why during cutscene its always like this ... (small spoiler)

[ChazNatlo]

I feel like there would be a somewhat delicate balance for "Do things that any class can do" between say, using melee skills on par with a Pugilist despite being an Arcanist, and our characters suddenly looking like scrubs, Tackling and using untrained moves despite not just being powerful, but endlessly capable savants.

I mean, currently we look like untrained mooks because we appear to have almost no combat sense, not moving at all as opposed to just moving poorly.

Out of curiosity, assuming only for this cutscene and not any others going forward, how would people feel if they had done the cutscene with them starting off with one of their members hidden and them sucker punching us, taking us out of the fight before a fight can even happen, and then our compatriots get to fight and show us their skills?

[Elleia]

This is definitely a case of SE not wanting to control our actions and step on toes. Look at the responses to this thread as an example - some people are all for it while others would rather not have it. I think blocking and such would be fine (if done well - maybe a barrier of sorts for magic users a la Y'shtola), but running and tackling, as suggested? That could upset certain players who play as daintier/smaller characters, or lead people to think "my character wouldn't have done that!".

Of course, not everyone is going to be happy with what they choose to do with the cutscenes - the 2.55 events are a prime example of this, as many people were upset that their characters didn't fight back while others liked the decision. Overall they try to keep the player character as neutral as possible to avoid infringing on peoples' individual headcannons for their characters. Unfortunately this doesn't sit well for those who would like their characters to act a certain way instead. This is something I can't see them addressing anytime soon, unfortunately.

[Savvy]

It's not as if I get a choice or not to stand back there and nod if I want to, I just have to because that's what they chose to make us all do. Trust me that that is not how I see myself or how my character would behave given the choice.

This is why I really think it would've been awesome if the Warriors of Darkness had actually been our character. It would have given them the freedom to show our "character" actually doing things without upsetting the people who didn't feel like that was a reflection of them. They could have been making these crazy expressions and even have been voiced, looked like us without actually being us, fought people without our precious Warriors of Light having to dirty their hands. That's what I was hoping for instead of mister derplander who makes no sense to me anyways.

[KyahAlmasy]

This is definitely a case of SE not wanting to control our actions and step on toes. Look at the responses to this thread as an example - some people are all for it while others would rather not have it. I think blocking and such would be fine (if done well - maybe a barrier of sorts for magic users a la Y'shtola), but running and tackling, as suggested? That could upset certain players who play as daintier/smaller characters, or lead people to think "my character wouldn't have done that!".

Of course, not everyone is going to be happy with what they choose to do with the cutscenes - the 2.55 events are a prime example of this, as many people were upset that their characters didn't fight back while others liked the decision. Overall they try to keep the player character as neutral as possible to avoid infringing on peoples' individual headcannons for their characters. Unfortunately this doesn't sit well for those who would like their characters to act a certain way instead. This is something I can't see them addressing anytime soon, unfortunately.

There needs to be some sort of give and take for this though. In the beginning, when our characters are first introduced this mentality was more easily acceptable. We were new, and still had some growing to do so. Our meekness seemed to be a product of this so we swallowed it. We needed the Scions to protect us from harm, and show us the way. But that's no longer the case, the story has steered us into formidable warriors of light, capable of standing toe to toe with beings who rival even gods.

The disparity in canon between the plot of the story and our character is becoming more and more apparent because our characters still act as hapless as they did when they first arrived. At some point, certain liberties need to be taken to align our character's role in the story, otherwise the story dissonance only grows, and pulls the player further from the story. And the "Story" in a Final Fantasy game has almost always been Square's largest appeal, especially to the players who actually take the time to watch all the cutscenes and not just skip them.

As players we need to accept that the main story is going to make certain decisions for us, these are the unique elements that push the story forward and further our role in FFXIV. This failure to adapt the role they're crafting us, to our character is what we're seeing here, like a small bubble rising to the surface with an audible popping sound, we're immediately pulled from our immersion when the idea the story is giving us and what we see, is so different.

[Elleia]

There needs to be some sort of give and take for this though. In the beginning, when our characters are first introduced this mentality was more easily acceptable. We were new, and still had some growing to do so. Our meekness seemed to be a product of this so we swallowed it. We needed the Scions to protect us from harm, and show us the way. But that's no longer the case, the story has steered us into formidable warriors of light, capable of standing toe to toe with beings who rival even gods.

The disparity in canon between the plot of the story and our character is becoming more and more apparent because our characters still act as hapless as they did when they first arrived. At some point, certain liberties need to be taken to align our character's role in the story, otherwise the story dissonance only grows, and pulls the player further from the story. And the "Story" in a Final Fantasy game has almost always been Square's largest appeal, especially to the players who actually take the time to watch all the cutscenes and not just skip them.

