...Cont...(from above) e.e;;

Moving on to the second topic. The World.

FFXIV has a nicely built world- well at least it looks nice. I was overjoyed when I heard Mr. Yoshida announce that The Black Shroud would be getting redone. If you need a good example of a forest environment- look at FFXI’s Sanctuary of Zi Tah zone. Yes, there are a lot of repeating elements- hell I know there are - there are practically like what? Three different trees in the entire zone? But they are placed expertly. My older sister who also plays FFXI didn’t notice the repetition. I did but that I is only because I know what to look for. That is your goal SE. You don’t want your average player to be able to see the fact that you are reusing props.

Secondly, The Black Shroud’s design is something not even a rookie would make. Who thought up of it, I’m curious? How much experience have they had? What made that person think that it would be ok to create such a frustrating zone to navigate in?

But enough of that- let me get to the point. FFXIV’s world is large and amazing. I enjoyed exploring the area around Limsa Lominsa and even around Uldah, I can’t wait to do the same for the Black Shroud once it is overhauled. Please keep us updated.

So yes, the world is fantastic and beautiful and... It is far too clean and far too empty. Even Uldah’s slums which I expect to be dirty and crawling with the poor and the refugees is empty and clean.

I know that many people didn’t like FFXII. I personally enjoyed it- I enjoyed the world far more than the story and that is why I can go back and replay it. If SE had taken away the ability to explore the world I probably would have hated it as much as I hate FFXIII. Granted FFXII’s story line needed more love but the fact that I could go and explore and see this fantastic world helped make up for it. I remember starting out as Vaan in Rabanastre and the city was... packed. There were NPC’s talking to each other, walking, moving- doing things... Dear God SE! Why doesn’t FFXIV have even a fraction of that!?

Yes, you want your players to fill up the city but it doesn’t make it any less empty. Running in FFXI’s Jeuno is a bit depressing sometimes. Yes, there are a lot of players there but there are hardly any NPC’s.

I’m asking that you populate the world with NPC’s. To give Eorzea some substance- to make it real and immersive. Let us overhear what they’re talking about, let us read/see about their day and bout their gripes- it’s things like that that make the world feel real.

Secondly, let us interact with the world. Let us jump and swim- hell even a sprint button would be fantastic! But let us experience Eorzea as if it were real. The reason why WoW is so immersive is because you can jump and swim not only that but when you walk into an Inn you can sit down on the chair. Also, something else to take from WoW.- Azeroth doesn’t limit you constantly the way Eorzea does. You want to see the windmill in Gridania? Too bad- bam! Invisible wall! Most of the game is like that, let alone Gridania.

Also, consider your lack of variation in the zones. The areas around LL and Uldah are basically plains and respectively it is populated with rocks and grass and well, rocks and rocks. Then there is Gridania which is basically green. Just because an area is a plane, a forest or a desert for that matter doesn’t mean that there can’t be variation. I expected to see more of the Sylph’s influence in Gridania, or how about we see more of the respective races from that part of the world? If there is a strong religious influence then that should be reflected in the architecture of the city.

I’ll point out another thing. One thing that made FFXI so different is the fact that it was a community based game and that it had mog houses. Instead of trying to innovate everything try perfecting some of the things that made FFXI stand out. Bring Mog Houses into FFXIV. I can tell you right now that one of my favorite things in FFXI is buying furnishings to decorate my Mog House with. Give us that option but make it better. Let us interact with the furnishings- sit on the chair, lay on the bed, use the tea set, etc. In FFXI they let you expand your mog safe so that you can hold up to 80 items, that’s 80 furnishings for me but they never let you expand the Mog House so that it is bigger. There is something to think about- and honestly, I’d increase the number of furnishings one can put in there. Another thing you may want to look into is making the Gardening system better. Instead of simply having 10 pots to grow things in, why not have a little farm of your own behind your Mog House to work on. You could make the housing system similar to LOTRO’s only better- as in you get to ‘pick’ where you want to live and you get to decorate parts of the outside. There is so much for you to work with, I don’t understand why none of this has been mentioned.

In addition to the Mog House give us the rumored barber shop. Also, how about giving “casual clothes”- things like actual dresses, skirts, pants and things. I know I sound very girly and silly but bare with me. Players want to feel attached to the world. Letting them customize their own ‘Mog House’ and pick and choose what their character will look like will help with immersion. It will help them feel closer to the world and the character they create. Players want a little piece of Eorzea to call their own, so to speak.

That all being said, I understand that everything I proposed is a lot of work. Actually, a lot doesn’t begin to cover it. It is a gigantic amount of work and technical problems to undertake. But if you could even make half of what I said happen the game would be all the richer for it. Right now I understand that the dev team has a rather full plate with FFXIV and the changes that they have set out to do. But what I proposed aren’t things to add in a single update, instead they are things to really consider and hopefully add- at least to some degree. They are things to bring to the rest of the player base and see what what everyone else thinks.

At the end of the day, FFXIV will eventually turn into a game that one must pay to play. That is quite a commitment to ask for from your players, SE. That being said, it is precisely because of that commitment that SE should take these sort of suggestions seriously. They should do everything they can to communicate with their player base in order to create an experience unlike any other.

Sorry for the (extra) long post and thank you for reading!

Cheers~

(annnd Finish!)