Main Scenario cutscenes...

While I'm voicing my dislikes today... I'd also like to offer a solution to our cutscenes dilemma.

I don't know if this possible, but I often wonder why the playing of the cutscenes isn't macro'd to the bonus tomes?
Bonus tomes= new player =play cutscenes
Seems rather simple to me.
Maybe more people would come back to playing the main scenario if there was at least a chance it could be a fast run.

There is an even simpler solution - do not run the MSQ roulette if you dislike watching cutscenes.
While more people doing the roulette would be nice, it is not necessary - enough people are doing it as it is.

If it was linked to the presence of a new player, then what you'd see happen is as soon as the duty starts and you get the message "One or more players are new to this duty" then people who don't want to watch the cutscenes will just quit out right there.

The simplest solution is to not run MSQ roulette if you don't want to watch the cutscenes. the rewards were specifically inflated to reflect a 45 minutes, level 50 instance, to reimburse your time accordingly.
If you want the reward, you pay for it via time invested, like all other content.

Oof- really? Someone who would choose the main scenario roulette would be displeased with bonus tones and still leave just because now they have to watch the cutscenes?
Well then, I guess people are doomed to watch the cutscenes forever.
We need another 50 tome drop rate from somewhere then....expert roulette? Maybe?
Can I barter for a 10 tome raise on expert

Doing just Expert and Alliance Raids 5 times a week will get you to cap.
Everything else is a bonus.

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Originally Posted by Seraphor

Doing just Expert and Alliance Raids 5 times a week will get you to cap.
Everything else is a bonus.

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Actually if your goal is to cap the genesis tomes, just 5 days of expert runs will do it. You get 40 per day from the roulette bonus and 50 per day from the dungeon. Expert + alliance(or main scen) and trials(or normal raid or mentor) will cap you in 3 days each(potentially faster if you get level 70 runs from the variable roulettes). Doing everything gets you cap in less then 2 days.

I don't believe any if us are really having an issue capping tomes. It was just a thought, beings I don't really enjoy expert content all that much. A little more incentive wouldn't hurt right?
Typically my night is Main scenerio, alliance, and pvp. And that's about all I have time for each day.

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Originally Posted by Merryl

I don't know if this possible, but I often wonder why the playing of the cutscenes isn't macro'd to the bonus tomes?

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I suspect it may not be possible to "macro" or control whether cutscenes are forced or not.

The change not only affected the actual dungeons, but also cutscene playback in the Unending Journey viewer.

This makes me think that the game only holds one version of the cutscene, however you access it, and the auto-scrolling and unskippability have to be hard-coded into it.

Don't take my Poetics away. Its time consuming but easy and if they got rid of the cut scenes the rewards would be crap again. Or if they tied it to new players, you'd end up getting newbies kicked. Which is the opposite of what they were trying to do. Nope its fine as it is, as the others said if you don't like it don't do it.

The penalty for being first to bail is 30 minutes. If the party isn't 8/8 there is no penalty for leaving.

You suffer a more substantial penalty by running this dungeon than by bailing on it. You can find more enjoyable ways to reach your cap elsewhere.

I don't care if new players sometimes need to wait hours to get into these dungeons anymore. I don't care I've personally known players that have quit over these dungeons. This has gone on for five years, and Square has only gotten worse at managing these over time.

There's no easy fix to this, but something does need to be done to fix this. However, it isn't something you can fix without reworking the entire dungeon into either a solo instance or rewriting the entire story of the area. Castrum is just way too long. I did it a few times at first, but after a few times, I just stopped doing it because I didn't have time for it in the day. On top of that, it just isn't worth it, even if you do somehow get 500+ poetics for it. I was able to finish entire episodes of TV shows on Netflix over the course of a run.

@Azurith Huh? No no What I said was have the cutscenes run when there's a new player.

And for your info, @van_arn if you like the idea of bailing, just unplug the machine , wait like 5 minutes and log back in. There you go.

