Your opinion on the NPC roleplaying duties

[Saraide]

I think many of them fail to do something with the unique skills, traits, behaviors, etc the npcs you roleplay as have. So far the best one imo was thancred's stealth duty in endwalker. It managed to be different from just providing you with a job on auto pilot by giving you thancred's unique stealth abilities making it fit both story and gameplay.

I didnt like the in from the cold duty at all. The gameplay of it was incredibly dull (I know there is a story reason for this).

[RaideDuku]

Guess I'm the only one that likes them. Good way to see what other folks are doing while you're out doing other stuff, without having to rely on magic migraines all the time. Do have a couple suggestions for improvements, though.

1. Make them shorter, but harder. I can...sort of understand why, say, the Thancred vs. Ran'jit was a long fight. It was against a foe that was either of equal or greater strength. It should be a knock down drag out fight. I think they could've gotten the same effect if the fight was more hard, and less long. I know there's less skilled folks that might balk at the idea, but that's what the difficulty settings are for.

2. I would like the characters to have at least a couple more moves in their kit. I know they want to keep it simple for people that don't play multiple classes, but I don't think two more moves will melt anyone's brains. I also think those moves should be unique to the Scions. I'm not talking about just taking normal moves, and rebranding them "Scion" or "Leveilleur". I'm talking more moves like Alisaie's unique melee AoE attack. Supposedly , the WoL's been making up new moves since level 80. I'd like to see the Scions come up their own moves, their own take on the Job.

[Yuella]

They're great. I love the characters and sometimes I wish it's a traditional party based game where I can control other characters. Having solo duties as them is a good substitute.

Alphinaud's first one, it was okay, I'm not too fond of scholar so it's not special

Y'shtola's. It was fine I guess, and it's followed by an iconic scene

Hien's. Love it. It felt like the Dragon Ball Z story where everyone's trying to fight Nappa while waiting for Goku to arrive (I'm sure this is where they got the inspiration). And it was with Lyse and Yugiri, the three most important NPC in Stormblood so it's fitting that they're featured in the expansion's final duty.

Thancred's. It was okay...a bit too long but the tension towards the end was really good.

Estinien's. Love it. Most action pact solo duty.

Urianger's, Alisaie's, G'raha's. These 3 were thrown in back to back to back because they haven't had one yet so it felt forced. The only one I like is Alisaie's.

Thancred's solo duty. I generally don't like stealth quests so I didn't like it that much

Alphinaud's and Alisaie's Endwalker solo. Great. They're the deuteragonists of Endwalker so it's fitting that they get some spotlight. It's in a great part of the MSQ and it's nice that Forchenault witnessed his kids be heroes.

Godbert's. Hahaha, this one is silly fun. I don't like Hildibrand quests but this one is an exception.

[AmpelioB]

I liked them when they started but liek you said they kinda overstayed. the only one i recently like was the crawl roleplay in garlean on endwalker.

[Rein_eon_Osborne]

Narratively speaking they make sense and seems okay.

But when I get down to their gameplay, I dislike how I'm repeatedly doing a watered down rotation that's shoehorned to me while also doing chip damage on top of that. Thancred vs Ranyeet was the worst offender IMHO. A lot of 'nothing happens' while I smash that plastic cardboard waiting for him to deal enough damage to progress to next phase(s). The only way I start to tolerate these is when I redo them with Very Easy mode in my numerous NG+ playthrough because its pace feels faster.

Frankly if they keep the damage taken & punishments for failing from Normal Mode then combine it with Very Easy Mode's duty length, I'd enjoy them far more. One exception was the "In from the Cold" solo duty. That one was a masterpiece.

[Boblawblah]

Now that I've played most jobs a bit I think I'd enjoy the duties more, but the Thancred vs Ranjit one in particular was painful. Brutally slow slog just to show Ranjit's motivations FINALLY, and I just didn't care at that point. The fight was super slow, I was forced to wait until the game decided I could do something. It was awful.

I hope they learned their lesson with that one, as I think most people absolutely hate it or at best enjoyed it, but thought it was too much of a slog.

[Xephna]

I personally find them quite boring but I know many who enjoy them so it's really all up to individual preferences and neither is right or wrong.

[Eraden]

If Mao wanted to be Not Mao then Mao would has character that nots Mao. But....Mao is Mao.

[Jojoya]

I would be happier without them. Like others, I'm here to play a character that I've created and given personal motivations to. I'm not interested in being the NPC.

In from the Cold was the only one I enjoyed. I was still my character but forced into a different body. The motivations for getting through the duty remained my character's.

I would have been fine watching the rest as a cutscene instead of playing the NPC's part.

Note on the Thancred/Ranjit: yes, it was long and drawn out but that was an essential story element. Thancred's motivation was to buy time for Minfilia and the WoL to get to where the Minfilias could have their conversation without Ranjit interfering. Good story, boring game play.

All that said, I know it's not going to change. It's a FF game and NPC play has been a part of the franchise for a long time. As long as they remain infrequent, it's not going to put me off the game.

[Sebazy]

As a healer who's dumb enough to actually do the MSQ etc on a healer, I personally appreciate them.

Even if they are a mixed bag, it's a break from the monotony of glare spamming solo content.