Continuity!

Hello and well met! Now on to business!

I know I haven’t posted on these forums but that doesn’t mean that I’ve ignored them completely. This is something I’ve been thinking about for quite some time and the things that I’m about to say have probably been stated but for my own peace of mind I’ve decided to speak up. Please be warned, I will be very honest with my words but it is not my intent to offend.

Firstly, I’d like to both thank and congratulate Square Enix. I’m very happy with SE’s decision to bring in a new dev team and with Mr. Naoki Yoshida and co. for all of their hard work. It means a lot to me as a player, a fan, and a consumer that somebody actually cares about what I think and feel. I can’t describe how insulted I felt after the major flop that was FFXIV came out. It was a game I was genuinely looking forward to playing and I was one of the people that dished out the extra hard earned money for the collectors edition- which to be perfectly honest was disappointing in its own right because it was not worth the money. My main reason for spending the extra money was the so called art book which was... a few tiny pages in a “journal”. Square Enix, if you want your fans to buy the collectors edition of your games then plaease make it worth the money. If you need an example then look at Resident Evil 5’s collectors edition(granted RE5’s CE is kinda intimidating) or the Shin Megami Tensei / Persona games. My friend ordered the collectors edition and he got a plushie with one and with the other he got the soundtrack. If we are spending nearly 100$ on this stuff we damn well be getting something worth our money- even the “special” items we got were half-assed. The movement speed + shoes only work for 30min and the onion helmet doesn’t work past level 10. That’s kind of really, really, very cheap. The idea is that the people who buy your games to keep coming back. But, moving on.

I played pretty regularly when the game first came out- probably for a month or two and then I stopped with every intent to pick up again thanks to Mr. Yoshida. Mr. Yoshida’s letters to the players and his overall treatment of the situation restored my faith in this game little by little and by extent into SE as a company (although I will admit after having seen the E3 trailer for FFXIII-2 I’m both disgusted and shocked. There is a game I will not be buying when it comes out because it seems like SE did not to listen to their player base again about FFXIII and went ahead and spawned another sequel. I am extremely disappointed in SE because I thought they would have learned from the mess that was FFXIV- but I am not here to talk about FFXIII and it’s “sequel”). Moving on- and far, far, far more importantly- I look forward to hearing more from Mr. Yoshida because it seems to me like he is the only person at SE who actually gives a damn about what the player base says. It is quite mind boggling for me and others as to why this is but perhaps some light will be shed in the future.

Now to the real nit gritty issue of this- and I ask that the readers bare with me for this may be lengthy indeed for I have quite a bit to say. The issues I will address is story continuity and the world- for the most part. I’ll start with the story continuity.

I consider FFXI to be a success. I’ve played other MMO’s - Aeon, WoW, LOTRO, and a few other free ones- and you know what? It was all very short lived. Even while I played those other games I played FFXI. That’s a lot, considering two of the three you have to pay to play. Right now my MMO of choice is FFXI.

As confusing and senseless as FFXI was when I first began playing it all those years ago, I still fell in love with it. It was a grand world with so much to offer and it only got better as the years went by. I made some wonderful memories with that game and met some really interesting and inspiring people. For that I must salute SE and the dev team that still continues to work on it.

That being said, I understand that FFXIV has a lot to live up to, especially since a good number of the players that tried FFXIV were ones that, like me, enjoyed FFXI for so long.

When I began FFXI the fact that I was an adventurer and that I was special was established in the opening cut scene. When I started FFXIV it took 20 agonizing levels for that to be established- even though this was information that I already knew. Let me be blunt- It shouldn’t take 20 levels for the game to tell me that I’m special. I know I’m special.

I chose to begin in Gridania when I started FFXIV and perhaps it was fate. Gridania’s lack of continuity was downright appalling and very misleading. The opening cut scene establishes the world but it also establishes a conflict- the “curse” or whatever you wanna call it. In short, my character pissed off the forest and now the forest wants to eat me. In town I was told not to go out into the forest or I will die and well, for a while, I didn’t leave the town but then I realized that I was supposed to- which lead to a rather big “Wtf mate?”.

The issue is that in FFXIV there are in fact, two worlds. The cut scene World and the world that the player actually participates in. The story is only established in the cut scene world and has no effect on the “real world”. To which I must say... Why? Why would you ever do such a thing SE? The lack of continuity between the two “worlds” is part of what is ruining the game. The aforementioned information of how I am special to that world should be established in the opening cut scene and if not that then within the first five levels. Likewise, I shouldn’t be allowed to go out into the forest until I have been cleansed of the “curse”.

