Is there going to be open world content ever? Have I missed news or anything related?

[Seif]

Until we have ps3 version, we can forget about real open world. If read early 2.0 interviews - they wanted fully open world without loadings, graphical update and many other things. And after... they announced ps3 version, which archeticture couldn't hold good enough ever 1.0, so they lowered graphic, but add more effects, change game to be ruled by server side and other limits. It same as with many multiplatform games of past years, old consoles taking them into bottom of quality, because they hited their limit.

XI exists with tons of large open world areas open world chests and pressure plates... You name it it's there and people are still playing that content on ps2.

So you saying that stuff can't be done a decade later on ps3 is just not right.

[ispano]

XI exists with tons of large open world areas open world chests and pressure plates... You name it it's there and people are still playing that content on ps2.

So you saying that stuff can't be done a decade later on ps3 is just not right.

Except it is right. The game already stretches the PS3's limited memory as it is. This has actually been explained.

[Velhart]

Is there any open world content confirmed for 2.3?

If not we could be looking at another half year of playing a lobby game
I honestly hope they'd just ditch the shiva plans further back to focus on in-game variety.

Do we really need yet another primal instance more than we need reasons for the open world to exist?

XI exists with tons of large open world areas open world chests and pressure plates... You name it it's there and people are still playing that content on ps2.

So you saying that stuff can't be done a decade later on ps3 is just not right.

I love this argument for it's irony from a FFXI player. So how many times did people really go exploring in FFXI? If I recall correctly, people bunched up in Jeuno or Aht Urghan and didn't bother to go outside at all unless you had a reason to. People didn't explore Ifrit's Cauldron or the deeper Aht Urghan areas. It was simply inconvenient and a hassle to walk around in these areas, even with a full party. Sure it was nice to see something for the first time, but what is the ratio of people paying a WHM for teleports over just running/chocobo there? More in the WHM's favor, to the point a lot of WHM's main revenue was teleporting people. I have explored ARR more than I ever did in my 7-8 years of playing FFXI and all the time I spent in FFXIV 1.xx combined.

It isn't to say that exploration factors are not needed, but I wouldn't go to FFXI as an example. SE has already put a lot of things in ARR to get you out and exploring places you likely have not been to before. Quests, treasure maps, and even the Atma -> Animus books took me all over the world. Yoshida even said too many times at this point that more and more open world content will be coming over time. I don't get what the whine is about when it has already been acknowledged and the team right now is working on it. Its like people want them to wave a magic wand and the game becomes all open world content.

As for the other argument. FFXI doesn't use nearly the amount of memory per area in comparison to ARR. While areas in FFXI do look nice for their time, it has a lot of reused assets and a lot of the portions of the area do not have much in it. It was intentional for FFXI so they could not strain the memory and offer the open world content in the area. If ARR focused on open world as opposed to instances, it would of been on the same boat. More open perhaps, but a lot less attention to detail, especially with the PS3. I rather have smaller, more detailed areas like right now as opposed to a giant chunk of land that has nothing (Version 1.xx).

Open world content is never a bad thing, but it has to work with the server structure and work with the ideals of the system. SE shouldn't just tack something out in the open world because people want it. SE has to convince both us and themselves that the content given is in fact better to do out of instance as opposed to being in one. Treasure hunting is a perfect example. It would be awkward to make that content instanced. However it being open world opened a lot of possibilities and future potential of the system mostly because it is in an open world setting. An open world HNM, why I ask. I rather be in an instance where there is no interference from others. Not to mention I love instances over open world trial monsters because in instances you can have neat mechanics like Titan knocking you off the ledge or Leviathan slamming the boat trying to throw you off.

[Jinko]

XI exists with tons of large open world areas open world chests and pressure plates... You name it it's there and people are still playing that content on ps2.

So you saying that stuff can't be done a decade later on ps3 is just not right.

This game was shoe horned on to the PS3 from day one, FF11 was designed for PS2 there is a big difference, going forward we are going to see more and more Ps3 limitations, there is a reason they are looking into redesigning the UI because the PS3 can barely handle all the new features they have added.

Anyone who has partaken in Odin or Behemoth knows how much strain open world content puts on the server, not to mention the system it is played on, I imagine both are literally unplayable on PS3 as they are barely playable on PC.