Standing There Syndrome

[Cenobia]

For the most part I don't mind this, because it's just a narrative pacing thing. It's like when a character in anime does a paragraph of monologue in the middle of an attack, but the attack's not supposed to actually take nearly that long. If they wanted, the scenes could be just as easily constructed without characters having a chance to react, but then they wouldn't be able to cover the narration/motivations/etc as they want to in the story, so I let it slide.

Narrative pacing doesn't excuse bad writing, not to mention that, like you mentioned in your example, people can talk while fighting. Also, as the Warrior of Light, we still have the exposition Get Out of Jail Free Card that is the Echo. Since the Zoraal Ja scene has been brought up several times in this thread, here's how you can get the same plot point across (attacks the city, duels his father, loses, revives and powers up, kills father and leaves) while not insulting every player's intelligence:

>WoL and Co. arrive in the city, it's under attack.
>Jump in to help the Landsguard in the defensive efforts
>Civvies are being evacuated to the throne room as it is the most defensible location in the city
>Other scions peel off to help other areas while WoL and Wuk approach the bottom of the stairs
>You both fight off waves of drones to keep the evacuation corridor open
>Zoraal Ja lands at the top of the stairs, rushes in
>Bakool Ja Ja arrives, joins the WoL in defending the civvies while Wuk runs after her brother
>Drones eventually peter off and WoL sees Zoraal Ja leaving the throne room
>Runs in with scions, sees all civvies in shock, Gulool Ja Ja and landsguard dead and Wuk downed
>Alphinaud(and healer WoL) get Wuk back up
>Echo Time
>We get to see the whole duel thing with Zoraal Ja, but this time the reason Wuk doesn't jump in is because he threathens to kill the civvies near them if she does
>Things happen as canon
>Wuk loses her shit after Gulool Ja Ja goes down, tries to attack Zoraal Ja, gets knocked out easily. Echo ends.

There we go. The plot still happened, but in a way that's justified. As a writer, a big part of your job isn't to just come up with a plot, but to justify it happening. This one wasn't even particularly hard, Hiroi is just a hack.

[CuteBucket]

As a writer, a big part of your job isn't to just come up with a plot, but to justify it happening. This one wasn't even particularly hard, Hiroi is just a hack.

Now now, let's be fair to Hiroi. He was only one of three writers. Kawasaki, who brought us Shadows of Werlyt and [checks notes] was a co writer for Nurse Love Obsession, is also a hack!

[Absurdity]

I think it's not just due to budget constraints, it feels like a creative vision problem as well.
I've been thinking about it lately but for being a video game XIV takes little advantage of it's own medium.

The story and gameplay are often very disconnected, or I guess segmented into their own little pockets.
An overwhelming majority of quests are just you going to a place to talk to a guy, reading text boxes, before he sends you off to do the same thing again somewhere else, broken up by the occasional "go there and kill two enemies" quest or a dungeon.
The rare solo instance, and I guess variant dungeons to an extent, is the only time where the storytelling is integrated into the actual gameplay portion of the game.

[Valence]

To the OP, I do feel like that sometimes there is also a cultural difference at play, and that they also write it like a theater play, quite frankly. Remember FF6's scene just after they flee from Figaro castle in the sand and literally freeze time in the middle of a fight to talk about magic? Also seen in animes when 1) someone is about to have a dramatic death in the middle of the apocalypse or 2) when they need to invoke the power of friendship in the middle of the apocalypse.

Either way I do agree with you that you're not the only one that finds it very jarring in this medium, and it tends to break the 4th wall / immersion pretty hard if it dallies long enough. Special mention to actual threats running away when you literally have a firearm (and no my character doesn't need glasses).

[Natalyah]

I can't lie, when I saw the title I thought you meant all the people afk in Limsa

[Carin-Eri]

I feel we've already seen the perfect solution to this scenario.

The Shadowbringers finale, when our character was staggering toward Emet Selch. That was perfect - rather than standing there listening to him monologue at us the WoL staggers slowly toward Emet Selch whilst everyone else (i.e the Scions) engage him in combat.
It's also of note that said scene demonstrates that it doesn't have to be the Warrior of Light who acts first.

[Raven2014]

The most offensive scene for me in this regard was the end of the Tsukuyomi trial in Stormblood where the WoL just stand there and watch Ashasi abused a dying Yotsuyu on the ground. And I was like ... wtf you're doing? DO SOMETHING?!?? It was so ... inhumanely out of character for the WoL that the only explanation I can come up with was whoever wrote that scene had a monumental brain fart. It took me years to eventually put that absurd scene in the back of my mind. And the Gulool Ja Ja basically brought back that horrible flashback that I almost had a whiplash. I admit it's one of the many reason why I hate DT's msq as much as I do, it's like bringing back a childhood PTSD.

[Gwenkatsu]

The most offensive scene for me in this regard was the end of the Tsukuyomi trial in Stormblood where the WoL just stand there and watch Ashasi abused a dying Yotsuyu on the ground. And I was like ... wtf you're doing?

Honestly, I forgot that scene. Asahi was such a terrible character plot device, I was so glad seeing him finally taken off screen... only for him to make his comeback in the SB patches, and halfway through EW. Man did I not want to see that stupid face ever again

We've also let people talk, in the hopes that there might be some diplomacy had.

Remember the meeting with Emperor Zolus, the Eorzean leaders, and the scions? This was diplomacy, both sides talking, discussing the other side's arguments, talking more. In the end it was for naught, which I'm perfectly fine with. But listening to a mad man going on and on and on about what he's planning to do after he killed you and achieved world domination is not diplomacy - it's just a waste of time.

[Cenobia]

The most offensive scene for me in this regard was the end of the Tsukuyomi trial in Stormblood where the WoL just stand there and watch Ashasi abused a dying Yotsuyu on the ground. And I was like ... wtf you're doing? DO SOMETHING?!?? It was so ... inhumanely out of character for the WoL that the only explanation I can come up with was whoever wrote that scene had a monumental brain fart. It took me years to eventually put that absurd scene in the back of my mind. And the Gulool Ja Ja basically brought back that horrible flashback that I almost had a whiplash. I admit it's one of the many reason why I hate DT's msq as much as I do, it's like bringing back a childhood PTSD.

That scene was so egregious that it eventually led me to write a 42 thousand words fanfic with the sole goal of giving Yotsuyu a happy life. It took turning the canon upside down, still worth it.

[SillyCrow]

I think the WoL is just letting things escalate to have strong opponents to fight.

Hard to think they would get caught off-guard by someone charging a light spear, drink spiked beverages, let suspected individuals walk to suspicious relics and pick those up, etc.