The fact that they didn't just redesign it as a single-player dungeon with NPCs fighting alongside you is amazing to me, considering what a tedious slog it is. Especially prae. It'd just be more pleasant for the people doing them, who could focus on the story, and then people wouldn't be tempted (with lots of tomestones) to do something they probably don't want to do. Especially prae.

You can still technically skip the cutscenes, but it's really annoying and then you're "robbing" the fun of a 12 second boss fight from the new person. Despite the fact that the cutscenes are so overly long that I could get the final boss of Castrum to 10%ish before the cutscene finished.

The best way to do it, then, is to fire up your favorite show, or a second game or something, and resign yourself to your fate. You want the prize for a hero, you gotta listen to Nero. For 87 minutes.