Coerthas: Then and Now

I'm not sure this is the right place, but it deals with setting, so hopefully.

I think I'm just really enamored with Coerthas because of it's dramatic transformation between 1.0 and 2.0. I wanted to try and recreate some screenshots from 1.x in 2.x to show, even if just for myself, the changes?

The problem is, even after watching a video of someone riding through most of the zone, I can't see how it lines up at all >_< -- video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fd9ohpDDCRU

This page has some of the pictures: http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/t...ic-Shot/page12

The problem is, the only place I *think* I recognize is the "Gates of Judgement", and even those look super different.

2.x, for me, has Coerthas dominated by the 3 large fortresses of the High Houses, the Gates of Judgement, and Steel Vigil, but I can't see anything like those in the old zone. I just... really don't get it.

Consider that coerthas is 5 major areas divided by aetherytes. Connected by tunnels or bridges.

Area 1: Dragonhead and ishgard, the Nail, Darkhold

Area 2: The frozen waterfall To the west edge of coerthas conceals the path west.

Area 3: The tunnels leading northeast past original Chimera cave are blocked, via cave-in, etc

Area 4: The bridge to the southeast (where we fight gilgamesh) is currently under repair.

Area 5: The area to the south, where the former entrance to AV was, now seen much further north. New paths carve their way through the south to both Mor Dhona and The Black Shroud, entirely bypassing this area. (I blame Bahamut)

http://i.imgur.com/IqdffhJ.jpg

Also don't forget that all we currently have accessible at the moment for Coerthas is just the Central Highlands and part of Natalan, the rest of it is sealed off - if and when SE will open the rest of the region is anyone's guess.

I wish one day Coertha will back to greenish glass land like its should be

Just now its snow everywhere ... its nice but I wish there summer or fall

Winter has come. Beware the white walkers. Time to polish your Valyrian steel, if you're lucky enough to have any.

Thanks all!

I do wonder, we know The First Dicastrial Observatorium of Aetherial and Astrological Phenomena existed before The Calamity, but was it visibly similar in 1.x? What about Whitebrim Front and Camp Dragonhead? (And Witchdrop?) I could imagine the last may have been created during The Calamity, but were the others... From what I saw, it seemed like they might have been there but were very... not fort-y looking?

Camp Dragonhead was a small little tent camp with a crystal up on a hill and most of the area if i can remember was Forest/grassland (pine trees and green grass) so it really is different. Kinda miss it was a nice area.

Well, like they say, once you start hitting Fort-y, you're in the winter of your life.

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-u...ewcoerthas.jpg
I did this overlay a while ago for a Reddit post about this topic. My biggest regret is ARR (my only one, really), is the loss of scale of the world. While the copy paste was a bit of an issue, I loved the vastness of the zones. Now the city states feel more like neighborhoods. If you look at all the parts that were cut out of old Coerthas, there is a massive chunk missing between it and Gridania. And it's not like you can just retcon an entire zone between two existing zones.

When I look at the original map

How the hell we warp from Mor Dhona Revent's toll to the middle Coertha?

The south of Coertha area used to be dangerous though, not easy pass there

*nod* Actually I saw your post on Reddit back then too =) Like I mentioned, the big thing is, even in the parts of the zone that exist, they don't seem the same. Not just snow covered now, but like, huge forts instead of camps. Did they build them in the 5 years since? (Were Stone/Steel Vigil there? I think I read that at least Stone Vigil existed, but not as a dungeon?)

I guess that's my core question. I'm used to craters and the land being pushed up or down, and there's the entire frozen waterfall, but the man made structure that look so big suddenly rising up? Perhaps I'm just not giving the High Houses enough credit.

That is actually indeed the case - in Revenant's Toll an npc mentions that when the Calamity occurred the original aetheryte network that sustained the original camps was destroyed, they mused about simply reinstating old-style camps, but then decided to actually build them as proper villages and towns so that not just adventurers would benefit, but the realm itself, providing shelter and basic services to anyone who needs them.

