungeon and us, well, I don't think anyone is willing to wait over an hour. Because this dungeon has A LOT of cutscenes.
The problem doesn't happen for other instances as usually the cutscene is only at the end and waiting for teh small boss cutscene that last 5 scene is never an issue.

But waiting for 30min cutscene is.

Back when i got to lvl 50 way back in September 2013, only a month after release people were even doing this then and im fairly certain the only times it HASN'T been speed-run in DF has been for like 2-3 days after official launch of the game. It was badly designed in the way that there were long-ish cut scenes between each boss but since then basically no dungeon has had any cutscene longer than 10 seconds or so and all the cutscenes were moved to the start/end of dungeons. As others have mentioned you can always go in with some buddies that are willing to wait or you speed-run the dungeon with everyone else then re-watch the cutscenes in the inn room from the unending journey tool, it sucks i know but litterally EVERYONE has had to go through it, it's like a rite of passage xD

I hate that this is still an issue. I think we all do. But i honestly dont want the devs to take people away from developing new things so they can adjust something 4 years old. If they implement the squadron as teammates thing that was discussed, then sure put it here. Otherwise, keep making new things.

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Originally Posted by Arcuran

The whole experience ruined for me. Until this point I have been saying how nice the community was, these people literally wouldn't wait 20 seconds.

I understand some of the cutscenes are long, but come one, everyone was new at some point. I am just gutted.

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What about them? isnt their time valuable too? Why is it they have to wait an hour so that you can watch all the cutscenes? Why do you consider them rude for ruining your experiance when you dont think about how you might be ruining their experiance?
the majotirty the team decided to go on without you. There is no "I" in a dungeon team nor "my" needs.

Also see it from their point of view. This is your first run at the dungeon and their 100th run. Wait untill you run it 100 times. You will eat your own words. you will become like the 7 players who left the new guy who is watching the cutscenes and the cycle will continue.

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Originally Posted by LalafellDown

What about them? isnt their time valuable too? Why is it they have to wait an hour so that you can watch all the cutscenes? Why do you consider them rude for ruining your experiance when you dont think about how you might be ruining their experiance?
the majotirty the team decided to go on without you. There is no "I" in a dungeon team nor "my" needs.

Also see it from their point of view. This is your first run at the dungeon and their 100th run. Wait untill you run it 100 times. You will eat your own words. you will become like the 7 players who left the new guy who is watching the cutscenes and the cycle will continue.

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I cannot disagree more. I ran those dungeons dozens of times and I always try to support the new players, especially when they seem confused about where to go, etc. From your wording, people become selfish and self-entitled over time and you consider it normal. No offense to you as a person in general, but as far as the game is concerned, your last paragraph repulses me.

In my point of view, the new player has a bigger right to watch the cutscenes *and* participate in the dungeon's development than the old player has a right to force them to follow along or get left behind. In particular, the old player has zero right to be rude to the new player for trying to experience a dungeon the way it was meant to be experienced, no matter how flawed the system is. Remember that the veteran players who are running those dungeons for the hundredth time are getting their big roulette reward (*and* first time player reward, when applicable) precisely because this system was meant to be to help new players manage to get into those dungeons without much of a hassle. This system was not meant to help veteran players disregard newbies as tools to obtain their big rewards.

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Originally Posted by LalafellDown

What about them? isnt their time valuable too? Why is it they have to wait an hour so that you can watch all the cutscenes? Why do you consider them rude for ruining your experiance when you dont think about how you might be ruining their experiance?

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Their experience matters less, and if their time was really so valuable they would not spend it in a video game.
The experience of a player running that dungeon for the first time is much more important than the experience of someone doing it for the 100th time.
If you can't spend an hour on a dungeon, you should not start that dungeon run in the first place.

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Originally Posted by MistakeNot

Their experience matters less, and if their time was really so valuable they would not spend it in a video game.
The experience of a player running that dungeon for the first time is much more important than the experience of someone doing it for the 100th time.
If you can't spend an hour on a dungeon, you should not start that dungeon run in the first place.

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So.. why does their game experience matter less?

That dungeon just plainly sucks and too much story happens during gameplay, they've never designed another dungeon like it and the story does nothing but improve from that point onward.

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Originally Posted by Cerick

So.. why does their game experience matter less?

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Because it is only possible to run a dungeon for the first time once. Therefore the experience of that run is of greater importance than the experience of running it for the 2nd or 100th time.

First run experience? You mean CS or fight? Most party won't kick any new people that is watching CS... you can beat this dungeon with 4 people... therefore new guy is still watching cutscene and enjoying the story, he can tag a second time and do the fights. I mean he will probably tag this dungeon hundreds of more times...

I totaly disagree with the one new guy experience > seven other guy time . 1 vs 7 . Same player, same subs payed. Come on... it's easy maths.

You should be happy that SE gives players an incentive to enter that place. The best you can do is go in, get left behind for the whole run, then go to in Inn to watch any cutscenes that may have been interrupted by the next one. After that, you can enter again to participate in the battles.

If I could post longer lol. I have a whole reply typed out, but am not allowed to post over 1,000 characters.

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Originally Posted by zero_theclown

If I could post longer lol. I have a whole reply typed out, but am not allowed to post over 1,000 characters.

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Write what you want and cut it down to a sentence or two before posting. Copy the rest and delete that portion, then post and edit. It'll allow you to post more.

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Originally Posted by Arcuran

"Oh, I got stuck outside because I was watching the cut scene, do you mind slowing down a little bit? :)"

Tank replies: "No, I'm not waiting around an hour for you to watch cut scenes"

I literally missed the ENTIRE LAST DUNGEON! The whole experience ruined for me. Until this point I have been saying how nice the community was, these people literally wouldn't wait 20 seconds.

I understand some of the cutscenes are long, but come one, everyone was new at some point. I am just gutted.

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No one would be willing to sit through over an hours worth of cutscenes. People were skipping those cutscenes even when the game first came out. This is an MMO, not MGS4.