Island Reflections

[Freeflare]

So I'm about done, seem to have everything built, and while I won't say it's awful I don't understand the design goal. It's best description I've heard thus far was 'Animal Crossing as made by someone who doesn't understand Animal Crossing', and it fits. I'm sure some of you enjoy it - more power to you - And I don't mind a 'grind to get special cosmetics' gameplay loop. That's pretty standard for MMOs and can be fun (see: tribal quests, Ishgard Restoration, etc), but this one just feels worse for a few reasons.

First, the island itself is pretty, but calling it 'your island paradise' is silly. No part of my version of paradise involves an industrial park. Also, the 'cabin' is a park pavilion that's got a bed randomly stuck in it. An open wall structure on a tropical island with a bed behind a small barrier next to 2 unblinking salesrobots is not anyone's definition of 'cozy'.

Second, there's no real customization. If it's going to be 'my' island, I should be able to actually do something with it. Maybe I want to put up a few huts for visitors, or literally anything that's not robot powered factories. Getting to choose which section has factories or granaries doesn't make me feel attached to this thing.

Third, the mammets just flat out suck. FFXIV has such amazing characters and writing, and some of the best parts of Endwalker were those huge group shots that reminded you of how much you cared about those characters. This island is populated with robots that for some reason want money. They are completely forgettable, and borderline lazy design.

Fourth, why are all the items non-tradable? This would be a perfect time to have auctionable rewards - someone wants to just enjoy a pretty area and not play Eve OnIsland? They can buy the hairstyles from from someone else. Instead, you're trying to force player engagement with non-tradeable items, which is going to work briefly but the dropoff rate for feels like it's gonna be hard and fast. Also, yes I know some of the housing items can be traded, which brings the...

Fifth point, why can't you place housing items? In fact, why isn't this just more housing? It's baffling to me that the commitment to not providing enough player housing to accommodate demand is so high they'd rather design an Animal Crossing ripoff instead of just adding housing. When this was announced my immediate thought was 'well I guess I never get a house, but at least I can customize this island up, that will be fun!' NOPE! The island was the perfect opportunity to give people that option, and it was completely ignored.

A more genuine Animal Crossing experience would have been great. Build some cabins where characters you've met can visit, keep the animal pasture and farming, a selection of pretty buildings, placeable things like trees and flowers, a home design alternative, it could have been so much fun. As it is, I'm going to get the cosmetics and achievements I want from it and probably never go back.

[Iscah]

I wouldn't expect full-on placement of items as in housing, but all it needed was a few predefined slots where you could place your choice of self-crafted island furniture in your private house, using the memory that was instead spent on tracking your fortnight's schedule for your robot factory.

[Deveryn]

It's supposed to be a single player browser-style game, not Animal Crossing. People came up with all these other game comparisons and missed the mark. It's not that involved.

It's supposed to be removed from everything and not become something people farm endlessly for gil. That's the reason all the good items aren't tradeable. It's super easy content that everyone can do anyway.

Housing: There are technical limits to what you can do in such a massive area. That's why it's as static as it is. It's not supposed to be housing. They said that from the start. It's a minigame space. Despite limitations, it's a nice looking one at that.

[NekoMataMata]

It's supposed to be a single player browser-style game, not Animal Crossing. People came up with all these other game comparisons and missed the mark. It's not that involved.

It's supposed to be removed from everything and not become something people farm endlessly for gil. That's the reason all the good items aren't tradeable. It's super easy content that everyone can do anyway.

Housing: There are technical limits to what you can do in such a massive area. That's why it's as static as it is. It's not supposed to be housing. They said that from the start. It's a minigame space. Despite limitations, it's a nice looking one at that.

People make all these comparisons because they have no idea what IS is really supposed to be. And truth be told, neither do the devs.

So far the only thing that it's really proven to be is a daily with small bits of unlockable content that isn't connected to anything else in the game. Or maybe I should just call it busy work.

