Eorzea Then and Now

[KiriA500]

Funfact: We will never have a seamless world again thanks to the PS3 LIMITATIONS.

Fun fact: We never had a seamless world to begin with. Loading screens between regions is the exact opposite of seamless.

[Estellios]

Fun fact: We never had a seamless world to begin with. Loading screens between regions is the exact opposite of seamless.

This is true. That's why each large land area had a very narrow and long "tunnel" section connecting them. And why Gridania had the long covered entryway, why limsa had the long bridge, and why Ul'dah's main gates were closed forcing you to take a side alley outside.

[RowanLauron]

To me 1.0 only seemed bigger because the entire region was seamless. 2.0 is bigger IMO, just seems smaller because of the zone breaks.

[Shurrikhan]

To me 1.0 only seemed bigger because the entire region was seamless. 2.0 is bigger IMO, just seems smaller because of the zone breaks.

Yes and no. Though copy-pasted for much of it, some zones obviously had far more square footage in 1.0.

To me the only substantial losses were to Coerthas, Mor Dhona, and particular key sights/sites in each of the main three states (though just as many new places very much worth delighting over were added). It was an improvement on the whole, but that doesn't mean I'm going to happy with losing Turning Leaf, Nine Ivies, or Sorrel Haven to nothingness (in place of a fun little criss-crossing rope-bridge and rivers almost puzzle-like area), a small and generic area (in place of an area with beautiful verticality and the most unique forest design I'd seen in any MMO), and a dried up well (in place of a majestic river that spanned a good 10 minutes' walk downstream), respectively.

[DakkonBriefs]

I enjoyed weaving my way through the mazes, sometimes you would run into monsters that were above level 80, it was dangerous! There were trees that would aggro you if you tried to choco / run by, so we would have to walk to be safe. Coerthas landscape was beautiful, and the teleport crystals were a lot farther apart. You could run from thanalan into uldah without a loading screen. 1.0 had its flaws, but it felt like a true open world, with danger and mystery.

[Anayrie]

Well I didn't play FFXIV 1.0 long at all, I just remember having no idea what to do so I took off on an adventure and ended up being killed by a pretty little sheep. Seamless worlds are nice and I do like having more sense of danger in world and travel taking some time and what not, the zone lines I don't mind, I started in EQ with zones but back then the zones where massive too.

Still though, awesome thread concept and I hope to see more screen shots.

[Wobi]

Everyone see those 1.0 maps, if you notice an identical shape it's because the areas looked the exact same in those two different areas despite being on different parts of the map. Copy/pasted terrain galore. The Black Shroud is infinity times better than it was before. There is a slight downgrade on texture from 1.0 but the lighting improvements/map layouts/having actual things on the maps as opposed to vast swaths of flat terrain and the water are improved greatly in 2.0

I'll have to dig thru by bajillion screenshots to see if I can find good comparison shots.

[Tazytiggy]

What the inn room used too look like.


Thanalan once had 2 levels, all the cool looking monsters were underground.

[Yowyow]

eh... coerthas is now 1/5 the size it used to be, mor dhona is 1/2. hardly call it comparable size

[Enkidoh]

That's because it's clearly missing sections that made up the whole zone in 1.0 (that's why at the moment it's only called the 'Coerthas Central Highlands' - the rest of the map isn't available at this time), same with the southern section of Mor Dhona, and the West Shroud for the Black Shroud.

The old zones were basically the same size, only they were seamlessly linked together and thus only seemed larger (and had large expanses of empty space with copy-pasted textures). 1.0's 'larger zones' was just an illusion.

Still, I miss the old zones, even with their emptiness and copy-pasted textures repeated ad nausum. I guess it's a case of not realizing what you have til it's gone.