Ffxiv's Zones Looks Extremely Bad and Outdated

[MoofiaBossVal]

GW2 I often hear being an example of one that didn't do half bad on giving areas some cute flare.

GW2 is graphically pretty meh, and the vast majority of the zones are forgettable, but the Maguuma Jungle in the first expansion was bonkers. Most video game maps (especially MMO zones) are extremely flat, but in Maguuma it emphasized verticality. The maps were super tall jungles and caverns. You could jump from the top and spend a long time falling before you'd hit the bottom, and you'd pass through all these different layers of caves (more caves) and jungle (sadly I couldn't find a video that really conveys just how multilayered the jungle is), and at any point you could unfold your glider. It was awesome! I was incredibly disappointed that they dropped the vertical map design (the second expansion's maps are incredibly flat and boring) and I'm surprised no other games borrowed from the Maguuma Jungle.