Zone Aesthetics

[Wolfie]

I'm not talking about MOB placement though... I agree with you there... but Im talking purely aesthetic

Well... the two will kinda go hand in hand I guess, because the game is set up so it caters to every level increase. Why bother going to new zones when you've got everything close to the cities and in the same old zones, you know?

But if they restrict mob levels in the old zones so that high level players are forced to use the new zones, then that's just going to be vast, vast stretches of mobs and land that's going to be filled with cut/paste mobs and content.

Would just be easier if they redesigned the current zones before adding new ones. Maybe keep the climate similar, but break it down something like this:

South Thanalan: Rocky desert
North Thanalan: Sandy/Saharan desert
West Thanalan: Badlands or Savanna
East Thanalan: Savanna/Tree Savanna

[Platinumstorm]

Yeah initially I quoted your opening post but in the time I finished my post a few others popped.

What I wanted to do was to highlight that saying that current themes are nice but should cover maybe 1/3 of the current regions seemed pretty accurate since they plan to introduce 3-4 strong themes in each region.

Then I replied to your opening point: I think that including said themes in the current regions would greatly improve aesthetic without having to completely redesign the maps.

One interesting thing is how they talk about 3-4 themes in each region when they do the redesign.

Look at Thanalan though:
Main area - trunk trees.
East - Desert
North/South - Canyons
North - Ceruleum Towers
West - Low ravines

Are those what constitute a theme? If that's the case then Thanalan already meets their requirement for themes, but lacks assets within each theme. Or is a theme supposed to be the objective of the area?

[Rydin]

Yeah initially I quoted your opening post but in the time I finished my post a few others popped.

What I wanted to do was to highlight that saying that current themes are nice but should cover maybe 1/3 of the current regions seemed pretty accurate since they plan to introduce 3-4 strong themes in each region.

Then I replied to your opening point: I think that including said themes in the current regions would greatly improve aesthetic without having to completely redesign the maps.

So do you think the redesign will be a complete remapping also? or just aesthetic touches and removing a few copy/pasted rock faces

I think you have too many 50's.

pre-1.18 leve static... 8 people doing the big 8 religiously for like 6 months.....
I started at launch and my first 50 (Glad) took like 2.5 months... but each one after that was faster and faster

Aside from that, I'd like it to be subtle, but have many "POI's" like SWG used to have, places to run out to and visit. Also, "completely random" spawning chests and NMs would be great - that is, nothing campable. Even small, soloable dungeons that adjust based on party size and rank could be done this way.

I think SE has done an OK job with the beginning zones being bland, and the ending zones being cool. Now they just need to keep adding reasons for us to go to said zones.

Yea, there are cool ruins and MOBs in some out of the way places... and no reason to go there at all...

[Neptune]

The copypasta was the reason for the backlash. I for one appreciate the "frontieresque" feel of the zones, and I think a certain amount of relative boredom accompanies that. I think it's something they probably intended to expand upon in time, but Tanaka's approach to dealing with memory limitations was unacceptable.

[Ferth]

Whenever I think about the state the game was in when it launched I get an overriding feeling that everything that was in place was rushed out to give the appearance of a finished game.

The game was all facade with no depth. From the horrible leve system to the copy pasta maps, everything gave me the impression that they needed to show someone something that looked like a finished game and when whoever it was saw it they said "Great, lets ship it."

That being said I don't think every inch of the landscape needs to be spectacular and amazing, I just don't want to go exploring and find 50 caves that are all identical. Or see the same rock formation strewn across the landscape but facing different directions.

I am all for the complete redesign of the areas... and if they end up having largely the same aesthetic feel I won't mind... just so long as when I find a cave I've never seen before it doesn't end up looking like the last 10 caves I've found.

[Rydin]

Whenever I think about the state the game was in when it launched I get an overriding feeling that everything that was in place was rushed out to give the appearance of a finished game.

