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[Column] Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn: You Got Theme Park in My Sandbox

SBFordSBFord Former Associate EditorMember LegendaryPosts: 33,129

The discussion ever rages about whether or not any MMO these days can be classified as a sandbox or a theme park. In today's Eorzea Reborn, we take a look at aspects of both that are present in Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn. Check it out and then leave us your opinion in the comments.

One thing that fascinates me in MMO development is the rush of “me too” design philosophies.  Make no mistake, these always involve genuine and important design decisions.  They become “me too” when the industry kind of latches on to an idea and every MMO in development starts including them as marketing buzzwords. 

In recent years, the “me too” design of the month has included the ‘no Holy Trinity approach,’ ‘action combat,’ and ‘story based game play.’  Each of these are important decisions and I’m not knocking these choices, they represent attempts to define new market segments.  

Read more of Ryahl Smith's Eorzea Reborn: You Got Theme Park in My Sandbox.

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Comments

  • knightauditknightaudit Member UncommonPosts: 389

    Very nice article ... and it shows how there are 2 sides of gaming. I do think what is needed in the industry right now is the right and propper blend of the 2. What that is and how it would look is anyones guess, but right off the top of my head .. Dungeons .. they should be instanced, you do not want to spend your time fighting to the bottom of some dungeon .. in a battle with the final boss and have someone run in and collect your treasure while you finish the boss off ... no one would like that .. and i am sure some would say ... too bad so sad.

    What I would suggest for dungeons is scale. What that would be is if you have a person that likes to solo the dungeon scales to that person ... be it one or 5 and could even scale to the level (unless you do not use a leveling system), teasure would drop at a level and frequency that would be equal to a group of 5. this would mean say a dungeon would gain you 50 gold if you did it as a 5 man group .. you would still get 50g, if it were normally to drop 5 items .. it would drop 1 for that one man group ... or 3 for a 3 man .. and so on. the challenge would still be the same be it 1, 3 or 5 man, but no more sitting there waiting for LFG to kick in.

    Even having said that I know you will have someone who does not like it .. because simply you cannot make everyone happy. Best you can do is make as many as you can happy about 2 sides of a coin.

  • RyahlRyahl Member Posts: 47

    Thanks Knightaudit.  

    I miss the contested dungeons of older MMO's.  The shared dungeon experiences of EQ (Unrest, Mistmoore, Kedge Keep or Tower of Frozen Shadows) and EQ2 (Stormhold or the SolA/SolB reimagining) contain some of my favorite MMO memories.  

    I understand why theme parks moved towards instances (kill stealing, training, etc.) but I liked having to deal with respawns and running into people in the bottom of a dungeon.

    I think that recent games with multi-tapping rules (DCUO, LOTR, GW2, etc.) open the door to go back to large, shared PVE environments.  Instances still have their place, they free up the developers to try create more complex encounter mechanics.  

    Ryahl - writer of eye-bleeders
    FFXIV Fansite | TSWGuides
    Follow me on Twitter

  • BadSpockBadSpock Member UncommonPosts: 7,979

    Not much about FFXIV:ARR is there?

    Should be a more general column, not specific to the game IMO as it is MUCH more about themepark vs. sandbox.

     

    FFXIV:ARR is definitely a themepark, as you said, unapologetically so.

    ARR is also giving a ton of different rides, and in a lot of ways, allowing you the player to choose which to ride and which to skip, as well as which to repeat to your heart's content in a way that is somewhat unique in the genre.

    Building a better park IMO - and that is EXACTLY what I want out of my MMORPG.

    Great character building, great graphics, cross platform play, excellent story, lots of group content both small and large scale, a full housing system, and the promise of a subscription fee with NO item mall or cash shop or freemium premium F2P B2P P2W or RMT.

  • UsulDaNeriakUsulDaNeriak Member Posts: 640

    The upcoming AAA titles, which do marketing with the term "sandbox" will be far away from sandbox. They will be themeparks with some features smelling a bit sandboxish.

