An Eorzea that is more 'alive' and dynamic. - A suggestion for the future of Eorzea

[Nahaara]

I wasn't underestimating their danger, just pondering their relevance.

How about a compromise then? Flaming sticks!

[solracht]

If we're talking about immersion I'd like it if they focused on Guildleves, to be honest. They're content you do daily, and they feel really random and lame the way they are, as far as immersion, "life" or story goes.

I made a thread about this in the Guildleve forums after reading this thread: http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/t...ugh-Guildleves

Feel free to tear the ideas down.

Posting the link here because it's probably better than writing another wall of text which is going to say the same things, but basically by creating the right NPC/building/object context for Guildleves (which is already mentioned by the game, it just doesn't exist), you take care of two problems:
-Guildleves feeling seemingly random
-The world having no interesting landmarks and a lot of repetitive areas

It's not something I want them to do as soon as possible (there are more important matters at hand), but it's something I'd like for them to do someday.

[gifthorse]

How about a compromise then? Flaming sticks!

now we are getting somewhere...

[KeyserSoze]

... how revolutionary... /sarcasm

You really don't get it, do you? We don't need revolutionary at this point. We need tried and proven formulas to at least form the backbone of this game, and give players a reason to play in the meantime.

I'm not trying to re-invent the wheel. I'm just pointing out to the dev team, my personal opinion on obvious fixes I would like to see implemented first. How does the expression go? "If ain't broke, don't fix it." These methods obviously helped XI be a successful game, and I believe it can do the same for XIV.

[gifthorse]

You really don't get it, do you? We don't need revolutionary at this point. We need tried and proven formulas to at least form the backbone of this game, and give players a reason to play in the meantime.

I'm not trying to re-invent the wheel. I'm just pointing out to the dev team, my personal opinion on obvious fixes I would like to see implemented first. How does the expression go? "If ain't broke, don't fix it." These methods obviously helped XI be a successful game, and I believe it can do the same for XIV.

While we appreciate your platitudes, everything you mentioned was more or less features the development team are already intending to implement, and most of which won't help make the world feel more alive nor dynamic, but perhaps only the reverse. Static quests, for example, although contributing to the lore of the world, are somewhat dead and static compared to quests which can change in response to changes in the world.

And if such additions are as obvious as you claim them to be, then I'm sure the development team won't overlook them. I think the suggestions in this thread should be aimed toward things the development team might forget to implement or decide not to implment. In the case of dynamic quests, it is just so much easier for them to make static quests, but perhaps not so interesting for the players.

[Kilta_Firelotus]

oblivion uses raident AI and it can be deadly in the wrong hands. Like in oblivion npc can steal amd kill each other. I ran into everyone in the market area in the large city killing each other. XD was uh.. interesting.

But ya that does make a game more lively so is chat animations similar to the npcs for side quests, 1 side quest had an npc appear to talk not in a cs. At least time lip movememt not some moving doll that just stand and stares w/o moving anything.....

[KeyserSoze]

Sadly, they did overlook these things. Initially in development, then in alpha, and finally in beta. The fact that we still don't have some of these features really makes me wonder what kind of a game plan the original development team had. I think they tried entirely too hard to be different, and didn't focus and incorporate what made XI (which this is modeled after, and target audience), successful.

You can say, for arguments sake, the game's release was rushed, after all. It just seems the prioritizing of the basic elements/core of the game were not ordered correctly. Alas, I am not a game developer, so what do I know? I just call it like I see it.

More than anything I want to have moments in this game that I will remember for a very, very long time. That is what stands out most to me about FFXI. It had flavor. These "memorable moments" were usually heavily influenced by the immersion of the game world. Be it a hard core instanced battle, trekking up a mountain with an alliance till kill a Wyrm, or your first steps in Sky and Sea, FFXI was chalk FULL of memorable moments.

[gifthorse]

Sadly, they did overlook these things. Initially in development, then in alpha, and finally in beta. The fact that we still don't have some of these features really makes me wonder what kind of a game plan the original development team had. I think they tried entirely too hard to be different, and didn't focus and incorporate what made XI (which this is modeled after, and target audience), successful.

You can say, for arguments sake, the game's release was rushed, after all. It just seems the prioritizing of the basic elements/core of the game were not ordered correctly. Alas, I am not a game developer, so what do I know? I just call it like I see it.

More than anything I want to have moments in this game that I will remember for a very, very long time. That is what stands out most to me about FFXI. It had flavor. These "memorable moments" were usually heavily influenced by the immersion of the game world. Be it a hard core instanced battle, trekking up a mountain with an alliance till kill a Wyrm, or your first steps in Sky and Sea, FFXI was chalk FULL of memorable moments.

Well basically you just asked for hundreds of quests, quest hubs, chocobos, more zones, and improvements to existing systems. And it's kind of expected that SE will implement such things in time. The small hamlets already exist on the fringes of the current zones, with guilds and NPCs just waiting to have something to do. So I am sure SE intends to utilise them.

I must give you credit for your minigame suggestion, and I hope we get something of the sort. But I'm just saying, the things you suggested were already expected to come to FFXIV, and dare I say they were rather uninspiring suggestions at that.

I think memorable moments can be created by a myriad of things not typically exclusive to hundred of quests and suchlike things.

