One to Fifty, One Zone - Long OP

[Sephr]

Hearing of Qufim really makes me want to play ffxi again.

Honestly, it ain't that great. Lots of people have rose-tinted glasses here and like to make up crazy and long-winded stories about how AMAZING it was, but mostly it was just poor design and frustration back in the day. I'm sure people here would write about the sun hitting the GLORIOUS DUNES OF VALKURM and how BEAUTIFUL it was, and how MAGNIFICENT the fish were that 1-shotted people on a regular basis.

I have fond memories, don't get me wrong. But as far as zones go, Qufim was pretty balls.

[Sephr]

Honestly, it ain't that great. Lots of people have rose-tinted glasses here and like to make up crazy and long-winded stories about how AMAZING it was, but mostly it was just poor design and frustration back in the day. I'm sure people here would write about the sun hitting the GLORIOUS DUNES OF VALKURM and how BEAUTIFUL it was, and how MAGNIFICENT the fish were that 1-shotted people on a regular basis.

I have fond memories, don't get me wrong. But as far as zones go, Qufim was pretty balls.

Why do you need a Dev response to tell you SE will never change the zones.

Not even witty anymore, you're pretty boring now Gift.

[giftforce]

Honestly, it ain't that great. Lots of people have rose-tinted glasses here and like to make up crazy and long-winded stories about how AMAZING it was, but mostly it was just poor design and frustration back in the day. I'm sure people here would write about the sun hitting the GLORIOUS DUNES OF VALKURM and how BEAUTIFUL it was, and how MAGNIFICENT the fish were that 1-shotted people on a regular basis.

I have fond memories, don't get me wrong. But as far as zones go, Qufim was pretty balls.

It's definitely a case of blind nostalgia. It's easy to look back in retrospect and say FFXI was so grand and amazing. And sure the game retained a lot of players, but for as many people that liked being funnelled into grinding places, one after the other ad nauseum, there was probably as many or more who disliked the approach entirely. After all, a sense of adventure is not created by the game telling you where to go.

FFXIV has many a fault, and I am prone to pointing them out, but the last thing the game needs is another Dunes (I mean, we already have a DunesFOLK). Nor does it need another quifim.

The reason I say this is because grinding is boring!

Not even witty anymore, you're pretty boring now Gift.

You would know if I was trying to be witty.

I was merely curious as to why these "revolutionaries" need a Dev to validate the implausibility of their fanciful notions that SE will somehow redesign the entire game around a linear-tunnel approach just because some people on the forum cried foul over the soon-to-be-remedied lack of zones.

[Sephr]

I was merely curious as to why these "revolutionaries" need a Dev to validate the implausibility of their fanciful notions that SE will somehow redesign the entire game around a linear-tunnel approach just because some people on the forum cried foul over the soon-to-be-remedied lack of zones.

Yeesh, try and say that quickly!

But yeah, whilst it might be quite pointless (If people really are expecting area re-designs, they're being totally unrealistic), it would be nice to see some plans (as I'm sure they have) of how to deal with it going forward.

Honestly, what I expect to happen is that future zones added will be more interesting, and the current zones might be adjusted in level to funnel people up through them quickly, rather than have everyone use the same area permenantly.

There are some huge open spaces not being used that could be in the future, maybe for things like hamlet defense or even (/shieldsup) player-company buildings? They could easily add towns/HNMs/danger to the areas further in.

[Mack]

Yeesh, try and say that quickly!

But yeah, whilst it might be quite pointless (If people really are expecting area re-designs, they're being totally unrealistic), it would be nice to see some plans (as I'm sure they have) of how to deal with it going forward.

Honestly, what I expect to happen is that future zones added will be more interesting, and the current zones might be adjusted in level to funnel people up through them quickly, rather than have everyone use the same area permenantly.

There are some huge open spaces not being used that could be in the future, maybe for things like hamlet defense or even (/shieldsup) player-company buildings? They could easily add towns/HNMs/danger to the areas further in.

The "people crying foul" on the forums may not represent the entire community but that is mainly because the entire community left the game after the first month of release. Had you read this topic no one has once said the game should funnel you into a certain zone, people are asking for the zones to be unique and the game should give you options - i.e., multiple zones balanced for a given rank range. People are using FFXI because it was close to doing it right, FFXIV has done it completely backwards. Maybe its too much to ask for a complete map re-design but tbh #@$^ them for the crap they half assed and the fact that they still ignore this topic. Yes, I would take a "we have no plans for this" over nothing...but if that's the case then they don't care about making FFXIV better. The entire game today is the size of Vana'Diel (vanilla) and has 5 zones compared to the 25 some FFXI had at release...forget loading screens, I'm talking variety. But on the topic of loading screens, FFXIV gets rid of them by making long drawn out tunnels to get you from area to area, that's not even called seamless that's called $@#!in annoying. The entire overworld design of this game is boring as hell and if they don't change it, they change nothing really.

[Sorel]

IFFXIV has many a fault, and I am prone to pointing them out, but the last thing the game needs is another Dunes (I mean, we already have a DunesFOLK). Nor does it need another quifim.

The reason I say this is because grinding is boring!

True. One of the main issues with FFXI was the grind-factor involved, no doubt. We're in agreement on that. But that was a flaw of the entire game, not a particular zone.

What were talking about is the visual design of zones themselves, the placement of the monsters in that zone, and what those monsters are ... not how many monsters we need to grind for us to move on to the next zone. That is a related subject, but that's not what we are talking about in this thread ... and not what we're talking about when we recount the sense of newness, inspiration, and fear when we arrived in a new area in FFXI.

