One to Fifty, One Zone - Long OP

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Originally Posted by Siobu

I hope every one knows I read every single post and appreciate every one stopping by.

I threw together some random scenery thumbnails for every one to pick apart if desired, randomly choosing sections of the map that seemed different than the others immediately surrounding it: http://seahorror.com/thumbs.jpg

With unique areas connecting our regions together, unique dungeons, and each zone serving a purpose in our characters lives (a level range, a milestone), I believe the world of Eorzea will flourish thereafter.

Stay tough through the weekend and let's get ourselves a crown. And hopefully an adventure. :)

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Do you have any idea how damn cute your sketches are? I hope SE takes note, the suggestions here are just too great to pass up, and the visual aids are a fantastic touch.

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Originally Posted by Siobu

I threw together some random scenery thumbnails for every one to pick apart if desired, randomly choosing sections of the map that seemed different than the others immediately surrounding it:

http://seahorror.com/thumbs.jpg

With unique areas connecting our regions together, unique dungeons, and each zone serving a purpose in our characters lives (a level range, a milestone), I believe the world of Eorzea will flourish thereafter.

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I am once again thoroughly impressed. I have no words that would do what you all have put together here justice. It's not just the OP, but the concepts, sketches, analysis, and community cohesion that is truly impressive.

Bravo.

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Originally Posted by Siobu

I hope every one knows I read every single post and appreciate every one stopping by.

I threw together some random scenery thumbnails for every one to pick apart if desired, randomly choosing sections of the map that seemed different than the others immediately surrounding it: http://seahorror.com/thumbs.jpg

With unique areas connecting our regions together, unique dungeons, and each zone serving a purpose in our characters lives (a level range, a milestone), I believe the world of Eorzea will flourish thereafter.

Stay tough through the weekend and let's get ourselves a crown. And hopefully an adventure. :)

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This is the most progress FFXIV has made in 8 months....

200+ likes in 3 days. Thread delivers.

yeesh i wake up and there like 8 more pages to go through, guess its clear people want some sort of response (doesnt seem to be happening) I still find it funny that SE is one of the few MMOs being run where it feels like they just plain old shut down on the weekend.

hope you dont mind Richard, but im going to nab your "support the re-design" thing and add it to my sig.

Also would be cool to see some more map re-designs out there, im not very artsy or good with artsy PC programs, but i know a lot of people out there can, KEEP UM COMING!

Even if they just removed some of the copy-pasted land marks and put in some more variety, like a few gridanian trees on the horizon as you approach the black shroud, it would really help. FFXI had land marks and you could visually check where you were just by taking a glance around, if you knew the lay of the land. But in XIV everything looks totally the same and i find myself staring at the minimap to stay on course.

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Originally Posted by Resheph

Even if they just removed some of the copy-pasted land marks and put in some more variety, like a few gridanian trees on the horizon as you approach the black shroud, it would really help. FFXI had land marks and you could visually check where you were just by taking a glance around, if you knew the lay of the land. But in XIV everything looks totally the same and i find myself staring at the minimap to stay on course.

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I think this is why they chose to go with a mini-map instead of a compass. I would have preferred the latter simply because I find myself looking at the mini map the entire time instead of the actual world. Though I think everyone would agree that, with a compass, you would just be spamming the map every few seconds, even if you've been in the area a thousand times before. It all comes down to everything looking exactly the same.

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Originally Posted by Resheph

Even if they just removed some of the copy-pasted land marks and put in some more variety, like a few gridanian trees on the horizon as you approach the black shroud, it would really help. FFXI had land marks and you could visually check where you were just by taking a glance around, if you knew the lay of the land. But in XIV everything looks totally the same and i find myself staring at the minimap to stay on course.

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honestly you could take away my maps in FFXI and i could navigate 60% of the areas without fault. They were just plain old well done. In this game i dont even know what camp im at half the time, its just too much of repeates with little to nothing around to make you say "oh well that [insert landmark here] is over there so im at X camp"

I think part of it is also that, at least for FFXI players, that we didnt start off with he maps, we had to buy or earn them, so learning the areas was a crucial part of the game, which for some odd reason i almost miss, though i understand the frustration it would cause new players.

In this game im using the mini-map and the normal map way more often then i should.

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Originally Posted by Siobu

I hope every one knows I read every single post and appreciate every one stopping by.

I threw together some random scenery thumbnails for every one to pick apart if desired, randomly choosing sections of the map that seemed different than the others immediately surrounding it: http://seahorror.com/thumbs.jpg

With unique areas connecting our regions together, unique dungeons, and each zone serving a purpose in our characters lives (a level range, a milestone), I believe the world of Eorzea will flourish thereafter.

