Why the zones again? Follow

"Ed Gruberman, you fail to grasp Tae Kwon Leap. Approach me that you might learn. . ."
"Tae Kwon Leap: Boot To The Head"


/to the topic at hand:


I can definitely see the possibility that it's a ram/computational issue with the PoS3, if for no other reason than to make it a "level playing field" for all platforms. I don't like it, but this is SE, and I played FFXI, so I wouldn't be remotely shocked.

As far as transitional boundaries are concerned, this sounds like a cop out to me. One is limited ONLY by one's imagination. Teleports, caves, tunnels, climbs, falls. . there are ways around this. I have my suspicions about how SE codes, and it wouldn't surprise me to find out that half the reason they do the things they do is because they're trying to find ways to use old code in new situations [To this DAY I swear that 1.0 was an emulated port of the XI engine, though I have no capability of proving it]

Don't get me wrong here: I'm not bothered by the inclusion of zones. In ARR they work, as they did in XI [and in less than half the time, which is a plus]

Ultimately though, we'll never know the real truth, because this is SE we're talking about. It lends an air of mystique to what they do, I'll admit, but I still feel they'd be a lot better off if they took a page from the west and just plainly and openly explained the requirements for some of their decisions without all the hyperbole. "artistic transitions" is *NOT* the reason, I'm sure.


Edit:
Because some smart alec will point it out, yes I am aware that teleports are a form of zoning. This fact did not escape me

Edited, Jul 7th 2013 11:54am by seneleron

In a time when the average PC gamer has at least an old Core i7 or a new Core i5 with an Nvidia GTX6xx series, I really don't see what that has to do with anything.

I don't dislike the zones. That wasn't really my point. The point was that with current technology, I don't think it was necessary to improve the areas. I also still don't understand why we can't swim in places like Costa Del Sol and constantly run in to invisible walls all over the place. Shouldn't the zone design allow for easier development of movement and exploration?

I know it's weird for some, but being able to freely traverse my game is important to me. Maybe even more so than how complex the last boss is.

Edited, Jul 7th 2013 4:34pm by Transmigration

I don't mind zones.. If I say I was in E. shroud you know where I was talking about... Not having to zone would be cool though..

I play on the pc in the same room my girlfriend plays on the ps3.. The load times on the ps3 are triple what my pc does when we both zone.

She does not have the typical lag though, she is not slowed down or have slow down in fights but people can run by here before they appear or a chocobo runs by with no one on it..

The ps3 engine needs work in my opinion... The game looks pretty good for the most part but they blurred allot of it.

What is weird is the latency.. You don't know it unless you have two pc or two ps3 etc, in the same room... seriously lets say I jump.. It wont show up for a couple seconds on her screen... I always noticed this on FFXI when one person thought they were out in front and the other person did too.... But with their being NA servers now I thought it would be better but it is actually worse on this game.

I know there are millions of ps3 out there but with the ps4 just around the corner I am thinking they should have waited a little longer to release the game for the ps4 to come out... There is only a few months now.. Ps4 is essentially a pc and porting would not be too bad.
We pre-ordered a ps4 for this game already and might do a second one. I think we finally decided to drop

Edited, Jul 7th 2013 4:59pm by Nashred

Why would it be someone with "low standards" and not someone who can't afford to build a decent PC (or doesn't want to)? Man you are offensive sometimes.

i really like their invisible walls. In WoW you can see a rock you can clearly jump on, but its walled off, wtf? In ffXIV the jumping is real. Now say we come to a cliff, of course i dont want to freakin jump off of it and die, wall that crap off. perfect. swimming? i dont really care, its only ever good for short cuts, which brings me to my final conclusion. I HATE GETTING LOST IN WOW. its ridiculous, i can be literally be next to a town, but can't enter because of a giant *** mountain in the way. wth. closed areas i enjoy more because A there is still plenty to explore, but there are no "correct" paths. WoW will litterally let you run for hours and you will end up in the middle of no where, having to scroll or walk back, or youre on your way to town, but opps, theres a mountain here, you should of went around the left not the right....

I did the same tests with my wife in XI and XIV, and in our experience it was significantly better in XIV.

It's also targeted toward people like me. I'll mostly play on the PC, but I also want the luxury of being able to lay on the couch while playing in the living room. I hate being a hermit in my man cave all the time.

On my PC, zoning loads in about 2-3 seconds, but while playing on PS3, zoning into Gridania can take around 10, sometimes 15 seconds to load. And regarding the UI, it can be tricky at first. Figuring how to put your cursor on a certain button can be a pain at times lol. But I must say, the controller hotbar works great!

So you prefer a linear path to everything over a mountain with a grade to high to walk up? There is nothing in Warcraft that you can't swim through or jump over if physics permits. You can also jump off of a 300 foot cliff in to the water if you want. If you jump off of something high and there is no water, you die. I still want the option. I've jumped off huge things and used my engineering to craft a glider that allowed me to glide to places you can't usually get to on foot. To me, that is extremely fun. I've also swam across to places you can't get to on foot, which is also fun. You really feel like you're exploring the world, not being led to where ever the devs intend for you to be.

In terms of getting lost, I think that is a triumph by Blizzard. If you can get lost in Azeroth, they did a damn good job building it. Let's not forget mounts and flying mounts allow you to go where ever you want. I am not a proponent of flying mounts, but I'm not necessarily against them either. It is what it is and if you really think about it, if there are dragons and giant birds in the world, why wouldn't you be able to tame and ride them? I think that is what really separates Blizzard from other developers, they ask "Why not?", and then they do it.

I'm going to play ARR. I like the game a lot. I just can't lie to myself and say that the movement and world design could have been more open and designed better for a modern MMO.

As far as the PS3 version, I have one of those on the way too. It'll definitely be awesome for those days I just want to cruise somewhere and fish all afternoon.

Edited, Jul 7th 2013 7:13pm by Transmigration

I agree the controller hotbar does work good.. I am not sure yet if I like it more than FFXI but I played that game so long I am just used to it.. In the long run I may like this better.

Edited, Jul 7th 2013 7:22pm by Nashred

i dont prefer a linear path, but just a clear and not always complicated, not to say WoW Is, but that is what i dislike. jumping off cliffs is cool, if its planned, unplanned it really sucks. I mean WoW is a great game overall i cant take that away from it (ive always hated "warcraft" graphics, as opposed to SC or Diablo maybe). I do understand your post and some what agree with what you said, give ya credit, i suppose im just not too open to an "completely" open world, if its done right, its great (like most things) but its ez to get wrong i feel.

also sitting on the couch away from mancave but not away from ffxiv will be so awesome. i think i will be doing most of my gathering on it maybe. not positive. may wait til ps4 comes out so it looks a little nicer. (my only dislike with wow basically is the graphics)