    Sandbox is a basic design philosophy, not a couple of sandbox-features. It is not defined by features! In a pure sandbox everything except tools and the sand is player driven not pre-made by the devs.

     

    Of course, deviations from the puristic model are possible. You can add premade adventures to a sandbox, e.g. optional quests.  But these quests would work fully different. Just think about the reward structure, which has to fit into a fully player-driven economy. And I doubt, theme-park-fans would like this kind of questing. You also can develop a sandbox without pvp-ffa: heck even without combat at all. And such sandboxes do exist.

     

    But you cannot add sandbox features to game, which is designed based on the theme-park model and call it a sandbox. Its core and its underlying design philosophy remains theme-park. You will just get a more flexible and dynamix theme-park, thats it.

     

     

    Looking to FFXIV, your title is wrong: you just get more sand in your theme-park. But that does not make a sandbox.

    Even looking to EQN. All I expect, is an even more dynamic theme-park than GW2.

    Which is'nt a bad thing!

     
     
     
     
     

    played: Everquest I (6 years), EVE (3 years)
    months: EQII, Vanguard, Siedler Online, SWTOR, Guild Wars 2
    weeks: WoW, Shaiya, Darkfall, Florensia, Entropia, Aion, Lotro, Fallen Earth, Uncharted Waters
    days: DDO, RoM, FFXIV, STO, Atlantica, PotBS, Maestia, WAR, AoC, Gods&Heroes, Cultures, RIFT, Forsaken World, Allodds

  • RyahlRyahl Member Posts: 47
    Originally posted by UsulDaNeriak

    But you cannot add sandbox features to game, which is designed based on the theme-park model and call it a sandbox. Its core and its underlying design philosophy remains theme-park. You will just get a more flexible and dynamix theme-park, thats it.

    And this is exactly, what i expect from EQN: an even more dynamic GW2 or something like that.

    There are two EQ Next products and the details on each are still pretty murky.

    My take on what I watched is that EQ Next is a more dynamic and adaptive theme park.  It sounds like it has some sandboxy aspirations, but it also sounds like there are plenty of stopgaps planned to minimize the ability of one player to adversely affect the other.

    The other product, EQ Next Landmark, though, sounds pretty sandboxy in a Second Life sort of format.  It seems to lack combat, but as you note combat isn't essential to a sandbox.

    The two products integrate with content from Landmark filtering into Next, but the specifics are pretty vague at the moment.

    It is quite possible that Landmark is a bigger deal than Next.

    Ryahl - writer of eye-bleeders
    FFXIV Fansite | TSWGuides
    Follow me on Twitter

  • MuruganMurugan Member Posts: 1,494

    I don't think the sand people will ever be happy or get what they want in a AAA title, however I do hope that they will direct their anger towards those upcoming games claiming to be sandboxes and stop raiding the rest of the subforums with their condescending attitudes towards gaming ("I don't NEED to be told what to do, I create my own games inside my mind", "You are just playing into the man's rat race duuuuude").

     

    Personally I like group PvE content the most, it is largely why I play MMORPG's.  Sandbox titles, however you define them, (UO, SWG, EvE, AC) have terrible grouping content.  The way they are designed must just prevent developers from designing good content for them.

     

    I have played many sandboxes, they are definitely a different type of game, and they can be fun at least for a short while.  However at the end of the day I want to accomplish things in-game with friends, not play a PvP carousel or role play my character in a void.  I get that to some the "themepark grind" is just that a "grind" but to me it is a game, I play them for the same reason I played games as a kid to beat them and enjoy myself and the challenges along the way, and sandboxes to me aren't really games they are pretend lands.

     

    Pretend lands where people can stroke their virtual egos in PvP "domination" and role playing the most famous entertainer/crafter/erpg lady of the night.

  • RyahlRyahl Member Posts: 47
    Originally posted by BadSpock

    Not much about FFXIV:ARR is there?

    Should be a more general column, not specific to the game IMO as it is MUCH more about themepark vs. sandbox.

     

    FFXIV:ARR is definitely a themepark, as you said, unapologetically so.

