Cinematic

Cinematics (also commonly called "cutscenes") are short ingame movies used to tell parts of the storyline. They often appear during missions but can also appear upon entering key locations.

These are not pre-recorded videos, but real-time rendered scenes, showing the party members as actors.

Skipping Cutscenes
During a cinematic players' control over their characters is "frozen" and they cannot make them fight, move or act in any way other than what the cinematic is showing. They may, however, choose to skip the cinematic, but only if all party members vote to skip will the scene actually be skipped.

Skipping cinematic is sometimes recommended, sometimes it is not:
 * During a cinematic players are "frozen", but foes are not. Foes can't deal damage during a cinematic, but they can move, so if you aggroed a group of foes right before a cinematic started, you'll find yourself cornered by these foes after the cinematic if you don't skip.
 * If you skip, you may miss an important part of the story, which may not only prevent you from understanding and emerging deeply into the storyline, but you may also miss vital pieces of information that you would need to complete the mission.
 * When considering to skip or not skip, be mindful of others. Those who have seen the cinematic before can be more patient towards those who haven't and those who have not seen it can also come back and do the mission later if they wish to watch the cinematic.
 * It may be wise to skip when you have a necromancer in your party who is controlling minions. Because the minions lose health over time, the minions can die while watching the cinematic. This can be especially devastating for Minion Masters. Note: According to the release notes, the July 27 game update fixed this issue.

Resurrection
One of the most useful "features" of cinematics is the fact that after a cinematic all dead party members and allies are resurrected and teleported to the cinematic location.

In case all party members with resurrect spells are dead, and the surviving party members have already used their Resurrection Signets, a cinematic may be the last resort to resurrect the dead comrades.

Also, when running a mission, a cinematic will allow those party members who were left behind to catch up with the runner.

Replay
Cinematics that display upon entering a mission outpost can be replayed by speaking to the NPC who gives the mission details in the outpost.