IGN posted a video two days ago called How Destiny's Storytelling Will Be Improved and I haven't heard anyone talking about this. In the interview, at 2:25 Luke Smith says “We are doing the work to let you skip cutscenes both in The Taken King, which has a bunch of them, and of course in the cutscenes we made for vanilla Destiny.”

So it looks like they are finally going to implement one of the most requested features for Destiny since launch, and honestly, it's about time.

It's about damn time. Not being able to skip cutscenes while playing the daily heroic story mission was just dumb.

Amen! Hallelujah!

Yeah doing any of the missions that requires a cutscene is super tedious.

Wait, you couldn't skip cutscenes in Destiny until soon? What is this, 2003?

Nope and it's the worst thing about leveling multiple characters.

There are other reasons developers have unskippable cutscenes besides just choosing to. I don't know exactly how Destiny works but I just hope some of you guys realize that. They often mask loads for example.

I think it clearly makes sense to have skippable cutscenes in this game but I'm not going to pretend to know exactly how the game works or why they're there. Lets say for sure it isn't because they didn't think of it, as some responses seem to suggest.

Next gen amirite.

But from what I read this is not Destiny's biggest problem regarding story. It's more to the fact that the story is very vague, close to non existing.

@raspharus: I mean the Speaker could tell you about those times and events, he just isn't going to...

This should be a required feature of every game, ever, period, no exceptions. I mean, when you're at the drawing board, "skippable cutscenes" should be an assumed feature, not even something you have to think about.

The final mission and cutscene honestly blew me away by how bad it was. There is no story, its 6 hours of missions with no real beginning or end its about as cohesive as sand.

I could tell you.... But I wont, mwahahahaha

I never skip a cutscene

Even on replays?

Pretty much this.

Still blows my goddamn mind when games insist on not allowing you to skip.

It's just not that simple... :S or in my brain it's complicated.

The vast majority of games with unskippable cutscenes are loading in the background. Now, I still agree that sometimes I would rather see a loading screen than the same custscene over again, but you are aware that's what the trade off is right? Thinking about that I dunno what I really prefer... a custscene is just a loading screen that talks at you.

You gotta load somewhere!

Unless the next required feature of games is no loading :P which would be nice, but impossible.

If Destiny actually lets you skip cutscenes without increasing load time that's some impressive optimization!

Anyways I for one am excited for this to get done. It is absolutely annoying.

*edited for fullness!*

It is a complicated process if it wasn't designed that way from the beginning. The big issue I think most players have with cutscenes are not the ones that last 60 seconds or less but the ones that last 3-5 minutes in the middle or at the end of a mission. Especially when we've played that mission 15 times already. The ones in the middle of a mission are the most annoying since most of the loading should have already been completed on the initial load of the level.

@geraltitude: I get where you are coming from. And yes these days a lot of games are now trying to mask loads behind cut scenes. The thing is that a lot of the time also this is not the case, they are just playing the cut scenes, with nothing being loaded. Or for example having a checkpoint right before a cut scene not after, ugh. Or just have the cut scene be skippable as soon as the real loading is done, some games even do this.

In your example of just seeing the loading screen instead, I think the biggest recent obvious offender is Witcher 3. Seeing the same intro cut scenes for the 30th+ time when loading a game .... really started to grate on my nerves and I looove that game. They even already had normal loading screens in the game (you saw them if you reloaded from death). People even made a simple mod to disable them (the cutscenes). The simple quiet loading screens were preferable, they at least had randomised tips and weren't intrusively noisy.

You have to 'work' on allowing players to skip cutscenes?

So when are they gonna give me match making? Or are they still using the same old, ass tired excuse?

Yep, even with stupidly long MGS style cutscenes

@kishinfoulux: I'm sure they will add matchmaking to the non matchmade activities as soon as they feel like they can do it without hindering the experience of the vast majority of current players. Lack of matchmaking is only a problem for less than 10% of Destiny players. Adding constant matchmaking to Raids/Nightfalls/Prison Challenge Modes would ruin the experience for the other 20% of the 30% of endgame Destiny players who already have friends and groups to play with. Personally I'd love it if they added Matchmaking to Trials of Osiris, because as a mid tier Crucible player it would make it much easier for me to go 9-0 because Matchmade teams are terrible, as evidenced by the vast difference between Trails and Elimination last week. But Matchmade Trials would ruin that experience for the top tier Crucible players since competition would drop drastically, so I don't think it should happen, it would just make my Trials life easier.

How?

That's my question too? Not having the ability to matchmake is probably what affects the 90% of people who can't do that content and want to experience.

@tennmuerti: I distinctly remember Max Payne having "Still Loading" text appear in the corner if you tried to skip a scene before loading was done, which was cool (especially considering how ultra long and numerous those scenes were). I completely agree with you on examples like the Witcher 3. I much prefer a quiet loading screen with some tips or concept art versus having to listen to a recap of the same story bit for the 100th time over. It's easy enough to mute or take my headphones off, but it shouldn't come to that.