Looking at it from a broader point of view- from Gridania’s overall story line. SE, please pick one- Crazy Cult or Fairies. You can’t have both because that is what you have now. When I was told that the little kid’s brother has been tainted and that he didn’t get cleansed and so he turned into some foul beast- I expected exactly that. The queer conspiracy bit was very shaky from the get go, especially once it is established that the brat with the bad attitude was right and that people in charge of Gridania were full of shit.

Also, what is wrong with that kids parents? They couldn’t have said ‘come with us?” or talked to him like an adult? Children aren’t that stupid. Furthermore, they could have said ‘We need you to stay here to take care of X’- the little girl with the tainted brother. Also, why is it bad that there is a group that is going to fend off the invading evil empire? I mean, seriously SE- what were you thinking?

Speaking of the Evil Empire- as far as I know, Gridania is the only town to get invaded and yet we see the Evil Empire soldiers and contraptions ONCE and that was in a cut scene- and here we go again, splitting the game in two. Please understand, it doesn’t work that way. What made FFXI so successful was the fact that you didn’t split it into two like this! There was a lot of story line continuity- enough so that when one did encounter something that didn’t add up it was easy enough to look the other way because usually it was something that was inconsequential.

Which brings me to another point. I’ve seen my character walk normally once- and that was in the opening cut scene. During every other cut scene she does this queer little meandering dance thing. Please, please, please, please fix that. Every time I look at a cut scene it just jars me and I ask myself “Who the hell walks like that?”

To recap, you need to merge the two worlds together and you need to stop treating the player base like they are dumb children. You don’t need to hold our hand for 20 levels. FFXIV has a huge potential to immerse players into the world that you’ve created but your lack of continuity is preventing immersion. The story line is the selling point here, that is one area where you don’t want to cut corners because that is why I have continued to play FFXI for so long and that is what I was very much so looking forward to the release of FFXIV.


Cont... (look below) e.e;

...Cont...(from above) e.e;;

Moving on to the second topic. The World.

FFXIV has a nicely built world- well at least it looks nice. I was overjoyed when I heard Mr. Yoshida announce that The Black Shroud would be getting redone. If you need a good example of a forest environment- look at FFXI’s Sanctuary of Zi Tah zone. Yes, there are a lot of repeating elements- hell I know there are - there are practically like what? Three different trees in the entire zone? But they are placed expertly. My older sister who also plays FFXI didn’t notice the repetition. I did but that I is only because I know what to look for. That is your goal SE. You don’t want your average player to be able to see the fact that you are reusing props.

Secondly, The Black Shroud’s design is something not even a rookie would make. Who thought up of it, I’m curious? How much experience have they had? What made that person think that it would be ok to create such a frustrating zone to navigate in?

But enough of that- let me get to the point. FFXIV’s world is large and amazing. I enjoyed exploring the area around Limsa Lominsa and even around Uldah, I can’t wait to do the same for the Black Shroud once it is overhauled. Please keep us updated.

So yes, the world is fantastic and beautiful and... It is far too clean and far too empty. Even Uldah’s slums which I expect to be dirty and crawling with the poor and the refugees is empty and clean.

I know that many people didn’t like FFXII. I personally enjoyed it- I enjoyed the world far more than the story and that is why I can go back and replay it. If SE had taken away the ability to explore the world I probably would have hated it as much as I hate FFXIII. Granted FFXII’s story line needed more love but the fact that I could go and explore and see this fantastic world helped make up for it. I remember starting out as Vaan in Rabanastre and the city was... packed. There were NPC’s talking to each other, walking, moving- doing things... Dear God SE! Why doesn’t FFXIV have even a fraction of that!?

Yes, you want your players to fill up the city but it doesn’t make it any less empty. Running in FFXI’s Jeuno is a bit depressing sometimes. Yes, there are a lot of players there but there are hardly any NPC’s.

I’m asking that you populate the world with NPC’s. To give Eorzea some substance- to make it real and immersive. Let us overhear what they’re talking about, let us read/see about their day and bout their gripes- it’s things like that that make the world feel real.

Secondly, let us interact with the world. Let us jump and swim- hell even a sprint button would be fantastic! But let us experience Eorzea as if it were real. The reason why WoW is so immersive is because you can jump and swim not only that but when you walk into an Inn you can sit down on the chair. Also, something else to take from WoW.- Azeroth doesn’t limit you constantly the way Eorzea does. You want to see the windmill in Gridania? Too bad- bam! Invisible wall! Most of the game is like that, let alone Gridania.

