Why did they changed this from version 1.0 ?

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Originally Posted by Peppita

My only real issue is absurd load times between zones. I have played mmos since 1997 and Meridian 59 and this has to be one of the most obnoxious things in the game. Taking 10-15 seconds every single time I enter a new zone or area is starting to get me annoyed(PC version btw). The zones do seem rather small but I can deal with it as long as it's not all cut and paste zones

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It might be your system or your connection, then. I usually only wait five seconds or so for a new zone to load.

I was never bugged by the copy paste in 1.0 (in fact I never noticed it until someone pointed it out, and even then I didn't care, because I liked the world), and the way the world was made felt way more real to me than any area ARR can pull off.

I liked the wilderness and the sense of danger of 1.0.

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Originally Posted by Battlewrench

Shhh you'll make the people who are somehow convinced this game can run well on an outdated machine come out and argue. Its the ram in the ps3 look at ps3s skyrim and all the problems it had.

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That's because Bethesda and SE share something in common, they suck @ coding. Do you own a PS3? And if you answered yes to that, did you see or play Assassin's Creed IV for it? The world is MASSIVE. Way bigger than skyrim. The issue with Skyrim was the game tracked everything. Even a cheese wheel on the other side of skyrim and a dead bandit you killed 2 RL months ago.

You all forgot the worst thing about 1.0 zones. The hidden loading screens. Remember the canyons between the big chunks of land? Or how about the endless bridge out of Limsa Lominsa. That wasn't there to make it feel massive that was there to stall your character long enough to stream in the next zone. I rather have a 2 sec loading screen than running on that bridge for 2 solid minutes for no reason.

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Originally Posted by Magis

With cheap teleports to any zone, and instant teleports to dungeons, there isn't even a reason to traverse the terrain anyway!

Just sit in the lobby... err I mean "city" doing dungeons.

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Do maps, FATEs, mine, gather and fish.

I never played 1.0, but hearing my bf talk about it before 2.0 came out, I looked it up and fell in love with how big the maps look. Then 2.0 comes out, major disappointment :< The maps now are already tiny compared to the previous mmos I've played. Then there's several large spots in the tiny maps that's cut off and we can't access. Like one of the little streams in quarymill, instead of being able to hop over a rock and walk through it....we have to go find a bridge .___.

I would rather have smaller varied landscapes than copy pasted landscapes that expand past the point of being sane/useful/interesting. Coerthas was really big, really pretty for a copy/pasted zone but you maybe used a third of that zone. If you notice, the third of the zone you used in 1.0 is now the zone you use in 2.0.

Most areas were bland as fuck IE Thanalan, La Noscea, and ESPECIALLY The Shroud. Areas were completely copy and pasted. I remember avoiding The Black Shroud as much as possible because it was just so bad. There was maybe a couple sections that looked nice but outside of that nothing of value was lost.

if i want to travel for hours on end ill play eve online

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Originally Posted by Axidrain

if i want to travel for hours on end ill play eve online

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"Bigger areas" does not directly translate to "travel for hours". This is like saying that someone asking for a bigger car is asking for their car to be 1km long. This makes no sense and is needlesly blowing a perfectly legitimate complain out of proportion. You do not need THAT much more distance to make ARRs areas be reasonably bigger. In fact, I'd say zones are fine in size, but most of their area (understood as bidimensional space) in underutilized by placing cliffs, roadblocks and invisible walls. Some of this cliffs might make sense if they are used to 'hide' objects from your view and so allow your computer to not load them, avoiding memory problems. However, places like Drybone, the Sagolii Desert, Coerthas and Little Ala Mhigo show us that the game is perfectly capable of rendering large tracts of land without the game chocking your computer. The problem is not the size then, but the large ammounts of road blocks, invisible walls and senseless cliffs that only exist to funnel the players from one place to the next.

I think what the OP is getting at is that by having zones you loose the feeling of "Wow I have this huge world to explore". And TBH, he is right. If this were a perfect world, and 1.0 didn't have copy pasta, then the world would feel far superior to ARRs world not just in size but in scope. (not counting content availability)

In 1.0, I felt that the world itself (for all its shortcomings) was a much larger place and me a smaller part in that world. There was danger (level 93 peistes) and I had to be more careful in traveling. It gave you a similar feel as your first trip to Jeuno in XI.

However in ARR I am the top of the foodchain, can teleport anywhere and can ride my chocobo from say, Ul'dah to Gridania in about 1/3 the time it took in 1.23.

Now, if you made it so that Behemoth spawned in random zone and started killing people... we could talk.

Because 1.0 was possibly the worst video game I have ever played in my life. Amazon let me return it for being defective.....