Perfect example ... The Boyahda Tree. Saying that it's a giant tree that monsters live in that you grind simply doesn't do the amazing design of that area justice. It's a tree that's so big it has rivers, waterfalls and other trees growing inside it! And those waterfalls are not just eye-candy. There are no invisible walls protecting you from sliding down one and ending up someplace you have no business being.

That's a well-designed area. It's fun to play in, not boring to look at, and it's uncompromisingly lethal if you go looking for trouble. That's what we would like to see more of in FFXIV regions.

[Demacia]

True. One of the main issues with FFXI was the grind-factor involved, no doubt. We're in agreement on that. But that was a flaw of the entire game, not a particular zone.

What were talking about is the visual design of zones themselves, the placement of the monsters in that zone, and what those monsters are ... not how many monsters we need to grind for us to move on to the next zone. That is a related subject, but that's not what we are talking about in this thread ... and not what we're talking about when we recount the sense of newness, inspiration, and fear when we arrived in a new area in FFXI.

Perfect example ... The Boyahda Tree. Saying that it's a giant tree that monsters live in that you grind simply doesn't do the amazing design of that area justice. It's a tree that's so big it has rivers, waterfalls and other trees growing inside it! And those waterfalls are not just eye-candy. There are no invisible walls protecting you from sliding down one and ending up someplace you have no business being.

That's a well-designed area. It's fun to play in, not boring to look at, and it's uncompromisingly lethal if you go looking for trouble. That's what we would like to see more of in FFXIV regions.

Don't forget that a dragon lives at the top of the tree. Man I need to revisit that zone. The whole zi'tah/ro'maeve/boyahda area is awesome.

[CrstyCaptin]

True. One of the main issues with FFXI was the grind-factor involved, no doubt. We're in agreement on that. But that was a flaw of the entire game, not a particular zone.

What were talking about is the visual design of zones themselves, the placement of the monsters in that zone, and what those monsters are ... not how many monsters we need to grind for us to move on to the next zone. That is a related subject, but that's not what we are talking about in this thread ... and not what we're talking about when we recount the sense of newness, inspiration, and fear when we arrived in a new area in FFXI.

Perfect example ... The Boyahda Tree. Saying that it's a giant tree that monsters live in that you grind simply doesn't do the amazing design of that area justice. It's a tree that's so big it has rivers, waterfalls and other trees growing inside it! And those waterfalls are not just eye-candy. There are no invisible walls protecting you from sliding down one and ending up someplace you have no business being.

That's a well-designed area. It's fun to play in, not boring to look at, and it's uncompromisingly lethal if you go looking for trouble. That's what we would like to see more of in FFXIV regions.

Well put. If they added in a good grind mechanic like SP chains while also retaining leves, I think it would be a good balance. One or the other doesn't really work. Leves work nice for quick SP regardless of how boring they are but what do you do once you find your 8 leves? Wait 36 hours until they reset so you can SP again? Having a decent SP chain system to provide decent SP/hr would be nice to have so you could work on other classes as well. This tied to of course some kinda diversity in the game 'zones' and of course a reworked combat system that doesn't put you to sleep while you kill mobs in 20s. The grind atm is pretty much kill efts or kill raptors in two or three different areas from 30 > 50. I'll stick to crafting while watching more tv.

[Sephr]

True. One of the main issues with FFXI was the grind-factor involved, no doubt. We're in agreement on that. But that was a flaw of the entire game, not a particular zone.

What were talking about is the visual design of zones themselves, the placement of the monsters in that zone, and what those monsters are ... not how many monsters we need to grind for us to move on to the next zone. That is a related subject, but that's not what we are talking about in this thread ... and not what we're talking about when we recount the sense of newness, inspiration, and fear when we arrived in a new area in FFXI.

Perfect example ... The Boyahda Tree. Saying that it's a giant tree that monsters live in that you grind simply doesn't do the amazing design of that area justice. It's a tree that's so big it has rivers, waterfalls and other trees growing inside it! And those waterfalls are not just eye-candy. There are no invisible walls protecting you from sliding down one and ending up someplace you have no business being.

That's a well-designed area. It's fun to play in, not boring to look at, and it's uncompromisingly lethal if you go looking for trouble. That's what we would like to see more of in FFXIV regions.

I know you love romanticising areas based on what you apparently VERY vaguely remember (I can't imagine you've visited that zone recently), but Boyahda isn't what I would describe as a well-designed zone at all. It's just a bunch of caves, the supposed context that you're in a giant tree makes no difference when it's just a bigger version of crawlers nest that's a bit less annoying to navigate. Nothing about that place suggests good design.
If you want to slide down...things, Ulegurand Range had that huge hill to do it with, if that's your idea of good design.

If you want to talk about good design, why not think about the gorgeous and consistently unique and interesting ToAU zones? The undersea ruins were pretty amazing. Or even the CoP zones? The promyvion zones were so creepy and had such character, Tu'Lia was just awesome.

But Boyahda? God I hated that place.

Edit: Or even the WoTG zones, Vunkerl Inlet was possibly the nicest outdoor zone added with that sort of meadow-y look to it.

[Sorel]

If you want to talk about good design, why not think about the gorgeous and consistently unique and interesting ToAU zones? The undersea ruins were pretty amazing. Or even the CoP zones? The promyvion zones were so creepy and had such character, Tu'Lia was just awesome.

Now you are getting into the spirit!