Well it's like a cutscene but it's in-game. As you walk up to a particular NPC, the camera shifts focus to him, then your movements are restricted. You can't use any of the commands and you can't move beyond a few steps either way. Occasionally the screen will "glitch", at which point you're supposed to click a button in order to get an alternate view of the scene. You can see the NPC's mouth moving, but no sound comes out. The background music continues to play so I don't think it's an audio problem. Eventually the scene completes and you're released to continue on your way, but none the wiser about the purpose of the sequence.