Why are we not being told about visual alterations being done to FFXI zones?

I know of quite a few changes being made to the textures of the zones of the game, it seems to be happening slowly over time from zone to zone. It was brought to light with the crash issues that came along with some changes to San d'Oria zones a couple of months back.

I don't think anyone would have a problem with this being done (even though it makes little sense at this point) but why can't you just tell us about it?

We have played this game for 20 years, we love it as much as the developers do.

Can you tell us when you do this stuff? like below

"visual changes made to San d'Oria zones"

Some examples of things being changed are covers of books (to remove the text FFXI), logos on potions in shops and signs (among others, not going to list them all) but it's the secretive way it's being done that is a problem.

Example below:

You removed the "No Entry" text for example. So why is the sign there at all now?

You took something that made sense into something that doesn't...

https://i.imgur.com/qBFg6OF.jpg

Because no one needs to be told? It has happened all the time over the years, I've not played a game that lists all these tiny changes unless they're actually significant, like changing something because it's racist or something like that. It's not important, I don't need to be notified of changes like this and neitehr does anyone else. Ultimately they note what they want to note in patch notes and they don't have any obligation to even have them at all.

There's nothing "secretive" about it. Come back when they actually change something significant.

As far as the sign, well, the doors are still bound by the sign so it doesn't really matter what it says on it. it's obvious you can't go in the door.Probably they changed it becuase the pixelated text looks bad,.

A lot of alterations were made all at once to specific zones, in this case numerous changes to all sandy and all the side rooms there.

One patch making alterations to all sandy zones is a big enough to warrant being told it's happening.

Oh this is so weird, I agree we should be told so its documented.

It's a conspiracy to improve the game.

... who cares? That's what your choosing to do with your time? Analyze textures after monthly updates and then complaining that there's no reason for it when you don't know why they did it in the first place? It could have been for optimization; it's possible that it was a memory issue that was creating bugs elsewhere; there could have been compatibility issues with that specific texture file. There are always reasons for these changes, even if you don't know what they are.

I get that no one really takes you seriously in these forums, Pixela, but come on. Even if they told us they were doing it, what would you do with that information? This is so nitpicky. There are so many other things you could be doing with your life lol

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Originally Posted by Chillo

... who cares? That's what your choosing to do with your time? Analyze textures after monthly updates and then complaining that there's no reason for it when you don't know why they did it in the first place? It could have been for optimization; it's possible that it was a memory issue that was creating bugs elsewhere; there could have been compatibility issues with that specific texture file. There are always reasons for these changes, even if you don't know what they are.

I get that no one really takes you seriously in these forums, Pixela, but come on. Even if they told us they were doing it, what would you do with that information? This is so nitpicky. There are so many other things you could be doing with your life lol

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are you ok?

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Originally Posted by Pixela

are you ok?

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I'm great! I just found out that some textures were removed in San d'Oria, and I didn't miss a beat. Thanks for asking! How about yourself? :D

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Originally Posted by Sp1cyryan

It's a conspiracy to improve the game.

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No, no, I just can't believe it, there's not enough tin foil in the world for me buy that conspiracy theory.

I tell you, it's all a sinister plot. First they change the books, then a few signs here and there, soon it's decorations, and before you know it, they're enacting their eeeevil endgame to remove the pinups from the Norg crew quarters!

My first thought on removing 'FFXI' from book covers was the manga book I have somewhere still, titled Last Fantasy (where 'Last' is kind of splattered over something that is clearly 'Final')...

Mayhap they going to sell FFXI away (and English is not allowed to be shown there)!?

In any case, I do think it is unfortunate that fun little details like that are being erased for no reason (that we know of).

Seems weird, and makes me wonder if it's even intentional (though I'm not sure how they could do such things accidentally).

It's fairly obvious most of it is being done purely because things were allowed through 20 years ago that are a bit "cringe" today, especially to someone with high regard for the project. A book with FFXI written on it is obviously silly, but it didn't really matter at the time because nobody making the game 20 years ago throught it would still be around past 5 years anyway.

