Non instanced dungeons. An under-looked game design method in XI

[Cross]

One of the best threads I ever saw here.

Even though I doubt that 2.0 will have tons of fixes, I do hope that we arent seeing any "great" strongholds due to the server limitations at this time.
With 2.0 they may find their way to more openworld-Dungeons, even if that takes 1 to 2 addons till these arrive ingame.
I lost the interest in all those instanced-thingies and the openworld area hasnt that much to offer at the moment.

and lil offtopic for OP:
For myself I even enjoyed Uggalepih Temple (I guess that was meant with Yuhtunga Temple )!
You could spent hours inside this temple just to farm, explore and NM-hunting. It was fun having the Tonberry Kinq that aggroed you if he is about to spawn while you are standing on his throne.
I had tons of fun in that temple

[Hachi-Roku]

Pros:
Environments with a deep meaning behind them.
Players feeling comfortable with the area and it being a part of their life
Less development hassle since the deeper zones are still the same theme
Quality zones over Quantity zones

This is almost point for point what the devs are aiming for in 2.0, even doing away with the zoneless world concept to focus even more on doing so (though I think they could have both of "super specialized zones" and "no zonelines" but I'm not gonna get into the technical aspect of such in this thread).

Call me crazy, but I have a fair bit of familiarity with La Noscea as well. The geography of Iron Lake and surrounding bits is nestled between more walls than most of the La Noscean areas, with thinner paths. It's also the only area with, y'know, a lake, where I often see people mining and fishing along the dormice. To the west of that is a camp of level 40 raptors, where I would do EXP parties with some of my friends. When I had to go afk, I'd say that I was running to the "goat bowl" - a little dip in the ground south of the camp where only nannygoats grazed, that way I wouldn't draw aggro from spawning raptors. Bloodshore's actual shore is awkward to get to, but it's also rather dense with foilage, where the giant grabs bubble about before the path that leads to Wineport. To the south is the Red Rooster Stead, where Goobbues are summoned. Brigands are just to the east of the Bald Knoll camp, so always head up the hills around them lest you risk becoming lamed, and the Great Buffalo stomps about just north of there. Also to the north is a small valley where two Earth Elementals spawn- what a peculiar place for them to be. I like doing crafting leves in La Noscea because a majority of the camps are in a circular pattern. If I have leves to turn in at Skull Valley, Iron Lake, and Bloodshore, it's not like running from Drybone and then back over to Horizon, or navigating the Black Shroud. I can run up to Skull Valley, dash past kobolds and raptors to Iron Lake, and then keep going east to Bloodshore. I don't have to backtrack between a majority of the camps, and if I teleport at all, it'll be to Bald Knoll just because it's the odd one out. It's a shame there's locked doors in Mistbeard Cove- I was pretty excited when I got to go behind one of them in one of the live events. Near the entrance to Limsa Lominsa, just a bit to the northwest, there's a cave that leads to a spot where Urianger appears now, but it also has a great open view of the sea and LL. Shposhae. The craziness that is U'ghamoro, where even a group of 50s sticks to the walls, lest entire rooms of kobolds attack and knock us all about with their AoEs.

And, I mean, this is just La Noscea. I could go on into Thanalan as well, though not as in depth. (Meteor can't hit the Black Shroud fast enough though. The hamlets are cool looking, but the Shroud itself is pain.) Coerthas is absolutely gigantic and sprawling. I'd spend more time in Mor Dhona if I had a raise buddy with me at all times.

Admittedly, what XIV doesn't normally have a lot of, in comparison to XI, are stark, immediately recognizable landmarks, which are coming in 2.0. I'm sure I'll love those zones too, and that they'll be interesting, and I'll be able to poke around them and learn little tidbits, find optimal routes, make new camps. But for now, looking back on what I know about Eorzea, I can't say it's simply a cut-and-paste experience.

[MoonKeeperr]

i agree also, i remember my first day in FFXI i was so overtaken by how the sky looked and there was birds flying, and my first trip to Bastok at a lower level was fun.

[Hachi-Roku]

i agree also, i remember my first day in FFXI i was so overtaken by how the sky looked and there was birds flying, and my first trip to Bastok at a lower level was fun.

I call BS, Bastok was never fun.

[Biggs]

I call BS, Bastok was never fun.

It smelled liked bum pee on a hot day, was full of blatent racism and bigotry,and resided in one of the bleakest zones in the game, what the hell isn't fun about all that?! It was like the American South without all that pesky Spanish Moss

[Seif]

I call BS, Bastok was never fun.

Originally Posted by MoonKeeperr View Post
i agree also, i remember my first day in FFXI i was so overtaken by how the sky looked and there was birds flying, and my first trip to Bastok at a lower level was fun.

[Hachi-Roku]

Originally Posted by MoonKeeperr View Post
i agree also, i remember my first day in FFXI i was so overtaken by how the sky looked and there was birds flying, and my first trip to Bastok at a lower level was fun.

????

Originally Posted by Hachi-Roku View Post
I call BS, Bastok was never fun.

?????????????

[Gramul]

????

Originally Posted by Hachi-Roku View Post
I call BS, Bastok was never fun.

?????????????

Journey.
Destination.
Different things.

And shut your trap about Batok.

[Phen]

Really this concept was magical. Honestly I think the XIV mechanic lends itself to this well. The lack of sneak, invis, etc could make dungeon exploration a real amazing thing. I was unaware of silent oils and prism powders when i first made a run to Jueno. At the right pacing it could be a thing where you can duo your way through or just pound out some levels to get to where you are going. They need some explore dungeons and really just more danger in general.

I went back to Nanawa Mines recently to find not near as much aggro. I was kinda disappointed, I had learned where the mites stopped, routes to avoid etc. Now mind you there are limits to this (my levequest is behind an NM and 2 39 elementals and my duo group is 30) but some danger makes it exciting.

This concept is kinda close to anima. I realize its a dead horse at this point but theres some middle point I think. Being able to immediately get to some point is nice in avoiding the old "the whm is on the airship" problem. But it can also make a place too small. Do i have an answer on anima? Not really maybe less, maybe just more ways to get around so it can be used for big things only. I dunno, I'm interested how 2.0 will handle this.

Xi had a lot of beautiful zones and lore. My copy of XI's World Concept is a prized possession of mine as a result. I would note that I was in a vast minority on loving either of those in most crowds I ran with. The world needs that place feeling which really cant happen till 2.0.

[Biggs]

Even the beastmen strongholds that are in the game now are crap compared to the types in XI. I feel like Ghealsba outpost had more style in just the front part of that zone than all the current Beastmen camps in XIV combined. The minor camps for beastmen in Xi were twice the size of the ones we have been given in XIV that are labelled "strongholds", while the major camps were full blown zones with many complicated layers. Don't even get me started on how much I came to love going to Castle Ostroja (spelling, I know) or Beadeaux to help others that needed to raid deep into those territories for items or quests.

I can't tell you how very dissapointed I was to discover that some of the AF pieces in this game could be gotten by simply riding out to some place fairly easy to get to and clicking on a ??? marked box. I am not saying that I miss farming keys (athough some twisted part of me kinda does) but ANYTHING would have been better than the minimal effor that was put into some of the AF quest portions in this tied to locations.

Bring back open world dungeons, leave the instanced stuff for primal fights and boss fights.