Level&Questdesign
Let's compare Questing in Multiplayer Games to Singleplayer Games. A good example would be the Witcher series. It has a great storyline paired with characters that have real depth. You feel immersed in a world that changes deppending on your actions. You feel like the tasks you were given did make sense and you had motivation to complete them.
Now take almost every other MMO and look at the Quests. It is always the hero who starts as a nobody and eventually rises to a position, where he can change the fate of the world. While leveling most zones don`t look too compelling since quest hubs are crowded with boring tasks. Slay 10 boars here, collect 5 pinapples there - the list goes on.
Usually when I play MMOs I always have the urge to focus on the story. The problem is, not a single one was successful. It always gets boring at some point and turns into a rush to max level.
However Final Fantasy XIV is the first MMO that got me to read quest texts consistently. Why is that?
Because to me, every Final Fantasy has a good story. It was such a good idea to implement a story line that would drag on from level 1 to max. It gave me the feeling that even though I just started playing, my actions did already change the world I was playing in.
In my opinion Square Enix could improve the already good story telling with the introduction of the phasing technology.
A good example would be Idyllshire:
While leveling the whole town is a ruin. But as we level, we complete tasks to rebuilt it - and sooner or later - the town will be back to its former self.
Which takes me to my last point - Leveldesign.
I think every artist knows the fear of blank space. While studying some of my teachers told me that "blank space it not always bad". But in my opinion it is. Don't get me wrong, overall I think Square Enix did an amazing job on Heavensward. Some areas are really beautiful and the city of Ishgard is probably the best major city I have seen so far.
But I am also disappointed by some of their work. There are SO many invisible walls in this game. This is an MMO, it is supposed to be an OPEN world. If it was 1990 I could probably accept it but the whole concept around levels being designed as tunnels is so outdated.
Also it feels to me like some areas lack some sort of concept. It is not always clear which path I have to take to get to a certain location. While leveling I found myself most of the time running into dead ends which is really frustrating.
My next point has some limitations to it since my PC can only run the DX9 Version but I guess it won't change too much about the shader work in general.
Almost all shaders look wrong. Metals look dull, primals look like they are made of clay and natural shaders like rocks tend to range from good to "what is this supposed to be".
Maybe this is due to FFXIV being cross platform and the PS3 limitations but it is a real bummer.
If this could get fixed for DX9 this game would be on a whole other level for me.
With this being said,
what do you think about leveling in FFXIV and the art overall. Do you think other games did it better ? Let me know!