Some zones are also being recreated, as in the dat files are being completely remade with all the base components. This isn't just changing textures.

The texture changes are a little annoying but not a huge deal, the only real problem is not being told this is going on.

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Originally Posted by Pixela

It's fairly obvious most of it is being done purely because things were allowed through 20 years ago that are a bit "cringe" today, especially to someone with high regard for the project. A book with FFXI written on it is obviously silly, but it didn't really matter at the time because nobody making the game 20 years ago throught it would still be around past 5 years anyway.

Some zones are also being recreated, as in the dat files are being completely remade with all the base components. This isn't just changing textures.

The texture changes are a little annoying but not a huge deal, the only real problem is not being told this is going on.

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I don't think there's anything "cringe" or inappropriate about a "no entry" sign. Given the apparent changes I can see no reason that these things would be getting changed for political correctness.

It's not lore accurate.

A book with FFXi on it makes no sense in the world and English isn't the written language in vana'diel.

you understand that doesn't refute my statement right?

You aren't wrong, though, it is possible, but it seems like they would have done something like that years and years ago.

I meant cringe as in silly or out of place, not for pc reasons.

FFXIV has signs that say "no entry" but they're simply done using the eorzea script. You can still read it as saying no entry though.

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Originally Posted by Zenion

No, no, I just can't believe it, there's not enough tin foil in the world for me buy that conspiracy theory.

I tell you, it's all a sinister plot. First they change the books, then a few signs here and there, soon it's decorations, and before you know it, they're enacting their eeeevil endgame to remove the pinups from the Norg crew quarters!

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HOW COULD THEY NOT TELL US?! THIS BETRAYAL IS UNPARALLELED!

Took me a while, but filed a report to make sure at last:

Broken Graphical Textures (Causing at Least Missing Text)

As expected, "working as intended".

I was reminded of this most recently be seeing the signs on the FFXIV on a live stream, and that was another push to report it.

I'm quite frustrated about this "absolutely no communication style of handling bug reports", but I suppose it is what big companies do.

I'm used to open-source things, which is quite the opposite (depending on the people of course), but I digress.

I do appreciate that sometimes GameMasters do contact me in-game, and ask for more information.

I just don't get it why they are not allowed to do it on the forums?

They (kind of) do it on the tech support area, if mainly pasting canned responses... but again I digress!

But yeah, no entry, not allowed here, I maybe guess.

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Originally Posted by Dragoy

Took me a while, but filed a report to make sure at last:

Broken Graphical Textures (Causing at Least Missing Text)

As expected, "working as intended".

I was reminded of this most recently be seeing the signs on the FFXIV on a live stream, and that was another push to report it.

I'm quite frustrated about this "absolutely no communication style of handling bug reports", but I suppose it is what big companies do.

I'm used to open-source things, which is quite the opposite (depending on the people of course), but I digress.

I do appreciate that sometimes GameMasters do contact me in-game, and ask for more information.

I just don't get it why they are not allowed to do it on the forums?

They (kind of) do it on the tech support area, if mainly pasting canned responses... but again I digress!

But yeah, no entry, not allowed here, I maybe guess.

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Or did you ever consider that it really is working as intended as much as we don't like it or think it's wrong?

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Originally Posted by Alhanelem

Or did you ever consider that it really is working as intended as much as we don't like it or think it's wrong?

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Indeed, I did start with "as expected".

I just like to get some kind of a confirmation, even if they deny us the actual reasoning for why they want to keep things a broken, but that's for a different thread.

In true random fashion, I happened to notice that the Manaclipper still has 'no entry' signs (I didn't remember it had any).

Made me want to check the barge going through the Phanauet Channel then, and that thing has one too.

In both cases the text is only there while docked, however, with empty signs while sailing (guessing they were always like that).

So I suppose whatever the reason might be for the disappearance, it's not the language or having text there in general.

(Of course, they could have just forgotten to blank out these ones...)

Adoooulin has some similar signs, but I don't remember if they ever had any text. They kind of look like they might have some faint, illegible text (made so on purpose), so I doubt those were altered in a similar fashion.

Curious case of curious is curious.