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

[AnotherPerson]

I just did this quest and it was awful!

Yeah I felt the desperation and helplessness and really fumbled through the sequence, but at the end of it all it felt like nothing really happened. Everyone at the camp is just watching. Like there was no questions, emotions or anything.

“Oh, you’re back to normal? That’s great.”

Also, they could have gone so many ways with Y’shtola’s aether vision but it’s just “oh, I discovered it too late”

Smh….

They talk about it in their individual NPC dialogues a bit after, but you have to go out of your way to get them. Yshtola also mentions it in the following cutscenes depending on who visits you at night in Sharlayan. It's more like something lingering in their minds, but it's more of a personal discussion talk between you and them, 1 on 1, since each Scion reacts to the events differently. That's the way it has always been with the Scions. Nothing really happened because ... you managed to avert it. However, their emotions are disturbed, but they don't mention it at surface level.

[EmpyreanHelios]

They talk about it in their individual NPC dialogues a bit after, but you have to go out of your way to get them. Yshtola also mentions it in the following cutscenes depending on who visits you at night in Sharlayan. It's more like something lingering in their minds, but it's more of a personal discussion talk between you and them, 1 on 1, since each Scion reacts to the events differently. That's the way it has always been with the Scions. Nothing really happened because ... you managed to avert it. However, their emotions are disturbed, but they don't mention it at surface level.

I actually did talk to them individually after you wake up and that's what I mean by "Oh, you're back to normal? That's great." I'm just really disappointed because the beginning of the sequence was REALLY GOOD. You had to sneak around because your body was weak, crawling and eating dirt on the floor just to get back and warn your friends was such a nice touch?! The whole solo instance was annoying, but that part made up for it! And what happened? Nothing!

You're in front of your friends, humiliated on the floor with Zenos and Fandaniel gloating about how saving those people actually doomed the world instead. I just felt like my emotions accumulated just to have nothing happen. I was hoping for Zenos to actually hurt someone (like one of your friends) or maybe killed some people in the camp and that's going to weigh on your conscience because he did it with your body. I mean, the whole point was that he wanted to make you look at him. He talks about how causing all this death and destruction was to make you pursue him and what better way to do that than hurting the people you care about the most?

This could have been a really good turning point, both for the story and for making the audience care about Zenos and his actions. Y'shtola could have been useful or saw something was wrong with her eyes (she did reject our aether signature very strongly during ShB). Our body and soul could have been out of sync for a bit and Graha and co. could have done some healing because of their research in the soul.

Garlemald felt like a slog and I would have brush that aside if this ONE QUEST was done well, but it wasn't.