キャラクター
It was us against the Empire. One by one Gaius's tokusatsu squad fell to our blades. It was glorious, and I was enjoying myself, and the story. At last our final enemy stood before us!
Ultima Weapon, piloted by Gaius van Baelsar, who must have picked up a Ghosts n' Goblins power-up while running from us. For two phases we fought, and even the might of this hideous Magitek creation fell before us.
...And then, despite my party being comprised of mostly people from my Linkshell to avoid this exact happening, the rest of the party ended up killing Lahabrea while I was still watching the cutscene, because apparently he's that pitiful and one of my friends, instead of waiting for a few minutes, accidentally tripped into drawing agro. I didn't even get to SEE the final boss.
So, basically, the joy of completing the main scenario (the original Seventh Umbral Era plot, at any rate) was spoiled for me by exactly the kind of crap I went to the trouble of organizing a pre-arranged party to avoid dealing with. My only experience of the final boss of 2.0 is probably going to be mindless grind runs with players who don't care to talk, let alone tell other players how they plan to play the dungeon, in other words, exactly the kind of shit that made it hard for me to work up the interest to try this game in the first place.
Several hundred hours of game time only to have that last little piece of satisfaction snatched away at the last second. God damn, but I hope this doesn't happen again during the patch storylines or Heavensward... oh, wait, what am I saying, the bosses from here on out are stupidly hard and the only thing that would happen if I got cut out is the rest of the party would probably die. Okay, that makes me feel a little better. Maybe.
At least I got my Magitek armor back (Cid affectionately named her "Maggie"). This was actually the most-fun part of the dungeon, because using the armor's ground-aimed cannon to kill and blast things is really intuitive with a mouse.
Ultimately though I think Square made a mis-step by making it so that players who want to GRIND tomestones had to play through the cutscene-laden story dungeons of the late game. To me it just seems that grindy stuff should be reserved for those side-dungeons that lack cutscenes except for the dungeon intro and boss intro. At this point in the game's lifecycle, players have to bend over backwards to ensure they'll enjoy the story-heavy dungeons, and that's just... kind of a real drag on the experience, is all.
The party I played with was all cool people, don't get me wrong: even the two members we had to get from Duty Finder to fill out those last two DPS slots were cool people. But there needs to be a real balance between the story and the multiplayer and if FF14 can be accused of a single big failing (apart from, perhaps, too many quest tangents stretching things out during the Umbral Era), it's being designed in a kind-of obtuse way that offers no way for players who want to experience the world to group with players who don't mind doing that along with them, apart from a party finder and shouting to high heaven, hoping someone joins--a little bit less inconvenient than simply spamming "LFG" into the chatbox.
A checkbox in Duty Finder, maybe? "Willing to not skip cutscenes" in exchange for bonus tomestones or some other reward? Then again, maybe no one will take it. Hell, they already have a reward bonus for accompanying a first timer through a dungeon and that doesn't make much of anyone more charitable about them.
Well, whatever. As irritated as I am with unwieldy elements encouraging an obnoxious rift between first-time players and long-time grinders, I still have a group of cool friends I wouldn't ditch for the world, in this game. (Yes, even the dopey Lalafell who went and agro'd the boss before I got out of the cutscene... you're still awesome, don't worry, and I'm not mad, just... bummed, that's all.)
So I'll be sticking with
Final Fantasy XIV for a long, long time. Eorzea might as well be a second home at this point. It's so gratifying to finally, after so many times dabbling in the genre, find an MMORPG that I can invest myself so completely in.
Aaaaand I guess I won't be so inconvenienced by the speedrunners/grinders once I'm at the point of being in that crowd myself. But god damn I'm making it my life's mission to level up a Tank class so I can make things easier on felling first-timers in their dungeon runs! >_>;;
One moooooore thing:
Is there a poster of Eorzea's map? I seriously want one for my bedroom wall. XD
awe love, sorry to see that. I know it's a kill joy. They have learned from that experience however. RP stuff has been limited in such things now. To much work went into that area and not a lot was seen :(
I just had a thought that a "Duty Roulette: Newcomer" option in Duty Finder that gives a bonus to players for relinquishing the ability to skip cutscenes would be a helpful thing to add. It would give people a way to voluntarily accompany new players on story quests, and would give them something in exchange for their time, maybe making the experience that much more enjoyable for everyone and smoothing out some of the wrinkles in the current system.
I just wonder what sort of reward would work.
