Retention of Anima System!

[Mikita]

Having been to every corner of Eorzea as it currently exists, I would submit that it is actually quite beautiful. It's like wandering in the woods in Oregon, or the Grand Canyon.

I think there are people nowadays who will not be happy with a game unless there are floating rocks and Phazon deposits a la Metroid in every corner of a given planet. I, for one, find the maps to be simply lovely to wander.

Agreed! The landscape is not very fantasy-like just as the clothing, armor, and weapons are a bit on the mundane side as well.
But it all keeps with the aesthetics that -this- game was created with.

A while back I used to hope for a bit more "fantasy" in Eorzea, and still think it might be nice to have in new areas...

But the existing zones are all very beautifully done.
Sure there are copy-pasted elements, but they are surrounded by many unique areas and magnificent vistas as well.

There are still many hidden places I have heard about but not visited myself.
The AF armor quests have taken many of us to places we hadn't been to before, and I think that was part of the intent from the beginning -- i.e. create a vast world with unique spots in far flung places; then slowly unfold the quests and take adventurers to these spots as new content is added.

But I guess I should hurry up a bit and visit these areas before the world as we know it is destroyed by Meteor.


Oh, and one more vote for keeping anima as it is.

[Eagleheart]

Even as someone who has wandered the entire map a few times, I can't agree. There are some sights to see some good vistas but overall it's a extremly bland world. Nothing defines the landscape from the surrounding area, perhaps it's too large for its own good. Having giant swaths of land with nothing to do other than look at the grass/rocks and to find the odd nice vantage isn't great world design.

I concur with regards to much of the world being unused, but that seems, to me, to be a slightly different issue than the world itself being unattractive. @_@

[Rowyne]

I concur with regards to much of the world being unused, but that seems, to me, to be a slightly different issue than the world itself being unattractive. @_@

Actually, this is the heart of the problem:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=La9nLBfH44c
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CA7GGnyNwEs

It's not that the zones are vast, it's not that they're largely unused, it's not even that they're inherently unattractive (because they're not). When you step into one of the five major zones for the first time, each has their own beauty.

(Well, maybe not The Shroud. The Twelveswood feels like Yuhtunga Jungle married a medieval forest.)

Anyway, it's that after you've run around for about 30 seconds, you've seen pretty much all there is to see for the rest of the zone. There's no variety due to the large amount of copy/paste. I don't think I've ever played an MMO before where I could get lost without constantly doing a map check. There are no defining features to the landscape. It all looks the same.

Ever been to Kansas? The land is 100% flat, no trees, you can see for miles and miles all the way to the horizon. No variety. Everything is the same. It's sort of surreal. There's a joke about the speed limit (it's 75/MPH, as opposed to 70/MPH like the surrounding states). It's faster to help facilitate getting you out ASAP.

Right now, FFXIV is too much like Kansas.

P.S. I'm a big fan of Coerthas, myself (much like how it reminds you of Oregan, it reminds me of the wilds of Northern Michigan). I'm hopeful that it will still have some of that same feeling, but get the revamp it desperately needs, just like the rest of Eorzea.

Oh, and I'm fine with the anima system. The alternative would be flight paths like many MMOs. This keeps it unique (and in a good way, IMO).

[Matsume]

There are currently 2.5 x the players voting for anima than those against (25 vs 10).

Majority rules. Get over it.

[Antanias]

Keep anima, there are ppl that can't devote hours a day to playing the game so it's there for ppl who want to go from one place to another and do stuff like leves, gather, craft, etc. in the short time they're online. And as some have stated, "don't like anima? don't use it.".

[Matsume]

now standing at 29 for to 10 against anima

[Jynx]

now standing at 29 for to 10 against anima

Terrible way to measure the player bases aproval. people tend to always get up in arms when there current way of lazyness is is challenged.

I think that this if anything will be the largest hurdle for the tweaking of anima in the future, SE has let everyone get spoiled with it for the most part.

[Matsume]

I like trains.

[Rokien]

I like trains.

I have a thread about that ;Dhttp://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/threads/37948-Trains

[Matsume]

I have a thread about that ;Dhttp://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/threads/37948-Trains

I liked that thread...