"In from the Cold" Scenario, any way to skip it?

[Jennah]

What on Etheriys are you all on about? This was, bar none, the greatest solo duty they've ever done. High stakes, an actual sense of danger, a unique situation and mechanics.
... admittedly, I never actually died, and might have been frustrated if it made you restart from the beginning. But, like - they tell you what to do. Avoid magitek at all costs. Never fight two soldiers at once, and avoid as many as possible. Go here, then here, then here, then here, then win.

It was simple enough to get through. However, I understand the complaints and feel as though the entirety of Garlemald was laughably weak in terms of storytelling. How many times does the same scenario need to be played out?

It boils down to (and I'll add spoilers here)

"We don't need your help! We don't want your supplies! But, we will try and steal them anyways! Oh, that plan failed? Better off myself!"

These guys were the main antagonists for a decent chunk of the games narrative. Seriously? Going to just skip all of that nonsense on my alts.

I felt the COMPLETE opposite - I haven't made it far into the 4th zone yet, but so far, I think Garlemald is the best story zone they've ever had.
Around 20 previous allied NPCs, all acting in-character and being relevant.
A grounded story, with fantasy taking a backseat from first reaching Camp Broken Glass up until this instance near the end.
Actual tragedy - and it all makes sense. Unlike a certain "I will block this spear that shouldn't logically hurt the WoL, and the wound turns out to be unhealable for no explained reason" - I actually felt really bad for the NPCs.
And it's the logical outcome of ARR!Alphinaud's diplomacy too.
Heck, even finding out there's lyrics to the Garlean leitmotif - and what that song's about - is heartbreaking.

Look at all the posts that didnt read the context.

Didnt say that is was too difficult. If you cared to read them, it was how it was done to your character. That quest made the story line seem un needed.

You are the warrior of light, so all the Ascians had to do it rip you out of your body and snuff you. Why all the build up with the towers then when that is all they had to do??

People arent angry at the mechanics, theyre angry at the storyline and the way they did it.

Learn to read

It took Fandaniel an enormous amount of aether - quite possibly enough to have ruined what he attempted after the 83 dungeon. And it only got the WoL out of their body for about 30 minutes.
And it's shown (afterwards) to be EXTREMELY likely that after that 30 minutes, we'd go right back to our real body, even if our temporary body was executed.
And they HAVE tried this before - Fandaniel even points out when it happened, in Ala Mhigo. And that he's refined and improved the process.

[Miles064]

I kinda liked it. If anything it showed that we are more than just really strong and blessed. We didn't get lucky and couldn't just overpower it and still made it through. Says a lot about the player being more than just raw power.

[Xylira]

I really, intensely disliked this part of the MSQ as well, to the point where I felt like logging out and stepping away from the game it bothered me so much. I've never felt so put off by anything in this game before as I have with this sequence in the MSQ. And it has little to do with the mechanics of it, I don't mind the 'RP missions', they're not my favorite by far but I can tolerate them. The mechanics themselves of the sequence are 'okay', but I just couldn't enjoy any of it because of the context of why it was happening, I just wanted to be over with it and have control of my character back.

My dislike of it is entirely to do with the extremely contrived plot points that lead to a violation of the control over my character that left me feeling so bothered by it all. I didn't feel 'helpless' or 'desperate', I felt irritated and angry. And my ire wasn't directed at the villain characters like the writers were probably hoping, it was directed at the writers themselves for choosing to make that happen. As another said, it felt like a violation of my character, and not by the villains but by the writers.

[DinahDemiurge]

gittttttgud

[CaptainFishSticks]

Wait, hang on..."In From the Cold" is the one immediately after entering Garlemald, right?

And people thought it was hard?

EDIT: I have just actually completed it and although I died once, I don't understand what the complaint is. I thought it was excellent.

[Xylira]

Wait, hang on..."In From the Cold" is the one immediately after entering Garlemald, right?

And people thought it was hard?

It's the one

where your body is stolen and you get put in some rando soldier and have to try and escape the city.

Personally I didn't find it difficult, though I can see why some people would. I just really disliked it because it felt way too heavy handed for them trying to make you feel helpless, and the story reason for why it was happening felt really forced. To the point where it jarred me out of the story and had me disliking the writers for making it happen in the first place. The key mash portion and forcing you try crawl for the last bit of it had me rolling my eyes, I just wanted to be over with it and have control of my character back. Honestly they could have just removed that entire sequence of events from the MSQ and the story would have been better for it IMO.

[Skiros]

What on Etheriys are you all on about? This was, bar none, the greatest solo duty they've ever done. High stakes, an actual sense of danger, a unique situation and mechanics.
... admittedly, I never actually died, and might have been frustrated if it made you restart from the beginning. But, like - they tell you what to do. Avoid magitek at all costs. Never fight two soldiers at once, and avoid as many as possible. Go here, then here, then here, then here, then win.



I felt the COMPLETE opposite - I haven't made it far into the 4th zone yet, but so far, I think Garlemald is the best story zone they've ever had.
Around 20 previous allied NPCs, all acting in-character and being relevant.
A grounded story, with fantasy taking a backseat from first reaching Camp Broken Glass up until this instance near the end.
Actual tragedy - and it all makes sense. Unlike a certain "I will block this spear that shouldn't logically hurt the WoL, and the wound turns out to be unhealable for no explained reason" - I actually felt really bad for the NPCs.
And it's the logical outcome of ARR!Alphinaud's diplomacy too.
Heck, even finding out there's lyrics to the Garlean leitmotif - and what that song's about - is heartbreaking.



It took Fandaniel an enormous amount of aether - quite possibly enough to have ruined what he attempted after the 83 dungeon. And it only got the WoL out of their body for about 30 minutes.
And it's shown (afterwards) to be EXTREMELY likely that after that 30 minutes, we'd go right back to our real body, even if our temporary body was executed.
And they HAVE tried this before - Fandaniel even points out when it happened, in Ala Mhigo. And that he's refined and improved the process.

This. Garlemald arc felt like an actual mature game for once.

[Thi]

I have such mixed opinions on this duty.

It was by far the best rp duty they have ever made. I also hated every minute of it.

This duty just made me mad, it was well made but the way it was so contrived and forced.

I honesty logged out during the middle of it my first time and said to myself I'm not doing this tonight and went to bed.

[Rhysati]

I honestly have no idea how everyone is having so much trouble. I did this duty while on pain killers after surgery, medical mj, and watching netflix. I definitely got lost and didn't know what I was doing, but I still passed it on my first try.

This duty isn't hard and I only fought stuff when I got impatient and didn't feel like waiting 2 more seconds for the enemy to move.

In the end, I rather enjoyed it. It actually felt like something new and engaging.

[PaulH]

My take on it that it had me enthralled, my heart was racing I wanted to get back to the Scions ASAP and recover my body. I thought this body swap plot was going to go for longer. The duty wasn't difficult though I was crawling out on 26hp hoping I wouldn't have to do it again. The mention of Anulus from Ala Mhigo was a nice tie up.

Totally understand some people like/loathe it. Now the endless follow but hide quests i have experienced that gets my goat.