The layout of Ishgard does not make 3 dimensional sense

[Catwho]

I can't be the only one who is utterly confused at how mismatched Foundation and The Pillars are.

The maps show the outlines for the lower city and upper city, much like all the other map layouts for cities. However, for Limsa Lominsa and Ul'Dah, the maps align perfectly and structures are visible when looking or down in a way that makes logical three dimensional sense. (They had to, when 1.0 existed, since it was all one zone.)

I can't make heads or tails of the Ishgard map. At first I thought that it must just be a difference of levels - that The Pillars really has like 4-5 stories taller than Foundation. But I've spent the last hour eyeballing the two zones, and I've come to the conclusion that it just isn't the case. The two maps are utterly incompatible as given.

Some places that are wrong:
- The chocobo stables and Skysteel Manufactury should be visible below The Jeweled Crozier. They are not.
- The airship landing ought to be visible from The Brume, but there is nothing there.
- The Congregation of Our Knights Most Heavenly is clearly the tallest structure jutting up from Foundation, but there is no similar tower visible from the Pillars map.

Other structures that are visible from The Pillars are completely absent from Foundation.

Conclusion: The maps do not actually overlap as presented. There is a gap of several stories and a couple hundred yalms, really.

Either that, or the zone design team said "meh who will ever notice" and didn't even try, thus leaving slightly obsessed people like me pulling their hair out trying to make sense of it.

[Nalien]

Either that, or the zone design team said "meh who will ever notice" and didn't even try, thus leaving slightly obsessed people like me pulling their hair out trying to make sense of it.

It wouldn't be the first time. See; Wanderer's Palace. If you look at it from Bronze Lake, the entire dungeon basically doesn't exist, there is no structure around the base of the tower like what we fight through in that dungeon. It has annoyed me since 2.0... Fairly sure Dusk Vigil falls into this trap as well, as do a few others I'm sure (Sohm Al and the Churning Mists seems off to me).

I think it's a problem that stems from the way they make areas... In 1.0, Ul'dah, Gridania and Limsa were one complete map, so when they ported them over to 2.0 and split them into two maps, the effect was minimal... I kind of wish they did that kind of thing for everything... Make the entire game as one single map, then split areas off into different zones so that they actually all clearly connect properly...

[TheTen]

There is a gap of several stories and a couple hundred yalms, really.

That's probably exactly it. Considering how many people are apparently living -inside- the city walls (the nobles houses and their allies, the complete clergy and several companies and factories, plus enough 'commoners' to make their rebellion an honest problem), Ishgard must be substantially larger than the two piffy maps we have available to explore. And in fact, if you look at the map exist/entrances, they do not fit with each other at all... we are clearly supposedly travelling through unexplored (mostly residential I'd wager) areas to go between The Pillars and The Foundation.

I am hoping futuire MSQ will open more Ishgard maps for us.

A GUY CAN DREAM.

[Catwho]

It wouldn't be the first time. See; Wanderer's Palace. If you look at it from Bronze Lake, the entire dungeon basically doesn't exist, there is no structure around the base of the tower like what we fight through in that dungeon. It has annoyed me since 2.0... Fairly sure Dusk Vigil falls into this trap as well, as do a few others I'm sure (Sohm Al and the Churning Mists seems off to me).

I think it's a problem that stems from the way they make areas... In 1.0, Ul'dah, Gridania and Limsa were one complete map, so when they ported them over to 2.0 and split them into two maps, the effect was minimal... I kind of wish they did that kind of thing for everything... Make the entire game as one single map, then split areas off into different zones so that they actually all clearly connect properly...

I'm giving Sohm Al a pass because "The South Face" inside the dungeon ought to have been named "The Western Face" - the western side of the mountain can't be seen from The Dravanian Forelands, and we're clearly climbing up that side and crossing through the volcano a few times. Moghome is situated on the very western top of the floating bit right above the cone of the volcano. The mountain itself blocks the view of The Churning Mists, except for a few islands here or there.