Then again you'd get intentional griefers jumping in to make life difficult, too... mmm, I don't blame the developers for not covering all the bases, there's too much stuff to consider in a social experience as massive as this.
the problem is not everyone really cares about the story :( it could have been worse... back when I started the rule was basicly, skip it, go watch later. No option because the others would kick you if you stood around watching the cutscenes. It was annoying ><
All the more reason to include an option specifically for people who care about the story. "Skip it, go watch it later" is a bullshit rule, by the way. At that point you might as well watch it on YouTube.
The mainstream MMO crowd is a weirdly impatient bunch considering how much ungodly time-consumption their chosen genre of game takes. You'd think waiting a few minutes wouldn't be an issue, but ohohoho, you'd be wroooong. -.-
Awww, I'm sorry that happened. :( My first time through Praetorium (and every other time) was with a completely random party; I skipped the cutscenes on my own because I was fed up with trying to create a preformed party, everyone (everyone!) I knew said they'd go but was busy for three days. I didn't miss any fights, but damned if I wouldn't have rather watched the scenes during the dungeon instead of at the inn....
I don't understand why it should be first-timers making concessions for veterans and impatient people. Bass-fugging-ackwards...
I know, right? There were two other first-timers in my group, too. One of them actually missed Ultima AND Lahabrea by watching cutscenes (and even though I was skipping, I was still advocating waiting for the others and taking up for them when people got annoyed)! In the end I waited around for his scenes to finish and talked to him; it turned out he didn't even care about the fight, he just wanted the story! XD So he got what he wanted, plus a carry because vets can't wait! ^_^
Btw, I snuck into both your rooms last night...bwahahaha....
Heh, speaking of, I used all that money I made finishing up the story quests to get a Magitek Armor figure for my room today. Worth every gil~
Wait!? What!? Babe!?
What? It was right before I came back to Bryn and took pictures of you on your horse.
Ugh, that sucks. Getting locked out because you wanted to watch the cutscenes already sucks, but it happening on the final boss? That's the worst.
I definitely feel like there's a few cases here where the cutscenes either should have played outside the duty or before it starts, or, at the very least, the game shouldn't let the party run off if someone's still in a cutscene. That alone would help here.
I need to decorate my room...it's pretty bare....
All we need is a bed.
And here I thought you were going to say the bare room matches us. o//o
Aaaanyway, that is why I always try to form a party for clears. o.o
Well your bare room does match us sweetie. Lol.
It's also matches us in another way too.
See just like the two of us your room is always open. Lol
Oh god I'm terrible.
>< i think when someones in a cutscene a barrier should appear to stop anyone from moving too far away/starting combat. or atleast.. prevent people from starting bosses until the scenes are over. I hateeeeeeeeeeeee seeing people get locked out. everyones in a rush nowadays.. <.<
The cutsceens been being skipped in that one since it came out. I read mundo blogs withbthis exact story. U did get to watch it so thats a plus. Tho u didnt get to attack the last boss u are not missing much, it was killed as fast as a regular mob yes? 2.0 is far from over and guess what...its not hard so i dont know who told u that. U still have Shiva to do and other stuff. The mintrels ballad or w/e is a funner version of that last boss so u also have that going for u
Note that you can watch the missing cutscenes again in your inn room by using the book next to your bed. It's pretty surprising the first time it happens, yeah.
I do aggree that there should be something to make sure no one gets locked out of a boss room (wouldn't take much more than teleporting the players to another player already in the room... don't know how easy that would be to actually do ), though.
Also, I don't think it's really a beginners-vs-veteran problem/debate.
Consider this fact: cutscenes in this game, and especially this last mission, can add up to a fairly long time (something like 10+ minutes) during which those who've already done the dungeon litterally have nothing at all to do. It'd be worth getting pissed off about if you couldn't see these cutscenes ever again - but you can, and these veterans are generally the ones who do know what they're doing.
Which is exactly what makes it a beginner vs veteran problem. The vets don't want to watch it again and the beginners generally do. Sure, they can watch later, but then it's not in the moment. That's the whole basis of the problem.
Consider: would you play FFXV for the first time and skip all the scenes to for later? But on the other hand, if you'd played it once, you wouldn't mind skipping the scenes. The problem is that XIV is story-driven AND an MMO that encourages repetition of old content.
(One last thing: since post-2.0 trials and dungeons tend to be much harder than the vanilla ones, players tend to be much more cooperative on average, since a team needs to work in good harmony to beat them. I do recommend coming into Trials and dungeons with a bit of knowledge: people will explain stuff to you, sure, but there's some things that are hard to properly explain even with text or with markings on the ground.)