As players we need to accept that the main story is going to make certain decisions for us, these are the unique elements that push the story forward and further our role in FFXIV. This failure to adapt the role they're crafting us, to our character is what we're seeing here, like a small bubble rising to the surface with an audible popping sound, we're immediately pulled from our immersion when the idea the story is giving us and what we see, is so different.

I certainly don't disagree with you - I'd love to see a little more player involvement during cutscenes myself. As someone who plays primarily healers, I'd love to see my character pop some cool shields or even throw out a damage spell or two at times.
However, SE is more than likely going to continue doing more of the same, sadly, and limit our overall story interaction to trials and duties. In 3.0 and 3.1, they have been introducing dialogue choices which, while a step in the right direction, ultimately change nothing. But these choices allow us to shape our characters a little more, and I hope they continue to add these and offer even more personality options. It'd be great if they offered us a way to 'declare' a personality for our characters that could have an affect on cutscenes and actions, but this is just a dream of mine as a result of too much Dragon Age.

[KyahAlmasy]

I certainly don't disagree with you - I'd love to see a little more player involvement during cutscenes myself. As someone who plays primarily healers, I'd love to see my character pop some cool shields or even throw out a damage spell or two at times.
However, SE is more than likely going to continue doing more of the same, sadly, and limit our overall story interaction to trials and duties. In 3.0 and 3.1, they have been introducing dialogue choices which, while a step in the right direction, ultimately change nothing. But these choices allow us to shape our characters a little more, and I hope they continue to add these and offer even more personality options. It'd be great if they offered us a way to 'declare' a personality for our characters that could have an affect on cutscenes and actions, but this is just a dream of mine as a result of too much Dragon Age.

This was bound to happen, and it is only bound to get worse. If your theory is correct, we'll see this same inexplicable helplessness in a cutscene or two with the next patch, and while the story arcs the contrast of who our characters are supposed to be, and how they are will only grow more and more evident. Threads like this will keep popping up like wildfire, and it will only be a matter of time before Square has to acknowledge and respond to it.

In 1.0 no such duality existed, from the very first cutscene our characters felt grounded in their world, interacted with the environment with such finesse that no one questioned it. I'd suggest checking out some of the cutscenes from 1.0, especially the opening ones for each city-state, and then comparing them to the openings we see now. Our actions, while not indicative of any job, acted in their scenes. That's the missing element in 2.0.

Mark my words, these threads are only going to become more popular in the coming patches to come.

[Chasely]

In 1.x, your characters were extremely animated in cutscenes. When SE did their poll at the end of its life cycle, players overwhelmingly said they didn't like it. The largest complaint was that the characters reacted in ways the players would not have in given situations. That's why our characters are observers, now.

That said, I read something in one of the recent Q&As where yoshi-p is considering giving us a few options for how our characters would respond during cutscenes. This would make them more interactive without breaking immersion.

[Kallera]

In 1.x, your characters were extremely animated in cutscenes. When SE did their poll at the end of its life cycle, players overwhelmingly said they didn't like it. The largest complaint was that the characters reacted in ways the players would not have in given situations. That's why our characters are observers, now.

That said, I read something in one of the recent Q&As where yoshi-p is considering giving us a few options for how our characters would respond during cutscenes. This would make them more interactive without breaking immersion.

Citation needed on the poll. Even if that was the case, going the other direction, especially since the quests can now require that a player be DOW doesn't seem like the right solution to it.

[Laerune]

Like many I understand that making 13 (or more when new jobs get released) cutscenes for the current classes might be to much and that SE has chosen to do the cutscene this way to not control our character. But I wish my character did something in duriing the cutscenes. The WoL is the hero of the realm, he/she is stronger then the Scions. During dungeons and trials the WoL and his fellow adventurers need to defeat boss X, primal Y. But during a cutscene we are helpless babe who are protected by their friends like Alphinaud and Y'sthola. This doesnt make sense.

Its like the WoL is in two different worlds, one where he/she is stronger then gods and is able to fight and kill the Ascians and another where they are weak and needed to be protected from every foe. One of the things that I like about SWTOR is how interactive the player character is during a cutscene, I feel immersed when playing that game and with FFXIV this feeling is hard to find.

[Kurogaea]

You were saying?

Oh shet, you got me lol. I meant "Quit thinking SE are a bunch of uncapable workers" There we go. poor word choice lol. Damn detectives XD