new maps...why so many linear corridors?

I noticed going through most of the expansions maps that...good lord its fricken just a bunch of thin corridor mazes. All it does is remind me of garbage like FFXIII: hallways and this god awful map from early 1.0 of XIV that was so hated they made it a priority to re-do for 2.0: http://www.ffxivinfo.com/images/maps/ffxiv-maps-the-black-shroud.jpg (if you need a reminder)

Its really quite a letdown tbh, this game has some great giant open maps and i was expecting at least a few with the new areas, but because of stuff like reives and likely the tiny team left working on the game we instead get one hallway map after another. Heck one of the many things that made me so disinterested in FFXIV 2.0 was how small and linear the maps felt, just to come back to my old favorite and find out its far worse here.

I really miss good map designs in XI, my main complaint with seekers of adoulin is the number of wilderness maps that have few and far between worthy landmarks and are just a bunch of corridors.

Even with the release of Outer Ra'zaknar, I was extremely disappointed in the actual layout of the map.
The color choice, modeling and mood of the environment is good, but its just a bunch of square rooms connected with a bunch of hallways with random dead-ends.
Its just a total immersion breaker, I can't imagine what powerful/intelligent race/being would commission the construction of something like this.

Now if you go back and look at previous expansion zone design, you'll find more thoughtful and structured architecture that seems to have actual purpose and symmetry to it.
One of the most obvious zones to illustrate this would be The Garden of Ru'Hmet from Chains of Promathia.
Other zones from zilart such as Ro'Maeve and Tu'Lia, and the Hall of the Gods were thought provoking in their layout, use of construction material. monster selection and mood, and tied into the storyline very well.

From Treasures of Aht Urghan, indoor areas like alzadaal undersea ruins, the outdoor overlook locations and unique spots in various zones that tied in with the picture taking quest "Get the Picture" felt like they were made with a strong over arching theme and were tied together.

Any further area additions to Seekers of adoulin, the devs really should look to those aforementioned examples and try to create something special. I'd happily wait alittle longer for better designed environments than what i've seen so far.

It's more cost efficient to design linear and restrictive maps.

No, unless you are making a multi-million AAA high production value corridor single player FPS game there is no technical advantage to make linear restrictive maps.

Some environment artists and level designers can make man-made architecture levels better and faster than organic outdoorsy ones. MMOs are more generally better off being more hub-based and nonlinear in their environment designs and interconnection to get more reuse and feel less boring to the player that will need to traverse them many times.

I just can't help but feel like they rushed too much of SoA and used the 'conquering the wilderness' angle to allow them to make a bunch of corridor/cave areas. The expansion would have been much better received if it had a stronger beastmen/lost civilization theme integrated into their zones with ruins or other unique world elements.

I really have no desire to play the expansion or this game anymore if all I have to look forward to is a bunch of boring thoughtless outdoor corridors and caves.

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Originally Posted by Mirage

It's more cost efficient to design linear and restrictive maps.

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i cant see that being a big reason, what was so different with making those than something like la'theine? if anything not having to put in so much stuff would be easier, or at least spreading it out while having some unique points here and there.

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Originally Posted by Sapphires

I can't imagine what powerful/intelligent race/being would commission the construction of something like this.

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Human game designers - their ways are mysterious. How dare we question their eldrich ways.

[I agree with this thread - SOA areas manage to be even less interesting for the most part, than the RESKINS that were part of Wings of the Goddess - unfortunately I don't see anything being done about it ever, so...]

Each zone is intended to restrict access, either with colonization reives or time-based obstructions. They couldn't do that with a wide-open zone.

They managed to make morimar fairly open and less 'rat in a tunnel' feeling compared to other areas.
If they want to restrict access based on colonization they could have cliffs/crevasses crossable by structures like rope bridges (like the ones in lufaise meadows).
If you think about it, theres very little to no layered map design anywhere, considering what they did back in zilart zones like sea serpent grotto or den of rancor (yes very nasty places that some hated, but a return to that kind of world design would allow more creative things)

One of the big problems with their SoA map designs is that a number of them are very unfriendly to roaming xp parties with the upcoming job points system.
People will be somewhat annoyed they will bump into colonization reives and certain areas dont easily flow and loop back around to support xp chaining.

I think Tahrongi Canyon is an example of areas designed when SE were on their *A Game*, it has tunnel / mini-canyons but you can scoot through them quickly and up into the big open canyon main, where there are lots of places you can set up your low-level camp. The rising/lowering ground level makes it easy to track where you are from memory of climbing those hills before. It is also very atmospheric and immersive to play there. Flat areas with similar structures everywhere make memory tracking harder.
It is simple logic, when the map has more open space, that means more camps and more potential mobs, as opposed to a map comprised of barriers and solid rock/jungle masses everywhere, this just means the actual number camp spaces are inevitably lower.
I really love the pre-SOA areas, just about all of them, but I don't feel the same fondness for SOA areas at all, partly because of the reasons raised by the OP and other Members in this thread, but also because of the lack of free-roaming / time-pop / lottery-pop NM's, this makes the maps feel dead to me, they have basic mobs only and the camps are inevitably automatically designated, not chosen in the way you could choose a camp in a big open area.

Re; the job points / new areas, I hope it works out as I do greatly commend SE for making a lot of effort to improve the game recently and job-points is another great idea by SE. But I do have some reservations about the system when it leaves the drawing board and enters the real Vanadiel.

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Originally Posted by Mirage

It's more cost efficient to design linear and restrictive maps.

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The cheapest and easiest would be a "content bowl." An open area surrounded by mountains with a couple entry/exit points.

well ceizak, yorcia are understandable, they are forests, so not every path is layd out (however the sanctuary of zitah is also a forest zone, but done very great, but doesnt feel so packed like yorcia for examples)
the gates are tunnels underground (understandable) and have some small open fields
Marjami is a mix of both and actually looks quiet well
Morimar is now very open field, just looks very wasteland (there is really not much to see there)
Foret is understandable, wildlife + ending of a river etc.
Kamihr drifts on the other hand could have been very well open field, but this one really went overboard with corridors.

The problem seems that Ulbuka is supposed to be ridiculously hill-y, forcibly so in Kamihr Drifts' case (which is really lacking places to use climbing), but it's not handled so well. Take an old zone like Beadeaux for example, it leads you through a series of tunnels, and has hills/walls all around you throughout most of the journey, but eventually you get to climb on top of the hills and finally get to feel less claustrophobic. I think it's better to look at the new areas as dungeons, even the outdoor areas, as they're supposed to be hazardous and horrible to adventure upon. They simply have little variety apart from completely changing areas.

This is one of the reasons I like Yorcia, it's a lot more spacious then it lets on and you actually have breathing room in reives. There's enough stuff littering the ground around you that makes it feel like a jungle and keeps it interesting.