Does instant transportation effect game immersion?

[Kiote]

So unless they plan to give me that, I don't see how crummy 10 min paid for flights helps your case anymore then an instant flight does. They are equal to each other in terms of FF feel, neither have any.

And to all the people complaining about 10 minute rides. They have not and probably will not announce how long an air ship ride will take. It was 3 minutes in FFXI. It just felt like 10 because of the wait time between ships. I in no way advocate a wait time between airships. I think One should dock within 30 seconds of that previous one taking off.

[Anonymoose]

I disagree on all accounts that realistic travel time is part of the immersion that made FFXI so successful. I hated that aspect. Even something as simple as having the wrong subjob or coming could set your LS back by an hour or keep you from even taking part.

I'd have enjoyed FFXI exponentially more if I had the opportunity to get to places like Sea Serpent's Grotto, Miseraux Coast, Pso'xja, Beaucadine, places I loved, more often without having to dedicate a comparatively large chunk of my playtime just getting there.

Personally, I'm amazed that a game mechanic that affects nothing in the long run and can easily be adapted to by anyone has carried on so passionately for 10 pages.

[TidBones]

Damn RPs, only you to bother with a small issue like this...

[Rhomagus]

The choice of an airship cutscene is fine and the early implementation of it is also fine considering the reason why people have been clamoring for it in the first place. Put the bells and whistles on when you have them. Same goes for the chocobo implementation in 1.19.

My suspension of disbelief i.e. "immersion" is more hurt by retcons in the storyline and the lack of basic human interactions like jump, PvP, or tandem emotes with other players. I don't think I could ever sit through a roleplayed fight while watching the RPer's characters just stand there /emoting at each other. That hurts immersion more than anything.

Watching my character walk up 8ft. walls with ease but unable to step over a rock that's shorter than his shin hurts immersion. More often than not, the inconvenient one pulls me out rather than the convenient glitch up a wall. I'm more prone to reacting in disgust/annoyance when I'm inconvenienced rather than convenienced.

Real people in the real world can actually jump. Jumping does not hurt immersion, it hurts "those who don't want people to jump"'s immersion.

To cutscene or not to cutscene is perfectly fine by me. That's my answer.

The "hurts immersion" arguments usually squander gameplay and accessibility for tedium. I'm never in favor of that. When the immersion includes a legitimate addition to gameplay, such as using chocobos as pack animals/war steeds, I'm always in favor of that. Funny thing is though, jumping would have added more immersion than getting rid of collision detection.

This is actually why I like Yoshida's development philosophy. The giant cakes are there. We've all (generalizing) seen the concept scene of a boat battle, but Yoshida said in an interview that they aren't just going to throw in cakes if there's no reason for it from a gameplay perspective. As of right now, there's no reason for an airship cutscene from a gameplay perspective. Until they have one, sure, go for it, but they don't as of right now and that stuff will be coming in a later patch. As of right now you can fish off the boat between Limsa and Thanalan. Awesome! There's actually a purpose for that time spent on the boat, otherwise scrap it, it's a waste of actual data resources not just dev team resources.

Asking for tedious tasks that have nothing to do with the gameplay is like saying jumping ruins immersion in basketball. You'd be surprised that there are actually people out there that believe this.

[Rhomagus]

Immersion is about a dynamic world and not a giant world where you just port everywhere. Thats the point. When you make it so people can just port everywhere it becomes WoW... if you like WoW then all to you. But that is the -COMPLETE- opposite of what FFXI was and what made FFXI so successful.

I really disagree with this post. Insta-airships doesn't make this WoW anymore than this being an MMO, or a video game nonetheless, makes this WoW.

Oh no, I can use a sword in this game. That make's it WoW. Oh no, they have English accents, that reminds of the real world too much, they should have Eorzean accents. Oh no, I have to use an input device to play this game, it's too much like a game. Oh no, the materia system is too much of a reference to FFVII, that hurts immersion because all Final Fantasy games are supposed to be different. Oh no, Final Fantasy XIV uses an experience system, that's too much like WoW. Oh no, FFXIV used the same races from XI, that hurts immersion. Oh no, I can see other people and they make their own decisions, that hurts immersion.

So what would be the opposite of WoW to help please you?

Where do you start with what is opposite? What's the opposite of an MMO? What's the opposite of a video game? What's the opposite of an RPG? What's the opposite of a design philosophy? How much in the "opposite" direction should we go? Completely opposite? Should we make it not fun? Should we turn FFXIV into a sculpture instead of an MMO? Should we force our leaders to change the names of their countries and their own names so that they can more feasibly enact a real life storytelling of Final Fantasy XIV making it Dwarfplanet of Peacediscombobulation?