I had the Twitch free trial. I liked the game so much I bought Stormblood. I was going to subscribe. Then I discovered the developers forced me to watch cutscenes in dungeons that I do not want to watch, and this ruins my experience. I don't liked going into dungeons blind, so I do research, and I can see all the cutscenes online.

Developers: it is a terrible design decision to take control away from the user. It is so bad I decided not to subscribe after, so you lose a user. If you decide to give me back control in the game, I will change my mind. As it stands, you have ruined the experience for me. I guess I wasted my money on Stormblood, but I will waste no more on subscribing. I'm done for now. I won't be returning to the game or this forum.

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Originally Posted by RosieReleased

I had the Twitch free trial. I liked the game so much I bought Stormblood. I was going to subscribe. Then I discovered the developers forced me to watch cutscenes in dungeons that I do not want to watch, and this ruins my experience. I don't liked going into dungeons blind, so I do research, and I can see all the cutscenes online.

Developers: it is a terrible design decision to take control away from the user. It is so bad I decided not to subscribe after, so you lose a user. If you decide to give me back control in the game, I will change my mind. As it stands, you have ruined the experience for me. I guess I wasted my money on Stormblood, but I will waste no more on subscribing. I'm done for now. I won't be returning to the game or this forum.

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If it's not too late for you to read this, these are the only two dungeons where this happens, and you never have to do it again. Heavensward/Stormblood do not have forced cutscenes.

Oh my. All the other cutscenes in game are skippable minus a few short parts.

Not only do i get the nice fuzzy feeling of helping a new player get through the cool new dungeon, but I also get the best exp-per-hour ratio of the game outside of mega-optimal sweaty squadron/hoh runs. There's always youtube/twitch to watch or chat with friends during cutscenes

People who frequent the forums will tell you that there used to be post after post of frustrated newbies complaining that they wanted to watch cutscenes while in the instance. I'd say their preference overtakes the vets who run it just for the rewards. And what amazing rewards they are for such easy fights. Skipping them again means we lose the most rewarding roulette in the game.

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Originally Posted by Gokki

Not only do i get the nice fuzzy feeling of helping a new player get through the cool new dungeon, but I also get the best exp-per-hour ratio of the game outside of mega-optimal sweaty squadron/hoh runs. There's always youtube/twitch to watch or chat with friends during cutscenes

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squadron/hoh are the opposite of sweaty, even if you're booking it to the end

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Originally Posted by OssumPawesome

People who frequent the forums will tell you that there used to be post after post of frustrated newbies complaining that they wanted to watch cutscenes while in the instance. I'd say their preference overtakes the vets who run it just for the rewards. And what amazing rewards they are for such easy fights. Skipping them again means we lose the most rewarding roulette in the game.

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Five years into it, Square has no excuse for making these dungeons a requirement for new players. They needed to be edited out, if not the need for 7 other people to waste their time, years ago.

Being a little dragoon with no option to queue boost can easily take a new player 40+ minutes because these are so hated. That's before even getting into the dungeon.

I honestly find they should rework those dungeons and bring them up to date. This game has been around for so long and these 2 dungeons have always been a problem because of the inbuilt cutscenes. The Staff is perfectly aware of this too.
On the n00bies sides you have endlessly long waiting times to queue and on the Vets side you have long dungeons that aren't really worth your time.
They could remove the cutscenes and have speech bubbles instead. That would be the easiest fix I can think of.

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Originally Posted by Shadow-Clone19

They could remove the cutscenes and have speech bubbles instead. That would be the easiest fix I can think of.

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With how much everyone talks in those cutscenes, you'd either clip them and lose the story, or you'd have to wait until they're done to keep going. Especially Gaius.

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Originally Posted by Seraphor

If it was linked to the presence of a new player, then what you'd see happen is as soon as the duty starts and you get the message "One or more players are new to this duty" then people who don't want to watch the cutscenes will just quit out right there.

