Zones ... hmmm

[Preypacer]

Any source on that? I've read nothing but prays about the zone lines actually.
They are subtle, too. If you pay attention to the videos, they won't appear on your screen until you go near them, alerting you that you are nearing a zone.
Honestly I see no reason to take them off; if anything, a toggle option would be okay, but they are so useful AND subtle that I really don't see any need for it.

Those lines somehow are "comfortable" to me lol. Not that they "fit in perfect" or anything... I think it's a nostalgic thing from FFXII or something. I have no problem with them at all.

As for the topic, I love that they've gone to smaller but more varied zones. One of the things I love in other games (and in FFXI - uh oh, I've done gone and said it...) was that (for me anyway) having individual zones like that made them more memorable to me. The world map became a kind of "jigsaw puzzle" and I'd remember which piece (zone) connected to which. Then, within each zone, you had some kind of feature or major landmark that made navigation very easy once you learned its layout. The layout helped me always maintain a good sense of the geography of the continent and my position relative to other areas, etc.

In FFXI you could blind-fold me put me in the middle of a zone (most of them anyway) and then, upon un-blindfolding me, I'd be able to tell you in a second what zone I was in, what area of that zone I was in and which way I had to go to get somewhere in particular. Only one that wasn't always so easy for me was the more corridor-heavy areas like the jungles or the mire and such out in Aht Urghan.

In EQ2 it was the same thing.

In larger, more seamless worlds, I have a much harder time doing any of that.

[RoninDarkchild]

Anyone who walked around the zones in 1.0 could see all the copy and paste, and how all the landscapes looks the same. Most apparent in Thanlan. The hills were the exact same at each spot. I didnt encounter the invisible mobs that much though. But I always noticed players vanishing and reappearing at the zone line. Or the annoyance of having to go to town center in Uldah to hear the shouts.

I dont get why anyone would like these things.

THe Aplha videos already show the variety in the zones in the Black Shroud. What is there not to like?
Invisible zones that require copy and paste, and vanishing pcs and mobs.... or a visible zone where they landscape in every zone is better.... no contest.

[Preypacer]

Anyone who walked around the zones in 1.0 could see all the copy and paste, and how all the landscapes looks the same. Most apparent in Thanlan. The hills were the exact same at each spot. I didnt encounter the invisible mobs that much though. But I always noticed players vanishing and reappearing at the zone line. Or the annoyance of having to go to town center in Uldah to hear the shouts.

I dont get why anyone would like these things.

THe Aplha videos already show the variety in the zones in the Black Shroud. What is there not to like?
Invisible zones that require copy and paste, and vanishing pcs and mobs.... or a visible zone where they landscape in every zone is better.... no contest.

Yeah, agreed. Smaller and more varied is always better, IMO.

It seems like what they've basically done is taken all data that would have been loaded into memory all at once with the old zones/areas, and squashed it down into a smaller area. So, if the areas required, say 100k of memory before (just an arbitrary number for the sake of example) but was all spread out over this huge area... they're still using 100k of memory for the new zones, but it's all used in a much smaller area, which gives them the ability to use that 100k to better effect.

Also, if they're using something like geometry instancing (something that's very common in 3D engines these days), then they can have a huge variety of different plants, trees, boulders, buildings, and other items that can be placed as often as they want, scaled, rotated and such as needed, without filling up RAM.

Instancing geometry (for those not familiar with it) basically means that you only have to load a given 3D model (like a tree) into memory once. Then you simply create references to that model anywhere in the zone/map you want them, giving each its own unique scale, position and rotation. Each reference displays the correct model with the appropriate adjustments made to its appearance. It cuts back immensely on RAM usage while allowing for very detailed environments.

Clever use of something like that could go a long way in a scenario like SE's dealing with.

[Galliano]

I demand a chocobo on my loading screen.

That is all.

I demand a chocobo and a moogle dancing to Waltz de Chocobo!

[Warlock]

I demand a chocobo and a moogle dancing to Waltz de Chocobo!

I demand Sexy fanservice fanart on my loading screen

[Payadopa]

I'm so glad we're discussing this again. Even though it has been decided like ages ago, I'm sure it can be changed if enough people like it.

/sarcasm

[Joji]

Loading between zones also depends on how fast your hdd is. If your playing on a ssd the loading from one zone to another will be faster than on a regular hdd.

This is true, I think most people agree that from what we have seen in a video. The blue zone dots look good, it's purpose plays an important role. And I think we all just have to wait and see now. Alpha is around the corner and i'm excited

[Raagnar]

FFXIV had just as many zones, you just couldnt see the line unless you were following someone and they blink. I can point out several zone lines including one right in the middle of uldah between the stairs to the vendor street and bric a brac.

This has been pointed out but there is a very good reason for shrinking the zones. the 5 massive "zones" in ffxiv were mostly copy paste terrain and look at how much of each zone is completely unused. And having an achievement to touch the crystal in an high lvl place is not content, sorry. So many ruins and buildings in 1.0 that went untouched, most not even mentioned.

[Starlord]

snip

Your sig is very disturbing everytime I look on this page for new posts -.- lol

[RoninDarkchild]

Your sig is very disturbing everytime I look on this page for new posts -.- lol

HAHA! I just choked on a burger! t actually came out waaaaay bigger than i wanted it to be,,, havnt fixed it yet.