Will we see changes to the environmental game world?

[Kilta_Firelotus]

Aion and DCUO have worst copy and paste then ffxi does.

but to replie to OP question Yoshida did say they are remoding the black shroud. Textures in real life are copy and pasted. In you really think about it.

[Frebaut]

To me why the copy paste is so bad beacause the zones are so big. If the zones were smaller it wouldn't be so bad. They really need to add Items to each area to make them their own. Such as little huts/housing looking structures, plants and trees that only grow in that area. Even cactus in Ul'dah region. How about some sand pits also. Their are endless possibilities SE can do to them.

[OMEGA_HACK]

I wouldn't mind the copy paste as much so long as we actually TRANSITIONED into the next big zone...The way it is now is that we go from desert landscape straight to deep lush forest with nothing between; hell we don't even SEE the Black Shroud in the distance really...it just BLAM! hits you in the face once you zone.

[Keith_Dragoon]

Aion and DCUO have worst copy and paste then ffxi does.

but to replie to OP question Yoshida did say they are remoding the black shroud. Textures in real life are copy and pasted. In you really think about it.

Never played Aion but DCUO is indeed copy and pasted like crazy with lexcorp, daily planet and watne interprises being the 3 unique buildings. Nobody has publicly complained about it so nobody cares. Nobody cared in XIV until reviewers started complaining.

[Randis]

the repetition bothered me a lot, not so much the textures (technical limitations) but the landscape geometry...
That killed the fun of exploring a lot... all the repeating parts also make the map look less appealing and predictable.

I would much love to see some more interesting unique objects all over the map. There are some neat details here and there like the steampunk like machinery in LL and some small details like the frogs (they are rather hard to spot) and butterflies in black shroud.
Some larger friendly NPC creatures would be cool, something like baby chocobos running around, dog like creatures, birds.

[Nyx]

I wouldn't mind the copy paste as much so long as we actually TRANSITIONED into the next big zone...The way it is now is that we go from desert landscape straight to deep lush forest with nothing between; hell we don't even SEE the Black Shroud in the distance really...it just BLAM! hits you in the face once you zone.

Yeah! I hate how its just sudden changes. I really want a game that has the zones flow into each other instead of abrupt changes.

[Xquiel]

totally agree, but all the maps need more special zones too, abandoned castles or something like that, waterfalls, more trees, foliage, etc..

[Platinumstorm]

Have you played dragon age 2? every dungeon in that game is one of 3 unique types and the ONLY difference is they open one door and lock another and every other mission you go into the same cave headed down the same stairs killing the same mobs only to get 1 or 2 different doors. Its done in all games just more noticeable in high quality MMOs cause once one person mentions it people start seeing it too.
:<

Dragon Age 2 is also universally looked at as a cash grab rush job by EA Bioware which led to those repetitions, so it's not a great example.

Aion and DCUO have worst copy and paste then ffxi does.

Nobody cared in XIV until reviewers started complaining.

For some reason, I'm guessing players in those games may have more to do than what we do in FFXIV, so it could be of a lesser priority to them. While I don't have a lot of experience in Aion, I wasn't able to find the copy/paste landblocks during that lv 7 trial, but that's an incredibly small exposure to the game. I promise you, I didn't need a review to comment on the zone design in this game.

Randis expresses similar feelings as mine on the issue.

[wingiehai]

OK comparing games is so pointless. This Final Fantasy we are talking about here, now the zones look outstanding if you ask me, but after playing the game for an hour I realize, there is no heart or soul, there's nothing there, no towns npc nothing. This badly needs a change, badly.

[Vesper]

I don't care about the repeated landscape portions. What annoys me is the lack of anything interesting its just rock, trees and streams. The world does not seem interesting at all. It still amazes me that with the variances and detail in single player MMO's they could not make more interesting looking landscapes than games that have been out for 6+ years. While the original EQ is dated graphically even the original form of the game (before expansions/revisions) while not graphically better looking has more interesting landscapes, by a longshot.

They need to add more detail to the world. Old crumbling keeps, overrun fortresses, enemy villages, farmlands with hamlets on them, towers and spires, cemeteries, crypts, crashed airships and shipwrecks on the coast. Right now its all Blandscapes.. rocks, trees and water. The world has zero character to it.

And also as far as repeating landscapes. That is not the issue. TONS of games repeat the crap out of landscapes. The problem with FFXIV vs other games is that even though they re-use landscapes, they also make some minor changes. For instance, a camp design may be re-used over and over. But in other games they will adjust the number of crates, add a few broken ones, maybe add different textures to the crates. In FFXIV is just blatant copy paste which is the issue...