Stop time during cutscenes in co-op

[Blue_Three]

There's a whole bunch of cut scenes and events during the game. In co-op, some of them are shared; some (like heart events) are only seen by one player. The problem is that time keeps moving, often resulting in at least one player passing out if the cut scene continues past 2 am.

Here's one example I found particularly annoying. I just finished the Community Center with a friend. The next day there's a lengthy cut scene in the evening/at night, which means both players are guaranteed to pass out as soon as it ends. That can't be how it's intended.

Stopping time during such shared events shouldn't be too difficult a change to implement. But even with heart events that involve just one player, I would suggest showing the other player(s) a "Waiting for other players (1/2)" for the duration of the cut scene - like it does at the end of a day. Or at least make it an option in the settings. The way it's being handled now is anything but ideal.

 

[Magically Clueless]

That almost sounds like an oversight/bug to me, but I completely agree that stopping time during cutscenes is needed. It... I'm surprised since I don't ever recall that happening, but in fairness I don't pay attention to it too much

 

[Odin]

I think at the very least any cutscenes that all players see should pause the clock

 

[BlazedSpawn]

I agree that cutscenes involving all players should stop time, or should at least not have the potential to result in everyone passing out.

I like the idea of an option to pause time for all players when one player is in a cutscene. There are pros and cons to both settings.

Time stops while I'm in the cutscene:
1. My friend has to wait while I go through it (it's my first time through and I haven't seen everything).
2. I don't lose half the day.

Time doesn't stop while I'm in the cutscene:
1. My friend can continue playing and maybe do the thing I was planning to do before the cutscene popped up.
2. I lose half the day.

Making global pause an option in settings would be great.

 

[Whispereon]

I totally agree with this but I think it should be an option when you first start similar to the money sharing or having them separate. Maybe even a feature where when all players bring up the menu time will stop. If one person in a four-person server didn't bring up the menu time will continue normally.

 

[Jack Of Shades]

I almost wish this was default. It does affect game play when the time marches on even during a cutscene. -_-

 

[Raiden]

totally agree with yah, playing in multiplayer with my friends gets a bit difficult specially if we made a schedule for the day then a cutscene completely wrecks it. And even results to passing out(like Linus and abby's cutscenes during the night). It's a big problem specially during year 1 when grinding.

 

[Khazenor]

Just want to voice my support for this issue as well. Having time still pass when I'm in a cut scene makes the multiplayer game play very stressful for me.

 

[Drullo321]

That was one of the reason I stopped playing SV multiplayer because such things were too hectic and some other things quite impossible to accomplish such as playing the two arcade games. At least one of them is saveable as of 1.5. then why not add this feature to Junimo Kart and maybe have some improvements for the cutscenes. Would be nice

 

[LRangerR]

Found a workaround for this until it gets patched.

If all players pause the game when there's a cutscene, time will stop. This also applies to all players being in their inventory or, well, just anything that would pause the time normally in a solo game. Tried this with two people, don't know if it works with more than 2.

 

[imnvs]

I would rather it paused me in the middle of what I was doing (inconveniencing me a little) when someone else gets a cutscene, because I would rather that than for it to NOT pause when I'm in a cutscene and I lose half the day because of it. I am 100% behind pausing the game in MP when anyone in the game gets a cutscene.

We understand, when playing MP that we have to wait for each other for things... but not being allowed to wait? That's counter-intuitive.

 

[LRangerR]

I mean, I'm not disagreeing with you, lol. It's just a workaround that i found while playing.

 

[MeeShell]

A simple solution would be that there are no repercussions if you exit a cutscene after, let's say 12:00am and pass out. That would at least put everyone at ease. The game was not designed to continue time during cutscenes as cutscenes quite literally take up most of the day sometimes. And at night, you are guaranteed to pass out after one..

I mean, I'm not disagreeing with you, lol. It's just a workaround that i found while playing.

Also to LRangerR, I did try this with a friend(PS4, across two consoles), and it didn't work for me. Were you co-op on the same device? and what system?

 

[LRangerR]

I tried it recently and it didn't work either. Either it got patched or it only works in local co-op.

 

[tomaO2]

Are heart events repeated for every character? Meaning every player must gain favour from the NPCs separately, and all can see it separately?

Assuming only the host account can marry, I would just have NPCs work from a shared pool. If you are invited to someone's game where all the NPCs are at 10 hearts, then they also count as being 10 hearts for you as well. Make it so all NPC scenes are shared, and whichever player triggers the scene be the one who's avatar is used for the cutscene.

