Why is the WoL so lame in cutscenes?

[KageTokage]

After kicking Mikoto away there didn't really seem to be any need to immediately blow her brains out, the hostage was safe(r) and she was in villain monologue mode, may as well let her spill the beans on the ultimate plan.

I mean, it backfired a bit, but given past precedent it did seem like a safe enough bet.

They didn't necessarily have to shoot to kill, just to incapacitate...which is what ended up happening after everything went to shite which further made me facepalm a little.

I'll feel better about it if we actually get to save the blades somehow after just standing around and letting all but two of them get tempered, though (This really bugged me after the whole incident with Lakshmi where we immediately assumed she was going to try to temper our friends and jumped to their defense the moment she showed up). Well, that and Misija getting the traitor's death she deserves without them trying to play the sympathy card.

[Alleo]

So what your refer to as lazy writing, is your refusal to except suspension of disbelief. You have also forgotten that the player character wants to save Mikoto more than just trounce Misija (Mikoto's safety comes first, so you hesitate to save her life and have to react to the full scale of Misija's betrayal). You have also forgotten the Misija gets shot after kicking Mikoto away and being distracted tempering the Blades while the player character acts appropriately shielding the remaining soldiers. In universe this all makes sense.

There is a point where you have to believe that somehow one guy can slash a useless npc and they die in one hit will another more important one can be nearly cut in half, not get healings for quite some time and somehow still survive. You have to somehow accept that someone getting shot a couple of times and getting the whole building collaps on them somehow survives it and even strands on an island..or that somehow in the exact right moment of time an ally that had no idea that we needed help came in to help us...while the others that were still not tempered could have done the same but of course not they are standing there in pure shock.

You migh have to accept some stuff but there is a point where it gets too much. My emotional reaction to that scene in bozja was full annoyance...annoyance at my own character and how she was again forced to do nothing..to watch like she is a starting adventurer and not someone that killed a certain Ascians a bit ago...we were not standing against another Ascian or even Zenos, no against a normal soldier, who at that time had no hostage anymore. (Just like how Thancred needed to save us from the WoD in HW...because seemingly we were not able to do so...)

Yes the character wants to save Mikoto so instead of rushing to her side (which the WoL should be able to quite fast no matter the job...) they stand there...Mikoto at that time is not in direct contact to the traitor, she was kicked away...it would be utterly realistic in this world to be there standing infront her. With that we would truly protect her and not just trust that the other person would not just kill her anyways. Misija also only gets shot from someone outside the group who magically appeared the moment they were needed. Not a few seconds earlier to stop it at all or too late. No quite nicely to save us all, while it could have easily been done by some of the remaining soldiers.

The reaction of a character should imo fit with how they are presented throughout the story. We are nearly godlike. It is canon that the WoL can level more than one job and yet as soon as cutscenes starts (and only there) we are weak. Weak and slow and kinda stupid...

After kicking Mikoto away there didn't really seem to be any need to immediately blow her brains out, the hostage was safe(r) and she was in villain monologue mode, may as well let her spill the beans on the ultimate plan.

I mean, it backfired a bit, but given past precedent it did seem like a safe enough bet.

So now she is save enough? If she is why did we follow through with the crystal? We know at least a bit how that one works and if Mikoto was not in any danger (and I agree she was not, at least should not be for trained people like us and the rest of the resistance) why did we do that? Why not just attack the traitor while letting the rest handle Mikoto and the cyrstal? We were not alone, while she was. Our very own character should have been enough to hold her back enough to get back anything she took. But we did nothing..no worse we even helped her...

They didn't necessarily have to shoot to kill, just to incapacitate...which is what ended up happening after everything went to shite which further made me facepalm a little.

I'll feel better about it if we actually get to save the blades somehow after just standing around and letting all but two of them get tempered, though (This really bugged me after the whole incident with Lakshmi where we immediately assumed she was going to try to temper our friends and jumped to their defense the moment she showed up). Well, that and Misija getting the traitor's death she deserves without them trying to play the sympathy card.

Yeah thats horrible too..we should know (after that many dealings with primals) that this was one but we only used the shield when it was too late for most. (But hey at least we remembered that and saved the most important ones.) Funny also how she used blades of tempering for the first round but not for the second making it much easier to hold it back.

[Morningstar1337]

The issue with the end could had also been resolved if, in addition to Save the Queen, Misija also had a Firearm, or if STQ itself became the base of a Garlean-type gunblade, to not only add further insult to the Bozjans she betrayed but also have a way to kill Mikoto at Range, which would in turn explain why people didn't try to shoot her as she would still have Mikoto at gunpoint.

[HeulGDarian]

Things that kinda disappointed me a bit but eh. Spoiler warning ofc

1) "Gosetsu holding the wall up"
me :its ok ill just use titan to hold it we can escape
"Gosetsu monologue"
me :Its ok dude just let titan deal with it
"Gosetsu gets shot"
me :OH FOR GOD SHAKES
2)
potato captures me and frames me for murder
me tied up: I give you 2 seconds before i order ifrit to blast you
"cutscene showing me be visually afraid"
me: ......
3)
me : YES i finally have the calamity dreadwyrm, tremble before my power
npc: oh hi heul i didnt know it was you, here you go
me: thats me, how much is it
npc: it will be 100gil
me: here you go keep the change
npc: youre my favourite customer

[SannaR]

The only time I've really been taken out of what was going on in the story was the please good guy don't call my bluff part. And maybe being a healer when Haurchefant died.