The simplest solution is to not run MSQ roulette if you don't want to watch the cutscenes. the rewards were specifically inflated to reflect a 45 minutes, level 50 instance, to reimburse your time accordingly.
If you want the reward, you pay for it via time invested, like all other content.

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This is such a flawed response.

In a most honest rephrasing it would basically be "If you want to endure a really unpleasant experience of having to sit through several long cutscenes which you have already seen many times over, then you will be rewarded with stuff you need to enjoy the game".

Not really a good customer journey, or experience is it? We should endeavor to make the experience better all round, for all players, not just for people experiencing the dungeon for the first time. Why is it we need to diminish the needs of many, in the sake of the needs of a few?

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Originally Posted by van_arn

squadron/hoh are the opposite of sweaty, even if you're booking it to the end



Five years into it, Square has no excuse for making these dungeons a requirement for new players. They needed to be edited out, if not the need for 7 other people to waste their time, years ago.

Being a little dragoon with no option to queue boost can easily take a new player 40+ minutes because these are so hated. That's before even getting into the dungeon.

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No frankly your entire attitude is what needs the heave ho. Your self righteous I'm the only one who's right attitude is beyond disgusting. Dungeoun stays as is dont like it dont freaking do it people are better off without dealing with that kind of behavior anyways.

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Originally Posted by GarrEphemeral

This is such a flawed response.

In a most honest rephrasing it would basically be "If you want to endure a really unpleasant experience of having to sit through several long cutscenes which you have already seen many times over, then you will be rewarded with stuff you need to enjoy the game".

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But you don't "need" any of those rewards specifically from MSQ roulette. Everything can be earned elsewhere. You get a nice bonus amount as compensation for sitting through the cutscenes - and it's up to you whether you value your time more than 400 tomes and whatever else they offer.

And you're still entirely free to go do something outside of the game while the cutscenes play. I never "watch the cutscenes" - I'll be either reading the forums, doing housework or getting myself a cup of tea.

there was already a solution ...


if you want to watch it at a given time use the Inn book it should have never been forced

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Originally Posted by MorbolvampireQueen6

there was already a solution ...
if you want to watch it at a given time use the Inn book it should have never been forced

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The cutscene viewer at the inn is a poor substitute for experiencing the entire dungeon - lacking the dungeon atmosphere and the context of the fights and action sections. Each confrontation, instead of leading to a battle, drops you back into the inn with its dreadful twinkly music.

And then there are the events that surround the dungeon itself - ie. the climax and ending of the entire game so far. You only get that full experience once: your escape from the exploding castrum; the celebration afterwards; the end credits; and an unreplayable non-cutscene live gameplay section as you return to the Waking Sands and all your friends welcome and congratulate you.

For someone who cares about the story, these things matter a lot, and "just watch it later at the inn" is not a solution.



When credits roll on a game, I want to feel like I've reached the end of it. Not that I've been rushed past it and have to watch a large chunk of the climax later. You wouldn't watch a film like that, or watch the last episode of a TV series before the second-last, but that's what skipping the cutscenes effectively does to your experience of the story.

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Originally Posted by MorbolvampireQueen6

there was already a solution ...


if you want to watch it at a given time use the Inn book it should have never been forced

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That is not a solution.

Not all cutscenes in the game can be re-watched in the inn.
Watching cutscenes in the inn rather than in the proper context gives a very different experience.
Running the dungeons without watching the cutscenes means you miss a lot of the context of the dungeons.

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Originally Posted by MistakeNot

That is not a solution.

Not all cutscenes in the game can be re-watched in the inn.
Watching cutscenes in the inn rather than in the proper context gives a very different experience.
Running the dungeons without watching the cutscenes means you miss a lot of the context of the dungeons.

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This is very true and I agree.

The fundamental essence of not rushing through the cutscenes is so that your feels can really resonate with the tale in real time with the context.