Get quest from crystal. Come back to crystal. SO MUCH FUN!

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Originally Posted by Sepix

You all forgot the worst thing about 1.0 zones. The hidden loading screens. Remember the canyons between the big chunks of land? Or how about the endless bridge out of Limsa Lominsa. That wasn't there to make it feel massive that was there to stall your character long enough to stream in the next zone. I rather have a 2 sec loading screen than running on that bridge for 2 solid minutes for no reason.

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+1

http://imageshack.com/a/img607/723/lb6i.jpg

I'm sure i have miss some.

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Originally Posted by Sepix

You all forgot the worst thing about 1.0 zones. The hidden loading screens. Remember the canyons between the big chunks of land? Or how about the endless bridge out of Limsa Lominsa. That wasn't there to make it feel massive that was there to stall your character long enough to stream in the next zone. I rather have a 2 sec loading screen than running on that bridge for 2 solid minutes for no reason.

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http://i636.photobucket.com/albums/u...applause-1.gif

FFXIV ARR you can at least run somewhere without it being a majority of your gameplay.

I remember thinking how great running around to all the cutscenes for the story would be - then after running through the same copy-paste hallway multiple times through the same copy-paste scenery over and over just to reach another area full of copy-paste same hallways and copy-paste scenery to reach the NPC I was looking for - to be given a few lines of dialog and told to turn around and go back. All the quests had you running from nation to nation over and over and over and over just for a 5 minute cutscene to tell you to turn around and run back. You'd have spent days just running to complete a single quest that consisted of talking to about 5 NPCs (Ul'dah->Grid->Ul'dah->Limsa->Grid) and your reward was maybe one or two 5 minute cutscenes a little gil and more running! The "adventure" died off when you realized that if you just rotated the map in your head 90 degrees it was the same area you'd already explored 2 minutes ago, or two hours ago, or two days ago.

You never - ever - wasted a teleport because it was on a timer and consumed a resource (I can't remember the name anymore) that would refill so very slowly - you had to beat Ifrit or Garuda or otherwise take part in monotonous escort missions that were almost always being farmed and full just to use teleportation regularly!

Because they wanted more people to be able to play the game. Version 1.0 was extremely rough on people's machines.

Also, Copy Pasta'd:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CA7GGnyNwEs

Wish people would stop acting like copy-pasted tunnel terrain is the only alternative to the... tunnel terrain we already have. >_> Even TERA's zones were more open and interactable than XIV's, and that game is utter crap; Rift's zones as well provide tons of places to wander around in. In XIV, there is literally nothing beyond the areas you are sent to quest in, and everything is tiny pockets connected by narrow bridges. It may be pretty, but it sure as hell is frustrating and claustrophobic.

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Originally Posted by Gilraen

We voted for this, we asked for this, we got it. And you're complaining? There's way too much complaining over something we wanted.

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Your "we" does not describe anyone who did not play in 1.0, so kindly don't speak for me when saying that "we" wanted this.

Yeah, I have a gaming laptop that only a bit more than a year old, couldn't play 1.0 on anything higher the Medium settings. But that's not the point here. The zones were changed because we asked for it. Before the end of 1.0 Yoshida put up a poll over whether we wanted to keep the large, bland zones or go with smaller, more vibrant zones. It was practically unanimous for the latter. We voted for this, we asked for this, we got it. And you're complaining? There's way too much complaining over something we wanted.

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Originally Posted by Gilraen

Yeah, I have a gaming laptop that only a bit more than a year old, couldn't play 1.0 on anything higher the Medium settings. But that's not the point here. The zones were changed because we asked for it. Before the end of 1.0 Yoshida put up a poll over whether we wanted to keep the large, bland zones or go with smaller, more vibrant zones. It was practically unanimous for the latter. We voted for this, we asked for this, we got it. And you're complaining? There's way too much complaining over something we wanted.

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Maybe the people complaining didn't vote in favor of the change? I didn't vote for smaller zones, that's for sure. Or maybe they didn't play version 1.0 and just come up with this feel by themselves, but back then they couldn't vote.

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Originally Posted by Gilraen

-snip-

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If I take your word for it, then it was a false dichotomy made by the developer, by asking the players to choose between a terrible choice and a somewhat okay choice. Of course everyone would pick the somewhat okay choice over the obviously poor one. That poll was meaningless, its only purpose to give the developers an excuse for what they did. "Oh, but we ASKED you and you CHOSE this!" No, we did not you poisonous fool. You gave "us" two false choices and "we" choose the least bad. That does NOT mean this is how things should have been made or that it was the right choice. It only means the developer felt like those were the only two options.

