Castrum Meridainum - My (a noob) WORST experience so far

[Arcuran]

So I reached level 50, and have been playing my main story quest and reach the final dungeon! I have fallen in love with this game, met some really cool people, made friends. I que for the last dungeon, 40 minute wait, I have plenty of stuff to do! Que pops!

"Hi guys! This is my first time "

Naturally I watch the intro cut scene, until now, every single person I have met has been willing to wait.

Then it all turns to crap, I get locked outside the first boss fight, no worries though.

"Oh, I got stuck outside because I was watching the cut scene, do you mind slowing down a little bit? "

Tank replies: "No, I'm not waiting around an hour for you to watch cut scenes"

I literally missed the ENTIRE LAST DUNGEON! The whole experience ruined for me. Until this point I have been saying how nice the community was, these people literally wouldn't wait 20 seconds.

I understand some of the cutscenes are long, but come one, everyone was new at some point. I am just gutted.

[Taika]

SE is very much aware of this issue and they haven't designed dungeons like this after those two at the end of the original main scenario. What you can do right now is to ask 1 level 70 or 1-2 level 60 players to run them with you unsynced (just the 2-3 of you in party, no level cap) so that you get to both see the story and experience the fights. So ask people from your FC/LS or Novice Network or Party Finder.

[Muchmidget]

This was an issue even when they were first released because the cutscenes in that dungeon are SOOOOOO long. (There's literally a half hour+ of them, depending on your reading speed)
Taika's advice was pretty solid. To fully experience them you need to find those willing to wait before you go in.

[MistakeNot]

Yeah, it is a well-known problem with Castrum Meridanium and the next dungeon (Praetorium.) Few people are willing to wait the extra half-hour it would take to watch all the cutscenes - especially not when they themselves have already done the dungeon dozens if not hundreds of times before.
Luckily no other dungeons share that design with so many cutscenes during the run.

You can watch the cutscenes afterwards from inside an inn, but that won't give quite the same experience.

Best option is, as has already been advised, to find some people willing to take you through the dungeon with all cutscenes - and it is well worth the trouble doing so at least once.

[Holy-chan]

I've been through that back in January 2014 on my first character. It clenched my heart then, and it clenches my heart now to read about others experiencing it.

As others have mentioned, this has been a common issue, which Square-Enix got word of, and they never did this again. Instead, they bunch cutscenes before and after dungeons after that. But even then, I'm sad that people are unwilling to wait on other players, because the Main Scenario roulette (which is what brings the majority of non-new players in those dungeons) have a reward for it, and that roulette's existence was precisely to help new players along in dungeons that people wouldn't need to run ever again otherwise. It's supposed to be for them to help new players and be patient with them, in exchange for the roulette's reward. But most of the time, they don't. Sometimes, they even have the gall to be rude to the new players, and that's where I draw the line between tolerating actions that shouldn't be (them not waiting on the new players in spite of the roulette's rewards they are seeking being the incentive to help in the proper manner), and being downright upset at those people.

[Frizze]

This is a well known and well covered issue. The last two instances(this one and praetorium to follow) from the ARR storyline are very cutscene intensive. Like seriously close to 30 mins worth of in-dungeon cutscene between the two. Most of the people running it are doing so via the main-scenario roulette, and have run the instances hundreds of times. They dont want to wait for a new person to watch said cutscenes, they just want to be done and claim their currency. And them blaming you for a wipe is total BS. The dungeons can be completed with 2 or 3 people missing, so your not being there isnt why they failed. It also sounds like they were abusive, which you could have reported them for.

So thats the problem, whats the solution? You have two easy choices. One, grab a friend or two from your FC or a LS and run the dungeon unsynced. This would mean you dont get any exp, but 1 or 2 level 60-70 people can easily carry you through the entire dungeon giving you time to watch the cutscenes and still participate in the fights. Option two, instead of the duty finder use the party finder. This lets you pre-form a group of like-minded people to run content(dungeons, trials, raids, whatever). Set up a PF for praetorium and specify that you want to watch cutscenes and participate in the fights. Since this is your storyline clear, anyone who helps you will get a bonus for doing so(extra exp and tomes plus a khloe bonus point - they already know this). By setting up in PF you set the expectation up front, so youll get people who want to help and you dont get any of those "This is a speed run, keep up or quit" idiots.

And while this is no comfort now as you are still in the middle of the problem, there is good news. The devs learned from the problem this caused. None of the dungeons in your future beyond these two share this design. They get any "extra" cutscenes out of the way either before you que to go inside, or after the dungeon is clear. The pattern youll(mostly) see going forward is intro fly-through style cutscene, final boss appears cutscene, and good job we won lets pose cutscene. So best of luck, and i hope you stick it out. The story keeps getting better, there are some killer dungeons ahead of where youre at now, and the classes keep evolving over time.

Quoting my own responce to the last person to bring this up 5 days prior. Strikethrough for the portion of the text that doesnt apply.

[Celef]

Snip

In see you are on Omega, just whisp me and I'll see if I can take you there unsych so you can both watch the cutscenes and do the fights
Aranie Crowley

[Zojha]

It's supposed to be for them to help new players and be patient with them, in exchange for the roulette's reward. But most of the time, they don't.

Primarily, it's supposed to get people through the content at all, because it's mandatory. Without it, people wouldn't even rush through it, they'd let the newbie sit in his 10+ hour queue and never let them proceed through the story in the first place. That's precisely why it got introduced.

I'm not going to blame people for being unwilling to play along with the 15 bonus minutes of pure cutscenes in Castrum and 30 minutes in Praetorium either. They're not even coming in one block, it's a constant stop and go, so you can't even AFK and do something else while waiting. It's simply terrible design and I'm going to shift the entire blame on SE on this one - they should have seen that issue coming from a mile away and make the entire thing a solo duty.

[Vinterblod]

I had the same exact experience with Praetorium yesterday, and I totally agree it is a terrible feeling for newcomers who want to enjoy the story. I think the worst part is that people seem, I don't know, rude (?) about it. They seem to see people who want to watch the cutscenes as complete assholes. I mean I can understand not wanting to see it again when you re-run it, and the dungeon is clearly baddly designed in this regard... so not sure there is a good solution for it to be honest.

So yeah, like you I felt really gutted at that moment. I did not even get to participate in the final battle at all. I would not wish this on anyone who is having their first experience because it really screws up everything. What kind of made it worse for me is the fact that the people rushing it actually gets a bonus because I as a new player is on the team... Just what a way to reward someone for kicking you while you are already down, haha.

[ForctyusGold]

is still possible to watch cutscenes in inn room ? if yes then do it . its bad experience but what can you do with that ....