Really miss locations that are no longer accessible (When there were no load screens)

There were some views that I greatly admired while traveling through Eorzea for the first time. It was a huge experience that seemed boundless. It seemed as there there were no walls to run into, you could travel almost anywhere you could see, and no dark void space to wallow in during travels. I actually wish I could go down the stairs from The Drowning Wench and look out that window again. As I did many times just to breathe in the depth of Eorsea. It'd felt like there was a lot more to explore without worrying about invisible boundaries caging me in any area I wished to visit.

As enclosed as Eorsea is to me, it feels like I'm stepping into the edges of a world that still can take me anywhere. Whats to stop me from appearing somewhere I didn't intend? Not just when I teleport, but also casually walking. It's disorientating after seeing Eorsea as it was. By the twelve, I despise this curse! I have the will and the power, but not the capability on my own! If only there were a way.

I also miss seeing people pass the Aetheryte from above, on the balcony of The Drunken Wench. To relax from my duties and crafts, I merely sit at tables and drink of the past and yet still to the future.

You can thank PS3 Limitations™ for the need to limit the map size.

oh i know the feeling. everything is way to instanced. there is no exploration anymore. back when the actual areas were one huge instance than measly pieces to the bigger picture. i loved going out of limsa for the first time and you had that huge bridge that linked it. it took 1 minute 28 seconds to cross on foot. it felt like you were going on a adventure. it took a good length to actually move and felt huge by comparison to now. to this day i really miss that bridge.

I'm not sure how you can call "exploration" when the map was an entire copy/paste of the same section over and over.

Pros: People watching in Drowning Wench was awesome. Since zone connections were visible (but unfortunately very long tunnels), you got a better sense of the spacing between the non-instanced areas.

Cons: There were no landmarks in Thanalan and it was possible to get lost running from Black Brush to Drybone because everything looked exactly the same. There were landmarks in The Black Shroud, but good luck seeing them at all because of the giant copy-pasta maze in the way.

I miss the pros, but the cons far outweighed them and I understand why SE made the decisions that they did.

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Originally Posted by Evtrai

I'm not sure how you can call "exploration" when the map was an entire copy/paste of the same section over and over.

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Deja Vu maps

sure you can easily tell with the copy and paste. having all the camps and so called broken castles where our now dungeons are placed look the same as they are. though there are points in some areas that are unique that made if feel like it was alive at times.

the specific ones i have and do miss are.
the limsa bridge running over it.
the arrows for bards
looking at all the people running in the lower decks of limsa
able to mount up in cities
the lack of teleportation that feels like the world is so small for traveling is non existent.
and the heavy hitting monsters that were made for 8 people to group up to enter. like strongholds.

the heavy hitting lvl 99 monsters around some corners actually had you stay on your toes at times.

Also the 'no loading screens in 1.0' is a myth as well - there were loading screens, they were just cleverly hidden by the labyrinthine city and zone design (when moving between specific areas there was a notable pause as the engine loaded the new area as you ran down a rather featureless tunnel. This was also why 1.0 Ul'dah you couldn't go through the front gate but had to double back around via a side entrance - it was to reduce the stress on the game engine and servers.

That and the fact there were still 'black loading screens' as well - how else do you think travelling between regions was handled? A black screen with the 'now loading' icon at the bottom. Yes there were some nice things about 1.0, but as Catwho mentioned, for everything it did right, it just did so many more things wrong.

I remember always running on the metal area of the Limsa bridge, I loved hearing that sound. I liked waiting for the ferry and conversing with people on the docks, then continuing the conversation during the ten minute ferry ride. I wish riding the ferry were an option, having it available would mean a lot to many Role Players I know. I loved the excitement of stumbling into areas with dangerous mobs that no one could solo. I had a lot of fun tip toeing around groups of high levels while exploring, though running into a six inch high ledge that I had to spend an hour backtracking around wasn't always a joy.

I know much of the terrain was copy pasted but there were some really neat and unique locales to be found.

I don't know about FFXI, but when you switch off the BGM and lower down other noises except maxing the ambient sounds, you could hear lots of tiny bits of things you don't really notice when you're in a rush.

It's a relaxing thing to put on your headphones, go to Snowcloak's area (not the dungeon, the frozen wall) and listen to the howls of snow wolves and the pitter patter of crocs on water as well as some adventurers hurrying here and there.

Also, near Fesca's Wash, if you angle your camera just right, you get the water fall on your back, and the sound of the endless woodcutter beside you. There's also the swordsman training and the delicate sounds of the spearman's armor there. Sometimes you get newbies come looking at you and the occasional boss fate.

If you go to Costa del Sol, sit at the beach and just listen to the waves...

Or you go to the Tailfeather and sit at one of the top towers there. You can hear the occasional howl, the cold winds.

I'd rather have more of these sceneries and ambient sounds, than having a boundless map to explore.

