Gamerescape Interview: Summons, Chocobos, Train Tracks and Rocks

[Alhanelem]

(Have to highlight it to read it, but I do that anyways sometimes to avoid losing my place lol :x )

Sorry, but I draw a line there. If I have to take any special action to be able to read someone's normal text (e.g. it's not being colored to intentionally mask it from other text) then I'm just not going to read it. Using colors in an unnecessary way can and does impact readability.

At any rate, there's some good posts on the topic in hand. It's good to see that most people agree that as long as it's a feature that's being added, the dev time spent to make it work shouldn't be wasted and it should be good for -something-.

[Carzilla]

Greetings,

We would like to gather your thoughts about jump and how you would like it to be used (In combat? Getting around obstacles?) so we can pass them along to development team. Please let us know what you think. Thanks!

Hello

the best way to use jump

-Is by doing an auto jump Like in the game Zelda . If you walk off a ledge you char should auto jump off..
-same goes for CLIMBING, walk up to a ladder rope and your char should react autmatically..

------------------ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZgdZ69xIo1o See 2:40 on video or 6:00
No need to map any buttons

[Nabiri]

Sorry, but I draw a line there. If I have to take any special action to be able to read someone's normal text (e.g. it's not being colored to intentionally mask it from other text) then I'm just not going to read it. Using colors in an unnecessary way can and does impact readability.

I chose a darker purple than my favourite just for the reason of readability. :3
If it bothers you, then you can stop reading my text. Ignore me for all I care. D: I won't be offended, I promise.

the best way to use jump

-Is by doing an auto jump Like in the game Zelda . If you walk off a ledge you char should auto jump off..
-same goes for CLIMBING, walk up to a ladder rope and your char should react autmatically..

This is what I originally wanted, but I'm pretty sure we're getting free-jumping. From the looks of that video Yoshida-san showed us during a live letter.

[Mirage]

Now that you guys mention it, I actually like shades of purple a lot myself :3

No Alhanelem, it is seriously not something I'm just saying to annoy you. If I linked you to a desktop screenshot, you would see that basically everything that can be changed to purple is changed to purple. Winamp, Windows Aero, MSN, everything!

[Alaltus]

Greetings,

We would like to gather your thoughts about jump and how you would like it to be used (In combat? Getting around obstacles?) so we can pass them along to development team. Please let us know what you think. Thanks!

I want to be able to deliver volleys of javelins with my jumps please, oh wait you ment the other kind of jump? =)
I definitely agree with exploration and hidden paths that are only accessible through jump and maybe some pitfalls though not too many i can see it getting a bit much especially when theres a whole party who will get rather frustrated at your inability to jump them.

[Achtzen]

I would like to see jump used for maneuvering over obstacles in-game (cliffs, fences, etc.). use in combat would be nice as a means of evading attacks but not just by jumping in-place but actually having to quickly move or quickly dodge an incoming attack.

Watching the intro movie with the marlboro is really what i expected for how in-game combat would be... whether having to jump to initiate/dodge an attack or maneuvering over battle related obstacles would be interesting to see. sadly enough i was disappointed when i started playing.

[Leonesaurus]

Greetings,

We would like to gather your thoughts about jump and how you would like it to be used (In combat? Getting around obstacles?) so we can pass them along to development team. Please let us know what you think. Thanks!

Here are my thoughts on how it should honestly be used from here on out.

The most necessary need for jump, judging on my entire experience of FF XIV 1.0 thus far, should be for the terrain.

I can't judge how much better FF XIV 2.0's terrain will be, how friendly it will be to scale for a player moving up or down on it, nor if you even can scale down most of the terrain, considering in the current version it's a pain in the ass to get up and down most things, even when on a chocobo.

But again, this is about what I would like to see it used for in 2.0, not what it could be used for now in this current system. However, I think there can be some really awesome things done with jump in the future. And it doesn't necessarily need to be combat based either.

I think the combat system is better without making the jump button an integral part of the combat system and routine. Maybe to dodge ifrit's cracks and plumes on the floor for mages. But if you decide on this, it basically throws out any evasion type statistics, since you're relying on actually skill and timing rather than numbers and luck of the system.

