Your opinion on the NPC roleplaying duties

[Astrus]

On the one hand, I appreciate them not just showing me another cutscene.
On the other hand, I find the roleplay duties extremely long for the little complexity the typical three button setup allows.
On the other other hand (this is a normal number of hands for earthlings, yes?) I abhor any kind of content that messes with my ability layout.

[CidHeiral]

I enjoy them to a point. When they're used too often or go on for too long they can get a bit dull.

[SugarPuff]

I really dislike the ones that take long, because it's very boring using the same couple of abilities over and over, in a situation I've encountered hundreds of times throughout the game. I'd rather watch a cs for that amount of time. But, if they're kept short and infrequent or I'm given something else to do (like sneaking around as Thancred I enjoyed that one) it's possible for them to be fun.

[LilimoLimomo]

Playing as other characters is a vehicle section. And the only one to truly get it right is the Manderville one, because it's pure stupid joy. The rest of them have problems that make them range from tolerable to miserable.

Mechanically, there are problems. They take you away from your preferred playstyle with the job that you've been learning and honing for hundreds of hours and instead give you a kit that you may have never used before. Which can suck, because if a player doesn't understand the kit then they can fail and have to retry. And it can be a kit that they don't enjoy in the first place, and that alone makes the experience a chore.

Narratively, I'm also not a fan, because it's a story-based RPG where I'm me and Thancred is Thancred. Thancred exists in relation to me, and we affect each other's stories. But I'm not Thancred, and I shouldn't be controlling him. When you give me control of Thancred, you blur the barrier that separates his character and my character by making me responsible for both characters. If this was a party-based RPG like FF10 and that was the status quo, sure, fine, let's do this. But it's not. This is an RPG where I created my own character and only controlled them while building relationships with those around me for years before I'm suddenly given temporary control of my friend's body? It adds nothing and disrupts the flow of making me feel like I'm my character, because suddenly I'm not my character anymore.

When I fought Hraesvaelgr, Aymeric and Alphinaud went off to fight other dragons. There was no need for the game to cut away and allow me to control each of them while they fought these dragons. It may seem like a contradiction, but if the game added additional content where you controlled all 3 of these fights, the game would be lesser for it.

[Fawkes]

They were too frequent when they did them, it was like one every patch and it made them less special and more boring. They replaced them with the "walk around town with an NPC" quests which are the new 'way too frequent' thing that they need to stop with already. It's a shame they have such a one track mind about quest design and can't mix it up to keep things more interesting.

Also the enemies were too spongy like other people have said. If you're going to give me a unique special mode with different skills don't also make it a boring slog to play through.

[Jeeqbit]

I think they are great.

We should remember that these solo duties replace things like Castrum Meridianum, Praetorium and serve as a way to do trash packs prior to a dungeon, trial or raid.

For example, although Alex has trash packs even in A11, Omega has its trash packs in the solo duty preceeding it.

[ThaCa]

They might be interesting if there was more than 2 buttons.

[TaleraRistain]

I love them. I have seen complaints about the abilities. They did add a way to reorganize them to help with that but they could probably streamline things more. There are some things that will make certain people just never enjoy them, though. My hubby didn't like playing as Urianger, for instance. Healing is not something he is comfortable doing.

[TheMightyMollusk]

They're okay. It's nice to see that other characters can actually do stuff without the WoL to hold their hands. Although sometimes they just drag on too long. Thancred vs Ran'jit is the worst offender (not helped by, well, Ran'jit, who I generally dislike anyway).

[TaleraRistain]

Narratively, I'm also not a fan, because it's a story-based RPG where I'm me and Thancred is Thancred. Thancred exists in relation to me, and we affect each other's stories. But I'm not Thancred, and I shouldn't be controlling him. When you give me control of Thancred, you blur the barrier that separates his character and my character by making me responsible for both characters. If this was a party-based RPG like FF10 and that was the status quo, sure, fine, let's do this. But it's not. This is an RPG where I created my own character and only controlled them while building relationships with those around me for years before I'm suddenly given temporary control of my friend's body? It adds nothing and disrupts the flow of making me feel like I'm my character, because suddenly I'm not my character anymore.

I'm an Assassin's Creed fan so I just consider I'm a player inside an Animus following his memories in real time.