Exploration

[Shurrikhan]

I loved those things! I could not stop laughing the first time I tried to fight one of them.

I remember the "Making of a Realm" mini-documentaries that were released shortly before the 1.0 launch, where they talked a bit about how the models were created. They used really powerful SGI boxes to create super hi-poly models, then scaled them way down for importing into Crystal Tools.

Which means it's conceivable they could have a GIANT ENEMY MARMOT and not have to worry about the model losing its detail like what you get in WoW.

Sounds awesome. And hopefully the same possibility will be true of Luminous.

---Tangenting---

There were a few things FFXIII really did right in terms of battle camera, mobs, and certain mobs areas. I hope they won't be completely ignored just due to the poor (...US) press. I miss the 1.x camera-lock already in ARR. But it's be worth losing it in my opinion to gain a well-designed encompassing Battle Camera. Not that we can't have both...

[Eekiki]

Sounds awesome. And hopefully the same possibility will be true of Luminous.

Should be. The models are the models. The engine they're used in has no effect on their design or creation. The screenshots and videos I've seen lead me to believe the models weren't changed much, if at all, before they were ported to the ARR engine.