    ARR is also giving a ton of different rides, and in a lot of ways, allowing you the player to choose which to ride and which to skip, as well as which to repeat to your heart's content in a way that is somewhat unique in the genre.

    Building a better park IMO - and that is EXACTLY what I want out of my MMORPG.

    Great character building, great graphics, cross platform play, excellent story, lots of group content both small and large scale, a full housing system, and the promise of a subscription fee with NO item mall or cash shop or freemium premium F2P B2P P2W or RMT.

    I would that there was more to say about FFXIV right now, but I think we are all stuck waiting for Thursday (and a few days after that for full translations).

    The article is very much a general MMO focus, but my column is primarily a FFXIV one.  With downtime between beta-3 and beta-4 I'm going to branch out a bit, but I have to try to tie it back to ARR as well.

    Agreed on the other points!

    Ryahl - writer of eye-bleeders
    FFXIV Fansite | TSWGuides
    Follow me on Twitter

  • UsulDaNeriakUsulDaNeriak Member Posts: 640
    Originally posted by Ryahl
     

    The other product, EQ Next Landmark, though, sounds pretty sandboxy in a Second Life sort of format.  It seems to lack combat, but as you note combat isn't essential to a sandbox.

    The two products integrate with content from Landmark filtering into Next, but the specifics are pretty vague at the moment.

    It is quite possible that Landmark is a bigger deal than Next.

     

    Yes, Landmark could become the better Minecraft. Does that mean, that I will enjoy it more, than a very dynamic, flexible and versatile EQN-themepark? Most propably I will enjoy both equally.

     

    played: Everquest I (6 years), EVE (3 years)
    months: EQII, Vanguard, Siedler Online, SWTOR, Guild Wars 2
    weeks: WoW, Shaiya, Darkfall, Florensia, Entropia, Aion, Lotro, Fallen Earth, Uncharted Waters
    days: DDO, RoM, FFXIV, STO, Atlantica, PotBS, Maestia, WAR, AoC, Gods&Heroes, Cultures, RIFT, Forsaken World, Allodds

  • aesperusaesperus Member UncommonPosts: 5,135
    Originally posted by BadSpock

    Not much about FFXIV:ARR is there?

    Should be a more general column, not specific to the game IMO as it is MUCH more about themepark vs. sandbox.

     

    FFXIV:ARR is definitely a themepark, as you said, unapologetically so.

    ARR is also giving a ton of different rides, and in a lot of ways, allowing you the player to choose which to ride and which to skip, as well as which to repeat to your heart's content in a way that is somewhat unique in the genre.

    Building a better park IMO - and that is EXACTLY what I want out of my MMORPG.

    Great character building, great graphics, cross platform play, excellent story, lots of group content both small and large scale, a full housing system, and the promise of a subscription fee with NO item mall or cash shop or freemium premium F2P B2P P2W or RMT.

    Agreed on this ^

    And one of the more accurate assessments as to what type of game ARR actually is.

  • FoomerangFoomerang Member UncommonPosts: 5,628

    I think when you add enough types of "rides" to a themepark, it starts to resemble a sandbox. I think ultimately, thats where the future of the genre lies.

    I want my themeparks to be more like going to the fair. Roller coasters, dark rides, carnival games, exhibit halls, petting zoos, musical acts, arts and crafts, 100 food carts, rodeos etc.

    You go to magic mountain expecting to ride rollercoasters. You go to the fair expecting a little bit of everything. Both are a lot of fun. Both are considered "themeparks". But one definitely has more choices and varied experiences than the other. Thats what Id like to see next generation themeparks become.

  • BadSpockBadSpock Member UncommonPosts: 7,979
    Originally posted by aesperus
    Originally posted by BadSpock

    FFXIV:ARR is definitely a themepark, as you said, unapologetically so.

    ARR is also giving a ton of different rides, and in a lot of ways, allowing you the player to choose which to ride and which to skip, as well as which to repeat to your heart's content in a way that is somewhat unique in the genre.

    Building a better park IMO - and that is EXACTLY what I want out of my MMORPG.

