Dev Response - We will be changing the copy/pasta'd zones! (I think)

So I do like to browse through the Japanese forums sometimes and see what is up. Well, it seems that a dev has responded, but I use Google Translate to understand what is said and as we all know, it comes out in gibberish. I think Yoshi P wrote this.

I was hoping someone would be able to translate this for me:

プロデューサ/ディレクタの吉田です。

皆さん、MAPについての問題提起ありがとうございます。
皆さん同様に吉田もMAPの仕様について、強く危機意識があり、
莫大な作業量ではありますが、しっかり再設計に向けた計画を進めています。
ただし、既にご指摘いただいている通り、根本からの修正のためには、
お時間を頂いてしまうことになります。

そのため、現MAPのコリジョン緩和（段差/引っ掛かりの緩和）は地道に続け、
根本改修も長期的に計画という並行策で進めています。

Google gave me:

Producer / Director is Yoshida.

Everyone, MAP Thank you for complaint.
Yoshida also like you to MAP's specifications, there is a strong sense of crisis,
There are an enormous amount of work is well advanced plans for redesign.
However, as already pointed out that Itadai in order to fundamentally fix the
You will get to give me a time.
Therefore, the current MAP collision mitigation (steps / Relaxation caught) is followed by steady,
In a parallel measure to promote the long term planning radical refurbishment.

http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/t...ll=1#post19787

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Prestige

So I do like to browse through the Japanese forums sometimes and see what is up. Well, it seems that a dev has responded, but I use Google Translate to understand what is said and as we all know, it comes out in gibberish. I think Yoshi P wrote this.

I was hoping someone would be able to translate this for me:

プロデューサ/ディレクタの吉田です。

皆さん、MAPについての問題提起ありがとうございます。
皆さん同様に吉田もMAPの仕様について、強く危機意識があり、
莫大な作業量ではありますが、しっかり再設計に向けた計画を進めています。
ただし、既にご指摘いただいている通り、根本からの修正のためには、
お時間を頂いてしまうことになります。

そのため、現MAPのコリジョン緩和（段差/引っ掛かりの緩和）は地道に続け、
根本改修も長期的に計画という並行策で進めています。

Google gave me:

Producer / Director is Yoshida.

Everyone, MAP Thank you for complaint.
Yoshida also like you to MAP's specifications, there is a strong sense of crisis,
There are an enormous amount of work is well advanced plans for redesign.
However, as already pointed out that Itadai in order to fundamentally fix the
You will get to give me a time.
Therefore, the current MAP collision mitigation (steps / Relaxation caught) is followed by steady,
In a parallel measure to promote the long term planning radical refurbishment.

http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/t...ll=1#post19787

---

It sure sounds like they have already started redesigning the maps. It would explain why so many areas are not accessible yet, they are probably being redesigned.

Great now we can all stop making threads to complain about the copy/paste and Grinadia and the black shroud etc... it's been worked on kids. Just give the man some time.

Well at least their forum is productive.

Doesn't this mean character mapping? anti-collision?

How old is that post? I think they may be refferring to something that has alreday been addressed.

There is also a reply by him about a possible redesign of the 'collisions' on the maps (and ground) for an eventual jump or climb :)

http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/t...ll=1#post19724

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Yoshida

プロデューサ/ディレクタの吉田です。

皆さん、MAPについての問題提起ありがとうございます。
皆さん同様に吉田もMAPの仕様について、強く危機意識があり、
莫大な作業量ではありますが、しっかり再設計に向けた計画を進めています。
ただし、既にご指摘いただいている通り、根本からの修正のためには、
お時間を頂いてしまうことになります。

そのため、現MAPのコリジョン緩和（段差/引っ掛かりの緩和）は地道に続け、
根本改修も長期的に計画という並行策で進めています。

---

NOT a direct translation, probably poor at best. Hopefully someone will reply with a clear translation.


Producer/Director Yoshida here.

Thanks to everyone for your comments about the MAPS.
I am aware of the strong feelings about the MAPS; there is a lot of work to be done, but there are plans for a redesign.
However, these things take time; please have patience.

I plan to work on this in parallel with collision detection algorithm improvements.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Smashington

Doesn't this mean character mapping? anti-collision?

How old is that post? I think they may be refferring to something that has alreday been addressed.

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No this is in the Japanese "copypasta terrain" thread. They have one just like we do, but theirs has over 30,000 views, and it is the one thing they feel most strongly about. I think on par with content, at least.

This is great if all is true.

very cool, i'd love to see them add this to the table outline for future updates if its true

Great find! I wasn't expecting this. :)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Naoki_Yoshida

Hi! The Rep team will translate my comment soon, and it contribute to other language forums.

thanks!