Also totally agree with you and @zirilius on what I would call your "best practice" points. Auto-Saves that occur before a custscene instead of after are almost never justified, and unskippable mid-mission cutscenes (especially short ones) are another example of things that just should not happen anymore.

I guess what really confuses me - and maybe I'm giving developers too much credit out of ignorance - is that I find it so hard to conceive of developers sitting at a table and making a decision to force users to watch cutscenes every single time, no exceptions, especially in a replay heavy game like Destiny. I feel it must be a limitation of some other design decision (hence, to answer @jasonr86, why they maybe need to "work" on it to get it done). It just seems crazy! to actively design a game like that.

I suppose with Destiny being multiplayer maybe there is some complexity in skipping cutscenes when players are in groups together? Though I'm certain other online multiplayer games have had skippable cutscenes.

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Something about this doesn't make sense to me.

If 20-30% of Destiny endgame players have friends they play with, matchmaking would have zero effect on them. They play with their friends. Matchmaking's existence is outside their interest. Why do you think matchmaking would ruin these peoples experience? Do you think they would give up playing with their friends and try to match make instead and thus have inferior experiences? I'm genuinely curious here, this isn't supposed to be snide or anything! You seem to know the game better than me.

Who does matchmaking affect negatively?

Seems to me it only affects the people who don't have friends to play with already. And if you don't have friends to play with, you aren't playing. That's pretty negative. True, you could have a horrible Raid experience, but you also have the chance to have a good one.

Oh boy...great job Bungie. Fixing something that should never have been designed as such. Sigh...Bungie just doesn't get it, or maybe they can't, dunno.

On another note: Huge TYs to Jeff and Brad for keepin' it real w/the Bungie devs on Giantbomb's E3 Night 2.

@geraltitude: Fuckin Max Payne 3 was the WORST. Going from start-up to in-game was super quick, but then trying to skip cutscenes took so damn long. I dunno what was goin on behind the scenes that made it that way, but holy moly.

it only took almost a year to break through Bungie's arrogance on that one, wow.

@theht: lol yep man that game is such a double-edged sword for me. Love the gameplay to death but aaagggh all the cutscenes.

@geraltitude: @zirilius: @tennmuerti: I am going to preface this with the fact that this only applies to auto forced matchmaking. I'm all for a matchmaking button or mode on all endgame activities, but I don't think Bungie will ever devote the time it would take to implement that. If they do, good on em, and I have no issues with it.

Only roughly 30% (based on Playstation Trophy data) of Destiny players have ever even equiped an Exotic item which means that only that amount even enter the endgame experience of Destiny, and the other 70% will never reach the endgame for Matchmaking to matter. That's pretty normal and you could say that's much higher than the average completion rate of a game these days. Now, 20% of Destiny players have completed the Raid, which means that those players have the means to play with a group of Guardians to finish the Raid (even if that's fewer than 6 players), whether that is due to real friends, LFG, or people they found through Destiny of forums like GB's. I know this is a large oversimplification, because some of those players might benefit from Matchmaking because they only did one Raid and can't consistently find groups, but there is no distinct way to quantify that group, so I'm kind of ignoring it for now. Now the other 10% of Destiny players (30%-20%) have reached the endgame, but have never done a Raid. Those are the players that would benefit from Matchmaking (I assume that the unknown % of those players who would never Raid but equipped an Exotic likely cancels out those one time Raiders I mentioned earlier, if not more than). So in essence I completely agree that Matchmaking would be a benefit to that 10% of players to see endgame content such as PoE/Raids/Nightfalls.

That benefit comes at a price that most don't realize for the 20% though. If you Raid with completely full groups, and run Nightfalls with 3, and never have one person jump in early to start on PoE challenge modes while others are grabbing bounties, etc, then Matchmaking won't effect you either. Now, as a Destiny player who is well into the endgame, I know that all of those things I mentioned and more happen pretty frequently. A lot of times we easily run Raids with fewer than 6 Guardians, and a random player without experience or communication to us would put extremely unnecessary strain on our ability to run a Raid. I don't want them in my Raid if I don't know them, or at the very least, know someone that knows them. It's just too much work and those players will wipe the entire group more often than not, ruining the experience. In other words, I cannot control if they go all Leroy Jenkins on my team (if you don't get that reference, google it, it will make your day). Same goes for Nightfalls. Also, all Solo, or small team self made challenge modes on those activities are out the door. We can no longer watch people like TheLegendHimself solo Crota Hard at 32, which would be sad. Players will also now not be able to jump into late game activities solo to gain progress themselves and have a group join. Sucks for some of my guys that hate to do Gorgon's in VoG, because if we don't jump in with a full squad, we get thrown in with randoms and our other guys cannot now join. That brings us to Checkpoints, those have to be removed, because how would you determine who's checkpoint to use? The one my 5 guys are on or did that 6th random get host and we are thrown into his Checkpoint. So Bungie throws Checkpoints on Raids out the door. This is especially sad, when Checkpoints seem to be the battle cry of everyone doing PoE right now, because it's exhausting that they don't have them. Especially if you get to the boss, and then you have to leave to go do real life stuff. Next time, you start over from scratch.

