Island Reflections

[Iyrnthota]

I'm of the opinion that keeping expectations low keeps the disappointment at bay, but this whole thing actually says a lot about how ridiculously high some people's expectations are. Take a good look at some of the other forum topics and the things people ask for with little to no regard or knowledge of what can actually be done. Yoshi knows the audience and that's why he came out and said people should temper their expectations.

I do wonder if the whole thing could have been avoided if instead of telling us basically nothing, then asking we temper expectations, they instead did a deep dive on the new features so we knew exactly what to expect.

[Deveryn]

I do wonder if the whole thing could have been avoided if instead of telling us basically nothing, then asking we temper expectations, they instead did a deep dive on the new features so we knew exactly what to expect.

They didn't tell us nothing. They told us everything, but people didn't want to believe it. No deep dive was needed because everything is relatively plain and simple.

- Build various facilities (including a customizable base of operations) on their island,
- Gather materials from nature, which are island-specific and will take up separate inventory space,
- Craft tools from materials to become more efficient in harvesting,
- Create handicrafts to sell for island-specific currency and rewards, and
- Unlock flying for the map through island progression

Media sites / content creators are to blame for talking about things like Genshin Impact, Stardew Valley, Animal Crossing and Harvest Moon.

No one stopped to think how they could possibly (not) cram all that gameplay from the other games into FFXIV. How does any of that translate into the gaming environment of FFXIV? For me (and others), it screamed "mini-game" and nothing more.

[Iyrnthota]

They didn't tell us nothing. They told us everything, but people didn't want to believe it. No deep dive was needed because everything is relatively plain and simple.

- Build various facilities (including a customizable base of operations) on their island,
- Gather materials from nature, which are island-specific and will take up separate inventory space,
- Craft tools from materials to become more efficient in harvesting,
- Create handicrafts to sell for island-specific currency and rewards, and
- Unlock flying for the map through island progression

Media sites / content creators are to blame for talking about things like Genshin Impact, Stardew Valley, Animal Crossing and Harvest Moon.

No one stopped to think how they could possibly (not) cram all that gameplay from the other games into FFXIV. How does any of that translate into the gaming environment of FFXIV? For me (and others), it screamed "mini-game" and nothing more.

Such things were mentioned but any explaination was shallow and brief, leaving plenty of room for interpretation. They wanted us to temper expectations, but themselves did nothing to temper them.

[SamSmoot]

I can't even stand being inside the shop. My camera is blocked by beams, walls, whatever constantly. I spend more time adjusting my camera to see my character than anything. Much better outside. I kind of wish there was a Runescape view option for buildings, where the top disappears, giving you an unobstructed view.

[Adamantini]

I confess that I only went to get level 2 on this island today, and I only feel like messing with it when I have nothing else to do. What I can say so far is:

- I'm not expecting anything too surprising, as I saw a lot of people complaining and the developers themselves said not to expect too much.

- Robots barely exist and I'm already wondering who thought that robots on a tropical island would be cool. My friends said they take 2 days off or something like that, and then I wonder "if that's the case, why didn't they put something that would go more with the tropical island setting instead of robots?"

- I see everyone saying they need to do daily jobs on the island, like petting and feeding the animals, and that worries me. If I need to take some time off playing, what happens? Will all the rare animals I caught go away?

- Not being able to customize anything on my island gives me zero desire to see it level 10. At the end it's not really mine, it's a lobby like everyone else's.

- So far, I've only walked and clicked on things. I really hope that at some point I'm going to do something more fun than go to a rock, pick up the rock, go to another rock, pick up the rock, repeat

[sagacious]

When everyone goes around sporting a new "shiny-chrome-chopper" don't complain.

[Krotoan]

- I see everyone saying they need to do daily jobs on the island, like petting and feeding the animals, and that worries me. If I need to take some time off playing, what happens? Will all the rare animals I caught go away?

You can set most "daily" tasks to automate until a certain amount of resources are gathered or feed/seed/currency runs out. Seems to be a couple weeks worth. Animals/plants that are ignored will not die/leave/runaway. Animals will drop to the lowest temperament and stay there and plants will simply cease growing. You can pick up sort of where you left off if life calls you away and it doesn't actually require daily interaction.

- So far, I've only walked and clicked on things. I really hope that at some point I'm going to do something more fun than go to a rock, pick up the rock, go to another rock, pick up the rock, repeat

mmm... howabout clicking on animals?

It really doesn't get a whole lot deeper. It's clicking on things and planning out chains of production.

[Deveryn]

I confess that I only went to get level 2 on this island today, and I only feel like messing with it when I have nothing else to do. What I can say so far is:

- I'm not expecting anything too surprising, as I saw a lot of people complaining and the developers themselves said not to expect too much.

- Robots barely exist and I'm already wondering who thought that robots on a tropical island would be cool. My friends said they take 2 days off or something like that, and then I wonder "if that's the case, why didn't they put something that would go more with the tropical island setting instead of robots?"

- I see everyone saying they need to do daily jobs on the island, like petting and feeding the animals, and that worries me. If I need to take some time off playing, what happens? Will all the rare animals I caught go away?

- Not being able to customize anything on my island gives me zero desire to see it level 10. At the end it's not really mine, it's a lobby like everyone else's.

- So far, I've only walked and clicked on things. I really hope that at some point I'm going to do something more fun than go to a rock, pick up the rock, go to another rock, pick up the rock, repeat

I don't know what depth were you hoping for with something that didn't require your gathering skills.

[Adamantini]

(...)Animals/plants that are ignored will not die/leave/runaway. Animals will drop to the lowest temperament and stay there and plants will simply cease growing. You can pick up sort of where you left off if life calls you away and it doesn't actually require daily interaction.

Hmm, this is interesting. Thanks for the information. I was worried about taking a break from the game, and when I come back, not having the rare animals I caught

It really doesn't get a whole lot deeper. It's clicking on things and planning out chains of production.

I don't know what depth were you hoping for with something that didn't require your gathering skills.

this is really disappointing. A minigame to catch the animals, as we have in Black Desert, or something simple, like "aiming" a pokeball at a pokemon (in pokemon go), would already make things less RNG and more interesting. It's a little boring to click on the animal and hope the RNG works in your favor.

A minigame for fishing, they made such a good one for spearfishing, they have the ability to do something for fishing, too. That would be another interesting activity.

I don't know how to make resource gathering more exciting than just clicking, but what if we had rare items on the island that we could put on display? Extremely hard-to-find items that could be found all over your island at any time, so we didn't have websites telling you where they spawn and when they spawn. This would make exploration a little more exciting, as collectors would have the chance to find something rare.

I believe that if we could also have the visit of the Sions, who randomly appear on the island, doing silly things around, it would also be an interesting addition.

[TheSuperior]

I believe that if we could also have the visit of the Sions, who randomly appear on the island, doing silly things around, it would also be an interesting addition.

If Urianger came to my island then they better write him out of the story because he's never going to leave.