How to make a game without requiring copy-pasta'd terrain.

[gifthorse]

large worlds take time to traverse. Imagine spanding 3 hours to get from point a to pint b using 5 different travel methods. ppl would quit. I like morrowwind and oblivions take. The world feels larger. But in truth isn't.

Weren't you in another thread saying that you liked taking your time in MMOs? If you want to take your time, then large game worlds are better than large grinds, amirite?

Copy and pasting happens in all games. It would take to much time and space to create a large enough world w/o it. Its just alot of ppl in ffxiv, due to lack of stuff to do, overly analyzed the world around them and noticed or felt they saw copy and pasting. As I said I didn't notice it in any vids. Prob cuz I wasn't looking for it.

If you look for things in games you will see them. Like graphical errors/ bugs. Like a shadow that is off, or a rock not fully on the enviroment. Abd it will start to annoy you.

You do notice copy-paste in game, even if you don't look for it. I was skeptical at first too about copy-paste, because I never noticed it in closed beta. For example, if you travel through La Noscea, it's not very prevalent. But if you travel between the docks from La Noscea to Ul'dah, then you do start to notice it. You ascend the exact same slope/hill/valley layout twice, almost consecutively. It's weird because you begin to ask yourself "am I running in circles?". It's the exact same series of objects, one after the other.

Then you travel to Broken Water and notice that the chasm you cross is exactly the same one you saw on the way to Blue Fog.

Then you travel to The Black Shroud and notice that there are only about three repeating structures the whole way between the entrace to the Black Shroud and Gridania. If you travel further into the forest, you do begin to find some nice things, but still, such discoveries are totally compromised by a series of repeating identical structures in between the nice areas.

I think the worst offender of copy-paste design is The Black Shroud, of all the zones. Meanwhile, Thanalan and La Noscea can be endured in the state they are in presently, although ideally the placement of a few sections should be looked into.

All in all, I think Belgianrofl brings up a good point about procedurally generated areas. I mean, the reason FFXIV is so rampant with repeating structures is purely because SE were trying to conserve space. You can't deny that the zones are far from optimal. So there has to be a solution that optimises on quality of landscapes and also on data conservation, and FFXIV obviously hasn't found that optimal state yet.

I think some combination of procedurally generated areas and the present system which uses repeated "doodads" might be in order. Otherwise, they will need to add more "doodads" to the equation, as the current ones do not suffice to give the illusion of an authentic game world.

Perhaps giving players freedom to place their own houses or other structures onto the expansive maps might also alleviate the copy-pasta issue.