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Living, breathing, world??
gessekai332
Member UncommonPosts: 861
somehow this world seems like its living and breathing or lets say... very organic. Even though it doesnt have a robust dynamic event system like GW2, theres something about it that makes me feel extremely immersed in the game. maybe its the beautiful environment, weather system, day/night cycles, character designs, costumes, the musical score, or maybe just final fantasy nostalgia. Even the way the mobs stand around it looks so much more natural than in other games. the world really feels like a world somehow. regardless of themepark or sandbox, i feel like this immersive quality is what mmo's in the recent past have been missing.
Most memorable games: AoC(Tryanny PvP), RIFT, GW, GW2, Ragnarok Online, Aion, FFXI, FFXIV, Secret World, League of Legends (Silver II rank)
Comments
Its that whole SE quality thing I brought up in an earlier post, these guys almost lost everything by trying to churn out something and assume their IP alone will make them millions, they were wrong, learned a valuable lesson and brought back a real Square product.
You are noticing that new Square smell you know it smells like quality.
I have the same feeling. All the little touches help this, and I agree with you all, but I think it also comes from the pace of the game.
Some people bitch and whine about the beginning of the game, but even if at first I was'nt sure about it, I ended up liking it and I think it's largely responsible for how I am approaching the game since then.
It's slow yes, there is no doubt there, but it brought it's own tempo and forced me to take my foot off the gas pedal a bit and, for the first time in a long series of games, relax, look at the scenery, just be interested in the story and to get immersed in the universe.
Can't wait to get back there!
I personally feel like the pace, which is slower then most games nowadays, is what immerses you. Games like GW2, IMO, the pace and well design of not much to do, hearts/DEs make it feel way less immersive. I m in no way meaning to bash GW2, but I find the frenetic, go go go feel to GW2, makes it feel less immersive to me, and the DEs, do nothing to help that, as outside that, there isn t much to do.
FFXIV on the other hand just feels right to me, and outside of EQ2 has made me drop all other MMOs for quite awhile.
I love the world.
Sounds of nature bring the world alive. Lightning lighting up the sky and thunder booming in the background.
NPCs are going about their lives. NPCs actually look at you when talking. I walked up to this NPC sitting on a bench and she looked up at me and spoke to me.
When it gets windy you see grass, bushes, trees, your armor, hair, and accessories blowing in the wind.
A lot of little things like this really make the world feel alive.
When my hair and clothes started moving during a storm i was like HOLY F. I love the detail they put in.
^^^^^^^^^^This. I havent felt about an mmo the way I feel about this one in a very long time. FINALLY..............a home..........
I am not going to play at launch,still too busy with FFXi but i am VERY confident this game is not nearly finished,you can expect a LOT more.
The problem with fast paced push games is you end up at end level and do the same repeating sequences everyday.In a slower game and with sub class,you can switch all over,play one class for awhile and then craft or mine or just join a Hest or Fate.
You can expect a lot more to do and the good thing about sub class games ,is you don't end up with a level 80 ton and have to make an alt to enjoy low level content.You simply switch class to something you have yet to play,it all adds up to more versatility for your player,so your not shelving your main for a new alt every time you want to play something different.Also other games make you alt again every time you want a new craft.Square just lets you play on forever with the same toon and not have to shelve it for something else,that is what i like.
Having more detailed creatures adds to the fun as well,just think a form of housing is coming and there will be a lot more various content ideas.In FFXI there is not enough time in a day to do everything i want,especially not all the content,that is what Square does,they give you TOO much to do,this game was rushed so is still a bit behind the finished product.
Never forget 3 mile Island and never trust a government official or company spokesman.
The attention to detail is through the roof with this game. There's so much that went into creating a living, breathing world... so much that just happens constantly, all around us... and it all just adds up to a wonderful world to exist in.
I'll tell you two 'world' things that caught me. I didn't get to see a storm (although I did get night regular-rain), but at nighttime the outside direction posts have the faintest little glow to the edges and words that stopped me in my tracks. Also, you can literally watch the sun creep up behind you and pass you as night turns into day. And then, a couple moments later, my friend called out that he could see the same thing (he was in Gridania to my Limsa), as it took the sun a bit of time delay to become visible where he was.
Amazing.
one of my favorite little details is the way grass kicks up off your feet as you run through a dry field, but then it starts raining and if you run in the same spot in that same field, it now kicks up water splashes off your feet! And there's so many of those little details that I caught myself spending hours just admire them all!
It also helps that the story in this game is really immerrsive. I am really enjoying it as I have never done in an mmo before. I literally read every single quest that I did. And I did alot of them. im that guy that just next every quest story so thats saying alot. I like the way the game tells the story from the npcs. What i mean is the quest arent a big wall of text, (unless its a levequest) but they are told as a jrpg does.
I remember people making tons and tons of posts and videos on youtube about GW2 that looked almost identical to those. Even the same argumentation. The world feels alive, monsters minding their business, dog acting like real dog, footsteps etc. All the immersion stuff. And a guy talking on youtube about admiring it all for hours. It is so familliar.
I find it funny, that year ago people wrote about mmorpg that finally has features that others before missed, and now a new mmo is praised for the same features, but it is still the first one to do so. So what happened to the other one?
I guess that, when the time comes and everyone forgets FF, EQN will be praised for the "new" immersion features 
Yea, I really loved the feel of the game too. I never got a "rushed" feeling to do anything, especially after getting the Airship pass. I truly enjoyed watching the sun go down as I was beginning the fishing job in Limsa. I only played version one for maybe a month (after buying the collectors edition!) and deleted it after getting a few jobs to level 10. This game has come a long way. Not a fully polished stone, but it very well could be! My only negative, though not a game breaker, is the invisible walls everywhere, especially near certain water features. Error 3102 kept me out of many quality beta hours (they should have added an entire extra day to Beta 4, not just a few hours!), but I am now completely addicted and cant wait for release!
I played a bit in all the Beta's, and chose not to progress too much. I know beta's are about feedback; but, I did not want to ruin my own launch/pre-launch experience. I truly hate you 3102 for ruining my already pathetic weekend! See yall next week!
I think GW2's immersive features were forgotten because the rest of the game was rather 'meh'.
I do love GW2's take on exploration though, there was so much explore off the beaten path. Caves, nooks and crannies, ruins, etc. I wish ARR adopted that.
Watched the sun set on the ocean. It was really well done. The lights at night seem so warm and it makes the night feel cold. Crazy how they pulled that feeling off. Mornings feel crisp. There more than a few tree species in the forest all with the twisting branches and trunks. When the wind picks up, you hear it, see the trees sway more and leave blow around.
It is a very tangible game. Not a lot of mmos accomplish this.
I still play GW2 and still feel that they did a terrific job with the immersion. They went way further than a lot of devs do. XIV smokes it in the immersion department though. Arena Net did a great job, SE just went so much further. Housing, the weather system. the crafting, etc...
GW2 did underwater areas awesome though. I wish I could swim and go underwater in ARR...
Until you get to Frontlines, and your elf ranger kills another elf ranger because the lore is merely cosmetic. There's no honor system between races, it's just pvp gang bangery and utterly meaningless E-Sport to boot.
Other than that...the pve side of the game I believe is making positive strides. It's cartoony, certainly, with lots of Pzaaaaz special animations to keep the attention of certain types of players, but they are at least making a positive step forward with at least trying to make it so players can affect the environment like another company managed to do in 2005 with Shadowbane.