Thread: Area design between 2.0 and 3.0, and going into 4.0...

So, this is a bit different of a topic,but it's something I'm personally really geeky about... environment/zone design in games.

While I find HW's areas to be really impressive in terms of feeling really "grand" and open, I feel like they're not quite so interesting or detailed as the 2.0 zones are.

I'm guessing the size of 3.0's zones (so far) contribute to why they're designed as they are, with a lot of re-use of large and easily recognizable pieces. However, I think something was lost in terms of detail and variety. What they have in scale, they seem to lack in other aspects, and I find, with the exception of some specific locations, they became less interesting to explore as I spent more time in them.

They also feel a bit more "rushed" in some spots - specifically the Hinterlands, where there is some really sloppy texturing work (I'm talking some *serious* tiling artifacts), especially along certain cliffs and ground areas. There's also very repetitive use of the same assets in a very small area. It stands out as it is, but compared to the level of quality in the 2.0 areas, it's really apparent.

Mind you, I'm talking open world areas here. The dungeons in HW are stunning. Gorgeous. I've nothing but good to say about anything I've seen so far there. The shots we've seen of the Void Ark looks equally amazing.

This difference in detail/quality really struck me since I finished HW's story line (at least pre-3.1). Rather than jump into the HW end-game, I've gone back to the old zones to level other jobs, and work on other things. So, I'm spending a lot of time in those areas and I'm finding that even over time, after 2 years, these areas still continue to impress me. I'll still stop and just look around at areas I've been through dozens of times, with no less awe at what SE's environment artists created. The attention paid to even the smallest details, the creativity and the variety in them - even within a single zone is just so well crafted. The texturing work is impeccable. Everything just works together, cohesively.

While I hop on a mount (ground or air) to get somewhere in HW areas with little interest in the surrounding environment, I find myself running on foot to places in the 2.0 zones, just because they're still so awesome to look at and explore.

I'm not saying the HW areas are terrible. They're still quite nice to look at, for the most part, and there are some really neat looking locations. I'm just saying that, aside from their size, in every other way, I feel they're subpar, overall, compared to the 2.0 areas.

I have a feeling the size of the areas, and the challenges that presents in terms of resource management/streaming, as well as filling areas so large with a lot of interesting things at the same level of detail is extremely difficult. The designers may well have not had the time to put the same amount of detail into them. It's certainly not a case of their designers lacking the talent.

So.. I guess, for me, going forward, I think I'd prefer to see areas that are smaller - maybe halfway between HW and 2.0 size; with a mix of wide open areas as in HW, but with variety and attention to detail closer to what we see in 2.0's areas.

I think everything in 3.0+ feels "rushed". Its still good but much less time seems to be spent and much less love...maybe they need a bigger dev team to properly handle making more game content. But unfortunately with big companies its all about profit and as so FF14 will continue to feel "rushed" with all new content.

Originally Posted by RozaB

Look at 1.0 for copy paste game design lol

That being said, I feel like they really pushed it on the wow factor for 2.0 because they were trying to revive a total failure and needed that to draw people in. Now, it's a success and they dialed it back a bit so (hopefully) after they're vacation they can really bring they're A game to content releases vs just the pretty zones.

Yeah, I don't think anyone will argue that 1.0's environment design was all kinds of bad. From early on in the alpha/beta releases, I was getting that impression, but wasn't sure if it was just me being unfamiliar, etc. Then the famous "copy pasta" video came out, and I thought "Okay... I'm not crazy"

Thing is, all games re-use assets. In the best cases, they're used/reused creatively so you can never easily tell they're being reused. 2.0 pulls this off very well in its zones. HW, they got kinda lazy/sloppy with it, and it's very apparent in some spots.

The tireless explorer/environment geek in me just hopes they take more time with future areas and bring them closer to the level of the 2.0 zones.

HeavensWard: How to train your Dragon 3.0?

Originally Posted by StrejdaTom

Yeah, I never jumped on the "give us bigger locations" train and I guess that after 3.X it would be better to return to smaller and more detailed locations with NPCs chitchatting and stuff..

Well it depends on how the zones are designed, a game world can "feel" big without actually being that big. Best example I can come up with for a game like that is the overworld for Shadow of the Colossus, if you've played it, the game world feels huge but it really doesn't take long to travel from one end to the other, but the way the graphics and the skyboxes are done it certainly "feels" like a huge sweeping world.