    Great character building, great graphics, cross platform play, excellent story, lots of group content both small and large scale, a full housing system, and the promise of a subscription fee with NO item mall or cash shop or freemium premium F2P B2P P2W or RMT.

    Agreed on this ^

    And one of the more accurate assessments as to what type of game ARR actually is.

    People who go to Six Flags don't want to keep showing up and not find any new rides, or find their favorite rides broken.

    They want new rides, better rides, but they want them to still be roller coasters.

    RPG fans I think also want more character building, more story, more immersion and "ownership" in the world.

    MMO devs need to REALLY sit down and think about what they are taking away as they keep trying to add new things and change old ones.

    You don't throw the baby out with the bath water.

    That's the real problem IMO with what has been done to WoW, what happened to Rift, to TOR, to GW2.. all these new games and such over the past 7-8 years.

    For all the new stuff they've added and changed, they took out far, far too much of what makes MMORPGs special and a unique genre in the first place.

    I'm happy to see a game like FFXIV:ARR putting some of those things back in.

    Forced grouping, player interdependence, housing, alternate advancement paths, involved crafting...

  • DaakenDaaken Member Posts: 158
    Originally posted by BadSpock
    Originally posted by aesperus
    Originally posted by BadSpock

    FFXIV:ARR is definitely a themepark, as you said, unapologetically so.

    ARR is also giving a ton of different rides, and in a lot of ways, allowing you the player to choose which to ride and which to skip, as well as which to repeat to your heart's content in a way that is somewhat unique in the genre.

    Building a better park IMO - and that is EXACTLY what I want out of my MMORPG.

    Great character building, great graphics, cross platform play, excellent story, lots of group content both small and large scale, a full housing system, and the promise of a subscription fee with NO item mall or cash shop or freemium premium F2P B2P P2W or RMT.

    Agreed on this ^

    And one of the more accurate assessments as to what type of game ARR actually is.

    People who go to Six Flags don't want to keep showing up and not find any new rides, or find their favorite rides broken.

    They want new rides, better rides, but they want them to still be roller coasters.

    RPG fans I think also want more character building, more story, more immersion and "ownership" in the world.

    MMO devs need to REALLY sit down and think about what they are taking away as they keep trying to add new things and change old ones.

    You don't throw the baby out with the bath water.

    The problem with all themeparks is the designers can not build new, exciting and original rides quick enough for the content locusts to consume them, Until an MMO can produce procedural content themeparks will never be as good as a sandbox that gives me total freedom.

    Random Forum Poster: I want an MMO that is different, original and fun.

    Me: So you want something like EQN

    Them: Nah dude, I want a Holy Trinity, Tab Target combat, Instanced Raiding, and Rigid classes.

    Me: Double Facepalm.

  • BadSpockBadSpock Member UncommonPosts: 7,979
    Originally posted by Daaken
    Originally posted by BadSpock

    People who go to Six Flags don't want to keep showing up and not find any new rides, or find their favorite rides broken.

    They want new rides, better rides, but they want them to still be roller coasters.

    RPG fans I think also want more character building, more story, more immersion and "ownership" in the world.

    MMO devs need to REALLY sit down and think about what they are taking away as they keep trying to add new things and change old ones.

    You don't throw the baby out with the bath water.

    The problem with all themeparks is the designers can not build new, exciting and original rides quick enough for the content locusts to consume them, Until an MMO can produce procedural content themeparks will never be as good as a sandbox that gives me total freedom.

    Total freedom to do what exactly? Not have developer created content?

    Farm mobs? Farm dungeons? PvP? Collect junk to fill your house?

    I played a hell of a lot of UO and SWG back in the day, as well as have spent a decent chunk of time in EvE, and PvE in a sandbox has always since the beginning of the genre been total garbage, with the only true "freedom" and emergent content being PvP and housing.

    Only reason I could put up with the PvE (grinding) back in the day was - there was nothing else/better!

    Story, instanced small and large group content... huge game changers... a lot of the problem isn't with the amount of content, it is with the player not understanding or being willing to tackle ALL of the available content.

    How many current WoW players have beat all the new raids on every difficulty available?