We can't customize it much and apparently it's not supposed to be super customizable. There's not a whole lot to do there once you get everything in order either. I want to know what was envisioned for IS because I don't really feel like it's much.

[Deveryn]

People make all these comparisons because they have no idea what IS is really supposed to be. And truth be told, neither do the devs.

So far the only thing that it's really proven to be is a daily with small bits of unlockable content that isn't connected to anything else in the game. Or maybe I should just call it busy work.

We can't customize it much and apparently it's not supposed to be super customizable. There's not a whole lot to do there once you get everything in order either. I want to know what was envisioned for IS because I don't really feel like it's much.

Just because people can't quite grasp it doesn't mean the devs didn't know what they had in mind.

Everything you're saying (minus the busy work comment) is basically how they described it would be. It's yet another minigame.

No, there's not a whole lot to do and that's part of the point. They weren't trying to make something that would keep you locked away for hours, like WoW Garrison apparently did. Between your adventuring and crafting or whatever, you could just pop in and pop out. A few weeks later, you get to claim some glam and other goodies. You barely need to do much to get these things and that's the most refreshing part of this experience.

This isn't something new either. The concept runs parallel with Gold Saucer, where you have a bunch of cosmetic rewards you get from playing any number of games at your leisure.

[Rufalus]

...calling it 'your island paradise' is silly. No part of my version of paradise involves an industrial park. Also, the 'cabin' is a park pavilion that's got a bed randomly stuck in it. An open wall structure on a tropical island with a bed behind a small barrier next to 2 unblinking salesrobots is not anyone's definition of 'cozy'.

I've been calling it prison island. The active gameplay is hitting rocks and chopping wood, accomplished by.. clicking things. I would have preferred some kind of minigames with elements of fun. The clicking things endlessly drains on your soul a bit. The only other mechanic outside of that is just waiting for things to happen, meaning not playing.

Yes the 'cozy cabin' is basically a shop, similar to what can be found all over the game. This zone doesn't seem much more personal than the rest of the game apart from being able to pick which animals are in the pen and a few basic style options.

I want to try being a bit more positive again so... I like that the island exists at least. It's a worthwhile concept and they've put some work into it. I find the ramp up to unlocking things horrible and I'm not quite done yet, but it's starting to get a bit more interesting now that I have a few features going.

Personalisation really is the key to making this type of content valuable. The editor needs to be powerful enough that you can express your creativity, like housing, and make a unique area that friends have a reason to visit either to relax or get ideas for their own islands.

[Shibi]

....I would have preferred some kind of minigames....

I have to admit, first time I read this my head saw the word "migraine" instead of "minigames"

Anyway, carry on.

[Rufalus]

I have to admit, first time I read this my head saw the word "migraine" instead of "minigames"

Anyway, carry on.

hehe MMO could mean massive migraines online

[sagacious]

Didn't they say this is just the beginning and feedback will be used in the next upgrades?

[Rufalus]

Didn't they say this is just the beginning and feedback will be used in the next upgrades?

Yeah. I mean it can only get better as they add some more layers to it, so there's that. I think the first impressions are also quite important though. I can imagine a lot of people quitting in the early phases. I feel like I got punished a bit for playing it casually instead of reading guides because I blew all the currency that the early quests give you on the rewards in the cabin shop, not knowing I would need that same currency to make island progress. That delayed me being able to effectively earn currency myself, then mammets took mandatory days off even though they are mammets. I feel like things need to open up faster so that the first impressions aren't so dire. It's not me wanting all the rewards asap, it's just that the mechanics feel like they're pushing you away before you've seen anything engaging to hook you in.

Also I don't think the rare animal spawns are a very good system. Time and weather requirements are another thing that will push people to guides in order to learn and optimize. I'd prefer them to be full rng so that unexpected things can happen no matter what time I'm playing, making it more interesting to explore the island. Just let me look around and be surprised to discover rare animals or rare items rather than it being a routine thing done on a schedule that you can learn from a spreadsheet.