I hate playing as other characters

[GeminiReed]

Not a fan and I'm somebody that tries to be at least functional with each job. Essentially the same gripe I have with CLL/DR/Dal: I queued as my role/job I want to play that role/job not be a tank or healer because the tanks and healers want to be green/blue DPS.

[RobynDaBank]

I would be fine with them were the replacements of the buttons not wonky for me. Don't have a screenshot on hand, but my actions are placed to leave a gap every 2-3 button spaces. The game doesn't know that, which means I'll have skills on 1, 2, no keybind, and then 3. It's a bit silly but usually the third is a heal so I can click that.

Otherwise? I love them. The one with Thancred in Shadowbringers somehow made me care even more for the fight. It was frustrating and grueling, and I was sweating tension just like Thancred must have in that situation. It wasn't another cutscene of a Scion losing without my control.

[Avidria]

I don't mind it, even like some of the ones we've had so far, but MAN are some of them waaaaay to long and drawn out. Especially for how few buttons they usually give you to work with. Ranjit's Ahm Araeng fight was by far the worst offender but some of them could definitely stand to be a little bit shorter.

[StriderShinryu]

My biggest ongoing issue with them is when they give you a completely gimped version of a job you know how to play. In the last one, for example, I was literally playing as a Red Mage and yet when I had to play as Ali it made me play gimped Red Mage. At least give us a pop up option to use our own hotbars and skills when you're going to make us play a class we already have at or beyond that "level" in the storyline.

[Knot_D]

Ehh I don't mind it, it's great stuff and I was hyped with Urianger's card mechanic and Alisaie's RDM skills.

[Iscah]

I think some of them do drag out longer than necessary, but I like them overall.

Coming mostly from single-player RPGs and "action games", I'm used to playing as whichever character a game gives me to play as, so it's no big deal having another one here.

I'm not too offended by scripted failure either. Usually those kinds of fights still have "win or lose" conditions – you can still (at least theoretically) die to the enemy's attacks or gimmicks and that means you fail the fight and have to start over. Your reward isn't victory but progressing to the next step of the story.

on a side note, it would be way cooler to be "playing these RP" character, but have our main character join midway during the fight but do like a huge theatrical entrance, and we switch over back, that would be super cool

We basically do that in 4.55 with the solo duty as Hien, trying to buy time until the WoL arrives, at which point it transitions into our solo duty against Zenos/Elidibus.

I hope we can use this system to do crazy things occasionally

The G-Warrior mech fight is using the "play as NPC" programming, for a start.

My biggest ongoing issue with them is when they give you a completely gimped version of a job you know how to play.

I'm not keen on it either, but I guess it puts everyone in even footing for the fight.

I wish you could rearrange the hotbars though.

[Shougun]

The G-Warrior mech fight is using the "play as NPC" programming, for a start.

That one was definitely the right idea! I didn't think of it when posting because I was largely thinking magical things I wanted to "role play", rather than mechanical, but that is definitely an example that fits what I was generally saying.

I was saying magitek operator would be potentially a nice limited job (given the logical potential of progressions, unrelated to pretty much anything anyone wants to 'main', and relatively self provides reasons why it has restrictions to content), but when G-Warrior came along I was like "wow, this could be a really fun limited job...".

[Iscah]

when G-Warrior came along I was like "wow, this could be a really fun limited job...".

The problem with the G-Warrior specifically is that its a giant robot built to a different scale and placed in a specially built arena. It looks person-sized on your screen but that's because there aren't any people to compare it to.

You couldn't just drop it into a normal zone or the scale would be off.

[Shougun]

The problem with the G-Warrior specifically is that its a giant robot built to a different scale and placed in a specially built arena. It looks person-sized on your screen but that's because there aren't any people to compare it to.

You couldn't just drop it into a normal zone or the scale would be off.

Of course it would be made smaller lol, I like seeing my screen. It's the concept in action, you don't have to be a two story building for it to remain feeling cool (though the scale made that particular moment in the story fun).

Besides you'd likely not limited job that exact unit, so /shrug to the concern overall. Assume more logic in posts man .

[Gemina]

I generally don't have a problem with them, and felt the last one in particular was brilliantly done.