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Guess we'll find out soon enough.

This is exactly what needs to happen

I hope they decide to keep the identical camps everywhere. That way I never get confused as to what I am doing there.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Visch

Well at least their forum is productive.

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Lol, exactly my thoughts while browsing, also I will like to add that we should take our time and look at their side of forums. Some pretty interesting things happening. You don't need to speak japanese just use google translator.

It might actually be worth having a single thread containing translations of any dev posts in the forums of the other languages. Translations could be by fans, devs, whatever.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Alicia_WM

I plan to work on this in parallel with collision detection algorithm improvements.

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I don't see anything about working on it in parallel, it reads more like they are only planning to work on the collision improvement of the original maps instead of re-designing them... at least to me.

It wouldn't make sense to first fix the collision bugs on the old maps and then redesign them, would it...

Cool thx for the informative thread. Keep up the good work. Anybody that finds anything interesting from the Devs on the Japanese forums it would be cool if you give us some insight.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Prestige

No this is in the Japanese "copypasta terrain" thread. They have one just like we do, but theirs has over 30,000 views, and it is the one thing they feel most strongly about. I think on par with content, at least.

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Right on. It's hard to beleive they would undertake the task of revising world backgrounds. Amazing. Go Go Go Yoshi-P!

LOL, I remember the first time when I explored the Limsa Lominsa zone and found out every cave are look the same... it was not a big deal but I laugh

Don't get your hope excessively high mates.
However they may redesign the zones, there will still plenty of asset recycling in them (it simply cannot be avoided in this kind of games). It will be very possibly better hidden, but it'll still be there. Yoshida is a great guy, and I'm sure he's doing wonders for the game, but he can't waive memory limitations and loading times by snapping fingers :D

that translation made me lawl XD

Hopefully they are working on this as soon as possible. I like hanging around Gridania, but once I step outside the city it is not the open forest I would have hoped for. I dislike the maze-like structure and the copy and paste just makes it worse. I hope the translation is right and we get areas with new looks so I can enjoy exploring again!

To be honest, it's pretty unnecessary. What XIV needs is more landmarks and notible areas/buildings littered about. Copy-pasting textures, geometry/objects or even sections of a map is a smart move from a production standpoint. Especially in XIV's case, given it's situation.

3D environment artists reuse areas, assets, textures etc, because everything being unique is ridiculous and would take so much time it's unreal. Rather than redesigning entire maps, make the existing ones more interesting. Simple assets that can be modified slightly and dotted around to create interesting areas, or more unique structures, make more parts of the environment interact-able and all that.

New areas can be designed as they want, but videogames will always repeat stuff. It's a shame, because SE is usually better at hiding repetition than this. But if you know what to look for, you'll find it in every game.

This is great news. Hopefully Grid will look like an actual forest in the future.

All I want is to be able to go into the little huts and houses you find at those camps. I miss that =w=

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Evovenom

Lol, exactly my thoughts while browsing, also I will like to add that we should take our time and look at their side of forums. Some pretty interesting things happening. You don't need to speak japanese just use google translator.

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Google translator is likely to just cause confusion and not give you a good idea of what's actually being said.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Elcura

To be honest, it's pretty unnecessary. What XIV needs is more landmarks and notible areas/buildings littered about. Copy-pasting textures, geometry/objects or even sections of a map is a smart move from a production standpoint. Especially in XIV's case, given it's situation.

3D environment artists reuse areas, assets, textures etc, because everything being unique is ridiculous and would take so much time it's unreal. Rather than redesigning entire maps, make the existing ones more interesting. Simple assets that can be modified slightly and dotted around to create interesting areas, or more unique structures, make more parts of the environment interact-able and all that.

New areas can be designed as they want, but videogames will always repeat stuff. It's a shame, because SE is usually better at hiding repetition than this. But if you know what to look for, you'll find it in every game.

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http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/t...ical-Landmarks

I thought I was alone! No replies to a thread on exactly that. :(

The reason I posted this was not only to share possible good news, but with the hope someone who speaks fluent Japanese would be able to show their skills and translate this accurately :)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Rhianu

Google translator is likely to just cause confusion and not give you a good idea of what's actually being said.

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That's why i'm using [this] nice tool and my (limited) knowledge of Japanese... machine translation is just horrible.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Abriael

Don't get your hope excessively high mates.
However they may redesign the zones, there will still plenty of asset recycling in them (it simply cannot be avoided in this kind of games). It will be very possibly better hidden, but it'll still be there. Yoshida is a great guy, and I'm sure he's doing wonders for the game, but he can't waive memory limitations and loading times by snapping fingers :D

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no;

all they have to do to alleviate the ps3's ram limitations is to make the zones significantly smaller. it's that simple. there would not be the copy paste syndrome anymore. ffxi did this excat thing and it has a wonderful and complex world.

