Final Fantasy 14’sfinal dungeon in the main scenario ofA Realm Reborn, The Praetorium, has become infamous to many MMO players for its incredibly long cutscenes. The runtime for the dungeon can last around one hour, with that hour being mostly running around and hearing NPCs talk during unskippable cutscenes. With such dull gameplay, it is a wonder why gamers keep coming back for more. However, they do come back, mostly because of Main Scenario Roulette or to grind for tomestomes while being able to step away from their computer or console during cutscenes.
The Praetorium has become somewhat of a meme amongFinal Fantasy 14players. It is where the line “such devastation” came from, which many fans now repeat as a sort of inside joke. Some fans can even recite lines of dialogue from the dungeon due to having watched the cutscenes over and over. However, The Praetorium was not always in such a funny state; there was a time was the cutscenes of the dungeon were skippable.
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Why The Praetorium’s Cutscenes Are Unskippable
The Praetorium’s cutscenes became unskippable in patch 4.2, whenStormbloodwas the most currentcontent. Square Enix did have a good reason to make the cutscenes unskippable, because veteran players would skip the cutscenes and do the entire dungeon without new players who still watched them since it was their first time through. New players were left in the dust, and it was a constant complaint that reached the ears of the devteam. Veteran players leaving behind new players was particularly not good in The Praetorium because the dungeon had a ton of walking and it would be easy for someone new to get lost.
So when patch 4.2 was dropped, the40 minutes of cutscenesin The Praetorium became unskippable, forcing players to wait along with anyone new to the dungeon. While this was great for players with sprouts over their heads, everyone else had to learn how to entertain themselves for 40 minutes. This is what began the chaos of The Praetorium runs that players know today.
The Praetorium After Patch 4.2
Recent fan art has made the rounds on Twitter with the image of Gaius Van Baelsar speaking to a player party, only to realize none are actually listening to him and are instead either playing onNintendo Switch, writing, cooking, reading, or having a private chat with another player. The fan art perfectly encapsulates how runs are in The Praetorium thanks to its unskippable cutscenes. For 40 minutes, players look away fromFinal Fantasy 14and do something else. Some may even not return in time and completely miss a boss battle or fall behind. However, that is normal in The Praetorium, and many veterans do not care about keeping up.
The typical player who grinds The Praetorium is one with two screens, one for the dungeon and another for something to do during the cutscenes. Upon loading into the dungeon, many players even mention that they are about to put on a movie or start dinner while playing. The Praetorium community is accepting of this, which is an example ofwhat makes theFinal Fantasy 14community so great. The players who are not happy do not bother with Main Story Roulette, or immediately leave the moment they see “The Praetorium” appear across their screen.
It is unlikelySquare Enixwill ever undo the unskippable cutscenes added with the 4.2 patch. After all, no one ever has to play The Praetorium more than once. For those that do run the dungeon more than once, their experiences may be chaos on one end and total laid-back apathy on the other. There is an odd comfort in the inescapable cutscenes, leaving players time to get a cup of tea, message their friends, or perform the traditional mocking of Gaius' villain speeches.
Final Fantasy 14is available now for PC, PS4, and PS5.
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