Quote Originally Posted by bass9020 View Post
I found the interview with Yoshi talking about zones in October of 2011!(and other things) enjoy,

Yoshi-P:
Yes. Even with the loading screen, we've come to the conclusion that it's more important to create large, dynamic maps.
For example, when you attempt to climb a mountain in a seamless map, in most cases you will literally have to climb from the ground floor and up. I don't think everyone wants to climb mountains when they're playing a game. All they really want to do is experience the actual content present on top of the map like, say, a Falcon's Nest that's located on the very peak. Climbing then becomes an unnecessary task that needs to be done before players get to tackle such content.
Also, if we try to actually implement the road towards the mountaintop, because of memory issues the road will be more like a narrow corridor than an actual 'road'. And because a narrow corridor is just that, narrow, so monsters will have to be packed in tightly. And because they have to be packed in tightly, it will then be difficult for players to slip by noticed and thus be forced to fight the monsters. While we can solve the problem by not putting monsters alone the road altogether, this in turn creates another problem in being a rather boring journey climbing towards the top.


source: http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/t...er-GAME-Watch)
This is where Yoshi fails and doesn't think outside the box. He only has to look at FFXI to see how things can be fun without the need of mobs, flashy effects etc.

Climbing Parradamo Tor
https://youtu.be/ITQorG_B-6o