I could go on about the negatives of Auto Matchmaking in endgame activities, but hopefully you get the picture, it would hurt just as many if not more players than it would help. But that's not to say Bungie shouldn't be investigating and solving the issues people have that cause an outcry for Matchmaking. I think a major overhaul in the already existing Clan system in Destiny would do wonders to alleviate the lack of Matchmaking. Put Clans in Destiny, not just on Bungie.net like tons of other games already have. Show clan members exactly like your friends list, and allow players to join and manage Clans within Destiny. Also, create some sort of LFG in Destiny. A tower like social space where Guardians can gather to group up for endgame activities. They can even use unused space like the top of the tower if they didn't want to add art assets, that should be relatively simple to implement.

Don't get me wrong, I want to solve the issues of Guardians not being able to group up in Destiny just as much as everyone else. I just don't think Auto Matchmaking is the answer.

@hestilllives19: Hey thanks for the in-depth response, was interesting to read. Definitely agree with you on most all counts. I guess what I was hoping for was absolutely a voluntary matchmaking system, not a one-size-fits-all solution. If you have a group already you can jump in to whatever event with them and you could hit a toggle like "Allow only friends to join" or "Invite Only". Everyone else could select the "Matchmake" option and be thrown into a queue and matched up based on level, times they did a raid/event, etc. I feel this would be a best of both worlds scenario, allowing those who play with either friends/clans/community people to stay with their groups and not have to play with anyone outside that (even if they don't have max player numbers). At the same time, if I wanted to a do a raid and have 0 friends, I could hit the matchmaking lobby and be thrown into a group who is open to having me or be matched up with other loners. :)

@geraltitude: Yeah, like I said, if they figure out how to do that, great. I just think that is probably too daunting of a task for them to do. If they go Matchmaking, I fear it will be the same "one-size-fits-all" they already did with the Weekly Strike. But what if you could just hit a button to join a clan that has set their group to looking for new members, and find a group that seems right to you. I think that is probably a much better solution, even a more permanent one to the issue you have of having 0 Destiny friends. That would allow you to play with that Clan and get to know those players.

But that's not what people are asking for, or talk about. At all.

So the rest of that post is irrelevant. Sorry. But I read it all nevertheless, since you went into the effort of writing it up.

I'm all for a matchmaking button or mode on all endgame activities, but I don't think Bungie will ever devote the time it would take to implement that.

Then it will remain one of the many major criticisms towards their game.

But you don't have to force matchmaking. MMO's give you options of matchmaking or going by yourself. For instance WoW, maybe a bad choice but still a choice, allows people that CHOOSE to want to raid to find players through LFR. These raids are tuned slightly easier than pre-made raids to adjust for lack of communication but still require a certain amount of knowledge for the raid. Or players can go to the instance of their choice and just zone in and solo or get as far as they can with groups less than the designated size. Granted this wouldn't work for the existing raids but you could still offer people the choice.

There's an easy, at least on paper, way to do to allow matchmaking and still allow the solo content you described. Create something similar to the Vanguard playlist that is the Raid playlist or Raid Matchmaking for those that want it but still allow people that want your style of content to go to the map location . We aren't asking them to remove what is currently there for the people that choose to make the content harder than it needs to be or to force matchmaking for everything. We are just simply asking them to give us the option to be able to do the content

For me I don't have a lot of friends that have a PS4 and play Destiny. I have a small group of about 3-4 people that could possibly do the raid but would be nice to fill our ranks with two more people. Destiny LFG proves that you don't need matchmaking for the base raids.

@zirilius: If they do add something like WoW, I'd be extremely surprised. Bungie didn't even have the resources available to create a new Raid activity for HoW and Prison of Elders. So them tackling specially tuned Raids for Matchmaking probably won't happen. If that does, I also guarantee you see watered down future Raids, that are already oversimplified to account for their Matchmade counterparts. That would be a tragedy. Now, a Raid playlist under Vanguard. I could completely get behind that. I think the completion rate of those Raids would be drastically lower than the one already in existence, but it wouldn't effect me so I say go right ahead.

I love how skipping cutscenes is how they're dealing with "improving Destiny's storytelling".

@geraltitude:

It just seems a bit silly for such a prolific developer making a game for so long with so much talent and so much funding would have to put a concerted effort into adding a feature that I expect in nearly every single game I play. But maybe I'm expecting too much.

wow, what an innovation- time to start playing destiny aga- zzZzz. The least of their problems, and the fact that its a bullet point that they are just getting to this is absolutely hilarious, and terrible.

The more I played and thought about this the more I'm actually flabbergasted you can't skip cutscenes. What's the purpose of the 60 second flying over or to a location if it isn't loading the level? That's the end of this rant for me at least it's coming.