Stay tough through the weekend and let's get ourselves a crown. And hopefully an adventure. :)

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OMG such good work here Siobu, honestly this is a very good sketch expressing the concept. Wouldn't it be exciting if the dev or producer would say "hey here is what we plan for the design of the zones" and show us something like that? That would create such hype and hope. I doubt this will ever happen but it's still sad to think that in 2 days you/we come up with all these ideas and that with 5 years of development the game looks like it does today (looks the same as it was shown in the development vid posted earlier).

Anyways I hope they do address that issue, I think it's what all the community is asking for, and maybe they should have reworked the zones when they were in the testing phase.

If they could have the combat changes in solid shape, the class changes, a chunk of good content (including endgame) chocobos/airships, companys, a mail system, maybe an AH (debatable i guess) and the world re-done before the PS3 version is out, then il go back on what i said in another forum...i WOULD have hope that this game could come back and at least live up to FFXI.

Siobu, I added your most recent image in another quote box (since I believe your thumbnail link in your OP isn't working, at least for me)
Makes me grin how I'd rather be in those 1 square inch zones you made xD

I loved your little thumbnails Siobu. I hope someday Eorzea will look as good and diverse as your examples.

By the way, how come we haven't had a single SE rep post in this topic, yet another topic in General Discussion is getting 4-5 replies as we speak?

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Originally Posted by Miliant

I loved your little thumbnails Siobu. I hope someday Eorzea will look as good and diverse as your examples.

By the way, how come we haven't had a single SE rep post in this topic, yet another topic in General Discussion is getting 4-5 replies as we speak?

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SE cant handle the truth XD

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Originally Posted by Miliant

I loved your little thumbnails Siobu. I hope someday Eorzea will look as good and diverse as your examples.

By the way, how come we haven't had a single SE rep post in this topic, yet another topic in General Discussion is getting 4-5 replies as we speak?

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Its the weekend, I'm positive this thread gets a response next week but I'm not very optimistic as to what that's going to be. I hope its, "this was all very overwhelming and we have decided to cave to your demands. We will be redrawing all of the maps in Eorzea from scratch." but my pessimism tells me its going to be, "Thank you for your feedback, we'll look into it."

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Originally Posted by Mack

Its the weekend, I'm positive this thread gets a response next week but I'm not very optimistic as to what that's going to be. I hope its, "this was all very overwhelming and we have decided to cave to your demands. We will be redrawing all of the maps in Eorzea from scratch." but my pessimism tells me its going to be, "Thank you for your feedback, we'll look into it."

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Your pessimism side is VERY likely the right one. Its just one of those HUGE changes that would take quite some time to do, and im betting they are under pressure to make it "playable" enough to start charging soon.

Also this thread was well into the 30+ pages range by friday, so it points more twords the "we will look into it" reply. Its not like they were busy at E3, there was no MMO stuff at all there from SE.

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Originally Posted by Zanfire

Your pessimism side is VERY likely the right one. Its just one of those HUGE changes that would take quite some time to do, and im betting they are under pressure to make it "playable" enough to start charging soon.

Also this thread was well into the 30+ pages range by friday, so it points more twords the "we will look into it" reply. Its not like they were busy at E3, there was no MMO stuff at all there from SE.

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Yea but Yoshida was at E3 which ended on Thursday so by the time he gets back and has some time to catch his breath and then get through the weekend and respond to the forum reps...well I'm just hoping its more than that.

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That has nothing to do with being an "elitist". That is actually the definition of a Hipster.

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Lol you need to look up "hipster," because that's not at all what it means. Like, not at all.

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Ul'Dah > Black Brush (desert) > Horizon (desert) > Nanawa Mines (desert mine) > Nophica's Wells (desert) > Broken Water (desert)

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Again, this leveling path assumes you did nothing but leves and behest as I implied and never left one zone. My path was more like Black Brush (desert, could be compared to Gustaberg) > Skull Rock (Grassy Plains, could be compared to La Thiene) > Cassoipeia (Misty Caverns, can't think of an FFXI reference) > Nanawa (Mines, Quadav or Orc mine area) > Tun Yuy Cellars (Dungeon Cellars/Sewers, again no reference).

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The first R50 I got I will agree was an awesome experience. From that point on it was just 30-50 doing 3 leves with a static group. That is the only way to efficiently level. I am now on my 7th R50 and it is just as dull as my 2nd R50.

