Cutscenes Somehow Skipped in Praetorium

I got Praetorium in Main Scenario Roulette, and things were proceeding as normal until we got to the part where you fight Gaius van Baelsar in the elevator. The pre-battle cutscene plays, but during Gaius's speech I see in the chat log that the battle has somehow already commenced and the room has sealed.

Apparently, a few members of our party were able to fight and defeat Gaius while the rest of us were still in the cutscene. This also happened for the very next boss fight, as well.

At first I suspected the players were up to some filthy shenanigans, but then one of them seemed confused and said something like "There is only three of us?" Luckily I don't think any of us were first-timers so nobody's story experience was ruined.

This occurred yesterday (Sept. 3) at 4:43pm EST (at least that's what my screenshot image properties say). If it helps, my character is Friel Wyndor on Siren.

https://i.imgur.com/NcCa6eT.png

I play in Japanese and I am often out of that cutscene much faster than anyone using English audio.
When I was leveling Dancer I was able to kite him alone and do about 40% of his HP before anyone else got out of the cutscene. With assistance I'm sure it could be completed.

That being said, imo the JP voice acting is better and doesn't change actors on you throughout the story, so maybe swap to it and enjoy your anime.

if you force quit the client and re-log in the cutscene gets skipped. This is an exploit however and can be reported.

If someone skips a cutscene and drags a boss over to you, if you take damage from an AOE you will be forced out of said cutscene.
I've had it happen several times to me when I run a tank in Praetorium.

That said japanese voice acting does cause some scenea with voiced dialogue to end significantly faster.

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Originally Posted by Tranquilmelody7

If someone skips a cutscene and drags a boss over to you, if you take damage from an AOE you will be forced out of said cutscene.
I've had it happen several times to me when I run a tank in Praetorium.

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Players are not loaded in during the cutscene in question here. You'd have nobody to drag Gaius to.
They only zone into the fight area once their cutscene is done, which would explain why someone thought there was only 3 people left.

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Originally Posted by DrWho2010

if you force quit the client and re-log in the cutscene gets skipped. This is an exploit however and can be reported.

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Due tothe nature of the exoloit, the only way you can prove if someone skips a cutscene is if you skip the same cutscene yourself.

I couuld practically guarantee the only reports of such ilk SE pays any heed would be if a skipper acknowledged doing so in chat, which are probably very rare as most cutscene skippers are dead silent.

Even then, I have never even once anywhere heard of anyone actually suffering a consequence
for skipping cutscenes.

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Originally Posted by Canadane

Players are not loaded in during the cutscene in question here. You'd have nobody to drag Gaius to.
They only zone into the fight area once their cutscene is done, which would explain why someone thought there was only 3 people left.

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This is only partially correct.
For gaius, and ultima phase 2 indeed no one is loaded into the instance.
For Nero and Lahabrea however, everyone is automatically loaded into instance after the cutscene is iniated.
I couod even provide proof of such for Nero, as that is personally the only boss I have been dragged out of the cutcscene for.

I
am unsure as tl which is true for Ultima phase 1 or ajy of the castrum fights

If one leaves and you join in progress the battle starts instantly which isn't fair. I have died few times in Praetorium from it.

I don't think there is a way to make it continue the cut scene from where everyone else is in the cut scene, but it could be made to force them restart the cut scene entirely so they are behind everyone, removing the point of doing it.

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Originally Posted by Jeeqbit

I don't think there is a way to make it continue the cut scene from where everyone else is in the cut scene, but it could be made to force them restart the cut scene entirely so they are behind everyone, removing the point of doing it.

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However, the game doesn't know the difference between a disconnect and someone force-quitting. So innocent people disconnecting from the dungeon would be punished.

In this case, though, it seems like the players might've been using the JP language cutscenes, as they go faster for some of the fights.

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Originally Posted by MilkieTea

However, the game doesn't know the difference between a disconnect and someone force-quitting

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If they missed the cut scene unintentionally, maybe they need to see it from the beginning still, especially if it's their first time.

Can confirm that the sequence described is accessible for those of us who listen to the Japanese voice acting tracks.

As I think it polite to wait for the other [typically] 6 or 7 players to join in the battle, knowing that shaving off a few seconds by engaging Gaius doesn't advance the next cut scene any faster, I wait.

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Originally Posted by Jeeqbit

If they missed the cut scene unintentionally, maybe they need to see it from the beginning still, especially if it's their first time.

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And if it isn’t someones first time? You realize there are people that run prae/castrum every day. Punishing them for a disconnect just because there are a small minority who force-shutdown the game isn’t right.

And even if they are new - why should they be left behind while everyone else keeps going? You’d get people who’s first time could be ruined simply because they happened to disconnect at, let’s say, Nero. Now they haven’t fought Nero, everyone’s already done with him (since disconnects force you to wait about two minutes - and that’s if their internet wasn’t the culprit. If their internet was that’s an entire 5 minutes, possibly).

They’re stuck in the Nero cutscene while everyone else is either in the Gaius cutscene or already done with the Gaius cutscene. Now they either miss the Gaius cutscene, or, while everyone else is fighting Gaius, they’ve got to watch the cutscene. And then everyone’s done fighting Gaius, then what? They’re still in the cutscene.

I think that the cut scenes are more valuable than the fights they would miss, if we want to call them fights.

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Originally Posted by Jeeqbit

I think that the cut scenes are more valuable than the fights they would miss, if we want to call them fights.

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You’re deliberately missing the point:

New players complain all the time about being left behind in Prae (rightfully so). You want to exacerbate that for what? Because some Joe decided to force quit and start one fight early? You’re contradicting yourself.

If the cutscenes are more valuable than the fight, it shouldn’t matter if Joe who’s seen the cutscene fifty times wants to get it over with and move on - because New players are still going to see the cutscene.

And if new players are stuck in cutscenes what happens to key moments that get pushed back? If they’re constantly behind, what happens to those other cutscenes that they’re behind.

Thanks for the responses everyone! Hmm, it would be nice if players were plunked into one of those inescapable "duty start" bubbles for each boss, and couldn't get out until everyone's finished the cutscene. It wouldn't work for everything, but at least a couple of 'em could use it.