    No matter what, it is always a grind of some sort. Always some sort of treadmill.

    Procedural will never be as good as hand crafted, and unless you truly enjoy UGC - content, be it in sandbox or themepark, is always finite.

  • LeirosLeiros Member UncommonPosts: 281

    I still think that the original SWG did an excellent job of blending themepark with sandbox. Yes, you could run themeparks such as Jabba's Palace, Nym's Stronghold, Empire/Rebel Themeparks etc., but those were mainly for badges and achievements. The economy was entirely player driven and even the housing/player cities were determined by the players.

     

    Personally, I like a theme park with sandbox elements. If I wanted a true sandbox I would be playing Minecraft or DFUW. I think BadSpock said it best when he said:

    "Great character building, great graphics, cross platform play, excellent story, lots of group content both small and large scale, a full housing system, and the promise of a subscription fee with NO item mall or cash shop or freemium premium F2P B2P P2W or RMT."

    That's what I'm looking for in an mmo. (Although I do still miss original SWG)

  • LanessarLanessar Member Posts: 87

    Interesting article. I sort of disagree with "dynamic events" being "themepark-y". It depends on how dynamic the event is. GW2 is certainly themepark (no player effect on the outcome, really, the event doesn't change the world after it has been completed). EQN promises to have a themepark "framework" with a sandbox ending (depending on what action players take, that will be how it is on that server from then on out, thus showing the players as a whole having an effect on the gameworld). That is a positive step in the right direction through use of programmed dynamic events, in my opinion. Of course, caveat emptor.

     

    The ability to "create content" doesn't necessarily indicate sandbox. Neverwinter is themepark content creation. A few enterprising individuals tried to make your choices fairly unlimited in the quest they made, but gave up and quit the scene entirely (a little while after launch, in fact) after developers started in on changes that rewarded themepark quests, not sandbox quests. What you can take away from that is simply "it is themepark player content" until the developers actually support branching storylines and multiple-choice options (because, due to the way quests are timed and rewarded, the completion of linear objectives garners an exp and item reward, not open ended, no objective hackneyed "quests").

     

    I won't argue that EVE right now is the definitive Sandbox that exists in the current market. That type of game isn't my cuppa, but I don't deride the game. You can also go too far with the sandbox, and make it not fun to play or easily played by players, thus driving possible customers off. Wurms Online is a superb example of a perfect sandbox game, which is literally unplayable (that is to say, not fun for a majority of people who have attempted to play it). For some reason, SoE has done a much better job at retaining players and making it easy, while at the same time, offering the depth of interaction (economically, etc.) which can satisfy all but the most insane in this regard.

     

    Again, while the definition of sandpark seems to vary upon which armchair developer is talking about it at the time, in its simplicity, it is a game world where the players can do what they want without being dictated a single approach, and (either socially, economically, or in the actual game world itself) can create an effect.

     

    Player housing glutting the landscape wasn't what made SWG a sandbox. 70% of what made that game a sandbox was simply the fact that you could create an effect upon the social infrastructure of the game as a player, and the remainder stemmed from the ability to level your character any which way you chose to do so. Plenty of options. On plenty of worlds.

     

    Is that the only playstyle acceptable? No. WOW proved that, if nothing else. There is plenty of market for themeparks despite the sandbox fans wanting something different. The problem as I see it (and why the development swing toward "sandboxy") is simply...

     

    We haven't had something different for a long time. SoE was smart in saying "we wanted to do things which haven't been done before" and then attaching it to a sandbox. Because, for the majority of people who started with WOW, they haven't really seen anything like it. They haven't been made.

     

    I don't think labelling a sandbox game with some themepark elements as "themepark" (EQ)  is entirely fair, just as I think that labeling a themepark game with some sandboxy elements (NWO) is accurate, either. There are millions of shades of grey on this.

  • itchmonitchmon Member RarePosts: 1,999
    Ryahl that might have been the best thought-out, most well conceived article that I have ever read on this site. And I feel it should be required reading for anyone entering the themebox sandpark discussions.

