FFXIV Random Complaint Thread: Look forward to it

[Niiro]

I think the general consensus is that it's too big of a swing in the other direction.

XI had too many arbitrary road blocks and user-unfriendly features but XIV holds your hand every step of the (very linear) way.

When it was announced long ago during 1.0 that Yoshi envisioned 2.0 as a "theme park mmo" and people were all excited I was like ".....really?". The concept sounded like complete garbage to me. I want a hostile, dangerous game world to explore and get killed in, in 2.0 it feels like were just tourists passing thru the relatively tiny, crowded zones, milling about a game-world-lobby in between instances.

I mentioned before that I didn't think I would miss 1.0's insanely vast, (largely) empty zones with super high level mobs and unused terrain/buildings/features but now that they're gone I really do miss them. They made the game world seem tangible and real, there were dangerous places to explore and far corners of the world where maybe only a few people had been, even if they had no purpose yet their presence lent something to the world's character.

Anyone that collected all the aetherytes in 1.0 must have appreciated the feeling of danger and isolation all the way out in BFE Coerthas and enjoyed some of the awesome views at the very fringe of some of the zones. There's no fringe anymore, nothing is off the beaten path, and nothing is dangerous. Everything is a tele and a 2 min choco ride away and that's just boring to me.

The 2.0 world feels smaller to me than RotZ XI (when I think many/most of us started playing), I don't know how the size of the game worlds compare in actual square mileage but the point is that is feels much smaller regardless.

[Meresgi]

Seriously, game feels like WoW does when you are given flying mounts and can go anywhere w/o any effort, though here you can reach places even faster via teleporting. I remember the 1st time going to Xarcabard and getting lost, or exploring under Garliage Citadel. NMs also lent to this sense of exploration, because you would venture and poke around just to see if maybe you could find some NM/HNM no one knew about from the previous patch. Vrtra down in the tomb was a good example, no one on my server really knew about it too much, and my exp group wandered in there once and just went "WHAT THE FUCK IS THIS?"

[Niiro]

That's another thing, there are ZERO open world "dungeon" areas.

Everything is outdoor. There's no Citadel, no Tree, no castle Zvahl, etc.

There isn't even a Zi'tah or a Lufaise Meadows.

If there are no zones where I can get lost in, there's a problem.

[Elcura]

I sure do miss that, but on the flip side I hated needing to be a certain job or have a certain item or do a certain thing in order to get back. No matter what method I would use to return to civilization it would cost me at least an hour or two of work to cover.

there's a definite middle ground, regardless though there isn't something that suggests making bigger zones eventually can't be done.

[Niiro]

I don't see why they would change their design philosophy now, I'm not even sure the bigger zones are something the PS3 could realistically handle given that they can barely handle the game as-is.

[Kipling]

WHY THE FUCK DO I TUCK IN MY BOX PANTS AND NOT THE FUCKING SMOCK

On my phone, are those allagan?

[BerenTebogo]

I definitely miss the vastness of XI and how there were a lot of zones that were fairly untouched that you could go have fun in.

I liked going into Ifrit's Cauldron solo on NIN/THF (before DNC was invented) with hi-potions and Hhp gear and soloing NMs for the gil. There was always that sense that a single mistake meant 20 minutes of travel time, lost exp, and other actual penalties.

I know this is more of a masochistic thing to miss, but it follows in the same vein as missing the danger. I was doing Costa del Sol fates as level 17 in a party with friends the other day just for shits and getting gold + not dying. That's roughly the same as a dunes-level player trying to go EXP in a Garlaige party. How long would they have lasted? 10 seconds while whiffing the entire time?

If they found a middle ground, the game would be much better and have a much greater draw.

[Niiro]

On my phone, are those allagan?

Would assume so, can't imagine anything else they would be.

I'm curious to see what they look like without a body/foot piece (or with allagan body/feet).

[Elcura]

I'm not sure they can handle it either, but if there's nothing to do in these zones I don't see why it would be such a big deal. Could also be that multi-level design is easier to control in smaller zones.

[Niiro]

Well while I do miss the 1.0 huge zones that's really just an observation relative to the 2.0 zones.

A zone structure more akin to XI would be fine as well, with more remote zones and locations where everything isn't just a big circle.

Like Sath mentioned, places like Cauldron, Chasm, Kuftal, Tree, true beastmen strongholds, etc.

[lilbubbles]

One of my proudest earlier achievements in xi was having the map, to everywhere.

[Kipling]

A lot of the "expansive zones" were added when Zilart came in. Remember, we got XI as a game with a full expansion tacked on. Give them time I would say.

[Niiro]

The excuse of comparing XIV to a 11 year old game has been moot since day 1.

[Kipling]

But using over the top nostalgia glasses to compare the two games is apt?

[Voyage1970]

A lot of the "expansive zones" were added when Zilart came in. Remember, we got XI as a game with a full expansion tacked on. Give them time I would say.

Even the original zones had cool elements to them. Batallia Downs had the burial mounds that lead into different entrances of Eldieme. Eldieme itself had the gates and invisible floors nonsense and could even get you to a "secret" island in Downs. Sauromugue had Garliage with it's own little puzzles and basement holes you can accidentally fall in (or on purpose) and could lead to another "secret" area where you could fight a special monster. Meriphataud had that cool maze element to it's canyons. The zones in XI had character and it's one of the things I've been feeling sad nostalgia over recently in regards to XIV.

[Niiro]

There's a difference between nostalgia and simple game design choices.

XIV was designed as a "theme park mmo" and I (and many others) find that to be a shit design choice as it makes for a small, dull, and uninteresting game world.

[lilbubbles]

A lot of the "expansive zones" were added when Zilart came in. Remember, we got XI as a game with a full expansion tacked on. Give them time I would say.

I still wonder what it was like pre Zilart.

Imagine being the first group to finally down the sea horror after having half your alliance destroyed by hundred fist and reporting what the drop was.

[Ksandra]

A zone structure more akin to XI would be fine as well, with more remote zones and locations where everything isn't just a big circle.

Like Sath mentioned, places like Cauldron, Chasm, Kuftal, Tree, true beastmen strongholds, etc.

The excuse of comparing XIV to a 11 year old game has been moot since day 1.

I am sorry Niiro, this is just too fucking funny.

[edit] We do need to remember that the game's map basically had to be redone from scratch (outside like cities), because of stupid repeating elements and blades of grass. I am sure they had to shrink it because of time/zone line lag issue.

The small world doesn't bother me too much because it means they have a lot of room to grow on it.

[Kipling]

I'm still confused about that. Seems like the same thing to me, but...

[Tyrath]

But using over the top nostalgia glasses to compare the two games is apt?

It's not really nostalgia to say that FFXI had a game world you could get lost in. Not quite so with FFXIV. And I don't think it will ever be that way with today's MMO community and the way games have to work now to retain subscribers.