Why is the WoL so lame in cutscenes?

[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.

[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.

[Draginhikari]

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.

Eh... I'd argue that a bit of hindsight and player perspective regarding the circumstances and in some perspective it might be viewed as more tactical to approach the situation in caution in case the expectation to rush the enemy after throwing the hostile, probably the type of overthinking of a situation the might have worked without the primal involved. I don't know, I just didn't find myself as bothered about the cutscene as it seems a lot of people did.

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.

Eh... I don't know, looking back at the scene it doesn't seem like Mikoto was exactly 'safe' at that point, despite being further away it still would have been plausible for something to go wrong. The NPC in question basically was unseen up to that point and likely was only succeed primarily because it was a surprise attack by a opponent that wasn't supposed to be there. Given everyone excluding the primary cast was already tempered before his arrival, I don't really think it made that much of a difference regarding the scene. I'm not saying it was the greatest direction ever and there were problems with how it played out, but I just don't understand the anger surrounding the thing I've seen.

I admit the thread has given me some more insight on the view but I still don't particularly finding myself agreeing.