I really don't understand the whole "copy/paste" thing.. Sure, a whole lot of places within the same area looked similar (especially around Halatali) but there were pretty big differences between eastern, western and central Thanalan.. Didn't spend much time in northern or southern on account of the high level mobs. I freaking loved wandering Thanalan; I would spend hours doing nothing but walking that vast dessert. 'Twilight Over Thanalan' literally brings me to tears these days the nostalgia is so strong.

I'm VERY attached to 1.0's maps. The very first day I logged into XIV my friend and I walked from Limsa to Gridania, many times later I would walk that path again just to take in the gorgeous landscape. Someone who used to be very special to me showed me the beauty of Coerthas no one ever bothered to explore (pretty sure it was actually what is now Coerthas Western Highlands..). Before the servers went down we all marched all the way to Mor Dhona in one unbroken line. I have countless memories of many places in Eorzea that no longer exist and because of these precious memories, for me, 2.0's maps will always pale in comparison to the beauty that was 1.0.

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Originally Posted by Catwho

it was possible to get lost running from Black Brush to Drybone

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For me, this part is a pro.

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Originally Posted by Catwho

because everything looked exactly the same.

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To I do agree with its reason for being a con. :T



WTB a game where I can get lost again.

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Originally Posted by Nandalowell

Snip

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I can tell you for someone who started in Gridania in 1.0, the copy-paste was EXTREMELY visible. You ran through the one setpiece that was a corridor with a small bulge in the middle where a river ran through about 11 times just on your way to Camp Tranquil.

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Originally Posted by dementiondrive

able to mount up in cities

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Was not possible
Or do you mean speaking to the Chocobo Rent NPC and get teleported outside of the city on your Chocobo (with a small CS how you ride out)?

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Originally Posted by Nandalowell

I really don't understand the whole "copy/paste" thing.. Sure, a whole lot of places within the same area looked similar (especially around Halatali) but there were pretty big differences between eastern, western and central Thanalan...

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

http://na.finalfantasyxiv.com/lodest.../blog/2456953/

i would say you can mount up and ride.

I enjoyed getting lost in the larger maps of 1.0. Playing and sneaking around with the insanely higher level mobs was also fun. While we do have flying mounts now, i kinda wish it came with dangers in the air, like actual flying.

Yoshida's argument that the overworld got more dangerous unfortunately doesn't last long once you hit 60. There's more than enough real estate on the maps and mob variety to change that to include mobs ranging the gamut of 3.0's ilvl.

a lot of people were disappointed when thay said we have a bigger area we made but yet did not live up to what we thought was the big area.

the enemies were also a let down. i see a lot of people still taking on 2-3 monsters at the time still in the new areas. without being fully geared in law.

so overall they were just a bigger health pool than hit harder overall.

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Originally Posted by dementiondrive

the enemies were also a let down. i see a lot of people still taking on 2-3 monsters at the time still in the new areas. without being fully geared in law.

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What job(s) were these on, and what was their item level in relation to the enemies they were fighting?

Some jobs struggle more than others with enemies in the world especially if there equipment isn't up to par with their level (both their own and the enemy). There were a couple of times when I was levelling MCH that I would get aggro from several enemies and had to make a run to survive. The lack of self healing can make things harder. I occasionally have issue with BLM if there are several enemies due to no reliable way of self healing (Physick can be interrupted and it's not very strong).

FFXIV 1.0 world was repetitive , and only Limsa was "enjoyable", Coerthas was horrible to navigate , and Thanalan was saved because "twilight over thanalan" was the music.

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Originally Posted by dementiondrive

http://na.finalfantasyxiv.com/lodest.../blog/2456953/

i would say you can mount up and ride.

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Everything that was possible after last save day don't count.

Ifrit's eruptions (Japan-based servers = that AOE latency issue affecting most NA players), market wards with no search or category functions (not even in the names), getting lost NOT because the world was vast and unfamiliar but because it was like running around those halls of doorways from the Matrix movie (only "prettier"), 10+ minutes just to clear out junk loot from inventory, double-confirmations required for all actions, rooting around for a 3rd part direct-download option for the latest patch, 90% of the player population being in Ul'dah because it's the middle city in a world far too large for the server population to spread out and still find people to do things with, which was mainly just a handful of dungeons, a limited number of leves, or grinding the same world mobs over and over again with next to no interesting story in between on the way to level cap.

I might miss the old game's graphic engine, a few parts of the world, and the music, but there's no way I'd go back to actually/seriously playing 1.x again, not with 2.0+ here.

While 1.0 had a great atmosphere the maps were repeative. 2.0 fixed that with points of interest but smaller maps due to certain console.

A full open world is a pipe dream at this point but i'd like that design (spoiled by warcraft) Map size aside the world could use something to make it more alive. Animals, critters, not just monsters but your typical wildlife. Oh, and better lighting (1.0 lighting was great)

This is about map and exploration and how to improve it. No one's asking about ui, levequests, and the like.

