Curse

a tiny fishie · Jul 29, 2006, 11:56 AM // 11:56

I have enjoyed the Guild Wars storylines, and I've generally liked watching the cutscenes... at least the first couple times for each of them. Since I've played GW since the first GW beta, seeing the same cutscene a million times over isn't quite as enjoyable now. I definitely think some change should be made, but I'm not a fan of the "majority rules/vote to skip" or other cutscene skip options I've seen proposed here thus far.

How about this instead:

When you're watching a cutscene or in-game cinematic, you would have a checkbox at the bottom of the screen that would "auto-skip" the cutscene, with text beside the checkbox saying something like "Automatically skip this cutscene". When the checkbox is unchecked and you click to check it, it would do two things:

Act as if you'd also clicked the "Skip" button, and
For each subsequent time the same cutscene is supposed to play, automatically act as if you'd skipped it.

What would this mean?

For "instructional" cutscenes (such as those at the beginning of HA and alliance battles), it would just skip those cutscenes without ever showing them to you again. (How many PVP'ers who have played HA more than once need a detailed explanation of how the Underworld map works? Not many.)
For mission or group cinematics, it would just act as if you'd clicked Skip the moment the cinematic started. The checked checkbox and corresponding text would be shown at the bottom of the screen to show that you'd previously chosen to skip the cutscene. If the whole party had previously checked that box for a given cutscene, the whole cutscene would be immediately skipped, displaying a message to all party members to let them know the cutscene had indeed been skipped. If even a single party member had not checked the box on a previous viewing of the cutscene, then the cutscene would play normally until skipped by that player.
If you had previously chosen to auto-skip a cutscene but were forced to watch it again because a party member had not seen or chosen to auto-skip it previously, you could uncheck the checkbox (if you really cared to).
Cutscene skips could be on a per-character or per-account basis -- either way would still be a major improvement.
You would still have to wait for the cutscene to complete if someone in your party did not skip it... but hey, this is supposed to be a team-based game with shared experiences.

And in case you decide later that OMG I NED TO SEE THAT CUTSEEN AGIAN!1!!11!, it would also be nice to have a "Reset all cutscene skips" button in the Options panel. The very first time a cutscene is auto-skipped using the checkbox, and following the end of the cutscene (i.e., when control is returned to the player), you'd see a "tip" that explains how to reset the cutscene auto-skips using the Options panel.

Thoughts?

Quid Pro Quo · Jul 29, 2006, 12:03 PM // 12:03

I don't see the point to it. If its really a problem then just alt tab until you hear the talking finished besides if you've watched them to the point where you can't stand them then you should know exactly how long they are so why not get up and stretch?

Now that the cutscenes don't kill minions or anything I don't see a reason to skip besides a lack of patients. This idea is kind of silly. Its not hard to press skip unless your AFK and the only reason you would be AFK is if you were getting a run which Arena Net is trying to stop anyway.

Farrell-Zander · Jul 29, 2006, 12:07 PM // 12:07

yeah just press skip you lazy bum :P

Terra Xin · Jul 29, 2006, 12:16 PM // 12:16

well i can agree for auto skipping PvP cutscenes... but ti gets complicated for PvE cutscenes... so im undecided on that one

/signed for PvP auto-skipping/disabling cutscenes

a tiny fishie · Jul 29, 2006, 12:29 PM // 12:29

I got this idea when PVPing, but thought I'd imagine how to extend it to PVE, as well. Sure, the PVE cutscene skipping might only be useful to a party of experienced guild members, but the idea is there for completeness (and a consistent implementation of the feature.) And hey, you wouldn't be *forced* to check the checkbox if you're PVEing...

Anyway...

I think the most annoying thing is seeing the cutscenes at the beginning of PVP maps that you've played hundreds of times. To me, its like picking up your toothbrush to brush your teeth, and having an instructional video about "How To Brush Your Teeth, In Excruciating Detail" pop up in front of you each time... but you just want to get down to the business of brushing your teeth! (Hurray for oral hygiene!)

And yes, I bet some toothpaste marketing person out there is already working on that technology... I can't wait to experience the future of advertising.

Quid Pro Quo · Jul 29, 2006, 01:34 PM // 13:34

Quote:

Originally Posted by a tiny fishie

The idea is there for completeness (and a consistent implementation of the feature.) And hey, you wouldn't be *forced* to check the checkbox if you're PVEing...

But little things like this add up and take time away from big things.