Linear, linear, linear

[thevanguard]

Wow that's a bold opinion. I felt that a lot of the changes that came with HW were good ones and that the expac was a huge step up from ARR overall.

HW started the trend of horrible open world design and has probably the worst open world maps in this game. Azys Lla, half of Sea of Clouds, half of Dravanian Forelands, basically the entire Coerthan West; they all are incredibly empty and pointless, and many are just huge squares.

HW maps are practically just ARR maps except you stretch the points of interest far apart and color the void with AI-generated terrain paint. All the subsequent expansions are no different. I would say it's the worst open world maps I've ever played but that would be a lie because there's Assassin's Creed Valhalla.

There is literally more lore, ambient NPCs, points of interest packed in an ARR map vs. HW despite the HW one being like four times larger or something. ARR maps feel like places people lived in and engaged with (like hot springs, empty huts, cerulean pipe lines). HW maps feel like going to Antarctica and being disappointed it's literally just a blank void.

If they can't fill the open world with enough points of interest just make the map smaller and denser and spend more resources on making interesting terrain (like Eureka Pagos)

[Atelier-Bagur]

HW started the trend of horrible open world design and has probably the worst open world maps in this game. Azys Lla, half of Sea of Clouds, half of Dravanian Forelands, basically the entire Coerthan West; they all are incredibly empty and pointless, and many are just huge squares.

HW maps are practically just ARR maps except you stretch the points of interest far apart and color the void with AI-generated terrain paint. All the subsequent expansions are no different. I would say it's the worst open world maps I've ever played but that would be a lie because there's Assassin's Creed Valhalla.

There is literally more lore, ambient NPCs, points of interest packed in an ARR map vs. HW despite the HW one being like four times larger or something. ARR maps feel like places people lived in and engaged with (like hot springs, empty huts, cerulean pipe lines). HW maps feel like going to Antarctica and being disappointed it's literally just a blank void.

If they can't fill the open world with enough points of interest just make the map smaller and denser and spend more resources on making interesting terrain (like Eureka Pagos)

Ugh dont get me started on how annoying it was doing the HW tribal quests. Yeah good idea to spread the aetherytes as inconvenient as we can and having one of its zones aetheryte-less forcing you to warp to Idyllshire and having yourself walk out to the zone.

Sorry fam but HW zones takes the cake for having the worst zone designs, even if the set dressing is nice like Sea of Clouds and Azys Lla

[Absurdity]

ARR maps feel like places people lived in and engaged with (like hot springs, empty huts, cerulean pipe lines). HW maps feel like going to Antarctica and being disappointed it's literally just a blank void.

If they can't fill the open world with enough points of interest just make the map smaller and denser and spend more resources on making interesting terrain (like Eureka Pagos)

This.


It's why I honestly wasn't a fan when they added flying to the ARR zones, all that really did is that people don't even see how much more detail those zones have compared to anything that came after.
Not like it took very long to get around the maps in the first place after you got the riding maps.

[kpxmanifesto]

HW started the trend of horrible open world design and has probably the worst open world maps in this game. Azys Lla, half of Sea of Clouds, half of Dravanian Forelands, basically the entire Coerthan West; they all are incredibly empty and pointless, and many are just huge squares.

HW maps are practically just ARR maps except you stretch the points of interest far apart and color the void with AI-generated terrain paint. All the subsequent expansions are no different. I would say it's the worst open world maps I've ever played but that would be a lie because there's Assassin's Creed Valhalla.

There is literally more lore, ambient NPCs, points of interest packed in an ARR map vs. HW despite the HW one being like four times larger or something. ARR maps feel like places people lived in and engaged with (like hot springs, empty huts, cerulean pipe lines). HW maps feel like going to Antarctica and being disappointed it's literally just a blank void.

If they can't fill the open world with enough points of interest just make the map smaller and denser and spend more resources on making interesting terrain (like Eureka Pagos)

Man, I felt the complete opposite. I really liked flying around the vast, undiscovered, and unchecked wilderness. I got explorer on an expedition type vibes. But that's just me though.

[R041]

Man, I felt the complete opposite. I really liked flying around the vast, undiscovered, and unchecked wilderness. I got explorer on an expedition type vibes. But that's just me though.

Probably because difference is refreshing, until you realize how much you lose because of it. Grass is always greener or something like that.

[Shurrikhan]

Probably because difference is refreshing, until you realize how much you lose because of it. Grass is always greener or something like that.

But, what was actually lost, unless one considers any additional time taken in traversing the terrain as an absolute downside?

Even at the worst count, HW+ zones have (at least) as many features per zone as do ARR zones. They just also happen to have more space between them, which can come with advantages is building an aesthetic and making the zone seem more realistic.

[R041]

But, what was actually lost, unless one considers any additional time taken in traversing the terrain as an absolute downside?

Even at the worst count, HW+ zones have (at least) as many features per zone as do ARR zones. They just also happen to have more space between them, which can come with advantages is building an aesthetic and making the zone seem more realistic.

The easiest answer to that is density allows more casual player interaction. The second obvious one is you no longer appreciate the environment because you're always flying around.

I've made more friends from casually doing things in open world ARR than in HW-EW.

I think ARR had better overall player distribution through the world, where everything HW+ was just linear with almost no backtracking the whole way.

Also real doesn't equate fun. Never has. It was done just to satiate flying as a mechanic, and probably even reduce server resource load by limiting the amount of passive player interaction.

[CelestiCer]

Y-you know w-what made the game more linear for me? ... the removal of " Kaiten " !! big nods!!

[Absurdity]

But, what was actually lost, unless one considers any additional time taken in traversing the terrain as an absolute downside?

Even at the worst count, HW+ zones have (at least) as many features per zone as do ARR zones. They just also happen to have more space between them, which can come with advantages is building an aesthetic and making the zone seem more realistic.

Detail in zones, be that environment clutter, points of interest or landmarks.

I guess you could also say the newer zones lost "immersion", as limited as it already is in XIV, because after ARR you rarely ever find random NPCs going about their day or even buildings that you can enter anymore.

[PercibelTheren]

I think a step in the right direction towards making players spend more time in the open world of XIV would be to allow the gathering node detecting skills to be on no matter the job. I was used to this being the case in Rift way back when I played that and I still miss it immensely. Traveling from point A to point B felt a lot less like wasting my time when I could gather a plant for my potions here and mine some ore for weapons there. It felt rewarding to walk places instead of teleporting because there was always stuff to find along the way. I have been playing some Genshin Impact and I feel like the same applies there as well. There are a few select things you can only gather if you have a specific element/weapon character active, but you can still SEE that the thing is there. In XIV, unless you constantly have a gathering node map open or you have memorized the gathering spots, you have no clue.

The gathering nodes aren't exactly obvious, either. Sure, you gather wood from trees (mostly), but they look the exact same as all the other trees in the area. You can't look at the area and go "Oh hey! These are the flowers I need for X potion, let me pick them up!" because that one bush has 5 different gathering drops and you have no way of knowing unless your Botanist is active. Unfortunately, it's too late to ask them to change this because they would have to overhaul the entire game, but one can dream, right?