Arbitrary ATEs

[Clo]

I replayed this game recently, and though I love it as much as the next EOFFer, I found myself thinking that the ATEs in the game were quite arbitrary.

Especially the mandatory ones. If it's going to be mandatory, why bother telling me it's an ATE? Why can't they just switch over to that scene? And the optional ones -- I viewed every single one, and though some of the stuff was silly and fun, I felt like most of the ATEs in the game could have just been shown without giving us the option, seeing as how they were short and important to character development. And there's no point really in not watching them.

I don't know! I just thought the whole thing was silly and pointless, and that they should have shown all the scenes regardless. I figured it gave us an illusion of extra material and choice, when it really wasn't much.

Does anyone else feel this way, or am I being a grump?

[Rantz]

Yeah, I agree.

Those who go for Excalibur 2 will be helped by skipping ATEs, but that's not really enough of a reason. I don't know why they're there xD

[charliepanayi]

*shrugs* I liked them, I don't really care how they were presented really.

[blackmage_nuke]

I wish the ATEs were more mandatory since I was always afraid I'd miss one if I walked into the wrong room.

[Marshall Banana]

I thought the same thing when I last played.

[Shotgunnova]

I didn't mind the presentation since ATES were one of FF9's coolest contributions to the series. I guess the difference between a mandatory ATE and a normal cutaway scene is that the former's the only one to pin the event down within a specific timeframe. Of course, those types of ATEs are good advertising for the feature, too.

[beema]

I feel the same way... there really wasn't a point in making them optional, or even something that required a button press. Especially since they usually occur when entering a new screen. It would be easy enough to fade to the other scene without it feeling weird if it was done on screen changes.

I was confused as to why it was presented as such an amazing new feature.

I guess maybe if someone is going for a speed run, they can skip them all? Other than that, I really don't see why anyone would skip them and why they couldn't be mandatory.

[Wolf Kanno]

Though the forced ones are a bit weird to see as ATE's, the others actually don't add to the plot, just the characters and introduces people before you normally would in the plot. If you were someone who could care less about Tantalus or what Dagger, Eiko, or Quina were doing, why you were trying to start off the next story sequence in town; the ability to "cut the fat" as they would say makes a more cohesive plot focus story that doesn't force you to wade through stuff that has no real impact on the overall plot.

So I would say you are all being grumps about the feature most likely cause you can't bring yourselves to skip any of them so to you, this stuff is mandatory whereas other people would see it as tedious filler that mostly focuses on NPCs and non-entities in your party.

[Jiro]

I guess it sort of gives the impression of more story development. Like "here have a plot oh and you can if you want have some of these extras we added too"

[Flying Arrow]

I really have no problem with ATEs. In fact, I wish more games had them! Watching characters interact with everyday stuff (as opposed to the main quest) can make them so much more endearing than just watching them step in during mandatory plot points.

The only real criticism I have of ATEs is that I always get a bit uptight if my party isn't actually all "in" the party at the time. But that's not so much a criticism as me being obsessive-compulsive. I'm the kind of person who gets agitated if someone replaces a book on my shelf out of proper order (alphabetical by author, chronological within each author).

[VeloZer0]

The only real criticism I have of ATEs is that I always get a bit uptight if my party isn't actually all "in" the party at the time. But that's not so much a criticism as me being obsessive-compulsive. I'm the kind of person who gets agitated if someone replaces a book on my shelf out of proper order (alphabetical by author, chronological within each author).
That always pisses me off in games, mostly because as soon as I walk into a city I want to buy new gear for everyone and it is way harder if they aren't in the actual party.