why has Role Playing in battle become a thing

okay so I waited to complain about this(yes this is a complaint)
I pay a monthly fee to play MY character yet through the MSQ I'm being forced to roleplay NPCs.
I do not find this the least bit fun or even a tiny bit enjoyable. I feel like it breaks the immersion for me.
At first I let it go but this is ridiculous. it is making me seriously reconsider whether I'm even going to buy endwalker at all let alone resub.

do any of you agree with me? if you do please like my post, if not please tell me why you enjoy it.
also please keep this thread civil. too many flaming arguments happen on these forums and I would rather this not be one of them.

This doesn't happen that often. You will spend the overwhelmingly vast majority of the game in control of your own character. These moments where you control another are very rare. I can only think of maybe a couple off the top of my head.

I like the touch. It's more interactive than the NPC just telling the story. You get to relive it yourself and it's a breath of fresh air that you get a simple, new toolkit and it takes a little bit of awareness to get through those duties.

I don't mind it at all, especially since it's only happened what... Less than ten times since the feature was introduced back in Stormblood? It's a way to inject other character's perspectives into the story and shake the pace up a little bit, and since it rarely lasts longer than a single instance it's hardly that much to care most of the time. About the only one I didn't care for was the one where Ranjiit and Thancred duked it out, and that was only because Ranjiit was a literal bullet sponge which caused the pacing to be a bit off for me.

I appreciate the chance to spend 5 minutes actively participating in a duty using an NPC, as opposed to a cut scene.

Added bonus: if you're not already a gunbreaker/dragoon/whatever, you get a chance to see some of the mechanics from a personal stand.

I understand why it "butchers" jobs. But I still hate that.

This happens like... what... three times in the entirety of the game? I don't really personally understand why this is such a big deal. All it is, is another method of telling us the story from that characters point of view. It's the same thing as if they simply showed a cutscene of it, except this is more interactive.

Would that make you angry as well, If they showed a cutscene that only focused on Y'shtola, or someone else, without your character? Because they do that all the time and.. this really is no different. It's a short section that shows you what happened from that characters point of view, and lets you play the scene rather than watch it. If it breaks your immersion, just think of it as a cutscene because... that's basically all it is.

If doing three very short easy sections of the game where you play out a cutscene instead of watching it is enough to make you want to skip on endwalker... well i dont really know what to say.

I really enjoy the rp battles :)

It's a few minutes. You'll survive.

guess I should have figured I would be outnumbered and you all give some compelling arguments. but I would rather just watch them in a cutscene than play them. maybe my time playing this game is nearing the end since I see that you all are having fun with it and I'm not.

I like the interaction. It helps us participate in events that our character isn't present for

And the latest one with a string of 3 before "our" battle is very nice thematically, it helps flesh out the battlefield and the Scions as a group

No, I just don't make a big deal over nothing.

If you aren't enjoying the game then take a break or leave for another one? I stopped playing this game for 8-9 months this expansion myself.

It's only happened a few times. I see this complaint as incredibly minor.

Hundreds of hours of story and you spend like a total of 15 - 20 minutes playing a different main character.

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Originally Posted by Wildsprite

guess I should have figured I would be outnumbered and you all give some compelling arguments. but I would rather just watch them in a cutscene than play them. maybe my time playing this game is nearing the end since I see that you all are having fun with it and I'm not.

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That raises an interesting question, do we have any in game cutscenes that are elaborate cutscenes?
There are some in trailers and the like, but the most I can think that actually happen IN GAME is stuff like when Raubahn attacks (to keep it vague) which is basically just, like, an attack. Most of the time when fights happen in cutscenes it's a single blow, like the ALC quest where someone flying kicks a Lala, or the Hildebrand stuff where someone is struck so hard they fly off into space. So I'm not confident that a cutscene for Ranjit vs Thancred (for example) would be as much fun to watch as we suspect...

I have never seen it as a roleplay tbh (where i actually try do immerse myself completly). It's just playing a different character for me (like i would do in another game), so it wasnt immersion breaking. In fact i felt more immersed when i don't just watch a cutscene and it was a nice way do discover a job i didnt try.
Tbh any cutscene where your MC isnt even here already breaks the immersion if i'm roleplaying (because i'm not supposed to see that).

I mean, saying you don't like Palace of the Dead (where mechanics are very different), Bozja (where you have a bunch of weird new abilities) or even getting synced below level 50 sounds valid, since you aren't really playing your character as normal anymore.

Considering the EXTREMELY low difficulty of these "RP Battles", they're basically just a cutscene. Kind of fun, really. If they ever showed up in content you did more than once per character, I'd be upset, but as is? Fine by me.

I think the roleplay moments are kind of cool, though I wouldn't mind if they added just a couple more abilities . . .XD. Sometimes it's like two spells, or feels that way.