One thing I will toss in is that if you play on an SSD, the zone load times are minimal to the point where they are barely noticeable. I think the zone name screen flashes for around 3 seconds on my computer before the zone appears.

#1 thing you can do to improve your game performance, whether on PC or console, is swap in a solid state drive.

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Originally Posted by Enkidoh

Also the 'no loading screens in 1.0' is a myth as well - there were loading screens

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I've been playing with the private server someone create for 1.0. Actually the game was seamless. From what I gathered, it was more of a weird design SE did. The client kept a list of "actors" (players/npcs/objects) within to render and track. The server would send info to the client saying "update actor's HP" or "kill actor" or "add/remove actor". Now, when you crossed that line, what was happening was the game was clearing the actor list, and adding in one by one new actors. This is why you'd see characters fade in and out. However on the server itself this was still all seamless with no zone lines (until you switched regions). There was no loading of new assets, but downloading of people around you.

This is of course my guess, but from looking at that guy's code, it seems to be the case. ARR does this as well, but they do it around a radius of yourself, so it's not painfully obvious. This is why Guildworks doesn't "detect" a hunt mob until it's visible.

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Originally Posted by Catwho

One thing I will toss in is that if you play on an SSD, the zone load times are minimal to the point where they are barely noticeable. I think the zone name screen flashes for around 3 seconds on my computer before the zone appears.

#1 thing you can do to improve your game performance, whether on PC or console, is swap in a solid state drive.

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I couldn't agree more. I get around SO much faster since I swapped one in!

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Originally Posted by Evtrai

I'm not sure how you can call "exploration" when the map was an entire copy/paste of the same section over and over.

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Use that example one more time please. And then I will make my own strawman as the guy in 1.0 did: take a screenshot of the MAP and show all the copypasted areas ON THE MAP.


I'll take it you have not played then. How was the Limsa bridge copypasted? How was walking outside of Ul'dah? How were the overworld dungeons copypasted?


And blimey. The more time passes Balmung is really starting to get that whole 'Outland' feel.

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Originally Posted by Enkidoh

Also the 'no loading screens in 1.0' is a myth as well - there were loading screens, they were just cleverly hidden by the labyrinthine city and zone design

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It's no myth. And its a comparison to say ''compared to now there were few loading screens and the total time was less'', which it was; not the ''no'' you claim.
Loading screens now take ages, and we have many of them. My favorites are the ones in Ul'dah where you have to load twice just to visit the boards, and the ones in Limsa where you have to load twice to visit the adventurer's guild.

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Originally Posted by basketofseals

I can tell you for someone who started in Gridania in 1.0, the copy-paste was EXTREMELY visible. You ran through the one setpiece that was a corridor with a small bulge in the middle where a river ran through about 11 times just on your way to Camp Tranquil.

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That's like the map strawman guy. He used the Black Shroud even tho it was kind of the place that was ment to have that look to begin with. La Noscea and Thanalan were quite different. The Black Shroud was easily the worst example of 'copy-pasting' yet oddly enough its the only one ever uses as argument for ''it had a lot of copy-pasting''

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Originally Posted by Seig345

Ifrit's eruptions (Japan-based servers = that AOE latency issue affecting most NA players)

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Haha, that's exactly what its like for EU players in 2.0 and even now tho.

FFXI would of been a great Sandbox game honestly. Not a great Themepark game, it needed a ton of polish and a reworked combat system. The crafting/gameplay/world... meh needed fixed.

Archeage's Gameplay (Different combat, Without the Greed/RNG/100s of bugs) would of made it amazing.

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Originally Posted by Ashkendor

You can thank PS3 Limitations™ for the need to limit the map size.

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To be fair, Heavensward improved the size of zones considerably. I hope that if and when support for the PS3 is dropped then we'll see future expansion content bring us even bigger zones.

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Originally Posted by Theodric

If and when support for the PS3 is dropped then we'll see future expansion content bring us even bigger zones.

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Also people whining about PS4 Limitations™. :P

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Originally Posted by Aeyis

Use that example one more time please. And then I will make my own strawman as the guy in 1.0 did: take a screenshot of the MAP and show all the copypasted areas ON THE MAP.


I'll take it you have not played then. How was the Limsa bridge copypasted? How was walking outside of Ul'dah? How were the overworld dungeons copypasted?

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And it seem you played with closed eyes
How were the caves in La Noscea and Black Shroud not copy/paste? How was the caves in the Thanalan montains not copy/paste? How were the paths that leaded to a upper level in the Black Shroud not copy/paste?
Also this:

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

I still would like the option to use the old method. As before, I have the power and the will, but not the means. With the new world design the copy paste areas have been minimized. I currently don't see it as a valid reason to avoid the old loading method. It makes sense with the PS3 having hardware limits, but I fail to believe that it's an impossibility for both PS4 and PC.