I'm sorry I haven't gotten high enough to have come back to these places 100 times over, but when you first arrive in them, they are fantastic and provide plenty of adventure for a Final Fantasy IP style game world.
I will agree that when you first get to a new place it's exciting, but the same can be said for any game. Discovering the unknown is a huge driving force in games. I will however disagree that XIV provides anyone with "adventure" and almost all other FF IPs provide it on a much larger and in-depth scale compared to this game.

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You are admitting here that the first run to 50 is awesome. To me this means the game will soon need an expansion, not to be completely gutted and redone... which is what I am saying.

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I find this incredibly hard to believe as there are more quests in WoW than 5 FF IPs combined. There is more lore and more exploration in it too. Vanilla WoW released with more content and great content than XIV has. Unless you were literally just sitting in Org all day leveling up your tailoring, I don't see how you could honestly say this.

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Matter of opinion. WoW zones were cartoons, with no real accomplishment either. They were linear, point A to point B zones. I even read quest text. And it leaves a lot to be desired. The only reason WoW was fun for me was because I had friends playing it.

It is all of you have have the blindfolds, staying too linear and hanging out waiting for something to happen.

Anyway, keep ragging on the game. I'll continue to have fun playing it. Respond if you want, but all these threads do is bring me down. I'm now remembering why I hate game forums.

I'm not following your argument....

My first trip to 50 was anything but linear, trying to find somewhere with a different scenery, different mobs, a sense of adventure, and an actual challenge.

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Again, this leveling path assumes you did nothing but leves and behest as I implied and never left one zone. My path was more like Black Brush (desert, could be compared to Gustaberg) > Skull Rock (Grassy Plains, could be compared to La Thiene) > Cassoipeia (Misty Caverns, can't think of an FFXI reference) > Nanawa (Mines, Quadav or Orc mine area) > Tun Yuy Cellars (Dungeon Cellars/Sewers, again no reference).

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The game offers nothing but leves and behest although you like to think otherwise. The game doesn't make it easy to get a group of people together and grind SP...in fact SP parties aren't a viable option for many people until past R30 so I don't believe you even do anything other than leves and behests. On top of this, when the game rewards you so much for doing leves and behests and everyone else is in that mindset, its hard to convince people that some grinding options are good. This is the game's problem, it doesn't facilitate SP grinding and considering almost everyone on these boards is in unanimous agreement on this it doesn't matter what your "adventures" did for you.

The reason this game is being changed is because people want it changed. You seem to think people want it to become like WoW (from other topics) or other cookie cutter MMOs when the majority of people that stick around here are ex-FFXI players to begin with and they want nothing to do with WoW or its kin. You need to take off your rose tinted glasses and play a little past R30 (lol) and come back here when you're bored out of your brains. The only way this game can keep someone around for the long haul in its current state is because of friends or LS mates, if the game needs that to succeed its done something wrong.

And P.S. for someone who is 30 years old you sure don't act like it (mainly in other topics its surprising you've been civil here). Let me remind you that you're arguing with a younger crowd, some can even be teens, so maybe act like the grown up avoid the temper tantrums from now on. FFXIV needs a lot of change and one person, or a handful of people, or hell even 30K people saying otherwise doesn't change this fact because the game has failed off launch, that is why no one is being charged still, despite your professional opinion.

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Respond if you want, but all these threads do is bring me down. I'm now remembering why I hate game forums.

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Like I said in another topic, the negativity on this forum is, for the most part, warranted (for example this topic) and people typically play the game and ignore all the bad or try and not think about it and when they come on here the negativity puts them down because deep inside they know its the truth. Because if you really believe the game is great no one's opinion should bother you. This game needs work, there is nothing wrong with that because when they're done plenty of us are hoping its going to be amazing, you should cherish it instead of push it away.

Thanks so much for the kind words, everyone! I'm really glad you've all enjoyed the little pictures but big possibilities. Thanks, Eden, for adding it to your bundle.

So long as we are clearly told what lies ahead in our characters futures, the definition of a 're-design,' I am willing to wait, especially considering the work involved to turn Eorzea into a world. Because I'd rather be here, with my character and with this community, than anywhere else.

I feel we need to know where we'll be standing in a year. In 2 years. I worry to be in the the same maps, but different corners, making way to level 99. I, personally, would enjoy to be so far from home, it's a bit of an adventure in itself to get back.

Eorzea is brimming with potential. What will you do with it, Square Enix?

Thanks, everyone!