Also- I want to roleplay as some antagonists, Emet, Zenos, hack a primal via echo- give primal role play lol.

I agree with OP here. I hated it. Not because those rp duties are hard. It just feels weird.
We're all used to our own characters and theire movements and skills.
Like playing a lalafell for several years and all of a sudden you're forced to play a tall character.
The worst part for me was when i had to play as Alphinaud because i just hate him.
Like i wont even level him as a trust.

Weirdest thing to go ballistic over. Almost up there with the player that stopped playing midway through the first cutscene because an NPC used the wrong pronoun.

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Originally Posted by ItMe

That raises an interesting question, do we have any in game cutscenes that are elaborate cutscenes?
There are some in trailers and the like, but the most I can think that actually happen IN GAME is stuff like when Raubahn attacks (to keep it vague) which is basically just, like, an attack. Most of the time when fights happen in cutscenes it's a single blow, like the ALC quest where someone flying kicks a Lala, or the Hildebrand stuff where someone is struck so hard they fly off into space. So I'm not confident that a cutscene for Ranjit vs Thancred (for example) would be as much fun to watch as we suspect...

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Any cutscene with Ranjit against Thancred, though admittedly it's mostly Ranjit dodging around Thancred's swings. There is at least the first time we fight Ranjit in Lakeland, and just after beating Titania it comes up.

I can think of .... 4 of those battles off the top of my head, one being in the PoV of an NPC trying to hold out while your WoL is making their way there.

I think it really helped the tension and effect that yeah, in this part of the game, things getting more difficult and dangerous. I can tell you my heart was pounding and I was cursing a lot at my screen LOL.

Alphinaud, Hien, Y'shtola, Thancred, Estinien... I feel like I am missing one. I think most of the hatred for these came up when people had to be Y'shtola and, heaven forbid, had to heal.

I'm not a fan of it generally because they tend to be boring and simplistic to play. They're excusable for a few high tension moments like Thancred vs Ran'jit but I find most of them to be unnecessary.

They're not the end of the world, but I do tend to groan more often than be excited when they pop up.

I liked your comment, but I'll also pipe up as devil's advocate for you. I don't like it. I'd rather have a cutscene. I just wanna see what happens. Suddenly having totally different moves and sometimes different role entirely overwhelms and frustrates me. Thank god for the checkpoints and echo, because I had to redo the new one a couple times. Some people just don't want to heal, and don't like to. I don't see how that's wrong. The game gives you a choice on what you wanna play any other time. But I digress, the people saying you only do it a couple times in the entire msq so far are right. Thankfully it isn't often at all. Maybe if it was, my feelings would be a little more intense, but it's not, and it's definitely not a gamebreaker for me. Just a rare annoyance. I'm sure there are a lot of different things in the game that rub people the wrong way, but it's an mmo. And that means there will always be a variety of game play because as you can see a lot of people like these interactive parts. And I am 100% ok with that!

Roleplaying game, yet you have to ask a question like this? Your not that smart are you?

I have to say, this is the dumbest thing to ask/state on here to the point it should be considered trolling lol.. Its in the definition of a rpg

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Originally Posted by lezard21

Weirdest thing to go ballistic over. Almost up there with the player that stopped playing midway through the first cutscene because an NPC used the wrong pronoun.

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thank you so much for equating my complaint to what could be considered a mistake they left in the translation in the game.

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Originally Posted by StormyFae

Roleplaying game, yet you have to ask a question like this? Your not that smart are you?

I have to say, this is the dumbest thing to ask/state on here to the point it should be considered trolling lol.. Its in the definition of a rpg

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yes it is, I PAY to play MY character. which by definition is role playing. it is a character I created and leveled and would rather play as. not this nonsense role playing as NPCs I'm not familiar with. did you not fully read my OP? apparently not because your reply denotes you're not that bright

RP duties are incredibly boring and tedious to go through. Especially when they decide to slap a solo duty before/after one. Hien's was especially egregious iirc, since if you messed up in the solo duty right after, you were stuck having to go through his BS again, when his entire duty was scripted and you could literally just not do anything aside from avoid AoEs and stack when required and clear the fight. I recall Thancred's being really tedious and long-winded as well.

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Originally Posted by Cinno

This happens like... what... three times in the entirety of the game? I don't really personally understand why this is such a big deal. All it is, is another method of telling us the story from that characters point of view. It's the same thing as if they simply showed a cutscene of it, except this is more interactive.

Would that make you angry as well, If they showed a cutscene that only focused on Y'shtola, or someone else, without your character? Because they do that all the time and.. this really is no different. It's a short section that shows you what happened from that characters point of view, and lets you play the scene rather than watch it. If it breaks your immersion, just think of it as a cutscene because... that's basically all it is.