The game was all facade with no depth. From the horrible leve system to the copy pasta maps, everything gave me the impression that they needed to show someone something that looked like a finished game and when whoever it was saw it they said "Great, lets ship it."

That being said I don't think every inch of the landscape needs to be spectacular and amazing, I just don't want to go exploring and find 50 caves that are all identical. Or see the same rock formation strewn across the landscape but facing different directions.

I am all for the complete redesign of the areas... and if they end up having largely the same aesthetic feel I won't mind... just so long as when I find a cave I've never seen before it doesn't end up looking like the last 10 caves I've found.

No one really talks about that... but the caves are a big area where FFXIV could shine if some effort was put into them... interesting and more diverse MOBs...... differing designs... some reason to go in them... something unique.... Also less light... the caves are way too bright to have absolutely no light source

[odintius]

I remember going into a cave area and there was a shrine of some kind with absolute no one around npc worshiping it I got to go back to that area and find it again but I remember it. First thing came to mind was wtf were the npc all I heard was echo's of my own voice in that cave...

[quantumsaint]

I'm not talking about MOB placement though... I agree with you there... but Im talking purely aesthetic

I think mob placement does go hand-in-hand with the aesthetics of the zones. If you stepped outside the gates of Ul'Dah, and had to fight level 1 Cactuars, or outside Gridania and had to fight level 1 Bombs, or even outside Limsa Lominsa and had to fight Sahagin, people would know right away they're playing a FF game instead of having to run through squirrels and marmots and dodos and sheep before getting to anything that gives the game a sense of belonging to the the series. I think we'd all have been a lot more forgiving in the beginning if we had to fight our way through the different zones to get to the next camp with the next tier of FF monster.

Does any of that make sense?

[northernsky]

One interesting thing is how they talk about 3-4 themes in each region when they do the redesign.

Look at Thanalan though:
Main area - trunk trees.
East - Desert
North/South - Canyons
North - Ceruleum Towers
West - Low ravines

Are those what constitute a theme? If that's the case then Thanalan already meets their requirement for themes, but lacks assets within each theme. Or is a theme supposed to be the objective of the area?

Here is a part of an interview with YoshiP and Iwao (the map designer it seems):

Famitsu: Can you explain in more details about the large scale change being made to the map?

Yoshida: The method is already made and sample is also done so now working on the level design and work on the amount/resources. For concept it will be memorable place where once you step in you will not forget. For each zone/area having about 3 themes is the goal.

Iwao: It will function as a landmark

Taken from Reinhart's thread: http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/t...l=1#post281974

Now I'm not so sure but the 1st time I read it I focused on "memorable place" more than "theme" so I hoped it would be more like something stunning that melts in the zone theme rather than a different type of landscape that is the theme like you describe in your post.

[northernsky]

I think mob placement does go hand-in-hand with the aesthetics of the zones. If you stepped outside the gates of Ul'Dah, and had to fight level 1 Cactuars, or outside Gridania and had to fight level 1 Bombs, or even outside Limsa Lominsa and had to fight Sahagin, people would know right away they're playing a FF game instead of having to run through squirrels and marmots and dodos and sheep before getting to anything that gives the game a sense of belonging to the the series. I think we'd all have been a lot more forgiving in the beginning if we had to fight our way through the different zones to get to the next camp with the next tier of FF monster.

Does any of that make sense?

Makes sense lol

Since I still have that interview on my browser:

"Famitsu: after the large scale changes, for the current land marks or name of locations how much will be utilized?

Yoshida: Even it’s major change, Eorzea is Eorzea so the world Iwao made will still be there. But we think the monster placements needs changes from the root and for monster strength it should be 1 zone with 1-2 theme.

Iwao: If you can think of it as more deep settings for the maps.

From Reinheart's thread: http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/t...l=1#post281974

It does not have to be a completely different set of mobs, but I think you gave good examples of how they could further emphasize the different themes right from the start