Also, consider your lack of variation in the zones. The areas around LL and Uldah are basically plains and respectively it is populated with rocks and grass and well, rocks and rocks. Then there is Gridania which is basically green. Just because an area is a plane, a forest or a desert for that matter doesn’t mean that there can’t be variation. I expected to see more of the Sylph’s influence in Gridania, or how about we see more of the respective races from that part of the world? If there is a strong religious influence then that should be reflected in the architecture of the city.

I’ll point out another thing. One thing that made FFXI so different is the fact that it was a community based game and that it had mog houses. Instead of trying to innovate everything try perfecting some of the things that made FFXI stand out. Bring Mog Houses into FFXIV. I can tell you right now that one of my favorite things in FFXI is buying furnishings to decorate my Mog House with. Give us that option but make it better. Let us interact with the furnishings- sit on the chair, lay on the bed, use the tea set, etc. In FFXI they let you expand your mog safe so that you can hold up to 80 items, that’s 80 furnishings for me but they never let you expand the Mog House so that it is bigger. There is something to think about- and honestly, I’d increase the number of furnishings one can put in there. Another thing you may want to look into is making the Gardening system better. Instead of simply having 10 pots to grow things in, why not have a little farm of your own behind your Mog House to work on. You could make the housing system similar to LOTRO’s only better- as in you get to ‘pick’ where you want to live and you get to decorate parts of the outside. There is so much for you to work with, I don’t understand why none of this has been mentioned.

In addition to the Mog House give us the rumored barber shop. Also, how about giving “casual clothes”- things like actual dresses, skirts, pants and things. I know I sound very girly and silly but bare with me. Players want to feel attached to the world. Letting them customize their own ‘Mog House’ and pick and choose what their character will look like will help with immersion. It will help them feel closer to the world and the character they create. Players want a little piece of Eorzea to call their own, so to speak.

That all being said, I understand that everything I proposed is a lot of work. Actually, a lot doesn’t begin to cover it. It is a gigantic amount of work and technical problems to undertake. But if you could even make half of what I said happen the game would be all the richer for it. Right now I understand that the dev team has a rather full plate with FFXIV and the changes that they have set out to do. But what I proposed aren’t things to add in a single update, instead they are things to really consider and hopefully add- at least to some degree. They are things to bring to the rest of the player base and see what what everyone else thinks.

At the end of the day, FFXIV will eventually turn into a game that one must pay to play. That is quite a commitment to ask for from your players, SE. That being said, it is precisely because of that commitment that SE should take these sort of suggestions seriously. They should do everything they can to communicate with their player base in order to create an experience unlike any other.

Sorry for the (extra) long post and thank you for reading!

Cheers~

(annnd Finish!)

That...was a lot to read

you made some good points though

very nice elaborate post, i have to agreeto i think everything. Especially the point with the "two worlds" you mentioned is one of the most important facts in the game and the immersion.

I started in uldah and limsa, and both start with flourishing cities, Limsa with hard working sailors at the harbour, uldah with the big performance, the parade, etc. ... then you start and everythign is clean and empty, in limsa there are no npc workers packing the ships, or preparing for battle, carrying stuff around (would be not hard to implement i guess... since... almost every better game does this), every other city has the same problem. Well but actually you said it all anyways, couldnt do it better hehe.

Nice points, but hard for developers to read when they are busy. Point form?

1. Dynamic World - World state reflects player actions
Problem: How to sync the state between all players, especially when everyone goes through the same quests?

2. Living World - NPCs have their own lives
Problem: How to sync the state of each NPC between all players? Does it need to be sync-ed? How do you go about scripting the lives of so many NPCs?

3. Realistic World - Not everything needs to be beautified (e.g. slums)
Problem: Who is the target audience? What is the target ambience? Fairy tale? Dark fantasy?

4. Interactive World - Player can make physical changes to the world
Problem: How to sync the state of the world between players? Or is there a need to?

I personally think many of the sync-ing issues can be bypassed or alleviated by just implementing it client-side only.

Thank you for reading it you guys! I know it was long but I'm very glad you took the time to read it. Also- I have to thank those who did voice their opinions. I'm glad you did, I think it illustrates my point further and I hope it gets the dev teams attention.

On a side note-

Tymora, you are right- I probably should have followed up with something in point form. I think you summed it up very well and I hope the devs read both of our posts! ^^

Also, I think one thing you did very well is point out very clearly just how much work this would be to implement. However, I have faith that if these suggestions were taken seriously and if the dev team did take on this challenge, they would emerge with a very rewarding experience for them as artists and programmers, let alone the feeling of success at making FFXIV a very solid game.