Some were simply rebuilt on the same site (like Camp Tranquil and Drybone), but some were simply abandoned, left to the elements and shifted location (this is best seen at Camp Overlook and Camp Revenant's Toll, where the ruins of the original 1.0 aetheryte camp can still be seen, with the new version relocated nearby).

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Originally Posted by Andaeron

I did this overlay a while ago for a Reddit post about this topic. My biggest regret is ARR (my only one, really), is the loss of scale of the world. While the copy paste was a bit of an issue, I loved the vastness of the zones. Now the city states feel more like neighborhoods.

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It's actually only a perception of loss of scale, likely due to reintroducing zone borders as well as more varying landscape (if its all repetitive, it can seem bigger because there's fewer good landmarks to base your progress on). Based on the map grid itself, the number of yalms is pretty much identical between the two versions. The only way the physical size could truly be different is if they completely adjusted how big a yalm is, and it doesn't seem to me that they did that.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Andaeron

If you look at all the parts that were cut out of old Coerthas, there is a massive chunk missing between it and Gridania. And it's not like you can just retcon an entire zone between two existing zones.

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They can easily do that, especially with an expansion (it IS highly likely to be focused on Ishgard and their war with Dravania after all). Or they can keep the short-cut (maybe have an NCP who will escort you through the now very dangerous territory), and add the long ways that will take you through a different path.

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Originally Posted by Myranda

It's actually only a perception of loss of scale, likely due to reintroducing zone borders as well as more varying landscape (if its all repetitive, it can seem bigger because there's fewer good landmarks to base your progress on). Based on the map grid itself, the number of yalms is pretty much identical between the two versions. The only way the physical size could truly be different is if they completely adjusted how big a yalm is, and it doesn't seem to me that they did that.

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It's not though; look at the overlay again. There were zone lines in 1.0, too. When you got to the very edge of the Shroud, you would zone into Coerthas (loading screen and all), but you would come in all the way at the bottom right, in the Eastern Lowlands. Then you had to follow the road to get to the Central Highlands, which takes you through an area roughly the size of the Central Highlands themselves. Imagine having to run from the Observatory in Coerthas now all the way to Behemoth's Dominion then back again. THAT was how far it was from the edge of the Shroud to Ishgard's gates in 1.0.

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Originally Posted by Myranda

It's actually only a perception of loss of scale, likely due to reintroducing zone borders as well as more varying landscape (if its all repetitive, it can seem bigger because there's fewer good landmarks to base your progress on). Based on the map grid itself, the number of yalms is pretty much identical between the two versions. The only way the physical size could truly be different is if they completely adjusted how big a yalm is, and it doesn't seem to me that they did that.

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This is more or less true, especially for Coerthas, on a per zone basis. Of course, we lost most of the Coerthas zones, half of Mor Dhona, and I a bit of the Shroud I think. Personally I think it's all for the good as the current zones feel unique and purposeful to me, at least compared to what we had. I'll enjoy having new areas in the future and I even hope they revive some of the ones that are missing, but I wouldn't want them there simply for the sake of scale.

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Originally Posted by Andaeron

It's not though; look at the overlay again. There were zone lines in 1.0, too. When you got to the very edge of the Shroud, you would zone into Coerthas (loading screen and all), but you would come in all the way at the bottom right, in the Eastern Lowlands. Then you had to follow the road to get to the Central Highlands, which takes you through an area roughly the size of the Central Highlands themselves. Imagine having to run from the Observatory in Coerthas now all the way to Behemoth's Dominion then back again. THAT was how far it was from the edge of the Shroud to Ishgard's gates in 1.0.

