where's the adventure?

[kurokawa]

This was written by alyosha17 on FFXIV Core and i have to admit I agree with a lot of it. Could be good for the devs to take what they want from the feedback.

In FFXIV, there's no sense of wonder because you can just scroll around on your map and also, as we all know, there isn't anything either tangible or intangible in our future at the moment. It's like, so what if I go into this cave? - l know there are no treasure chests or Notorious Monsters in there, so I might as well not bother. Besides the gratuitous joy of seeing a copy-pasted cave, there's just no point to it all.

In my opinion, an MMORPG is more than an adventure, it's an escape from the real world. So it should stand on its own as a fantasy reality where every player can play his own role (see mmo ROLE playing game) in the world. A spirit of adventure comes with the territory, because as long as there is something to work toward, new horizons to be met, there will always be that sense of wonder, of how you can change and experience the world.

Even though I don't really agree with FFXI as an ideal MMO, it was pretty immersive in the adventure-sense. Some of the areas were pretty crappy, like that swamp area and that forest with the copy pasted trees the whole way through on the way to Jeuno, but for the most part, every area was rich in side-routes and underground lairs, beastman citadels, etc. You pretty much couldn't go an entire zone without wondering where those places lead to, and of course you couldn't cheat by looking at your map.

I guess my point is, the thing that works in FFXI is the progression onto better things (starter cities -> Valkrum -> other cities -> Jeuno -> Quifm -> Getting your airship License ... etc) which gave you a direction in the world. You were generally asking "what next?" all the way to lvl 75. And even after. In FFXIV, there is nothing to look forward to, and no questions to ask besides "how do i work this insufferable UI?"

The map situation comes into the equation here too because not knowing where you are going heightens that sense of adventure. Unlike FFXI, in FFXIV, it's all there right before your eyes, and it's not exactly the most enticing thing to look at. Although everyone can download a map online, it's different when you're in game and don't know you're way around. Automatically having your maps kind of ruins that coupled feeling of danger & excitement when encountering something new.

So, convenience isn't always the best remedy. The developers think that anima and levequests are the solution to what made FFXI undesirable for many players (those that wanted a more casual game), but they don't realise what they have to sacrifice to maintain these features.

Being able to instantly teleport anywhere destroys the vastness of the world they've sought to create. At the present time, given the state of the world and lack of chocobos, I wouldn't trade in the anima system for anything, but the point is: you can't have immersion and convenience together, not really. If they had chocobos, maybe they could place greater restrictions on anima usage. But until then, I don't forsee a solution to this issue. It's a case of balance, immersion vs. convenience. They just haven't struck the right balance yet and won't be able to until they introduce more methods of transportation.

The biggest issue, though, is the fact that Levequests are the worst incarnation of quests I've ever seen. No offence Se, but it's just not very aesthetically pleasing to walk up to a crystal and initiate a giant hologram that spawns quest mobs over and over for the zillionth time. It's like "thanks for this poor excuse for a quest, but I think I already killed these monsters for you people 36 hours ago. Why are they back?" For all the good it does for the game, it probably does twice as much bad. It's just retarded.

In any other MMO, even the really crappy ones, something like a levequest just wouldn't fly. I'll revisit an earlier point. MMORPGs are supposed to be fantasy realities. In FFXIV, grinding on the wildlife was boring but at least it made some semblance of sense. Spawning monsters with a guildleve is just beyond words, and most importantly nonsensical. I actually get exasperated trying to describe how in-opposition this is to the concept of an MMO. It's robotic. MMOs, while being computer games, should strive to imitate life. A levequest just fails totally at that. I mean really? Who would design such a thing?

I guess if they want to reinvigorate the spirit of adventure in FFXIV, they just have to eliminate the things working in concert to it. Exhibit A: Guildleves. They also need to implement more dynamic content, you know, things that change and things which a player can change. A million other MMOs let players build their own houses, even cities. Guild Wars 2 is also supposed to have dynamic quests which occur naturally and singularly (i.e. are not repeatable like stupid guildleves).

The developers mentioned an impending threat to Eorzea. So perhaps that might be an answer. In the end, Yoshi was right, Eorzea is too safe. Guildleves, maps, aggro icons, travel routes, anima, it's all just so safe and convenient.

If you want to accommodate the casual crowd, that's fine, but you don't have to pander to the carebears. There I said it.

[KRTGDL]

Shockingly good commentary and I agree with everything.

[AlexiaKidd]

I agree with most of that, FFXIV does lack that feeling of adventure and while it's nice to have map's straight off the get go it does seem to dilute the reason to explore a little. Maybe if they made it so that part of the map was only visible once you had been to that location?

I have often said that there does not seem to be things to look forward to either, like what was said in the your post. In FFXI there was always something to reach for, at level 10 you got to party in the dunes (some of the best and worst memories right there ^^), at 18 you unlocked sub jobs, at 20 you went to Jeuno and could get your Chocobo licence, at 24 ride the Airship to Kazham, 30 unlock advanced jobs and so on. In fact we were talking about this last night in our LS and it brought up a memory of exploring in FFXI that I had and I ran into Vitra for the first time. Needless to say I died a dishonourable death (thanks draw in ><) but it was still fun and exciting. Even taking the boat on FFXI was more exciting than this as you were never sure if the someone would fish up a Sea Horror or Pirates would attack. There was always something and you were always moving around, I just don't feel like I get that at all in FFXIV.

When I hit R50 on my MRD I was happy for a few min's and then realised I actually had nothing I could do with it outside of NM's really, so I just had to go start levelling every other class to give me something to do.

I hope they can get back that feeling of adventure and achievment in FFXIV I really do.