[Munba]

Here is something i posted time ago about beast tribes and enemies and maybe this could belongs here (sorry for wot):

___________________________
Premise: communication with these tribes could be possibile through special sidequest (with several chains) to learn their languages. A different sidequest for every tribe language.

* Friends and Haters
Initially some tribes could be hostile but you could make some of them (not all of course) friendly to you. To make them friendly:
- sidequests to help them,
- offer them some type of gift/item (through Parley or a different version of it),
- kill the tribe they hate.

Some could be neutral or friendly initially but you could bring them to hate you, if:
- kill (many times) some particular animal/mob they venerate (btw that mob shouldn't be a very important resource for the player and maybe every time you kill one, a text-information about your action should be displayed -example: "you killed a monster sacred to >name tribe<"),
- help other tribes they hate.

Some of them could become your friends in battles. You could 'summon/call' them for a limited amount of time. Or make one of them in a 'temporary' companion in a particular area only (near where he lives for example). But, of course, if you call a beastman while there is another in battle and this is from another tribe it hates, they could fight eachother.


* Deal with them
I noticed there are a sort of beastmen currencies in game already, so you could:
- make deals with some of them (friendly or neutral ones): for example to buy some items by specific NPC-beastmen. Some could be travellers/merchants around the world. Some could have their huts/caves as home, in specific zones (seen a sort of it in the Gridania forest -Silph tribe hut?-).
- make barters with some type of goods with them (they could ask you some particular items/goods around the area of another tribes they can't reach).


* Home sweet home
They should have their homes. Villages or camps around the world. Or maybe a little main 'city' ('big village' is more appropriate). What you could find inside (you can access it if you are a friend of course):
- facilities to help in a particular crafting,
- unique spots to fish/harvest/mine particular stuff,
- some of them could teach you some 'general/enviromental' abilities/traits,
- unique shops.
- mini-games (always appreciated).


* Misc
- Some of the tribes could prefer to go around only during the night time (but you always could find few of them around on daylight time). Their home is underground.
- all tribes should hunt other animals/monsters for their survival (but some could be vegetarian only).
- the most ferocious tribes (those is impossible to become friends) could attack cities and villages (with the help of particular NMs too) randomly, but not often. And the possibility to conquest their main village too (if any) with a massive players attack.

And regard a possibile Hamlet Defence, mentioned in a past devs. post in Lodestone, i'd like to see some kind of "conquest" alike method with territorial defence against evil beast tribes, more expanded and deep than the FF11 one. For example tribes could roaming with patrols in some areas if they conquest the region or part of it. And if players leave them without attacking for awhile, they could build some fortications as well (more you leave them stay there, more they become stronger). In that case they'll build their Hamlets you'll have to conquest to regain the territory.

What could happen during the period of conquest,

If the territory is in Players hands:
- players will have available some sort of transpostations (airships, caravans, etc.) and experience/sp bonus in that specific area.
- players can make Hamlet. Possibility to increase the fortifications and the strenght of it, by giving specific items to a specific Hamlet NPC in place (with little rewards too).

If the territory is in Beastmen hands:
- players benefits mentioned above are cancelled (players could re-conquest also every single transportation point).
- beast tribe makes patrols in the area and Hamlets (more time passes, more the hamlet will become difficult to conquest).
- specific NMs appear in the area (but not 'useful' NMs for players if not players could be pushed to leave conquest the area by Beastmen only to kill those NMs eheh).


Instead, about enemies distribution, i think one thing to do is that every monster should be in its right habitat as well. Some mobs aren't now. For example i saw a Toxic Toad in a clean pond in Coerthas.. that is a bit strange. Hope when these adjustments will be made, a check about these details will be made too.

And it would be nice adding some big and rare monsters that appear sometimes and randomly in a, every time different, place around the world (or it could roam through different zones and maybe it also could have a hidden hideout to rest, you can find with some hints). Like a flying dragon that approaches near a lake or a giant aquatic creature we can see emerges on the ocean horizon.
____________

[KeyserSoze]

Well basically you just asked for hundreds of quests, quest hubs, chocobos, more zones, and improvements to existing systems. And it's kind of expected that SE will implement such things in time. The small hamlets already exist on the fringes of the current zones, with guilds and NPCs just waiting to have something to do. So I am sure SE intends to utilise them.

I must give you credit for your minigame suggestion, and I hope we get something of the sort. But I'm just saying, the things you suggested were already expected to come to FFXIV, and dare I say they were rather uninspiring suggestions at that.

I think memorable moments can be created by a myriad of things not typically exclusive to hundred of quests and suchlike things.

That very simple list I posted was not meant to be imaginative, it was meant to be me prioritizing the basic elements I would like to see implemented FIRST. These are the things that I believe will make the game world more alive, without changing too much of anything else.

I'm sure I could sit here for hours and think of new, creative ways to accomplish this, but at this point I just want the fundamentals of what I think this game should be. SE have the outlines drawn already, they just need to color them in.

As far as memorable moments go, my list wasn't a direct fix to this at all. This is ideally what kind of experience and immersion I want in the end. After the polish, if you will. I want to be forced through stress-inducing scenarios that will leave me in awe and fill me with a sense of accomplishment once I complete them. Some pretty cut scenes and epic music would always be welcome.