This is what i got with windows 7 gadgets

プロデューサ/ディレクタの吉田です。

皆さん、MAPについての問題提起ありがとうございます。
皆さん同様に吉田もMAPの仕様について、強く危機意識があり、
莫大な作業量ではありますが、しっかり再設計に向けた計画を進めています。
ただし、既にご指摘いただいている通り、根本からの修正のためには、
お時間を頂いてしまうことになります。

そのため、現MAPのコリジョン緩和（段差/引っ掛かりの緩和）は地道に続け、
根本改修も長期的に計画という並行策で進めています。

Is the producer/director Yoshida.
Complaint about the MAP, you guys, thank you.
You guys like Yoshida MAP specifications for strong crisis consciousness and
Promotes an enormous amount of work is a solid redesign plan.
However, street already pointed our that the fix from the Foundation for
You would have gotten your time.
The current MAP of collision relief of difference and they continued steadily
Fundamental renovation ahead in a parallel work plans that in the long run.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Argh

no;

all they have to do to alleviate the ps3's ram limitations is to make the zones significantly smaller. it's that simple. there would not be the copy paste syndrome anymore. ffxi did this excat thing and it has a wonderful and complex world.

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And you'd be wrong. Size has little to do with it. Games with much smaller zones feature major asset recycling anyway (start calling things with their name by the way, i'm sure copy/paste has a nice dramatic effect, but it's not how asset recycling works).
It has to do with resolution, detail and polycount. Not only of the zones by the way, but of everything displayed, including characters, decorations, monsters and buildings.

I understand your personal bashing agenda forces you to somehow fight against every kind of notion that asset recycling doesn't necessarily come from some unjustified lazyness and cruelty on SE's part, but that's the reality of things :D

While I find the initiative from the new dev team an improvement, this does have me worried a bit.

I for one actually like the current zones. They may not be optimal, but I seriously do not find them as horrible as people make them out to be.

I can't help but feel that the humongous effort of redoing zones would be better spent designing and implementing new zones and content. Each of the three starter cities has missing/unimplemented areas. Ishgard. The destroyed Ala Mihgo.
How about other islands and continents, where the races originally came from. There is still no actual content that concentrates on the different races and where they came from. Or the whole system of guardian deities.

I am thankful to see how dedicated the team now is to improve the game. But for those of us who have been playing regularely since release, just redoing all the current content is not enough.

I just honestly feel that the manpower could be used for new content instead of changing the existing zones.
I really do not wish to have to wait more than a year before seeing new zones and areas and experiencing more of the game's story and lore.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Buttons

While I find the initiative from the new dev team an improvement, this does have me worried a bit.

I for one actually like the current zones. They may not be optimal, but I seriously do not find them as horrible as people make them out to be.

I can't help but feel that the humongous effort of redoing zones would be better spent designing and implementing new zones and content. Each of the three starter cities has missing/unimplemented areas. Ishgard. The destroyed Ala Mihgo.
How about other islands and continents, where the races originally came from. There is still no actual content that concentrates on the different races and where they came from. Or the whole system of guardian deities.

I am thankful to see how dedicated the team now is to improve the game. But for those of us who have been playing regularely since release, just redoing all the current content is not enough.

I just honestly feel that the manpower could be used for new content instead of changing the existing zones.
I really do not wish to have to wait more than a year before seeing new zones and areas and experiencing more of the game's story and lore.

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While I can understand how you feel, and what you say makes perfect sense, at least if they broke down the current zones into different "biomes" or whatever without actually redoing the design, it would be a huge improvement. Get rid of the damn load screen between Thanalan and the Black Shroud, add in some more area with different biomes between the two and allow a smooth transition without a loading screen as you travel northeast. I think a nice mixture of "redoing" things (such a certain areas of the already created zones) and addition of further zones would be perfect.

I read that as:

we need to re-work the collision detection because it's bugged, since we will be getting our hands dirty under that hood anyway I want to add in environmental interactions like mantling (animated climbing up/over ledges) and crawling up/sliding down minor hills .... and since all that will require major editing of the games environment we might as well redesign the environmental visuals and map layouts as we feel like.

I wouldn't expect something major like being able to climb the trees in Grid, and are still gonna be seeing a lot of the same geography over and over again, but we can probably expect a few additional set pieces mixed in and a better recombination of things to be less monotonous.