So more discussion should be considered for using jump in combat, but all in all, it doesn't really "need" to be included.

Jump, in my opinion, is primarily for jumping up or down from portions of the terrain that annoy us gamers when we are gathering, traveling, exploring, etc.

Again, I cannot comment on whether FF XIV 2.0's terrain is as much of a pain in the ass as the present version is, but I'll tell ya this: Regardless of how much the environment is improved in 2.0, the jumping ability should allow all players to scale terrain with ease. That means no more invisible walls on simple ledges or hills.

Minus of course actual ending points of a map, or 100 foot drops down to level 70 something mobs or what not. I think jump should have a great distance, but not too great of a leaping point where your guy looks as if he just dropped out of a 10,000 story tall building, otherwise our lalafells will break their friggin legs.

I heard chcoobos are most likely too difficult or too tricky to get to "jump". I don't know if this means:

A) Chocobos will have a harder time getting over leaps and bounds then a character getting off his bird and jumping over the terrain, then getting back on his bird. That would be very, very inconvenient.

I don't know if jump will be 100% used outside in the field since people exploring or traversing through layers of terrain will be on birdback, not traversing on foot anymore.

So discussion should be looked into:

traveling over leaps and ledges on chocobo ~ without having a jump ability

***versus***

a player running on foot and jumping on command over leaps and ledges ~ with a jump ability.

As for new players, who don't have a mount, they'll be most likely using the feature more than us, if that's the case.

Here's another question I have, which may be a bit rhetorical, but what about jumping in active mode? Is that even possible? Or just in passive mode?

Personally, I think if you have jump in the game from the get-go, make sure you can jump in both active AND passive mode. It's only more annoying to players when you limit a common ability to one mode. It'll be patched sooner or later in a fix, so might as well get it right from the start.

Of course, make it so you can't jump when performing a weaponskill, otherwise the game would look a little ridiculous. And become slightly more complicated for the devs.

Just try picturing a male miqot'e paladan trying to tank ifrit, while performing hop-scotch with his keyboard/controller, and popping defensive buffs at the same time in a ridiculous fashion.

Sounds kind of silly. So, that is something to keep in mind. Jumping cancels the weaponskill also. Another reason for people not to spam it in the heat of battle. (More discussion on using jump as an evasive maneuver in battles is still needed: yes/no, and how so?)

Back to jumping and the environment again....

It is paramount that you enable the player to jump down and scale up hills and mountainous terrain. The environment must work in tangent with the range of the jump ability. But even more so, jump won't be of any use if the chocobo can't scale the same range of terrain as the jumping character on foot can.

They must both work from mount and on foot. I've seen the developers enable chocobos to jump around and glide across terrain in FF XIII and FF XIII-2. I think it's possible with this game too. Maybe that's just my wishful thinking and my hope for the game, but it's something that should be highly considered.

But if you enable the chocobo to jump... As yourself this: can the goobbue jump too? You have to remember all travel options should be treated the same, otherwise, who would ever want to use their goobbue mount again? (For those that actually like their goobbue mounts.)

I'll wrap this post up here, for now. My novel of a post is long enough, but I wanted the devs to take my ideas and suggestions into mind. Thanks guys! Looking forward to playing 2.0!

[Nabiri]

But if you enable the chocobo to jump... As yourself this: can the goobbue jump too? You have to remember all travel options should be treated the same, otherwise, who would ever want to use their goobbue mount again? (For those that actually like their goobbue mounts.

If a chocobo could jump a goobbue should be able to as well, but I don't think they're physically capable of doing so.. lol (Btw I would LOVE choco jumping.)
Can you imagine them trying? :x
Do they even have knees?? I've never looked. XD

[Soulfire]

We definitely need a jumping button, it's worth it! And with button re-mapping, jump-haters will be able to simply change it to something else and assign the jump button something more "useful" in their eyes.

I'm throwing incomplete thoughts around without much explanation to my reasoning, but that initial part about having it through the menu or automatically is so people aren't hitting jump all the time like a twitch, which is what will happen going the button route, and that's what most people are against. There could be a cooldown to try to counter this, but that would be stupid to mess a jump up and have to wait ten seconds to try again.