Agreed—I try to read up on new areas before jumping in so I have at least a vague idea, and it helps the explanation from party members stick better too! ^_^
Thats just as bad. Your missing out on original exp by watching vids and reading up. I usta just wipe in df a million times to learn stuff :O
There are some things you don't get by watching the cutscenes in your inn room. Like seeing other party members accompanying your protag for the final push. Or a sense of immersion.
This is exactly why I said the pro player grindy stuff should have been left for the non-story-crucial dungeons or there ought to be some kind of opt-in for people who don't mind watching cutscenes. Can't magically make people be more patient, so make it easier to match up with patient people.
The thing is, I can't help feeling FF14 doesn't do a whole lot to encourage multiplayer in the first place--it makes the majority of the story deliberately solo content (to the point of locking other players out of key battles, even) and then forces you to join a party intermittently for dungeons or specific boss fights as if suddenly remembering it's supposed to be an MMORPG. While I think FF14 is on the whole more interesting...
I have to compliment Star Wars: The Old Republic, in that it never locks players out of each other's character missions, and instead of forcing multiplayer on players, it instead encourages players to tackle specific content in groups, and gives the multiplayer aspect a tie to the story: players share cutscenes and roll for dialogue priority. The Dark/Light alignment system also gives players a reason to pay attention to the dialogue. You can also solo the content. It's hard, but it can be done.
Eh, that's up to the individual, Nik. I see your point, but I don't mind reading it; I don't want to watch a vid though, because SEEING what's happening for the first time is different from some wiki writer's bland description. ^_^
And Shion, I agree. It sucks that watching the scenes in our room, you don't see any other party members there. It's like they're telling you that you did it yourself. In an MMO. >_<
I don't recommend trying a solo run of a multiplayer section on your first go, mind you, but this simple option takes so much weight off people who just want to enjoy the ride. I never once ended up being grouped with people who were just in a hurry to get to the end.
the fact your party members don't join you in the cutscenes in the inn room.. is the exact reason i did the story dungeons with fc members so i wouldn't miss anything @_@. Having them in the cutscene is amazing xD I wish Yoshi would do that more
Also it's worth mentioning that not ALL cutscenes in the game are selectable in the inn, although I do think all the key story dungeon scenes are, I'd have to get further and confirm that with future dungeons to be sure.
Iiiii'm pretty sure all scenes are viewable. I haven't run across any yet that weren't.
It may just be a matter of knowing where to look. For instance, in Praetorium, some scenes are listed under the dungeon...but some are listed in the Main Story under the quest name.
I don't think the opening cutscenes are viewable, for one thing.
I guess we'll have to check!
I never ever do the story roulette or whatever because it brings out the troll in me. I go in as whm and hang back with anyone who chooses to try and enjoy the story for the first time, explaining that they can either watch the cutscenes or fight, never both. Once it was me and one new tank and one new healer for me to protect. The party did the entire thing, ultima included, single tank and no healers. I just don't those instances anymore tho cause it's a serious pet peeve that drives me crazy
Newbie-friendly troll is best troll! <3 Vheo!
:(
Don't be sad Hailz!
I miss my baby. :(
Why? I'm right here!
Yes but I can't touch you on here!
(You guys might wanna... have this kind of conversations in private.)
Yes we probably should. But it's more fun this way.
I am sorry to hear that. When I first run this, I got lost in this dungeon because of my cutscene, and thankfully someone came to get me, if not I wouldn't have seen anything of this dungeon :)
But we did organize with friends the runs for some people so they could enjoy their cutscenes, AND I normally wait with the new people if there are any when i get into it.
(They just had their Ceremony of Eternal Bonding, Dalma, let 'em have their fun.)
That's nice of ya, Kresnik. I'm thinking I might try to get a tank character going to help people with dungeons, although after the hideous shortage of tanks that resulted in neither or my mid-day Duty Finders for Gilgamesh, panning out, that's as much to help veterans as newcomers. I'll just make sure to set a good pace for whoever I'm playing with!
If I have the lead of a CM or Prae in DF I wait but if I don't have it I go along but try to help with leading the way atleast. Had once a 7 man premade in DF for a FC member of ours and we explained to the other guy and he accepted and even watched CS himself ;) I assume he went out with 7 commendations lol
Once in such FC run I also bodypulled Lahabrea but you just can ignore him hitting you and tell everyone to wait >.< its a tad unfair to burn him while someone in CS :O
Well at leaste you didn't get lost like what happens to a lot of people. I tend to wait around if I see someone watching cutscenes just to guide them through - sometimes there's even a few of us that wait for the cutscene watcher.
I just sat my character down and grabbed a drink during the raidboss, when I came back we already won.
