Figured out a way to get around the party cutscene glitch, since IMC doesn’t seem to want to recognize that they broke this important feature. What you do is ensure your party members are on one side of the map, and have one person in the party go to trigger the quest alone. That way the rest of the party members teleport into the battle/cutscene, which seems to bypass the getting stuck glitch.
I’m not sure how far you have to be, to be honest. I’ve only ever tested with a friend from pretty much the opposite side of the map, but it does work every time. No more getting stuck. So when you’re partying, make sure one person goes to trigger the quest and that anyone else remains quite a distance away.
In an aside, I’m noticing a strange trend here where IMC addresses one issue during their patches/maintenance (if we’re lucky), and somehow manages to break 5 or more other things in the game. Like now the lodge button works now but we can’t peacefully party without some shenanigans, and IMC doesn’t even recognize this as a known issue! I’m at my wit’s end trying to understand what is going on at IMC, and who is making these decisions. Seems like the cash shop is a higher priority than making sure the game actually works as intended.
TL;DR Split up, have one person run ahead to activate quest trigger. Curse IMC for making parties this complicated.
edit: Guess the lodge button is broken again, after all. Not even surprised at this point.