If doing three very short easy sections of the game where you play out a cutscene instead of watching it is enough to make you want to skip on endwalker... well i dont really know what to say.

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I think we're up to five now? Alphinaud, Y'shtola, Hien, Thancred, and Estinien

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Originally Posted by Wildsprite

thank you so much for equating my complaint to what could be considered a mistake they left in the translation in the game.



yes it is, I PAY to play MY character. which by definition is role playing. it is a character I created and leveled and would rather play as. not this nonsense role playing as NPCs I'm not familiar with. did you not fully read my OP? apparently not because your reply denotes you're not that bright

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You pay to play the game which includes npc rp and char rp lol its so funny how ppl toss out pay like it means anything

Oh noes... playing another main protagonist in a RPG game. Like... playing Ethan in RE8, playing as Cloud in FF7Remake or playing as Bayonetta in .. well Bayonetta games. Such unknown method of telling a story in a view of somebody else. Damn sorcery.

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Originally Posted by Wildsprite

I PAY to play MY character. which by definition is role playing. it is a character I created and leveled and would rather play as. not this nonsense role playing as NPCs I'm not familiar with. did you not fully read my OP? apparently not because your reply denotes you're not that bright

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You PAY to log into the game, what that entails thereafter is up to what the devs have developed. I've seen a lot of entitlement from people but this is something else.

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Originally Posted by Elkanah

I think we're up to five now? Alphinaud, Y'shtola, Hien, Thancred, and Estinien

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Don't forget the role quests all have one too. Well the combat role quests, not doh/dol.

i for liek it as it allows yout os ee the battles or events from a different set of eyes. yes my chara is WoL hero bha bah but i do ahve firends that stand with me so why not, sure the move sets are simple but still its welcoem chage.

in my OP I asked for those that disagreed with me to tell me why. some of you gave some really good answers. others acted like I'm acting like an entitled baby. those of you who did this should be ashamed of yourselves but people like you usually never get it. my OP was a complaint based on an opinion that I am very much entitled to just as you are entitled to believe this is good content that you enjoy.
if you enjoy the role playing(playing as other NPCs) I'm happy for you but that does not give you the right to belittle my opinion of it. especially since I asked for your opinions of the aspect of the game not your opinions of my opinion. but alas there will always be trolls that don't understand the purpose of a thread and will act like they are all high and mighty. when I come to these forums I try not to get nasty but some of you really make that difficult.

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Originally Posted by Mesarthim

People who disagree with you are not trolls. People around these parts don't quite seem to understand what this word means.

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I was not calling those who disagree with me trolls.

People who disagree with you are not trolls. People around these parts don't quite seem to understand what this word means.

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Originally Posted by Mesarthim

It's a few minutes. You'll survive.

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This.

/10char.

I can understand the view that the roleplay instances are boring due to the rotations of said characters being watered down for ease-of-use for the folks that only main one job, but that's the only bad side I've seen that I can agree with. It's very interesting to see stuff from other sides, especially when your character isn't present in that location. As for just wanting them to be cutscenes, the strength of video games as a medium is the interactivity (even if its minor) so I can't see why a movie you sit and stare at is more fun than playing and pushing buttons.

Also not to be too hard on the dev team but cutscenes made in-engine will never be as energetic or intense as full CG movies and they know it, so it seems like they used the roleplay function as a way to show some of the action as best as they could which is through actual combat and running around.

I always found it more interesting when they do it well.

It a "show don't tell" mode of story telling. Rather than having dialogue boxes wherein someone tells you "oh and while you were out we did <insert thing>" Now they don't have to because you as the player not only saw the thing, but got to experience it first hand. It makes the scions feel like more competent fighters and makes the experience more dramatic. Sure some of the trust fights are pretty bad, but that's more because of the combat system they gave you for the person you're controlling than because of controlling someone at all.

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Originally Posted by Mesarthim

People who disagree with you are not trolls.

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You mean people like this?

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Originally Posted by xbahax92

Oh noes... playing another main protagonist in a RPG game. Like... playing Ethan in RE8, playing as Cloud in FF7Remake or playing as Bayonetta in .. well Bayonetta games. Such unknown method of telling a story in a view of somebody else. Damn sorcery.

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Comparing solo games with scripted characters to an mmo with a character editor.
Sure. Not trolling at all.

I don't mind it at all.

I do know there are people who completely freaking abhor certain playstyles (caster/melee/etc etc) so I can see where some of the frustration might come from.

That said, I bid you consider this point: It doesn't happen that often.

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Originally Posted by Ilenya

Alphinaud, Hien, Y'shtola, Thancred, Estinien... I feel like I am missing one. I think most of the hatred for these came up when people had to be Y'shtola and, heaven forbid, had to heal.

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Ah forgot Estinien.

And who else did Hien's part before they changed it to make it easier? I sure did. That was brutal.