Depth Vs. Accessability

[Rutelor]

I very much agree with the OP. If there was one monumental achievement in FFXI it was the splendid sense of solidity Vana'diel had (has...?) It was all out of a sense of mystery, which made you pay extra attention to little details because clues could be anywhere. And there were intricate relationships at play.

There are two types of players concerning this: Those for whom depth and mystery are encumbrance to their speedy race to the cap, the "level, level, level!" type; and then there are those who enjoy slowing down to take a meandering side-road through deep content. You can, theoretically, please the first type within a world designed with provisions for the second. But it's unlikely the second will find solace in a world designed with only the former in mind.

I also agree that relationships and the solutions to mysteries could/should be made less arcane and the knowledge less esoteric and willfully hidden. No more of the change-your-furniture-around-to-get-the-right-moghancement-and-then-face-west-during-a-waning-gibbous-on-Lightningdays-to-synth-that-belt kind of lore, please! Ah, and also don't make us reverse-engineer the game's code to figure out the consequences of having eaten that garlic cracker.

Bump!

[Seif]

I very much agree with the OP. If there was one monumental achievement in FFXI it was the splendid sense of solidity Vana'diel had (has...?) It was all out of a sense of mystery, which made you pay extra attention to little details because clues could be anywhere. And there were intricate relationships at play.

There are two types of players concerning this: Those for whom depth and mystery are encumbrance to their speedy race to the cap, the "level, level, level!" type; and then there are those who enjoy slowing down to take a meandering side-road through deep content. You can, theoretically, please the first type within a world designed with provisions for the second. But it's unlikely the second will find solace in a world designed with only the former in mind.

I also agree that relationships and the solutions to mysteries could/should be made less arcane and the knowledge less esoteric and willfully hidden. No more of the change-your-furniture-around-to-get-the-right-moghancement-and-then-face-west-during-a-waning-gibbous-on-Lightningdays-to-synth-that-belt kind of lore, please! Ah, and also don't make us reverse-engineer the game's code to figure out the consequences of having eaten that garlic cracker.

Bump!

I don't think SE has to choose to which audience it's catering to as both can easily co-exist as long as people are willing to accept the fact that finer details of the systems take time to learn but aren't necessary to know to complete the missions.

Same happens in every FF game. Sorry actually in every GOOD FF GAME.
There are always hidden bosses that take probably weeks to even discover and killing them requires hunt for legendary weapons with their own complex quests. IX is my fave FF but X is absolutely brilliant in this aspect.

Another example would be water based magic attacks in XI. Learning the weaknesses of enemies is easy but having an extra boost on a right elemental day gives the player just a slight advantage if he know how to take advantage of it.

I'm not the type of player who actively uses this kind of hardcore information but I can feel the existence of such systems fully in the way I experience the world of XI. It's full of mysteries and every year I play it I learn something new. Learning new things of the same game makes me feel like I'm getting better at the game as opposed to me just blindly grinding the same leveling 101 routine over and over in different locations.

Same also applies to the numerous NPC cutscenes. It might take months to learn the full story of some npc but when you get to that cutscene after a hard or long or a luck-based task you're reminded of the fact that this world has it's history and it's secrets and you've probably only just scratched the surface of it's brilliance.