Increase of Assets on maps

Dear SE with the graphical update incoming you showed us the steps at Yedlihmad full of rich features and objects that were not there before.

Can you also please consider using these new capabilities to add life to the world. By life I mean:

1. Ships coming in and out of Limsa Lominsa and NPCs in the background loading/unloading goods or themselves.
2. Merchants/Convoys and other NPCs regularly travelling the lands going about their business.
3. Airships flying in and out of the cities with their shadows casting by the ground as they sail.

And things of this nature. The possibilities for immersion are there, and this can be a world that brings a lot of wonder and awe to the people that reside in it.

Maybe these are dreams but I can imagine every player's experience being richer for it. The devils always in the details and polish can go a looong way.

The devil is indeed in the details and adding so much further contributes to lag and killing any kind of immersion and playability for a lot of people.

I've heard they would actually like to have the cities be one whole zone at some point, but something like this would be a step backwards from that goal.

One can hope, anything to make maps to have more life in them

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Originally Posted by Deveryn

The devil is indeed in the details and adding so much further contributes to lag and killing any kind of immersion and playability for a lot of people.

I've heard they would actually like to have the cities be one whole zone at some point, but something like this would be a step backwards from that goal.

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Hmmm I would disagree with this direction. Zone loading isn't that big of an issue imo and rather than get one giant static zone I'd rather have 3 dynamic ones. Further more technology moves forward so as the ps4 becomes deprecated and the shortages abate there is all the more reason to make the game move forward along with the world's technology.

Optimization can go a long way as well to ease the lag issues, which is why a game can look better and perform better than other jankier games with worse graphics.

If both were possible then all the better but:

Rich dynamic zones > eliminating 5 second loading times

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Originally Posted by Ath192

Hmmm I would disagree with this direction. Zone loading isn't that big of an issue imo and rather than get one giant static zone I'd rather have 3 dynamic ones. Further more technology moves forward so as the ps4 becomes deprecated and the shortages abate there is all the more reason to make the game move forward along with the world's technology.

Optimization can go a long way as well to ease the lag issues, which is why a game can look better and perform better than other jankier games with worse graphics.

If both were possible then all the better but:

Rich dynamic zones > eliminating 5 second loading times

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the problem is not everyone is on a good computer. zone loading may not be an issue for you, lag may not be an issue for you

I know some people that do have lag issues and have to play at a lower resolution just to have a decent frame rate.

it is a nice idea, but you are not playing a single player game where only your own computer would be affected. nice to see sure, but at the expense of many others in the game without your system, unlikely to be a thing.

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Originally Posted by Kes13a

the problem is not everyone is on a good computer. zone loading may not be an issue for you, lag may not be an issue for you

I know some people that do have lag issues and have to play at a lower resolution just to have a decent frame rate.

it is a nice idea, but you are not playing a single player game where only your own computer would be affected. nice to see sure, but at the expense of many others in the game without your system, unlikely to be a thing.

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The thing is there's a couple of things going against this argument.

1. Number 1 the assets increasing is a foregone conclusion, SE is updating the graphics so it's likely people who are currently lagging will have to drop out of the game or upgrade their systems. Unfortunate for some but true.
2. This game is a luxury good. Running this game with the base subscription for 1 year is $12.99 x12 = $154.00 annually, plus whatever the base game costs. A base PS5 costs $399.00. As such the cost to upgrade isn't unreasonable.
3. The cost to upgrade would be unreasonable if it happened often, however we can largely expect this game to run on the PS5 for half a decade or more. As it has for previous systems.
4. New games with more demanding graphics FFXIV will never have are selling just fine, meaning gamers at large are running systems more than capable already and do upgrade their systems occasionally.
5. Keeping the games graphics stale will prevent new gamers with their newer consoles and PCs from trying the game out on the basis that it is too outdated when they can play other RPGs with better graphics.

So while keeping the game stagnant may be a net plus for a minority of players. The majority of future gamers and current gamers will have systems more than capable of running the graphics update SE has underway. So this is merely showcasing some of the things I'd like to see as it happens.

Keeping a game locked to outdated specifications is a greater threat than keeping the game current, especially one that already costs $150 a year not including the base purchase or the expansions that will come out. None of this is implying the game needs a super computer to run well, but it should keep up with the generational increases in hardware capabilities.

And on the pure business sense of things, catering to players who can afford reasonable hardware is more profitable for SE as well because they will also likely indulge in further luxuries like mog station items and dyes since they enjoy having their characters look awesome.

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Originally Posted by Deveryn

The devil is indeed in the details and adding so much further contributes to lag and killing any kind of immersion and playability for a lot of people.

I've heard they would actually like to have the cities be one whole zone at some point, but something like this would be a step backwards from that goal.

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I have a question. What causes some games to be able to do this and other not?

Why is it that a game like WoW can have entire continents with multiple major cities on a single load screen free insurance, but other games can't even have an upper and lower level of a single city be connected without separate instances? Let alone going from zone to zone without loading in.

And you can't say that WoW is simply a bigger game with a bigger budget, because they've had this in place from the beginning.

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Originally Posted by Ath192

2. This game is a luxury good. Running this game with the base subscription for 1 year is $12.99 x12 = $154.00 annually, plus whatever the base game costs. A base PS5 costs $399.00. As such the cost to upgrade isn't unreasonable.

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I would agree with this point, if it weren't for supply and demand issues. Trying to get a PS5 right now, or some of the newer PC components, isn't as easy as people seem to think because they were able to get their hands on some.

Edit: Just checked 3 different sites for PS5, and BestBuy, Walmart, and EB games have none - except for a refurbished digital one at BestBuy going for almost 1100...which is 600 more than a brand new one.

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Originally Posted by Saimeren

I have a question. What causes some games to be able to do this and other not?

Why is it that a game like WoW can have entire continents with multiple major cities on a single load screen free insurance, but other games can't even have an upper and lower level of a single city be connected without separate instances? Let alone going from zone to zone without loading in.

And you can't say that WoW is simply a bigger game with a bigger budget, because they've had this in place from the beginning.

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FF14 was originally constructed to work on the PS3 and as such many of it's original limitations (and some of the limitations that still exist) are tied to what was imposed by the PS3 architecture. The PS3 wasn't even just a "weak PC" in it's time because it actually had a weird processor architecture which makes it hard to emulate completely on even todays PCs. Given the constraints in it's creation (not only in terms of consoles but in the rework of the game from 1.0 to 2.0), it also wasn't likely built with the sort of scalability in mind that WoW was.

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Originally Posted by Saimeren

I have a question. What causes some games to be able to do this and other not?

Why is it that a game like WoW can have entire continents with multiple major cities on a single load screen free insurance, but other games can't even have an upper and lower level of a single city be connected without separate instances? Let alone going from zone to zone without loading in.

And you can't say that WoW is simply a bigger game with a bigger budget, because they've had this in place from the beginning.

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WoW was made to be simpler and more accessible from the start. The aesthetic was never one of great detail, so it's always been less resource intensive.