Missed gameplay opportunities in DT MSQ (spoilers)

[Rookie1]

Does anyone else feel they are leaning too much into cutscenes at the cost of player interaction?

For me that prime moment was just before the vanguard unlock. I couldn't help but think this should be a minigame where you use the aether cannon to shoot down the enemy aircraft.

It's a prime example to me because we know that minigame is possible. We've already had that minigame in SB when we had to blowgun dart some people. Or when the game returned in ShB when we had to shoot lala's in the head.

What other parts of DT do you think should of been a gameplay moment rather than a CS?

[Jeeqbit]

I did think the scene before the Vanguard should have been a duty. It was strange to me that it wasn't, so I guess they just didn't feel they could make us use an aether cannon or maybe they felt it would prevent them displaying the other scenes because you're busy shooting aircraft.

But in general, I didn't really notice the amount of solo duties because I'm used to the MSQ working like this where it's mostly cutscenes and interaction. I also think I didn't notice it much because they used features like "NPCs follow you", "follow an NPC", "sneak behind an NPC" and "travel with an NPC while they talk" to replace what they used to do with solo duties.

[Carin-Eri]

Total wishful thinking, since it relies on players being familiar with side-content they might not have played....

But as great as the scene was, I was kinda wishing that someone could've sent the G-Warrior along with Vrtra to tackle the air forces. Would've been so awesome to pilot that thing again under those circumstances.

Though I'd have to concede that Vrtra didn't really need help!

[Mikey_R]

One that definitely should have happened would be when we go back to Tuliyollal during the invasion. We should have had an instance where we are fighting through the city, saving the people. We are the WoL, this is what we do, but instead, cutscene straight to the throne room seemingly not caring for anything.

Then, in the throne room, there is no reason we couldn't have a small solo boss fight with Zarool Ja after he killed Gullol Ja Ja, which he promptly loses, retreats and use that as an excuse to build a bigger army, then, when you fight him in the 99 trial, he knows he needs a lot of power to best you, so goes mad with powering himself up with souls, which ultimately corrupts him.

As for the train section, the GS minigame, Air Force One is basically what we could have had. You can cut away at various points to see what is going on down the rest of the train, or there could be a section near the end where they destroy the cannons and you have to fight them off as they are boarding the carriages, just to mix it all up a bit.

[ovIm]

Oh there are a couple. The first that spring to my mind are:

There is no reason we could not have had a roleplay duty as Wuk Lamat catching an Alpaca.
The WoL should have been the one leading the float procession, bonus points for moving past Hanu that then join the parade.
The cooking part could have given us faux crafter skills to create the dish.
As Tulliyolal gets attacked, we should have been actually fighting. (Would have given us an excuse not to be there for that scene, too.)
Repairing the train could have been more involved. Procuring materials and building them onto the train.
Driving on the train could have been a mix of the GATE shooting minigame and a short battle duty.

[sylphlands]

I'm still shocked that it wasn't an instance fight when we "rescue" a kidnapped WL from BJJ and his cronies. I was fully prepared for it to be something, but it was just...a cutscene. Very odd and anticlimactic.

[Powercow]

The play at the end, Otis mentions we shouldn't be worried if we mess up the lines and that it's all part of the fun.

We then have absolutely no input on how it plays out, either as a mock battle (which would have been a fun callback to the stage play fight at the start of FF9) or even as just dialogue choices where we can (intentionally or not) royally screw up the scene, or play it straight.

[jadan2000]

I like the amount of cutscenes

[Rookie1]

Total wishful thinking, since it relies on players being familiar with side-content they might not have played....

But as great as the scene was, I was kinda wishing that someone could've sent the G-Warrior along with Vrtra to tackle the air forces. Would've been so awesome to pilot that thing again under those circumstances.

Though I'd have to concede that Vrtra didn't really need help!

G-warrior duty would have been fun. Ya, Vytra's got the air fleet over the capital but we could of taken the other air fleet over the other zones

[TaleraRistain]

I agree with every single suggestion in this thread. The train scene absolutely should have been an instance. Fighting in the city should have been an instance. Like Mikey_R said, we are the Warrior of Light. We are not going to just run by innocent people being attacked. We're going to put ourselves between those people and what is attacking them. Even in times we moved on in past expansions, it was when our friends and companions were there to hold the fort and told us to keep going.