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

[Kallera]

Some suggestions about music and sound effects,

- some 'far' parts of an area/region (maybe some corners of the map) should have no music and only sound effects, like to say that place is so far from the city and so desolated that also the music doesn't reach it.

- villages should have a music theme, maybe one per region (ex. Aleport and Winport = same music) ...or also one for all.

- La Noscea region needs some extra sound effects during the night (during the day there are seagull sounds, so it's ok), because now we can hear only the wind sometimes and the place seems not to have night life. Because the region is blowy and there aren't so many trees (so i don't think there could be owls around), some 'single' cricket sounds here and there could be good to add. Btw also during the night we could hear some sparse seagulls near the coast.

- Adventures Guilds should have some 'tavern sounds', like glasses sound, voices 'buzz' and stuff.

- and, like said in a previous post, volume music should be more 'subtle' in the night. So maybe the system could lower the music volume automatically during the night time (8pm-6am) so to emphasize the sound effects and the quiet in that period.

The pub theme from tsugunai. Its perfect

[Munba]

I'd add also the other topic OP from Cairdeas here, to put all in one topic and not forget nice ideas:
http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/t...eem-more-alive.

Environmental Effects that make the game world seem more alive.

One of the things I've been seeing a few people complain about in a few different threads is how "Boring" the game world seems in some areas. So i just wanted to take the time to see if we could come up with Ideas of small simple to implement Elements that would make the game world seem more real.


1. Non-Combat Wildlife / urban animals:
What I mean is wildlife that doesn't follow the same rules as normal Monsters in the game. This is things like small snakes, lizards, birds, insects, rodents, etc that are normally too small to notice as a threat to players, not targetable, and are simply there to have things appear to move about in lifelike manners. With the recent changes to how Monsters are sized this makes more sense. The reason we are culling large numbers of Marmots is because they have gotten so big that they are most likely destroying crops etcs. While a few mice hanging out in the Culinary Guild might be pets of the guild members who feed them cheese. You could even have instances where one of them might cut a piece of cheese off and walk over, feed a small group of mice then have the mice roam around carrying the cheese about. Every now and then stopping to eat the cheese.

Dogs running around cities with kids chasing them. Cats hanging out on roof tops, stalking the mice hanging out in the Culinary Guild.

Birds flying through cities, hamlets, and world areas. Birds that come and fitter about your head when you get to close to their nest in a tree in Gridania.

Owls hanging out in trees at night and disappearing during the day.

Snakes randomly slithering across pathways in the forest.

Chocobos roaming the wild off in edges of the world players can see but can not reach normally

Fish, whales, dolphins, and other marine life swimming about near the ferry, jumping out and splashing every now and then. Coming close to shore and doing the same.


2. Plantlife that "interacts" with the player and the game world.

The best example I can use to describe this is the scene from Avatar where JAKE SULLY goes about touching plants and they glow, snap open or closed, etc.

But also we need plants that seem to move on their own, spitting seeds and pollen into the air that floats about.

3. Non-Weather Based Weather Effects...

This is hard to really describe. But these are normally considered weather phenomena. The main one is Heat Waves and Mirages in the desert areas. Dust in the sky from wind blowing sand everywhere. Dust Storms etc.

Tornado. I'd love to see Tornadoes.

Comments added by other users:

fireflies at night and pigeons in some city plazas ground that fly away when you approach them.

[Akira_Tenshi]

You should see the cities in Guild Wars 2, NPCS walking around living their lives having conversations with each other. It all just seems so alive. It makes FF XIV look really bad.

[Delmontyb]

I would love to see NPCs help you in a fight if you run back to camp and are chanced by a monster, then guards at camp should react to the mob and take it down. Of course you would get an sp/xp cut, or none at all, but it would at least give me the feeling that the guards are there and will do their job if needed.

[Teknoman]

Agree with Munba and Cairdeas on both points.

[Nuru]

I like this idea very much. It does seem too stable in its current state. In other MMORPGs, there are friendly mobs that wonder fields and open towns.

Now, not to rip off of any other MMORPG, it would be cool to have something like the Bunnies from FFXII, just run away from you at incredible speeds if you get too close. Trying to take a picture of them would be a pain. lol

Some wildlife like that could do wonders.

[Eustass_Kidd]

Some ideas, people might have already posted them, but I am too lazy to see 20 pages of responses, on that BTW, why not make a compilation of all the ideas in one single post, so people can see them all together and comment or suggest new ones. This will also show SE what people think will help making Eorzea a better world.

*** Note. For the Trolls... Some of the ideas might be from other games, i dont claim the ideas been mine.

In genereal for all Cities / Towns
* Town Criers - Adding "Town Criers" with different kind of news, like weathers in different near by areas, time arrivals of future transportation methods "Ferry/Airships arrival/departure times", reminder of the arrival of new leves(reset timers), special leves or Notorious Monsters appearance(the big type of NMs) etc. Lots of things you can do here, the main point of this is having the character moving thru the city, giving the announcements and notifying people of information that might concern them.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Town_crier

* Have crafting NPCs on the guilds go to restock to the merchants from time to time. They can be crafting indefinitely can they?

* Have messenger boys coming and going to the different city guilds and into the adventurers guild. Making the idea that they are coming and going with commendations and items from the quest people complete. It would also be cool to have them tip you on what leves they remember been available.

* Traffic should be reflected by the in game time of day. Heavy traffic on the streets during the day, as in the shopping areas, while night should bring less people on the street but more in the pubs or cities gathering places.

* Make wondering merchants, which would have exclusive items, not obtainable on any other NPCs.

* Have the guilds held different contests for rare/ex items, guild memberships(free crafting bonus for determined amount of time), guild marks, recipes, etc.

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I will posts more ideas for the creatures and outsides in a later post.

[Sykora727]

I'd also like to see more evidence of an actual government. Soldiers, aristocracy etc. There really doesn't appear to be much political organization. There are only a few guards here and there. I'd like to see more evidence like those galleons in Limsa that idly sit by. Be great to see military doing firing drills during ferry rides, or soldiers walking around, greater shops that you can unlock to buy really fancy or special armor/clothes etc.

Also, I'd like to see some sort of underground collective mercenary guild where you can get the Final Fantasy clothes and armor. Why should my armor look the same as the guards' in Ul'dah? I'm a mercenary, of course I'll have comfortable and cool customized gear! And if my armor did resemble military gear it's only because I'm an ex-soldier who still hung onto the armor, but it's not a different color or something.

[Munba]

Nice ideas there guys and gals.


Some other ideas about Flora elements to put possibly:

- leaves falling from the trees (and if near a lake, remaining on the surface of the water for awhile).

- some kind of mushrooms around that grow up or appear only after rain (and remain for a period of time.. and maybe in that time could be possible to harvest there to obtain special mushrooms item for cooking).

- particular plants or flowers glowing during the night only.

- some seaweeds on the water surface on the shore (not in every beach though).

- some dandelions around that when you walk in them, they fly away.

[h2o]

- leaves falling from the trees
- some kind of mushrooms around that grow up or appear only after rain
- particular plants or flowers glowing during the night only.
- some dandelions around that when you walk in them, they fly away.

That could be ... really well. CZ rains not only for decorations and i wonna see more... like at the night you can find specific things; after night rain you see glowing mushrooms; campfire and enemy tribes around it ...