Thread: 1.0 vs ARR Areas - A Visual Comparison

I know this is an unpopular opinion but I miss 1.0's shroud. When you think of a thick forest away from the cities, you think of plenty of trees and an ease of getting lost. 1.0 shroud did this very well, with its winding trails and such it was easy to lose your way even with a map up.

Originally Posted by Packetdancer

I will admit, for all my dramatic whining about the 1.x Black Shroud -- most of which was, sadly, deserved -- the sheer ominous "if you do something the elementals don't like, they will just Thanos snap you out of existence" factor of the greenwrath is something I really do miss from 1.x. I disliked a lot of the design of the Shroud in 1.x, but dang the lore was really meaty.

Originally Posted by Canadane

I know this is an unpopular opinion but I miss 1.0's shroud. When you think of a thick forest away from the cities, you think of plenty of trees and an ease of getting lost. 1.0 shroud did this very well, with its winding trails and such it was easy to lose your way even with a map up.

It was fittingly dangerous and spooky, especially with its original music "Emerald Labyrinth".

I just went through some of my recordings and put together a short video from the old Black Shroud in case anyone wants to see what it was like to run through:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lW0MJ1rHHoE

I loved the animation and weight our characters had in their movements -- you can see it when we come to pause a during our running.

At the end of the video, we probably had several dozen people together to take down a treant -- of course you couldn't see everyone, but I think there were many more people there. lol
This was back when Mog weapons were some of the strongest in the game, when Wrist Flick was a thing for stunning enemies, and the Level 99 treants could just one-shot anyone with 9999 damage.

Originally Posted by Mikita

It was fittingly dangerous and spooky, especially with its original music "Emerald Labyrinth".

I just went through some of my recordings and put together a short video from the old Black Shroud in case anyone wants to see what it was like to run through:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lW0MJ1rHHoE

I loved the animation and weight our characters had in their movements -- you can see it when we come to pause a during our running.

At the end of the video, we probably had several dozen people together to take down a treant -- of course you couldn't see everyone, but I think there were many more people there. lol
This was back when Mog weapons were some of the strongest in the game, when Wrist Flick was a thing for stunning enemies, and the Level 99 treants could just one-shot anyone with 9999 damage.

You didn't pet the Lalas
Really cool vid though!

Originally Posted by ReynTime

The original shroud lore also gave a more interesting reason why Gridanians are so xenophobic. Fear of woodsin or angering the elementals, who were not very predictable.
Now they're only xenophobic because they want real world politics parallel.

Oh, no question. I mean, the whole "NOPE the Ala Mhigan refugees can't stay here, the elementals are angry, keep moving" thing becomes a lot more understandable if you imagine the elementals looming over them like "If you let those forest-burning assholes stay, YOU'RE ALL DUST." When you're an eternal force of nature, a century is not a lot of time to get over a grudge.

I write up lore notes for some friends sometimes -- always in the form of "course notes" taken by a hypothetical student at the Sharlayan Studium, Y'lhexa Zheti, who is often sarcastic and frequently a bit frazzled by her coursework. So these notes always have a certain, uh, tongue-in-cheek tone to them. And I particularly enjoyed writing up her notes on "Eorzean History 205, Lecture 7: The Black Shroud and Surroundings" -- basically, a history of Gelmorra and Gridania. She had some things to say about woodsin and the greenwrath, in particular when mulling on the agreement made at Peacegarden:

(Also, what happens if the Gridanians don't stick to the deal? If the populace of the Shroud ever stops being environmentally-conscious, will the elementals will simply obliterate them with a giant magical explosion? Don't litter, kids; your life—and that of everyone you love—could depend on it!)

(This probably gives you an idea of the tone which which I usually write "Y'lhexa"'s coursework.)

Admittedly, it was meant to focus on Gelmorra specifically, so she ends up basically hastily skipping over the second half of the lecture (including the Autumn War).