Thread: Why 2.0 maps will be instantly opened now?

The fact that people are making a huge deal over something trivial as a map has me wondering if there's an agenda I am not seeing.

You know what, I generally disagree with the majority of complaints on this board. To be honest though, I actually am not a huge fan of this change. I remember when I first started playing getting to uncover the maps piece by piece, experiencing the amazing landscape and actually having a feeling of discovery. Like muddling about in the Burning Wall for the first time battling Snurbles and being amazed at the natural landscape that was there. Removing that whole part of the experience really disappoints me. I think discovery was a great part of the game, plopping out the whole map kind of discourages that in a sense. I mean, the scenery will still be there for people to experience but the fog seemed like an integral part of the experience to me.

Then again, SE generally knows what they're doing, and I do have all the maps discovered at this point so... Oh well?

Originally Posted by Judah_Brandt

words

I don't think I see it in that way. I mean, ok, mapping maps can be fun in a way, but seeing a full map and wondering what each area holds as you go there to see can be just as fun, can't it? It's not like a full map from the start is going to reveal things like mob locations.

Originally Posted by king_rufus

@ TheUltimateSeph

Get a grip. This isn't "disgusting". This isn't going to set some garbage precedent for insane laziness like you're overly reactive posts suggests. Exploring maps was tedious, especially since they were rarely very interesting. They are still going to be worth looking around for questing and gathering purposes. This is a minor change meant to help get people to the content that's actually interesting and worth doing.

You are right. I'm so sorry. I really meant to say OMG this change is so amazing SE!!! Thank you so much for removing the horrible burden of mapping this games areas myself!!! You are truly overflowing with wisdom and care for your players, so much so that I can feel it dripping out of every orifice! Please continue to remove boring exploration elements from the game and make it more linear and awesome like FFXIII! I love you SE!!!

Originally Posted by MilesSaintboroguh

The fact that people are making a huge deal over something trivial as a map has me wondering if there's an agenda I am not seeing.

Just because something is 'trivial' in your eyes it doesn't mean it isn't a valid and major concern for other players out there.

I think it was a waste my self.

I was lev 29 when I first set foot in Revenent's Toll. Being low level with a blank map In an end game area felt dangerous. Not to mention fun.

If this is going to be a psudo-action RPG with no exploration going forward, then I've got better things to spend money on.

It's triviality is why this change makes no since. I haunt all the forums all the time at all.hours and I never even saw this requested once. So "For S&Gs" doesn't cut it. Now if there are border outlines that are blank inside them, in all for that. More than a few maps I wish I had know that "This way's a dead end" back in the day. But exploration is as much a part of Final Fantasy as Chocobos and logic defying weapons.

Originally Posted by MilesSaintboroguh

I don't think I see it in that way. I mean, ok, mapping maps can be fun in a way, but seeing a full map and wondering what each area holds as you go there to see can be just as fun, can't it? It's not like a full map from the start is going to reveal things like mob locations.

It's not going to be nearly as easy, though, when you don't know where you've been and not. It's one thing if you run around a new area all at once (provided there aren't areas where you're not supposed to go yet because the enemies are 20 levels higher than you, like plenty of maps currently are laid out), but especially in the beginning where you have to run around on your own two feet, it's going to take quite a bit of time. The way it is now, unlocking one map piece at a time, you're still informed which general areas you haven't been through yet, which is IMO quite a good guide for showing you around the entire map. Sure, there are a few examples of where the map either splits up (so you have to backtrack to another bit of the map entirely to take the upper or lower path and explore both paths), or has tiny areas where you can more or less SEE the end of the map, so you don't need to run in there, just need to get close enough to get that particular map piece. But most of the time, it's a good aid. In my opinion.

I'm also wondering how they're planning on solving those "mapping the land" achievements. Either they'll remove them (not likely, I'd say), they'll hand them out the moment you set foot in an area (which is just dull), or they're going to make it much more difficult to actually get those achievements because you can't see where you've been or not.
It's like the hunt mark achievements, where you have to kill all the different B/A/S ranks for each general area (Shroud/Thanalan/La Noscea/etc) but it doesn't tell you which marks you have, so unless you've kept track from the start, it can be more or less impossible to figure out which one you've got left when you've killed all but one of them.

I really hope they'll prove me wrong, I do. I hope they've figured out a really clever solution. But I can't trust that hope. Better to prepare for the worst and be pleasantly surprised if they've done it in a good way, than to prepare for the best and be disappointed.

The most they should have done was already uncover the initial sections of each zone map that connect to city you're at. Nothing says "Hi" to a new player like getting a quest to kill X of Y, going to the quest tracker, and then it show you a completely blank map.