[Azurymber]

I disagree on all accounts that realistic travel time is part of the immersion that made FFXI so successful. I hated that aspect. Even something as simple as having the wrong subjob or coming could set your LS back by an hour or keep you from even taking part.

I'd have enjoyed FFXI exponentially more if I had the opportunity to get to places like Sea Serpent's Grotto, Miseraux Coast, Pso'xja, Beaucadine, places I loved, more often without having to dedicate a comparatively large chunk of my playtime just getting there.

Personally, I'm amazed that a game mechanic that affects nothing in the long run and can easily be adapted to by anyone has carried on so passionately for 10 pages.

what made those zones awesome was the seclusion and distance from the cities. Like going to Xarcabard felt like you were way out in the north of the world. If you could have just instantly ported to them all it wouldn't have made them as special.

[Azurymber]

I really disagree with this post. Insta-airships doesn't make this WoW anymore than this being an MMO, or a video game nonetheless, makes this WoW.

Oh no, I can use a sword in this game. That make's it WoW. Oh no, they have English accents, that reminds of the real world too much, they should have Eorzean accents. Oh no, I have to use an input device to play this game, it's too much like a game. Oh no, the materia system is too much of a reference to FFVII, that hurts immersion because all Final Fantasy games are supposed to be different. Oh no, Final Fantasy XIV uses an experience system, that's too much like WoW. Oh no, FFXIV used the same races from XI, that hurts immersion. Oh no, I can see other people and they make their own decisions, that hurts immersion.

So what would be the opposite of WoW to help please you?

Where do you start with what is opposite? What's the opposite of an MMO? What's the opposite of a video game? What's the opposite of an RPG? What's the opposite of a design philosophy? How much in the "opposite" direction should we go? Completely opposite? Should we make it not fun? Should we turn FFXIV into a sculpture instead of an MMO? Should we force our leaders to change the names of their countries and their own names so that they can more feasibly enact a real life storytelling of Final Fantasy XIV making it Dwarfplanet of Peacediscombobulation?

WoW is heavily instanced, overly simple, easy-mode, and insta-warp or fast-travel heavy. Like someone said, a lot of people have gone to dungeons that they dont even know how to get to via the map.

FFXI was more overworld heavy, longer travel times, took a lot longer and a lot more investment to level up (ex. could take some ppl a year to hit 75). More exploration-heavy, more "im lost where the heck do i go" kind of thing. Like you could -actually- get lost in FFXI, you can't really in FFXIV. I guess its more everquest-ish

The difference is between an easy instanced killkillkill fun mmo and a time consuming community heavy adventure mmo. WoW and SW TOR have the instanced fun mmo down already. FFXIV should be attempting to emulate the feeling that made ffxi so successful rather than trying to be WoW or Rift or SW TOR. ;x

[Rhomagus]

what made those zones awesome was the seclusion and distance from the cities. Like going to Xarcabard felt like you were way out in the north of the world. If you could have just instantly ported to them all it wouldn't have made them as special.

You can port to Xarcabard.

http://www.ffxi-atlas.com/maps/xarcabard/general/

[Rhomagus]

WoW is heavily instanced, overly simple, easy-mode, and insta-warp or fast-travel heavy. Like someone said, a lot of people have gone to dungeons that they dont even know how to get to via the map.

FFXI was more overworld heavy, longer travel times, took a lot longer and a lot more investment to level up (ex. could take some ppl a year to hit 75). More exploration-heavy, more "im lost where the heck do i go" kind of thing. Like you could -actually- get lost in FFXI, you can't really in FFXIV. I guess its more everquest-ish

The difference is between an easy instanced killkillkill fun mmo and a time consuming community heavy adventure mmo. WoW and SW TOR have the instanced fun mmo down already. FFXIV should be attempting to emulate the feeling that made ffxi so successful rather than trying to be WoW or Rift or SW TOR. ;x

They should do so by implementing actual gameplay mechanics, not just tedium for "immersion's" sake.

[Azurymber]

You can port to Xarcabard.

http://www.ffxi-atlas.com/maps/xarcabard/general/

yes but you have to adventure there firsts to touch the crystal and its not an easy journey. That adventure alone (going through raungemont pass, through beaucedine, and then through xarcabard, especially with no map) added a LOT to ffxi because it created memories.
Further you need a whm to port there so you can just insta port whenever you want and then port back. You have to plan your journey there.

Im not -against- porting. Im just against the FFXIV way of it. I thought FFXI balanced it near perfectly.