I wanna see the concept design for the new Eorzea!

[Tsukino]

Unique environments is one of the key elements of the FF series and besides LL and Uldah I don't think this game lives up to it's legacy anywhere else.

I'd say the massive dead dragon wrapped around a destroyed super-airship does a pretty damned good job of this, although you're right that we definitely need more of it.

I think the real problem is just the same one we've always had - a lack of different areas at all. In FFXI, for instance, you started off in extremely mundane areas; we got a forest, some plains, and a barren slab of rock. But as you ventured out you got to see parts of the Crystal Line, hints that there was something more unique and alien about the world. We have that in FFXIV too with Mor Dhona, but the problem currently is that it stops there. It goes from boring starting areas to one really interesting one, and then that's it, there is no more.

The whole debate has been well-documented in that massive thread about it though, of course.

[Seif]

I've said this a thousand times but they need to hire the KUSANAGI team that has done background design in FF titles VII-XII!

WE certainly don't have better imagination than those guys do and even though the confidence of SE has been torn due to all the crying they have to rely on their strengths to create something nobody else has created. This is why scanning the forums for pictures of meadows is definitely NOT the way to go.

[RisaCooper]

I would like to see the concept art as well. Though I highly doubt SE will give us anything. They have always liked the 'lets surprise the players' views rather then giving us something in advance. Though all the information we have been getting through Lodestone, I could be wrong. *hopes she's wrong*

[Munba]

I would like to see the concept art as well. Though I highly doubt SE will give us anything. They have always liked the 'lets surprise the players' views rather then giving us something in advance. Though all the information we have been getting through Lodestone, I could be wrong. *hopes she's wrong*

And they keep secret their art like a holy grail lol

[Kio]

The Craig of FF11 was really a beautiful and unique landmark.. when i saw it for the first time in LaThein i was in awe. I also hope these new landmarks will be particular and unique, FF-esque, as well. I'm sure we'll se a gigantic tree ala Secret of Mana somewhere in Black Shroud eheh (but hopefully with a particular design).

But the most important thing is that these landmarks should be "interactive" (go inside, etc.) in some ways and not only scenographic monuments..

Craigs were really brilliant in XI. Even with the game being a year old upon localized release, for a very long time many of my friends still frequently liked to ponder and discuss what they could really be. People researching constantly and theorizing, it was all very exciting. Any temple, landmark, or mysterious goings-on you could always find people in my linkshells interested in finding the story behind it.
Despite XIV having a few scattered unexplained landmarks and story elements, the interest in it seems to be mostly completely lost. I don't find people questioning the aertherial gates, most any landmark my friends stumble upon is usually shrugged off as being part of a quest they haven't done yet. To be honest, I'm not quite sure why this apathy. Maybe the story hasn't really lent itself enough for contemplation, or if it's just a result of us being 10 years older. Still, yet I crave something to explore and really think about for some time to come.

As for the redesign, I really do hope SE will release some teaser pictures soon! It would put me at ease.
Right now I dearly hope for an entire strip down and rebuild from the ground up. There's really nothing of Eorzea that I'm attached to or fond of. (Sorry original designers ; . Right now when I hear of map redesigns, I dream of completely new cities, completely new regions, completely new zones. With new and different landmasses, terrain, and flora.

What I completely expect, is the game to look exactly as it does now with a few added stage prop items like a crate here, a new rock over there... Maybe one of the many long tunnels trimmed down a tad.

At least I hope they are willing to either remove or reduce the frequent existence of the La Noscea trap. That is this set of two boulders with a path threaded between. If you don't go directly through the two boulders, your character becomes stuck on a sudden, not very visible ledge. And then you must backtrack a ways to make sure you walk through it correctly. It always catches me on auto run or if I'm not paying much attention, like fly paper. Really, I hope most of the unnecessary rough terrain, ledges, and pits in the game are ultimately removed. I don't find them aesthetically pleasing in the amount of overuse employed, and even with the much appreciated collision detection ease they still serve only to make transportation difficult.

[Catapult]

I've said this a thousand times but they need to hire the KUSANAGI team that has done background design in FF titles VII-XII!

WE certainly don't have better imagination than those guys do and even though the confidence of SE has been torn due to all the crying they have to rely on their strengths to create something nobody else has created. This is why scanning the forums for pictures of meadows is definitely NOT the way to go.

But the thing is, any fantasy landscape is inspired by a real one. There are some VERY beautiful landscapes out there that will put fantasy designs to shame. Real landscapes carry weight. Physics. They exist because the laws of nature allowed them to exist and grow into what they are.
If Squeenix (or even the Kusanagi team) can take those real locations and use them for inspiration for something even more fantastic that then tweaks the laws of nature just enough to make it look marvelous, it would be one of the best landscapes a game has ever seen.

A truely good fantasty setting is not that far off-set from perceived reality.

[Eugenics]

SE need to get H.R Giger on the design team.

[Preypacer]

SE need to get H.R Giger on the design team.

That.... would be interesting to say the least lol.

An environment comprised of structures vaguely resembling male and female sexual organs...

It *would* be interesting to see an MMO environment inspired by his art, though.

Although an area something like this could be intriguing for a more dark and sinister area. Looks a lot like the inside of the ship they find the eggs in, in the first Alien movie.

[Eugenics]

Yeh he does do alot of explicite art, biomechanical type designs but i would love to see a type or armor or weapon based on his designs. Probably abit to far out there for this MMO design.

[Gidonoidon_Sur]

Yes for concept art. Bay, make it happen!