Quote Originally Posted by MistressAthena View Post
As for the smaller area's, the excuse that it had to be ported to console and the PS3 couldn't handle it, is a complete bogus excuse. If the PS2 could handle FFXI area's, the PS3 can handle the same sized area's and bigger. The only problem FFXIV 1.0 had was that it was poorly scripted and executed, and not properly streamlined which is why the PS3 was having issues with it. If they fixed that, there is no reason why the area's couldn't be as big and open ended like 1.0's were.
The devs themselves said their main problem with the PS3 was memory. Also, FFXI might have bigger areas, but the game was made with PS2 in mind, meaning the details of the maps, textures etc were adjusted to that. And to be honest, FFXI does look a bit bland, from what I saw, compared to FFXIV. You have to keep in mind, that the PS2 was next gen at that time, though, while the PS3 now is already last gen. If you can't imagine what it means, try to get your hands on a 7800GT and play any game@720p/1080p. You'll see the performance limit immediately, and that chip is the same that the PS3 uses. So it's a miracle the devs managed to squeeze out 30fps out of it.

The whole talk about a separate DX11 client/PS4 version is so that they can go wild with the effects on more modern hardware. They can't make the clients too different though, so map size have to be set to the least common denominator - in our case the PS3. Don't get me wrong though, I'm not saying they have to keep the world small. The maps will stay the current size, but they could make more of them, and they will make more of them with expansions. That's why the comparison with FFXI is not really fair, as people said before.