Poll: Seamless+CopyPaste VS. Zones+Variety

[Cutriss]

It's a combination of a number of things really.

You didn't notice texture reuse as much in XI *even though* there was plenty of reuse in XI because the layouts were different and there were unique map features. Also, since the maps were smaller, you didn't spend as much time traversing them to notice it.

Every XI veteran knows Crawler's nest and Boyahda Tree are basically the same place, except BT has the waterfall, organic lakes, and Goobbues, while CN has mossy testicles, lots of twisty narrow passageways, and more overall "depth".

Pso'Xja and Horutoto Ruins share a lot of the same architecture/textures, but Pso'Xja uses different lighting/color filters to give it a different appearance, plus it's much more claustrophobic, and there's significantly different mobs there.

Even Carpenter's Landing had an excuse to be very much like Jugner, but they gave it enough of its own flavor with the layouts and the little touches here and there, like the logs on land and coming out of the water, that godforsaken owl, and the spider nests (the passageway webbing I believe was in Jugner, but not the nests).

Some of these features are in XIV, but they're more spread out and you have to go looking for them. I anticipate more of them would be present, but the maps, like so much else in the game, were simply rushed. It's probably safe to say that The Black Shroud was the last region they worked on, since they showed La Noscea in the very first demo, and Thanalan has far less of this problem than The Black Shroud.

I almost get the impression based on the lore and the layouts that they originally intended for The Black Shroud to be something along the lines of the Old Forest in LOTR, where if you strayed off the roads, the forest itself would start shifting and changing shape preventing you from easily returning to the road, but as cool as this sounds, I can't imagine it being very feasible to do in-game, and it'd piss off a lot of people.

[Rentahamster]

most things in ffxi were also reused peices over and over, in fact most games use reused pieces over and over.

Most people understand that at a fundamental level, copy paste techniques are needed to some extent for good optimization. However, FF14 does this very inelegantly. It doesn't even have resized models, or palette swaps, or unique layouts and orientations. It's just the same large chunks of terrain.

[Ylferyf]

Prefer loading screens with more varied areas.

As it is now, I find the method of implementing seamlessness annoying. Instead of loading screens, there are loading "hallways." you know those narrow winding paths between sub-regions which gives the system time to load the next area. You'll notice if you're running from Uldah to Horizon, for example, if you put yourself on follow on someone and run thru the narrow pathway, the person you're following will disappear until you get to the end of the "hallway" because basically it's a loading screen that you can move your character thru.

There's one of these for exiting/entering town too and it's kind of awkward. You know how the gate of Thal is always closed and you have to run around the side to exit town? I always wondered why they didn't just open that gate so we could run through an entrance instead of around it, like normal people. I would prefer dealing with the loading screen as long as no chat is lost in the process.

[Laiferr]

I would take zoning with variety any day~

[Raizen_Reyne]

Really interesting thread, I would much rather have loading times to have more varied and better structured zones, the question is will they and can they change it? Will the PS3 release limit or prevent what they can do to resolve this problem? They can fix all the other problems with the game but for me if the zones, terrain and how they merge together are still as they are many of the other aspects will mean very little in the bigger picture...

[Jennestia]

Will the PS3 release limit or prevent what they can do to resolve this problem?

PS2 didn't limit FFXI in the terms of zone design but it did limit it in terms of many zones were possible in the game without instancing the same zone in a different way (Regular > Dynamis > Abyssea for example). Unless people are expecting zones to be like a constant mini-game where you're playing with every object possible for no reason then yeah I highly doubt that will happen.

[Alfortis]

Thank you for making this poll . I voted for zones

[Zanfire]

well we already have a big topic about this, the one thats like 100 pages long, but if we are bringing it up again, yes il take smaller zones and wait a black screen for a few seconds if it means not the same craptastic repeat zones over and over...by a mile.

You could cut the zones in half and it would be 2-3x bigger then any FFXI zone...and those were plenty big.

[Kyant]

Small and more diverse zones are much better. Not only do they make it more pleasing to the eye, but it also brings much more to the table. SE has the monster "territory" or whatever so that a mob won't chase players for ages... but with smaller zones they will be able to do away with these territories (which is a good thing since it prevents the more traditional way of partying) because the player can just zone and get away. Also, smaller zones divide the world in easy to manage areas... this especially helps when players try to remember routes and give directions. It also helps give an area a feel or a reputation. With the big areas, there is less of a concept of liking or disliking a zone, it is more like liking or disliking a specific place in a specific zone. One of these ways is easier for the human mind to process and remember. Some people like larger areas because for various reasons, but the main reason we should have smaller areas, in my oppinion, is because it makes it easier and more managable for the player. If any of you have played other games with smaller zones then you can probably still remember your favorite places and the layout of those zones... But with FFXIV, I find that it becomes more difficult for people to do those things. FFXIV needs to help players form memories of the game. When everything seems the same, it is harder to form seperate memories since it all seems to mesh together into the same thing.

[Zanfire]

Small and more diverse zones are much better. Not only do they make it more pleasing to the eye, but it also brings much more to the table. SE has the monster "territory" or whatever so that a mob won't chase players for ages... but with smaller zones they will be able to do away with these territories (which is a good thing since it prevents the more traditional way of partying) because the player can just zone and get away. Also, smaller zones divide the world in easy to manage areas... this especially helps when players try to remember routes and give directions. It also helps give an area a feel or a reputation. With the big areas, there is less of a concept of liking or disliking a zone, it is more like liking or disliking a specific place in a specific zone. One of these ways is easier for the human mind to process and remember. Some people like larger areas because for various reasons, but the main reason we should have smaller areas, in my oppinion, is because it makes it easier and more managable for the player. If any of you have played other games with smaller zones then you can probably still remember your favorite places and the layout of those zones... But with FFXIV, I find that it becomes more difficult for people to do those things. FFXIV needs to help players form memories of the game. When everything seems the same, it is harder to form seperate memories since it all seems to mesh together into the same thing.

Quickly, paragraphs are your friend lol. Anyways, i think many people would agree with this. telling people routes, remembering certain spots and making your way around the world in general is so much easier with smaller separated zones. I think the last Dev had it too big in his head that "bigger is always better" and that the new way to do things was to make them huge. Like most of FFXI, good idea, terrible execution.

Changes of scenery and some solid landmarks help big time with people not getting super bored with the world so quickly. Since a big part of this games community came from FFXI, they can all give plenty of reasons why FFXI zones where more memorable and better paced.

At this point they could honestly cut the zones in half and most people would not care, not only because its just tons of copy paste wasteland, but trying to run through it just feels like a hassle, especially when 80% of it has no use and is littered with what feels like random mobs that feel out of place (too much feels like they just tossed them in to take up space before the game launched)

Seriously Devs, cut the zones in half....heck in thirds and most people wont care a bit, as long as you make that space you have useful for some reason. You dont buy a gallon of water when you only need to fill a cup.