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That's true and I don't dispute that, because that's a whole different issue of all other areas of Coerthas being removed except the Central Highlands (i.e. the Eastern Lowlands across Griffin Crossing, the Western Highlands where Riversmeet was and which is now blocked by the Snowcloak) as well as them changing where exactly the zone lines are as a result of those removals. But when comparing JUST the central area of 1.0 to what we have in ARR, they are in fact the same. I will note that the total number of grid lines is different, but that's because in 1.0 they represented 100y, but in ARR each grid tile is only 50y.

This thread is making me miss old Coerthas... Hell even Old Eorzea in general

When I say the scale has changed, I don't mean that they took the landscape and shrank it into a smaller area, I mean that they have changed the distances between key landmarks. Either they have removed the Eastern Lowlands (as if they never existed), or we are to believe that we skip the entire area (that is roughly the size of the Central Highlands) when we zone. It's like how we don't have to walk the length of the bridge into Limsa (or Gridania, for that matter- how many 2.0 players even know that Gridania is surrounded by water?).

Or put another way, if today 3.0 was announced and they said they were redoing the map, and that from now on when you zoned out of Gridania through Blue Badger Gate you ended up in the South Shroud near Buscarron's Druthers, wouldn't you wonder where Bentbranch went? And wouldn't the shroud feel that much smaller? THAT is what I mean by "loss of scale."


Come to think on it, the entire La Noscean map has the same problem. There are zone lines that take you from one side of the island to the other, with nothing in between.

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Originally Posted by Andaeron

how many 2.0 players even know that Gridania is surrounded by water?).

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I'd wager not many of us, my mind is blown from that single comment. As someone who prides themself on being a lore enthusiast and likes to adventurer about areas seeing how they pan out in the bigger scope of things. I honestly had little to no idea this was the case. I'd love for SE to allow us to revist the days of old that was 1.0, as some of us never got the chance to bask in it's glory, and reading this thread has only made me somewhat sad that i'll never get to see my favorite area. -Coerthas- exactly as it was before hand. Such a visually beautiful and lore rich area of the game, hopefully one day we'll get to scale that mighty citidal that has long eluded players for years.

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Originally Posted by Andaeron

(or Gridania, for that matter- how many 2.0 players even know that Gridania is surrounded by water?)

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It is?! I had no idea. Mind. Blown.

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Originally Posted by Andaeron

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If they're paying attention, it's visible. You can see the Jadeite Flood to the south, that big lake to the east. In Central, you can see the Jadeite Flood to the north, just as you leave Gridania.

I won't mention the name, but someone made a FF14 1.0 emulator, so if any of you are interested for mostly exploring the old world, look it up.

Newbie to 2.0 here, but the point in which we cross from Grid to Coerthas is razed to the ground, and the aether is so badly disturbed that giant chunks of rock float in space. The edge leads over to a large cliff, at which you can see a giant slab of Dalamud's shell jutting from the ground in the distance to the sky.

I think that the area that was the Lowlands is literally gone, ripped apart by Dalamud's destruction.

Actually that area was still part of the North Shroud in 1.0 - it was originally a high level area though that was full of enemies over level 50, but didn't have that much there other than a hard-to-reach aetherial gate. The Coerthas Southern Lowlands were further over, and are just effectively bypassed now for whatever reason.

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Originally Posted by Ametrine

Newbie to 2.0 here, but the point in which we cross from Grid to Coerthas is razed to the ground, and the aether is so badly disturbed that giant chunks of rock float in space. The edge leads over to a large cliff, at which you can see a giant slab of Dalamud's shell jutting from the ground in the distance to the sky.

I think that the area that was the Lowlands is literally gone, ripped apart by Dalamud's destruction.

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It would still be a nice place to explore. I know our characters don't just magically skip an entire zone to get to Mor Dhona. Maybe we'll see more of it as Revenent's Toll expands, maybe seeing RT seep into Coerthas Central Lowlands perhaps? Then there's the Eastern Lowlands, THAT place is probably destroyed beyond recognition, but I would like to see what remains of good ol' Camp Glory and see where the Owl's Nest once stood