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Originally Posted by Saziel

I didn't even play 1.0, but from what I've seen in screenshots and videos, I want those areas. ARR areas are NOT well crafted. They're miserable, boring, lifeless, and bland. There's no sense of adventure. Hop on your chocobo and get to ANYWHERE you want in a zone in 2 minutes or less. That's not an adventure.

Going back to FFXI. Some of my fondest memories of FFXI was just getting lost in Xarcabard for hours. That can never happen in ARR, and I hate it. I want it to be possible to get lost. I want there to be a snowstorm so intense that it's hard to see where I'm going.

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NO, the areas in 1.0 were absolutely horrible. It took 9 minutes running from Gridania (the city itself) to the first Camp to the west of the city...ON FOOT, 9 minutes! With Chocobo, it was 5. The areas were VERY bland; everything looked the same, and I hated it. ARR is well crafted and a lot of the people who did work on FFXI helped with ARR's development, such as the outdoor area zones. Seriously, La Noscea is just as well-crafted as Rolanberry Fields with the scenery. ARR has more life than 1.0 ever had in the field zones, I'm serious. 1.0 looked like a lunar landscape with some foliage here and there, ARR is not like that.

At the time with FFXI, they had the assets to make big areas because the graphics were not cutting edge at that time. Plus they could reuse some assets (such as the towers in Sarutabaruta, the rivers there, etc.) to save some time.

Did you play that version.

2k on a computer and 10 PC on the screen at one time.
Lag everywhere.

Ya it looked great but for the cookie cutter zones.

You seen Odin, It's like that everywhere.

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Originally Posted by Dannythm

Maybe the people complaining didn't vote in favor of the change? I didn't vote for smaller zones, that's for sure. Or maybe they didn't play version 1.0 and just come up with this feel by themselves, but back then they couldn't vote.

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Maybe this is the problem.
If they would have played 1.0, they would know that the zones in ARR are much better and full with variety than a whole region in 1.0 where everything looked the same. You could have been somewhere around camp skull valley or wineport and would not know until you opened the map.

Sure, the zones could be bigger, but they are still much better than the regions we had.

From what I herd a lot of the ground texture was copy and pasted, if you walked in a line the land would start to loop.

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Originally Posted by Naraku_Diabolos

NO, the areas in 1.0 were absolutely horrible. It took 9 minutes running from Gridania (the city itself) to the first Camp to the west of the city...ON FOOT, 9 minutes! With Chocobo, it was 5. The areas were VERY bland; everything looked the same, and I hated it. ARR is well crafted and a lot of the people who did work on FFXI helped with ARR's development, such as the outdoor area zones. Seriously, La Noscea is just as well-crafted as Rolanberry Fields with the scenery. ARR has more life than 1.0 ever had in the field zones, I'm serious. 1.0 looked like a lunar landscape with some foliage here and there, ARR is not like that.

At the time with FFXI, they had the assets to make big areas because the graphics were not cutting edge at that time. Plus they could reuse some assets (such as the towers in Sarutabaruta, the rivers there, etc.) to save some time.

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Are you suggesting ARR's graphics are cutting edge? The game looks like plastic.

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Originally Posted by Saziel

Are you suggesting ARR's graphics are cutting edge? The game looks like plastic.

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It has more life and is more believable than 1.0 ever was. Go to Coerthas and look at the snowdrifts there. Trees shed heavy snowfall just like in real life. I did not see any form of realism in 1.0's landscapes. 1.0 was almost like a lunar landscape with foliage (especially La Noscea). I survived 1.0's launch and stuck to it because I believed FFXIV could do better in it's re-launch. The landscape in ARR has as much magic as FFXI's. 1.0's landscape lacked soul and life. Period.

More believable? Have you seen the crap that defies physics and logic after the calamity? I'm glad trees shed snow; it makes it all better. I will suspend my desire to see the real world (which i can see by going outside) if it means that things will look better instead of act better. My favorite scenery in ARR is the stuff in the background where we can't even go. Like the tower by lake tahtotl.

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Originally Posted by Holyhunter

You couldn't jump ever in 1.0, it wasn't just the beta. The zones weren't built with jumping in mind. While I did enjoy no loading screens (although the zones in 1.0 were phased anyway so it was pretty similar) the amount of repetition in zones was beyond awful.