    Thanks! Incidentally it also kept my mind off the cortizone shot I'm about to get (reading it in doctors waiting rm)

    RIP Ribbitribbitt you are missed, kid.

    Currently Playing EVE, ESO

    Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and not clothed.

    Dwight D Eisenhower

    My optimism wears heavy boots and is loud.

    Henry Rollins

  • BrialynBrialyn Member Posts: 184

    I wasn't tired of theme parks, I was only tired of the lacking theme park. So far FFXIV:ARR seems to be doing it right for me and my tastes.  Personally, I have no desire to play a sandbox and frankly I'm tired of the idea that this someone makes me less of a gamer.  Different strokes folks. 

    Thank you for a very unbiased article! :D 


    image
    Currently Playing: FFXIV:ARR
    Looking Forward to: Wildstar
  • calyptic101calyptic101 Member Posts: 5
    Eve doing it right for 10 years
  • calyptic101calyptic101 Member Posts: 5
    The main problem with themparks is that developers can not keep up with players. The reason players want more sandpark or sandbox games is simply content. Player driven content simply mever runs out.

    also the comments about you losing your stuff 8n eve sounds worse than it actually is. Losing your internet spaceship is no big deal for players you make it sound like that players worked for months to acquire what they are flying. Replacing what you lost is easy. Good article though.
  • RyahlRyahl Member Posts: 47
    Originally posted by calyptic101
    The main problem with themparks is that developers can not keep up with players. The reason players want more sandpark or sandbox games is simply content. Player driven content simply mever runs out.

    also the comments about you losing your stuff 8n eve sounds worse than it actually is. Losing your internet spaceship is no big deal for players you make it sound like that players worked for months to acquire what they are flying. Replacing what you lost is easy. Good article though.

    First, thanks everyone for the kind thoughts.

    @Calyptic101, I don't really understand EVE beyond newbie space, so thank you for the clarification.

    I suspect, though, that what an EVE player considers "replacing what you lost is easy" is surprisingly a lot more than what much of the mmo market considers a minimal penalty for failure.

    I'm speculating it's a bit like the xp-penalty in EQ1.  By the upper levels you almost always had a nearly full xp rez available, so the actual penalty wasn't that much.  Most everyone had experienced "losing a level" temporarily leveling up, though so the perception of loss was always much greater than the reality of the loss.

    Ryahl - writer of eye-bleeders
    FFXIV Fansite | TSWGuides
    Follow me on Twitter

  • SmoeySmoey Member UncommonPosts: 599

    The term 'sandbox' is interpreted differently by everyone. Even if a 'pure sandbox game' was created there would be many that would still argue that it wasn't a sandbox due to x, y or z. 

    Does this game have sandbox elements? you could say it does as you can pick any class and be what ever you want from a simple switch of a weapon, however, you could argue that simply having classes makes that redundant and therefore not a sandbox. I hate the term sandbox. It's used similarly to 'freedom' as freedom is interpreted by everyone differently. 

    (\ /) ?
    ( . .)
    c('')('')

  • PeskeyPixiePeskeyPixie Member Posts: 24

    I agree with a lot of what was in this article. But you see this happening in a lot of other markets as well, not just the gaming industry. I think that much of the hype comes from those that are trying to be the next "clone" of whatever game style is popular. WoW had it fair share of the clones and now because Eve is gaining in it's popularity you are going to see more and more imitators of the sandbox game style. Most of which will try to emulate exactly what Eve has done so they can have their time in the spotlight and try to steal market share from Eve. Some will actually be more original and try to work their designs into the sandbox style. I have been following one MMO that has been doing this for the last 12 years, before there was ever a coined phrase "sandbox". I do not want to sound like a bill board or a proponent of any specific MMO so I will just leave it at that and say that if you watch the industry carefully that you can still find original game designs that legitimately qualify as different and true sandbox designs. They may be rare, but they do exist.

