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

**Riardon** · 09-20-2015 06:03 AM

The areas designed to be that huge in order to house and justify one of the key elements and one of the most advertised feature, Flying. That's the reason we got that huge areas. SE decided to go with the safe route in budget with FFXIV ARR after 1.0 huge flop. They lost crazy amount of money and they decided to scale down the game. This is why on some elements game got degraded in comparison with 1.0. For example graphics. While lighting and shadows are improved texture resolution and quality along with grass and plants look so cheap and 2004ish. Bushes are 2-3 cards and textures are horrible when you look at them for a relatively close proximity like in cutscenes. Still game looks better but it's obvious they do everything with limited personnel and budget. They already explained and admitted that. Dev team is focused on frequently patching the game with fresh content in order to keep players and attract more.

**Arkann** · 09-20-2015 06:23 AM

I don't have any source to back my claim, but I seem to remember that Yoshida said the developpers left unused space in the new zones in anticipation for the next patches (I think he said that in the stream where he introduced the new job abilities).

Some zones do look a little bland now that I can fly, especially the Hinterlands and the Sea of Clouds, but otherwise it doesn't bother me that much.

**SuperFlorinjin** · 09-20-2015 09:29 AM

I remember this too. Something about it being really hard to fit new quests and events into 2.0 area`s because they`re already so tightly packed. I`m sure anyone who`s tried to do one of the Slyph transport missions only to have a FATE spawn on top of you know what I`m talking about.

**Felis** · 09-20-2015 11:33 PM

Originally Posted by Arkann

I don't have any source to back my claim, but I seem to remember that Yoshida said the developpers left unused space in the new zones in anticipation for the next patches (I think he said that in the stream where he introduced the new job abilities).

Some zones do look a little bland now that I can fly, especially the Hinterlands and the Sea of Clouds, but otherwise it doesn't bother me that much.

Yes, during a HW preview live letter he said that a problem with the smaller 2.0 zones was the limited space for additional patched events or contents. With the bigger 3.0 zones they have now enough space to fill it up with the time without that it will start to feel cramped.

**Preypacer** · 09-20-2015 09:26 PM

Originally Posted by Riardon

The areas designed to be that huge in order to house and justify one of the key elements and one of the most advertised feature, Flying. That's the reason we got that huge areas. SE decided to go with the safe route in budget with FFXIV ARR after 1.0 huge flop. ... more stuff...

It seems like you're talking about 2.0 and changes made from 1.0. All good points/insights where 1.0 is concerned, but I'm not referring to 1.0 at all in my post. 1.0's pretty much a non-factor at this point.

I'm referring to the environment design in 3.0, and how it differs and is - in my opinion - a downgrade from that of 2.0's areas.

**Reinfeld** · 09-20-2015 10:00 PM

Originally Posted by Preypacer

It seems like you're talking about 2.0 and changes made from 1.0. All good points/insights where 1.0 is concerned, but I'm not referring to 1.0 at all in my post. 1.0's pretty much a non-factor at this point.

I'm referring to the environment design in 3.0, and how it differs and is - in my opinion - a downgrade from that of 2.0's areas.

1.0 does have some relevance to your complaint. Do you know why the maps were so boring and repetitve in 1.0? PS3 limitations. Part of the playerbase wanted one seamless world and were very vocal about it so the devs listened. Unfortunately they also promised a PS3 release, so to make a seamless world even remotely plausible for such a weak console they had to re-use assets over and over. 3.0 looks to me like Yoshi's attempt to find a good middle-ground between 1.0 with it's sprawling (if boring) landscapes and 2.0s gorgeous corridors. I'm going to take a wild guess and say that they re-used a good number of assets in the HW areas to make the new areas playable on PS3.

Yoshi said future expansions will continue to support flight, so I doubt we'll see such detailed maps as 2.0 had ever again.

**Colorful** · 09-20-2015 10:04 PM

Originally Posted by Reinfeld

snip

Uh, what?... The game was never released on PS3 because it couldn't handle it, that should give you a hint that it wasn't truly made with PS3 in mind. The problem is the development team was lazy in designing the areas, and that may be understandable on a large scale world, but not because it was large due to the copy and pasting. I honestly don't want "large" areas, I want connected areas without loading screens in between them. I want it to be a seamless world, I want to be able to hop into an airship and actually fly on it to the other areas similar to WoW.

**Reinfeld** · 09-20-2015 10:10 PM

Originally Posted by Colorful

Uh, what?... The game was never released on PS3 because it couldn't handle it, that should give you a hint that it wasn't truly made with PS3 in mind. The problem is the development team was lazy in designing the areas, and that may be understandable on a large scale world, but not because it was large due to the copy and pasting. I honestly don't want "large" areas, I want connected areas without loading screens in between them. I want it to be a seamless world, I want to be able to hop into an airship and actually fly on it to the other areas similar to WoW.

The game was never released on PS3 because 1.0 was a complete flop. Maybe you weren't watching the game at the time, but a PS3 release WAS promised and it WAS designed with PS3 limitation in mind. They decided to release it on PC first to start making $$$ off it, with PS3 following when it was ready. 1.0 never got the promised PS3 release because it got canceled for 2.0 work.

I'm not a developer so I can't really comment on what kind of strain a seamless world puts on systems, but I'm sure there's a reason I'm too lazy to look up (server stress? allows lower spec PCs to play?) as to why most games go with zones.

**Colorful** · 09-20-2015 11:49 PM

Originally Posted by Reinfeld

snip

It may have been planned, but there was no way it was going to happen. It struggled to run on mid to high-end PCs at the time? The PS3, the development team must have been dreaming. As for your pitfalls of a seamless world, I can't think of any that would stem from something other than early stage development problems (i.e they created the game with instanced areas in mind).

**Felis** · 09-20-2015 11:52 PM

Originally Posted by Colorful

It may have been planned, but there was no way it was going to happen. It struggled to run on mid to high-end PCs at the time? The PS3, the development team must have been dreaming. As for your pitfalls of a seamless world, I can't think of any that would stem from something other than early stage development problems (i.e they created the game with instanced areas in mind).

At 1.0 launch the PS3 version was announced for march 2011, but got delayed after SE changed the FF XIV team.

Regarding the PlayStation 3, it is not our wish to release a simple conversion of the Windows version in its current state, but rather an update that includes all the improvements we have planned. For that reason, we have made the difficult decision to delay the release of the PlayStation 3 version beyond the originally announced date of March 2011.

[Delay of the PlayStation 3 Version Release]
Although the release date for the PlayStation 3 version of the game was previously announced as late March of 2011, we regret to inform that this date has been changed.

The PlayStation 3 release will be delayed until we are confident that the game has reached the level of enjoyability and service befitting the FINAL FANTASY name for users on all supported platforms. We offer our sincerest apologies to any fans anticipating the PlayStation 3 release, and humbly ask for your continued patience and understanding as both the development team and Square Enix as a whole strive towards making FINAL FANTASY XIV a truly enjoyable and unforgettable adventure.

http://www.ffxionline.com/forums/showthread.php?t=78378

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