Therefore, all players always see all the cutscenes, and they don't constantly repeat when someone new joins. If you want to experience everything together, start a new game.

Alternatively, you could disable individual cutscenes when doing multiplayer. A heart cutscene can always wait for later on.

 

[imnvs]

Are heart events repeated for every character? Meaning every player must gain favour from the NPCs separately, and all can see it separately?

Assuming only the host account can marry

Everyone gets heart cutscenes separately after they each get themselves up to the required hearts with each NPC. Everyone can get married, not just the host.

 

[tomaO2]

Don't you need to upgrade your house to get married? I was under the impression that other players just got beginner sized houses.

Well, regardless, I would suggest either disabling cutscenes or forcing everyone to watch them. Honestly, with a 4 player game, seeing the same heart events over and over again would be more than a little tedious. They aren't required for gameplay. If you want to see them all, then play solo.

 

[imnvs]

Don't you need to upgrade your house to get married? I was under the impression that other players just got beginner sized houses.

Well, regardless, I would suggest either disabling cutscenes or forcing everyone to watch them. Honestly, with a 4 player game, seeing the same heart events over and over again would be more than a little tedious. They aren't required for gameplay. If you want to see them all, then play solo.

No, farmhands can upgrade their houses just like the host can. All costs are the same. The interiors are the same too.

Also, not everyone playing MP are playing from the same location. If I'm playing at my house and if you're playing at your house, whenever either of us get a cutscene the other can't watch, so nobody is seeing a cutscene more than once. Even if we're at the same location, until 1.5 we were using our own computer/console, and thus we wouldn't necessarily be seeing the cutscene when someone else gets it and that goes double if there is no pause, because I'm not going to sit around doing nothing while time counts down just because you're watching a cutscene.

And just because people are playing together doesn't mean they have to be forced to do the same thing at the same time every time or skip cutscenes entirely. Lots of people really like the social aspects of the game and denying them that when they play MP would piss a lot of people off.

 

[tomaO2]

Yea, fair enough. In the end, this is about the players having fun. While it's understandable that the game will keep going, even when the game is paused, cutscenes are a different category.

The way I see it, there are 3 options.

1. Let time continue while a cutscene goes on. This can mess up core gameplay. So is probably the worst option.
2. Pause the game for all the other players while an individual cutscene is going on. This can be really annoying to players that are not watching the cutscene, or don't want to watch the cutscene for the hundredth time.
3. Pause the clock (not the game). Let the other players continue to play while someone is watching a cutscene. Freeze all the npcs that were moving but let them continue to interact. Can unbalance the game a bit by giving players more time to do their day. Cutscenes tend to only be a minute or two, although there is the issue of someone cheating the system by deliberately not finishing a cutscene. Therefore text box choices would have to be on a timer, and scenes where you move around, such as playing a video game with Abby (generally speaking, this is probably the longest cutscene) would need to be automated so that it can't be going on for 5-10+ minutes.

If I'm looking at the three. I'll pick the third option. It will make the day longer, and may be unbalanced, but this solution is less likely to annoy people than the other two options. You could also just have it be a partial issue by only kicking in the cutscene pause once you pass midnight, or something. The main issue is a cutscene going past 2am, right?

Oh! I guess there is also Meeshell's suggestion. I should have read that more carefully before making my post, since that actually sounds like the easiest solution.

A simple solution would be that there are no repercussions if you exit a cutscene after, let's say 12:00am and pass out. That would at least put everyone at ease. The game was not designed to continue time during cutscenes as cutscenes quite literally take up most of the day sometimes. And at night, you are guaranteed to pass out after one..

That seems like the smallest fix that takes care of the main issue, which appears to be the exhaustion mechanic. I might be missing something, given I've never played multi, but assuming my assumption is right, then I've changed my mind. I'll vote for that.

On another note, what happens when a player goes to sleep, is he on pause until all the other players also go to sleep? *edit: Found out you go into a waiting mode.* If that is the case, maybe a free roving camera should be added for sleeping players so they can wander the island, or maybe create a ghost avatar that can only affect things in the house? This lets the player have some time to decorate the house or move things around while waiting for everyone else to finish their day. When the new day starts the avatar player will continue to be in the same spot he was working beforehand. If you teleport the player into bed, it might mess something up.

 

[Cuusardo]

I have missed things that have to be done on a specific day and/or time in co-op games because cut scenes were thrown at me on my way to do them and time continued to pass.