Easily the best thread ever posted on these forums(which kinda isn't saying much but still...). Really love the ideas and would love for them to be implemented.

I did a local leve run today from LL to skull valley then to bloodshore(going iron lake route). I can say that I passed a bunch of rats, a bunch of goats, a few dodos and a few ladybugs. I sighted a puk, a fly trap, crab, and yarzon. The fly trap was the only thing that aggro'd me for this 20+ minute run. The scenery was completely the same and I covered half the region. My overall experience: boring, especially since I received 0 guild marks.

Even if they just cut these 'regions' into 2-3 zones each would be a far better improvement than what they have now. Down the road they could add more with expansions.

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Originally Posted by Valhinjin

Matter of opinion. WoW zones were cartoons, with no real accomplishment either. They were linear, point A to point B zones. I even read quest text. And it leaves a lot to be desired. The only reason WoW was fun for me was because I had friends playing it.

It is all of you have have the blindfolds, staying too linear and hanging out waiting for something to happen.

Anyway, keep ragging on the game. I'll continue to have fun playing it. Respond if you want, but all these threads do is bring me down. I'm now remembering why I hate game forums.

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A lot to be desired...? WoW at launch had hundreds and hundreds of quests, both class specific, story depth, and just run-o-the-mill adventure. The landscapes in WoW were varied and distinct, I remember getting to a place like Feralas and just having to stop because the beauty stopped me in my tracks. Not because it was 'omg look at the polygon count, awesomegraphicz' but because the zone flowed so well. The ancient high elven ruins, gnarled roots, trees so huigh that you could not see the tops or the sky, a winding path stretching across a town, along side waterfalls and a sheer cliff. In one zone you have things you cannot find in FFXIV: Landmarks, drastic diversity, a sense of adventure, ruins and landmarks with LORE behind them, dozens of NPC's with intertwining questlines, roaming bosses that pose a challenge, instanced dungeons for higher ranks, etc. All of this in a single zone. And what I've read/heard of XI, shared a similar trait in the diversity, and adventure and feel it provided.

No accomplishment? You mean like maxing out a class and having nothing to do but level another? Oh wait... That is your definition of accomplishment? Vanilla wow was released with an incredible amount of content for its time, and for our time too since many people think XIV launching without anything is alright because its a 'new' mmo. This is why you silly people who are like r20, or 30 should hit cap before you try and argue points with people who have 50 jobs. Any game can seem awesome if you only played for 6 hours, hell there was a time where I though Paint was a video game and i used to tear it up!

enough hijacking, this thread does not need a flame war! Yay, zone diversirty, /free bump!

^ dont bother trying to agrue with um, its pointless. Either way its clear the MASS majority of people think it sucks, which is plenty enough for them to take a second look. I can tell you right now, if they decide to ignore all of this, im not going to bother with the game because they are making it clear they dont really care what everyone wants, just what works for them.

About to go through again and do a good 'like'-ing of good posts, I urge others to look through in spare time as well ^^

So....Bayohne,

You gonna go ask the devs if they'll look into this or what mate?

Be good if you would sir. I think it's warranted.

Posting again just to hit 50. REDESIGN> OOOOO YEAHHHHHHH

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Originally Posted by Siobu

I hope everyone knows I read every single post and appreciate every one stopping by.

I threw together some random scenery thumbnails for every one to pick apart if desired, randomly choosing sections of the map that seemed different than the others immediately surrounding it:

http://seahorror.com/thumbs.jpg

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Wow, Siobu, I really like your art. You drawing that yourself? Nice work.

I urge everyone to click on the french and german topic (via the first post of this topic) and just click the "like" button please :). And if there are any good English Japanese translators here It would be awesome if you can translate this topic over to the Japanese boards to renew it over there more or less.

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Originally Posted by Siobu

I threw together some random scenery thumbnails for every one to pick apart if desired, randomly choosing sections of the map that seemed different than the others immediately surrounding it:

http://seahorror.com/thumbs.jpg

With unique areas connecting our regions together, unique dungeons, and each zone serving a purpose in our characters lives (a level range, a milestone), I believe the world of Eorzea will flourish thereafter.)

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Siobu those little pictures look really imaginitive already! More so than what we currently have in Eorzea :(
I'm really thinking about getting into photoshop again and use your pictures for inspiration.

Also good to see how many of you are using your Sig to help spread the word! Great job everyone :) This topic is skyrocketing!

Thanks, Rent! Zahak!

Hopefully, we'll receive an answer. Whether it's good news, or bad, I hope we'll hear it soon. I never expected this thread to explode the way it has, and I hope at the least, it will eventually provide everyone with an answer to the original question: Will we ever have a true adventure from 1 to 50?

