Creating a Compelling World

[Focant]

I agree, the story elements are so disconnected from the game at large. The life and story you see in the cutscenes (even then it can be a bit hard to follow) ends when the cutscene does. All the lore that's built up doesn't seem to apply during normal gameplay. As you mentioned, for the forest being so sacred and the constant threat of upsetting the wood, we seem to be able to quite freely run through it and do whatever we please. Kill anything, do anything.

The same goes too for the apparent beastmen threat. Unless the beastmen are a secret society they're the most non-existent immediate threat I've ever seen. The world's danger isn't very apparent and the lore is so... "other," that it doesn't feel like it's even really part of the game.

[Altaeiu]

I agree, the story elements are so disconnected from the game at large. The life and story you see in the cutscenes (even then it can be a bit hard to follow) ends when the cutscene does. All the lore that's built up doesn't seem to apply during normal gameplay. As you mentioned, for the forest being so sacred and the constant threat of upsetting the wood, we seem to be able to quite freely run through it and do whatever we please. Kill anything, do anything.

The same goes too for the apparent beastmen threat. Unless the beastmen are a secret society they're the most non-existent immediate threat I've ever seen. The world's danger isn't very apparent and the lore is so... "other," that it doesn't feel like it's even really part of the game.

They are kind of homeless to. Sorta meandering about in place we cant really see them. Secret, and homeless. How could you Squex! Ixali Bob has a wife and 4 chicks!

[Neffie]

They are kind of homeless to. Sorta meandering about in place we cant really see them. Secret, and homeless. How could you Squex! Ixali Bob has a wife and 4 chicks!

Honestly I didn't even know what an Ixali was until R30 Story Mission. Hell i didn't even know they existed, where as in FFXI you knew about the beastmen, they were there, you encountered them on a regular basis. IMHO i think i should have encountered at least 1 beastmen before hitting the R30 mark ^^;

[Hotohori]

When I get on the ferry, I see so many boarding in the cinematic scene but when it ends it's just me and the driver all alone on the boat usually. The airships in 11 often had passengers around which would feel more casual then an empty boat that had images of people boarding. It doesn't help how the water looks like motionless and shallow either. Only when there is a thunderstorm on the boat does it look attractive at all.

I won't say there is none in terms of environmental effects because I have walked the entire world and seen some stuff out of the ordinary at least. None of it can be interacted with but you will notice it goes on when looking closely.

Some minor stuff I happen to notice around the world are things like:

Mining carts traveling across the tracks and railways on the roof of Nanawa Mines.
Small frogs hopping around the rocks of Mun-Tuy Cellars.
Amazing huge waterfalls in Coerthas that disappear in the foggy weather and mist.
Fast flowing grade 10 rivers, looking very realistic with small rocks in them creating water lee effects.
Beautiful lily like flowers glowing at night in the small ponds around Five Hangs or Camp Tranquil.
Climbing the hills to the top points of Central Thanalan and viewing Ul'dah while a blazing sandstorm travels across (below you and not in front of you) looks amazing with the sun setting behind.
There are a lot of shrines and stuff but nothing really moving unless a lamp flicker or incense burning.

I just want more of stuff like this that makes the world seem less motionless. The towns are feeling very stationary beside players for sure. As for lore area names I read in game somewhere about Mistbeard (Mistbeard Cove) being some famous pirate around Limsa and Nanawa (Nanawa Mines) was someone related to the miners guild who discovered minerals and such in there. The name sounds very lalafell like so I wouldn't doubt it since the miner story has so many lalafell.

Yes to more beastmen too, haven't seen enough even though they sound like there should be many of them living somewhere in the world.

[VydarrTyr]

Very thoughtful and well-written post. You've done a great job of distinguishing between pretty scenery -- which I think this game has -- and a world that's alive -- which Eorzea arguably lacks.

As Hotorori and others have pointed out, there are some of those little touches in FFIXV. Skeletons spawn at night around Camp Cedarwood (or at least they used to; haven't checked in a while). Some incap moves make the mobs look different -- you can break off an aldgoat's horns; you can break a coblyn's shell, you can knock off a skeleton's head, etc. And there are some areas that have neat little touches -- the bridge across an apparently bottomless canyon in Coerthas, the apparently abandoned houses in Coerthas, the glowing tree in the Black Shroud (youtube link).

So some of those touches are there. But the fact that the details are kind of limited in number contributes to the feeling that the game was rushed to release before being fully fleshed out.

Also, you mentioned beastmen tribes. They were included in Yoshi-P's letters as something that will be implemented in the future. Link 1 and link 2. So that's something that they appear to be working on.

[Rydin]

Maybe one of the best threads I've seen thus far......
Many threads that deal with this topic... this one, however needs to be sent to the Devs as a how-to for making Eorzea real

I only disagree with one part of it....

These are only the few things I can think of right now. I know a lot of them are either impractical or, generally, not worth the effort, but there needs to be an expansion and filling of the world.

There was nothing impractical or not worth about your suggestions... in fact, I find these things necessary for an immersing game experience

[Rydin]

From a previous thread

Give me...
NPC's that walk around...
Guards that do the rounds outside Ul'dah...
Chocobo carriages that traverse the roads out in the fields....
doesn't even have to be highly interactive or anything... just make them move and do stuff.... talk to each other... make one run out of the Alchemist guild screaming with his hair on fire.... Anything.. everything..

GIVE THE NPC'S SOME LIFE

[Altaeiu]

;_; we need more funny characters!

[RemnantWolf]

I think the game could benefit from some more effects like high grass or fogy areas or at least fog covered ground. Also there could be special quests that happen randomly, like a traveling merchant asking for protection on the road or a scout needing help returning to his camp.

But I am playing the game while I write this and one of the things that is disappointing me as I write is how lifeless the water is. I am looking over the ocean and it's just a flat surface. You think it would be easy enough to make some wave meshes to have moving through their flat plain of water to give it some motion and some animations for crashing into the rocks. That would be awesome.

Also I have to agree with the camps needing to show some reason as to why they have their name. I'm near camp Bloodshore and I think it would be easy enough to change the grass texture to a red moss or something and have that be where the name came from. Camps and other such places need a reason for their name to add to the life of the game.

Also (as something that would be cool but I doubt they would ever add to the game) I wish the seasons would change. And with it not only did the world look different but paths changed. Like in the winter the water would freeze over and give access to certain places you couldn't reach in the summer but the ice would also block off several places, so that exploring changed with the seasons. Also the way NPCs and mobs acted changed, like marmots may hibernate or certain enemies become aggressive during certain times of the year. Or NPCs harvesting and gathering crops and food for the coming winter season. And with the changing seasons they add new types of weather, because two or three types of weather per area is not very realistic but if they added more weather types (like fog, snow, large storms, blizzards etc.)as well as seasonal changes the game would have a very believable world that had a good flow and feel to it.

[VydarrTyr]

But I am playing the game while I write this and one of the things that is disappointing me as I write is how lifeless the water is. I am looking over the ocean and it's just a flat surface. You think it would be easy enough to make some wave meshes to have moving through their flat plain of water to give it some motion and some animations for crashing into the rocks. That would be awesome.

This is interesting. When I see the ocean, it's definitely not flat. There are waves everywhere, and they roll up onto beaches, etc. Is it possible you're playing with lowered visual settings?