
Originally Posted by
Dzian
You have that fate in hyrstmil where it gets overun by opos. but whether you win that fate or lose it the result is the exact same.
They could do something cool and bring back something akin to hamlet defence. or maybe even a hybrid style content between hamlet defence and something like beseiged in ffxi.. where settlements repeatebly come under attack and players work together to repair them or bolster up defences and stuff like that. Things that would actualy change the world in meaningful ways you travel to a settlement and its basically been ransacked so you can get on your gatherer or crafter and either go gather supplies to help rebuild it and fortify it. or as a dow/dom go out on a rescue mission to find and rescue any citizens taken in the attack.
Something like this could eally bring the open world to life and make it evolve in some fashion.. You've just finished gathering your zodiac stuff only to go to hyrstlill and find Gerolt has been abducted. welp gotta go rescue him.... hundreds of little things they could do to add some life to the world
The issue fates have is they're just empty brainless zergs. of whack it till its dead. boring dull and lifeless.
The thing I find strangest of all. FFXI is over 20 years old and some of its code was literally written in the 90s. and yet Vana'diel is or at least was when I played this living, breathing, ever changing dynamic world, with various systmes like besieged, campaign, garrison, even the conquest system always changing the world in some way and the effects of these systems were spread far and wide accross the game..
If a nation lost control of an area to beastmen or even another nation then vendor stocks and prices would change. this in turn would affect the global auction house prices and the economy as a whole. It would also affect your travel options and various other things.. If that outpost was overrun by beastmen. there goes your warp home... iIf you lost beseiged say good by to the astral candescnece and all its benefits. Oh you cant even hire a chocobo as the npc got abducted in the attack so gotta hoof it where your going on foot. All things that made the world feel more alive.
Hell even just having to wait 5 minutes for an airship. along with the real time flights. you could be on an airship and see the world below as you flew over. at the same time people in the zones you were flying over could look up and actually see the airship you were on flying by...
20 year old code and its actually quite amazing what they managed to achieve and it makes eorzea look stale and dead in comparison.
Add to that things like dynamic zones that change all the time like the sacrarium where the maze has a different way through every hour. the toramai canals mage gate. weighted gates in altepa. 3 taru to open or one galka.. so many little things that made the world more interesting.