Now I do agree with the whole why did the npcs not do anything once Makoto was kicked away. That totally should have been a light her up moment. But I guess story gots to story.

[Draginhikari]

I took the scene a primarily in regards to 'Something isn't right here' after all you have a single defector showing up alone with no backup with a hostage wielding a strange weapon. Bajsaljen already believed that they had taken the Castrum far too easily so any rash action may have had dire consequences because they didn't know what to expect. So rather than rush in, they seemed to be attempt to bide their time to get a grasp on the situation. I doubt any of them were expecting a Primal to jump out of the sword and temper everyone. So even if from our perspective and hindsight rushing in may have been the best idea, the characters themselves were not aware of that.

As far as the WoL's action, well... your kind of butting up against two issues there... one is the limitation of action that can be taken in Cutscenes by the player character, there is simply no way that Yoshida and his team have the resources or time to adjust Cutscenes based on Job characteristics, so in that regard anything that requires the WoL of physically fight something MUST be done in a game play segment which depending on the cut scene could okay or very pace breaking and limits the scope of what can be shown.

The second is more character specific attribute of the Player Character falling into a specific heroic archetype as far as the general story in concerned. The WoL is very prone to protect friend and immediate allies over sometimes the long-term consequences. In this case it seems ensure Mikoto's wellbeing override the rest of the situation, mostly because the WoL wasn't exactly aware of Mijsa's plans at the time either, and when there isn't a specific plan, the WoL tends to just act in the immediate. Let's just say there is a good reason why the Scions and other groups in the games tend to make the major plans and the WoL is kind of directed in what the plan is, because left to their own devices they tend to follow immediate situation even at their own expense or with unintended consequences.

[KageTokage]

Honestly, the fact that they already suspected the Garleans were scheming something should've been even less reason to just let things play out in that situation. Their decision to not interrupt the ritual with the crystal focus was sound, but they could've just not let that happen in the first place.

[Tridus]

I took the scene a primarily in regards to 'Something isn't right here' after all you have a single defector showing up alone with no backup with a hostage wielding a strange weapon. Bajsaljen already believed that they had taken the Castrum far too easily so any rash action may have had dire consequences because they didn't know what to expect. So rather than rush in, they seemed to be attempt to bide their time to get a grasp on the situation. I doubt any of them were expecting a Primal to jump out of the sword and temper everyone. So even if from our perspective and hindsight rushing in may have been the best idea, the characters themselves were not aware of that.

That's the exact time to shoot first. He thinks we took it too easily, and that it's a trap. We know there's a traitor in front of us trying to do something. She's left herself wide open and needs our help to execute her plan.

That's not the time to patiently wait for whatever the Garleans are planning to be executed. It's time to shoot to kill and then GTFO with the hostage.

The second is more character specific attribute of the Player Character falling into a specific heroic archetype as far as the general story in concerned. The WoL is very prone to protect friend and immediate allies over sometimes the long-term consequences. In this case it seems ensure Mikoto's wellbeing override the rest of the situation, mostly because the WoL wasn't exactly aware of Mijsa's plans at the time either, and when there isn't a specific plan, the WoL tends to just act in the immediate. Let's just say there is a good reason why the Scions and other groups in the games tend to make the major plans and the WoL is kind of directed in what the plan is, because left to their own devices they tend to follow immediate situation even at their own expense or with unintended consequences.

But Mikoto wasn't under threat anymore. We're surrounded by people with ranged weapons. We could have obliterated Misija before she took two steps with our combined firepower.

No one, Mikoto included, is made safer by going along with the traitor's plan when the readily available alternative is "take her out". Considering that's exactly what happens after everything goes wrong because no one bothered to act earlier, the whole thing is just ridiculous.

This wasn't even a negotiation. It was us following the demands of someone with a hostage after they didn't have a hostage anymore, and the entire resistance went along with it because "reasons". That's why it doesn't land, and the only emotion it evokes is annoyance. They'd portrayed everyone involved as competent up until this point, but then a cutscene starts and no one is capable of doing anything except the one random NPC who wasn't even there until the writers wanted someone to actually do something.

[Vyrerus]

Yeah, I gotta say. When she finally got shot, my only reaction was, "IT'S ABOUT TIME!" and "But who?" I mean, we've all seen movies where the bad guy has a knife to someone's throat and a gun on the hero, and the hero runs up and pulls their gun on the bad guy. Bad guy says, "One wrong move and I'll slit her throat." Then they get a bullet in the head, and more often than not, the hostage gets out fine or with a far less than fatal neck nick. The conclusion to Lacus Litore was awful, and I hate it. It was not a good scene in anyway, shape, or form.

[Vyrerus]

At the very least, they could have shown us an early scene where Mikoto sees the future, and assumes that this will all happen, and have Mikoto talking us down instead of Misjia.