The mapping was a joke and really has no bearing.

The issue, aside from ideas on mechanics, is pretty much that we want the ability to jump whenever and traverse terrain how we please, yet we also want a way to force restraint on ourselves to not jump absolutely everywhere and ruin the aesthetic appeal of the game.

I recall playing a game that let you jump, and let me tell you, I jumped wherever I went, and mid-air jumped on top of that! It really was ridiculous!

There needs to be some method of penalty, but a cooldown timer is not it.

Perhaps after a jump you could temporarily be forced still in a landing animation. This would prevent people from jumping everywhere when running places as it would slow them down. Some locations, such as towns, could be made to disallow jumping. And then there could possibly be a small MP cost on top of the jump. (You're able to jump yea high because...?)

All that would make a jump button pretty reasonable.

And yes, I am for a jump button if you're curious. I just don't have the self-control. w

[Scratches]

Greetings,

We would like to gather your thoughts about jump and how you would like it to be used (In combat? Getting around obstacles?) so we can pass them along to development team. Please let us know what you think. Thanks!

I'm really liking Nakiamiie's ideas, especially regarding environmental exploration and an accuracy penalty. Such a penalty would still allow people to bunny hop around at will (as a chronic jumper (when bored/waiting), I would most emphatically be opposed to any sort of limitations or cooldowns on jumping), but still cause people to seriously consider whether they want to jump whilst in combat (so combat doesn't end up looking too ridiculous).

Regarding PvE: I would not be opposed to seeing jump used in pve combat, mechanically-speaking. Like using it to reduce damage taken from ground-based attacks (please don't let it completely negate damage, as then it turns into jump-at-the-right-time-or-fail), or some platforming during a boss encounter (for example, to get up to the right height so that you can attack a boss (that may or may not be in a weakened/"downed" state) during an encounter).

Regarding PvP: I don't feel jumping should have any positive, mechanical consequences in PvP, unlike in PvE. Jumping to reduce damage from other players, even with the jumper receiving an accuracy penalty, would result in lots and lots of jumping around.
By all means, create PvP maps/areas/locations (what are we calling XIV's PvP instances? Battlegrounds? Coliseumseses?) that offer uses for jumping (e.g., rocks that people can jump up on or, alternatively, use to block line-of-sight; small vantage points that players could get up to (with a little jumping), to give them an advantage in combat/set up ambushes; etc)... just don't let jumping affect damage received, as that could, in addition to being a pain to watch, potentially be hell to balance against :/ ("well, do we balance these ground attacks with the assumption that people are always going to be jumping, or..?").

^Related: Unless the new server-client infrastructure includes regional shards/servers -- or some equally magical technology (client-side prediction, if that would even work?) -- please disregard everything I said about PvE, as that would just be an absolute nightmare with current latencies...

Generally speaking: While I certainly adore the amount of detail that's put into all of the game's animations, I hope that jumping won't suffer from the same ailments that current movement does (i.e., have to stop, then perform action, then move again); that fluidity and the "joy of movement" is the new name of the game. Continuing with that, I hope that characters will all feel like they belong or have a sense of place in the world; like they have weight; and that they move/jump accordingly; that when I walk off an edge, the movement isn't just "straight down" (like it is right now), that my character still has some inertia, even though he didn't actively jump off.
I don't mind if every race has the same jump height (from a design view, that's the way it should be, imho), just as long as it looks relatively believable and it's, most importantly, fun.

Lastly, with jumping, you guys (Square) are effectively adding a 3rd axis of movement to the game... don't squander it because you're just adding the ability to jump for jump's sake. For example, you now have the opportunity (and the collective imagination, I'd bet) to make some really interesting, more-vertical-than-usual environments (and gameplay). I hope you take advantage... (especially with stuff like the forthcoming Crystal Tower).
(^Granted that's not solely contingent upon being able to jump, but implementing the ability certainly lays some groundwork.)

Oh, and chocobos will be able to jump, right?

RIIIIIIIGHT??? lol