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How are the smaller, instanced zones still not repetitious? They all look similar besides a few off-shoot generic desert areas. It was the first thing that struck me while leveling as bad design. In other MMO you each area you progress through is more or less themed.. could be hell / volcano themed, tropical, cities underground. So many ideas. All the areas in this game are 80% the same. It might not be copy pasted technically but it all reads the same in the end. I was frustrated leveling continuing to go back to the same areas over and over.. it was so bland. The one area that was a nice change of pace was Dragonhead. That is at least a decent example of changing it up but even that was not too impressive. This games "world" is so extremely boring especially compared to most other mmo games.

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Originally Posted by Felis

Sure, the zones could be bigger, but they are still much better than the regions we had.

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I'm not saying the zones aren't "better" than 1.0. They are. I'm saying they need additional improvements.

one picture shows the entire zone because it was copy/pasted.

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Originally Posted by Saziel

Are you suggesting ARR's graphics are cutting edge? The game looks like plastic.

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The graphics may not be cutting edge, but the tech that is in the game is pretty impressive for an MMO.

The world looks beautiful with it's art style.

Then again, you're probably the type that likes to stare at a wall texture and zoom in 200% to complain there aren't enough bump maps.

This game will have the same problems as XI... you won't notice them now but think 5 years down the line, we're gonna miss out on soo many technical advances because of "PS3 Limitations"

XI was plagued because of ps2

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Originally Posted by statikcat

How are the smaller, instanced zones still not repetitious? They all look similar besides a few off-shoot generic desert areas...etc

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Eh.. that's one of the things I truly appreciate about ARR. The consistency of the areas. I always found it pretty odd to have a tropic jungle right next to an Inuit area right next to a bog right next to a desert. The world is very small right now -given time, as it gets larger and they open up new zones, it should offer the variety you seek. Forcing variety where it doesn't belong is not the answer in my opinion, the world of ARR wasn't built with that kind of climate and terrain changes in mind. That being said, I do believe we'll get to see zones like the underground ruins in the Shroud, sooner or later! :)

The zones in 1.0 felt melancholic and wild - but 2.0's design is much more detailed and varied. Eorzea has pretty much undergone urbanization. I do hope that as we get away from civilization the design team will be able to reproduce that kind of feeling.

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Originally Posted by Kiayin

Eh.. that's one of the things I truly appreciate about ARR. The consistency of the areas. I always found it pretty odd to have a tropic jungle right next to an Inuit area right next to a bog right next to a desert. The world is very small right now -given time, as it gets larger and they open up new zones, it should offer the variety you seek. Forcing variety where it doesn't belong is not the answer in my opinion, the world of ARR wasn't built with that kind of climate and terrain changes in mind. That being said, I do believe we'll get to see zones like the underground ruins in the Shroud, sooner or later! :)

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The division between Coerthas and North Black Shroud is janky. It goes from forest to all of a sudden snowy mountains. Made more sense when Coerthas was not snowy, but that's what we have now.

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Originally Posted by Magis

The division between Coerthas and North Black Shroud is janky. It goes from forest to all of a sudden snowy mountains. Made more sense when Coerthas was not snowy, but that's what we have now.

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That's because we currently only have the middle zone of Coerthas, I believe. They're not contiguous. ^^

http://www.ffxivinfo.com/images/maps...-highlands.jpg

http://www.ffxivinfo.com/images/maps...ea-regions.jpg

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Originally Posted by Kiayin

That's because we currently only have the middle zone of Coerthas, I believe. They're not contiguous. ^^

http://www.ffxivinfo.com/images/maps...-highlands.jpg

http://www.ffxivinfo.com/images/maps...ea-regions.jpg

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Figured. It's surprising how little Coerthas changed (also it's probably the biggest of the zones) compared to everything else. That map helps a lot, I couldn't wrap my head around where the hell Mor Dhona sat, since North Thanalan was separated by 1 zone to Coerthas while North Black Shroud was right beside it.

One word: load.

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Originally Posted by Magis

The division between Coerthas and North Black Shroud is janky. It goes from forest to all of a sudden snowy mountains. Made more sense when Coerthas was not snowy, but that's what we have now.

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Maybe because the devs skipped central lowlands. For now we have only the central highlands.
I hope they put later more zones to Coerthas and the south side of Mor Dhona ingame.

PS3 limitations.

And it was really lame running for 1-2 minutes with no mobs or anything between "zones". Just because there were no loading screens didn't make it better, it just made everyone want to level a gatherer class for the speed boost ability they could get when far away from nodes and use it to just run places lol (pre chocobos).

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Originally Posted by Xerich

The graphics may not be cutting edge, but the tech that is in the game is pretty impressive for an MMO.

The world looks beautiful with it's art style.

Then again, you're probably the type that likes to stare at a wall texture and zoom in 200% to complain there aren't enough bump maps.

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No idea what bump maps are.