Spidey said: I can't speak for other people, but it's not world maps in the classic sense I'm yearning for, it's being able to explore every inch of an entire planet, and be able to retrace my steps to any location at will WITHOUT having to replay dungeons in order to traverse to the other side of the world. World maps are just very easy way of doing this. Nothing is more of a pain in the ass when you play a game that doesn't have an overworld or teleportation of osme sort and you have to replay a long repetitive dungeon just to reach a town you've been to to finish a sidequest off. Whether its' world map or 100% to scale overworld, I'm good with it. It also adds to the immersion of the world when you can see and explore the locations it has to offer and explore every inch of the world. I like doing that. Games that don't have world maps tend to be focused on only a small part of the world or have you ignore much of the land mass in the world, and it makes the game world feel smaller and less realistic. Of course the exception is having a massive overworld like Xenoblade or Skyrim. What these games have is just as good as a world map. It's just that without a world map as the default for many RPGs, it is easy for developers to take shortcuts to end up with FF13's under-developed world. As far as the question in the thread, sure I could get interested, but what I see and hear would really, really have to wow me. For one, they'd have to introduce a new mechanic where you can murder (permanently) any party members that join you. That way if you have a few annoying characters you can off them and never see or hear of them again. That would be one of the ways in which I could be interested in Final Fantasy again.
The Hulk said: Maybe a few years back but what has FF7 got to do with anything now? The failings of FF have nothing to do with VII, it just comes up so much because it's clear that was their fucking heydey they will never come close to again.
Ashilyn said: Honestly, I feel like a world map does the exact opposite for me - it LESSENS the sense of scale and immersion. It's cool to see the whole world laid out bare, but I'd rather be down in the trenches exploring it. If that means I don't see THE WHOLE DAMN WORLD and explore every inch of it, I'm fine with that, as long as what I'm presented with is fun and interesting. FFXII's areas were a bit too big, and FFXIII's were a way too linearly focused. But I think FFX was on the right idea. Throw in some form of quick travel so you don't have to trek back through a dungeon just to go back to the previous town, and open it up to somewhere between FFX and FFXII, and I think it'll be something closer to perfect.
