What's Final Fantasy?

[Zantetsuken]

On the lack of explorable territory: perhaps the biggest issue is that although the world of FFXIV is impressive, there isn't much to see in it. It is a combination of the copy-paste terrain with the fact that there are only 5 texture sets for landscapes.

One of the things that struck me about the world of Eorzea is the lack of history in it - especially when compared to FFXI.

Whereas the life of a player in Vana'diel was spent uncovering a very rich past buried in the landscapes, cities, and dungeons.. the world of Eorzea is a frontier world. There are no monolithic structures from ancient civilizations or tombs of fallen kings, nor are there ancient libraries with sealed magic, or cursed temples with puzzles and traps in FFXIV. Rather, the focus is either the (rather mundane) issues of the present such as industry and politics or on omens of future threats.

The focus on the present and future may also be one of the reasons why the cities in this game seem so dead. As the main outposts on a frontier world, they are designed more for industry and trade than for culture and enjoyment of the citizenry. As they are, the starting nations serve little purpose outside from being glorified outfitters for adventurers.