Hang in there and enjoy the weekend!

This thread really nails it. Siobu and others, you guys have got this figured out and I admire your initiative towards tackling this problem so strongly.

A personal hope that I have, is that by the time they add Chocobos there is a large plain zone with rolling green hills. It would be way too much fun to take in the view up and down the hills.

-Keep up the awesome posts guys, hope the community reps take a look see at this on Monday.

I want to see a region like this!
http://www.desktopwallpaperhd.com/wallpapers/3/2887.jpg

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Originally Posted by Mack

And if there are any good English Japanese translators here It would be awesome if you can translate this topic over to the Japanese boards to renew it over there more or less.

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The JPN side already has similar topics.

The unique thing about this thread are the user-created visual graphics examples, so that would need to be translated differently. Like, they would need to create a copy of the graphic with no text for someone else to fill in the translated words.

What an amazing thread. I have never seen a community of my fellow adventurer's come together and unite to have their voices heard. Everything i have read here is so very true. The copypasta, the lack of landmarks, the lack of progression, the levels of mobs 1-99, it doesnt just seem wrong it feels wrong. The reason is because of the leve system.

The leves arent the reason behind the copypasta or the landmarks or range of mobs all contained in one "zone". They are however the reason we dont feel like adventurer's. The leves give us everything we need. They are the reason the mass of players dont venture out of the starting areas. The leves give us our daily dose of SP. They give us our gil and our rewards of gear and faction points. Every 36 hours we log in and we go to a desk and we recieve our "quests". They are in fact quests if you read the background of each one. They say such and such stole this, some mob is doing something bad, or some person needs these items. When the game launched not a single npc gave us something to go do outside of class missions. Every leve reset we gather our fellow ls mates, we scroll through our friend list, we do a few shouts in town and teleport to a camp and do leve links. We do this because its the most efficient means to level our classes. In two or three hours we can achieve 40-80k and be content with our days work. Theres no reason to go out and find the "camps" or the group of mobs that fits the sweet spot of sp for our current rank. Theres no reason to actually go adventure.

SE has made this game to cater to the casual person. The casual player posts are even in this thread. The ones that say they like how the game is. The endgame oriented players that most of us are are not content with the way the world is because our content hasnt been introduced yet. I do not mean to try and derail this glorious thread. I completely agree with the majority of every single response contained herein. I am a veteran FF player. I played XI for 6 years and have played almost every other FF title to completion. I have immense hope that XIV can become what all of us want it to be. Maybe my post here doesnt belong. Maybe it should be in some leve thread but when i read about how all of us feel about a lack of progression of a lack of adventure this is the reason.

Zenval, thank you for providing another perspective and more insight---
Your post definitely belongs, because it fits in perfectly with the lack of adventure mentioned in the OP, which has multiple causes. :)

really awesome topic here, and great work in it as well. I completely agree. Just today, I got to experience Mor Dhona for the first time and everything from the music to scenery was epic. I can only hope they add much much more and make it so that leveling actually takes place in these areas.

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Originally Posted by Calevr

I want to see a region like this!
http://www.desktopwallpaperhd.com/wallpapers/3/2887.jpg

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Why would you want to see a region like that made with Crystal Tools engine?

All that water would be a flat, moving tile with no reflective properties. You can't make a zone like that with Crystal Tools, sorry.

Here is a video that ONE guy made using the CryEngine.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KVs4p...embedded#at=19

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z-m31...el_video_title

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Originally Posted by Calevr

I want to see a region like this!
http://www.desktopwallpaperhd.com/wallpapers/3/2887.jpg

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I am a little skeptical myself about how SE would handle this beautiful region. I hope they can pull it off!

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Originally Posted by giftforce

Why would you want to see a region like that made with Crystal Tools engine?

All that water would be a flat, moving tile with no reflective properties. You can't make a zone like that with Crystal Tools, sorry.

Here is a video that ONE guy made using the CryEngine.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KVs4p...embedded#at=19

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z-m31...el_video_title

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Holy shit. SE needs to replace their team with this guy. It's far better than what we have now!

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Originally Posted by CrstyCaptin

Holy shit. SE needs to replace their team with this guy. It's far better than what we have now!

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Its not about lack of talent but always about limitations. SE decided to go with top of the line graphics and considering its multiplatform that's a bad choice because of PS3 limitations...hell most of us had to go all out on a computer just to play the game today. I think they had their priorities wrong.