    As far as the "loss" in MMOs is concerned, I really thin the industry in general needs to re-evaluate the whole hand-holding, no loss aspects of today's game designs and go back towards the sandbox model with the incorporation of loss. Let's put some challenge back into gaming. It isn't the destination that is important, it is the journey. Why focus on the end-game when getting there, or attempting to get there is where all the fun is. Quit coddling players and let them feel some sting in their bad choices and experience the loss that makes them better players instead of victims "care-bearism".

  • RolanStormRolanStorm Member UncommonPosts: 198

    Good read. Although point made about how much this article is on FFXIV ARR is valid. :)

    I think it is all about execution. I like sandboxes, but for me EVE is not a thing. I dislike themeparks, but play Guild Wars 2 recently and find it great.

    What themeparks usually lack is flexibility. If it is enough in class system and environment - themepark will be successful. For sandboxes it's guidelines - EVE did a pretty god job on their tutorial, that's the right thing. New player should have an opportunity to understand where to look for an adventure.

    I wonder how Repopulation will fare - they have this mixed concept, which I think is a right thing.

    As for FFXIV ARR they choose right approach - classic with tweaks. And story. Don't know how successful this game will be in general, but I definitely will play.

     
  • ChuckanarChuckanar Member UncommonPosts: 210
    I think he should have explained better what "Sandbox" and "Themepark" is better for those that are unsure. Heck I have been playing games and such for decades and I just go with what looks fun.
  • aslan132aslan132 Member UncommonPosts: 619
    Originally posted by BadSpock

    Not much about FFXIV:ARR is there?

    Should be a more general column, not specific to the game IMO as it is MUCH more about themepark vs. sandbox.

     

    FFXIV:ARR is definitely a themepark, as you said, unapologetically so.

    ARR is also giving a ton of different rides, and in a lot of ways, allowing you the player to choose which to ride and which to skip, as well as which to repeat to your heart's content in a way that is somewhat unique in the genre.

    Building a better park IMO - and that is EXACTLY what I want out of my MMORPG.

    Great character building, great graphics, cross platform play, excellent story, lots of group content both small and large scale, a full housing system, and the promise of a subscription fee with NO item mall or cash shop or freemium premium F2P B2P P2W or RMT.

    Excellent article. I know a huge thing on the net these days is to debate what sandbox means. And even with articles like this, I dont think the community will ever agree. But you do bring up good points and it should be enough to get anyone moving in the right general direction. 

     

    As for the quote above and the underlined specifically, thats not what FFXIV is at all. Let me preface before the hate and say I love the game. Im having fun in the betas, and if it werent for the subscription, my guild and I would be playing the game. It feels very much like FF, but as much as thats a positive, it is also a negative. It plays very much like a console game on rails. 

     

    While other games look to drive the industry forward, and try new things, this game is a step backward for the industry. This is very much your old school MMO, multiple hotbars, one button macroing, forced grouping, stand still to cast, and no dodge or action combat, etc. all bundled up with a sub fee.

     

    "allowing you the player to choose which to ride and which to skip" this part right here is especially false. The game very much forces you in one direction, with required grouping and dungeons, and quest hubs all run on rails. Want a mount? You have to join a faction, which means getting to a certain point in your story missions. Want to use the airships, again only after doing your story missions. Want to run dungeons, oh yea, you need access which is given by doing your story missions. Dont want to do dungeons? Too bad, they are forced within your story missions, and you cant progress in the game without them. Oh and the repeatable content, theres FATES (see Dynamic Events), most of which are death if you try to do them solo. But youll have plenty of time to do them, if you want to level other classes, its all grind, since the quests are not repeatable. 

     

    FFXIV:ARR is definitely a themepark, as you said, unapologetically so. This is the best way to describe the game. Its as themepark as themeparks come, right out of 2004. No game has done more handholding or guided rails in the last 5 years, even GW2 allowed you to choose if you wanted to do the story missions or not. Im not saying any of this is a bad thing. Many players want the old school MMO feel. Its whats been missing in their gaming, and why they hate on new MMOs so much. I hope the game is a huge success, and keeps all those gamers satisfied, so they wont need to hate on new games like ESO, or EQN, or ArcheAge, or games that try to do something different for the industry. 

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