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

[gotaname1]

As much as I enjoyed this almost 1on1 Metal Gear style gameplay, I can see why people have issues with it because it feels like such a farcry from anything previously and that it just takes hella long.

[Puc]

Love stealth mechanics but holy moly was this the most garbage instance ever. Got lost and ended up going to the beginning 2 times, hugged the all and found the magitek, then learned i needed fuel and a key. Ran back and forth from the magitek 4 times trying to look for fuel because I left the fuel tank 3rd time thinking it would auto pocket like the medical aide. Almost tossed my controller.

[Kaelah]

I kinda liked it but I disliked the lack of direction. My first attempt I wasted almost the entire time looking for the magitek you need the fuel and key for, I was just running around trying to find an opening to get to the camp lol.

I enjoyed the stealthy mission as Thancred much more than this one, but both were a nice change of pace in my opinion.

[Alleo]

Out of curiosity, couldn't you just steamroll it on Very Easy mode after failing it once? Or is it still somewhat difficult?

I did it on very easy but for me the problem was, that you still got no clue on what to do. The fightings are a bit easier but most of my time was spent finding a solution to getting out there (because the quest said to get out)...it took some time to find the new quest object and even more time to gather the stuff up.

Honestly if they add quest markers to the very easy mode that would really help it.

In the end for me the worst part was the story around it...how the WoL magically makes it to the camp just in the right time to block the first attack Zenos does...and that after we were not able to walk anymore..

[Lilyth]

Well, if you ever wondered why classes get easier and easier with each coming expansion and new dungeons are nothing but an amalgamation of cool effects on top a straight corridor with zero sustenance behind it, there you go.

People are literally angry and threatening to ragequit because they have to explore the map a little and press different buttons. For once. In a new released expansion. Yikes.

[JOsha]

I liked the quest overall but did hate it when i died thrice and had to start over..

[Kikoten]

I'm on the opposite side of the fence, myself. I loved that quest for many reasons. I was entirely focused on story and not gameplay mechanics at that point, so I enjoyed feeling what the people of Garlemald felt, why they were so afraid to go out on their own, or engage the haywire magiteks - they're not the Scions of the Seventh Dawn, nor are they the Warrior of Light, so they're forced to hide and avoid danger as much as they can.

I want more perspective altering content like this, it was a welcome route, in my opinion.

[Packetdancer]

I find it funny how Zenos is able to use his own power when in our body, yet the WoL seemingly forgets any ability they ever had.

I mean, at that moment Zenos is wearing a body that has taken down gods. Repeatedly. In contrast, we were wearing a body of a random Garlean grunt who might have seen some overseas skirmishes, but could just as easily never have done anything beyond guard duty in the palace in Garlemald.

If you take two highly skilled Formula 1 drivers and put them both in Formula 1 cars, they're probably somewhat matched. If you take Driver A and give them Driver B's F1 car, then put Driver B in a 1986 Volvo sedan, chances are driver A is going to be able to outrace driver B even in a car that isn't their usual one.

[Packetdancer]

Doing it AGAIN, I keyboard mashed as usual and somehow managed to bring up the settings menu, which you can't do in any other QTE in the game.

This was my one actual complaint about this section. Every other Active Time Maneuver locks out normal keyboard input during those times, so hitting "K" counts as "Press a button" as opposed to "Open character settings", and "C" counts as "Press a button" rather than "Open character window" and so on. This one locked out combat actions, but not keyboard input entirely. It startled me when I keyboard-mashed like usual and suddenly had like 4 windows open.

I escaped out hastily and finished the ATM without issue by sticking to just the movement keys, but it definitely could've made me fail that part.

I feel like that one's a bug; the control system probably has a few modes ("Standard combat", "Lock out combat actions", and "Lock out all input") and someone set the wrong flag there, compared to every other Active Time Maneuver. Hopefully that one gets a hotfix in 6.01 along with their adjustments to the difficulties.

Somehow at the end of this entire sequence that exists entirely to show how weak you are, you are magically strong enough to do all that stuff that happens at the end? It's in no way believable and feels like they wrote themselves into a corner then just ignored what they had already established to write themselves back out of it.

I am actually going to disagree here; that bit at the end was some of what made this sequence work for me. I took it as that all through the sequence up to that point, you're functionally limited to what this random Garlean grunt could reasonably have done. But at the end, pushed to your limit and desperate to get to your friends, you break through that and begin to draw on a bit of your normal power.

Which was, after all, the point of Fandaniel and Zenos' entire little mocking experiment: how formidable would you actually be, stripped of your strength? How much of your power could you feasibly draw on in an unfamiliar, weak body, if motivated by desperation? The answer seemed to be "more than I'd have expected at the beginning of this experience."

I still didn't find the sequence compelling enough that I have any desire to play it again, but it didn't fail narratively for me.

(Though it did feel odd they didn't do a little more with the thread from that sequence. I half-expected that at some point near the climax of the game, we'd be left in an unfamiliar body -- an aetheric construct to survive space or whatever -- and it would be the experience there that allowed us to still utilize any of our normal power in that form.)

[MeltyClaire]

I had a lot of fun with this duty. Almost all of the content in this game is a face roll, so it's nice to have to do something that isn't free.