When I first played a bit of FFXI back in the early-to-mid 2000s the novelty of the real-time ferries and airships was so charming to me that they probably played a major part in how I think about digital space and geography. We live in a world of hypertext where the pathways between two points are obfuscated so cleanly that we assume there is no space there. Video games have always been fighting against this by representing space where computers, by their nature, dictate there need not be any. When you consider how important fast-travel is to modern open-world games it starts to look absurd on paper; physical circuits taking up real-world space, using computer language to condense space into tables and directories, games using that same language to create vast virtual spaces within those directories, that same game's fast-travel mechanics being used to again condense that space for the busy player.
To some, FFXI's ferries and airships are inconvenient and cumbersome, but what they really do is contextualize the world's geography into more-than-just-assets linked by loading zones. It embraces the space that it doesn't need to and in doing so leaves so much room to breathe.
I've always enjoyed taking public transit.
There are no obligations when you're on public transit.
You have no control over how fast you get to where you're going once you step on that bus or train or ferry. Your job is done.
FFXIV, by contrast, is full of immediacy; teleport points, duty roulettes, quest markers, everything about it keeps a breakneck pace (for an MMO anyway). Even FFXIV's homage to FFXI's ferries, ocean fishing, is full of spectacle, points to gather, requirements to meet, gamification-upon-gamification, etc.
Even the Island Sanctuary portion of FFXIV, touted as a relaxing slow-life experience, boils down to min-maxing a spreadsheet to keep currencies flowing as efficiently as possible.
There is nothing efficient about Final Fantasy XI. It treats it's environment with a patience and a quiet and a room to breathe that has fallen out of favour in modern game design.
Of course "you control the buttons you press" and if one wanted to manually walk from location to location in FFXIV or simply check in on their Island Sanctuary once in awhile one absolutely could. But don't pretend for a second that is a playstyle encouraged by the design.
When I first decided I was going to play FFXI all the way through I knew that I would want to make Blue Mage one of my main jobs. To access the Blue Mage you need take a ferry across the sea to Aht Urghan so that became my top priority. I made my way to the town of Mhaura and discovered just how analogous to real-life transit FFXI had made things. First you need to speak to the front desk to get your ticket, you're then escorted to a waiting area that feels like being trapped in customs; there is no way in or out unless you consult an employee who will then escort you. I watched the ferry roll in and proceeded to board. After a couple minutes it departed and I watched a brief cutscene showing my vessel on its way. Fade to black. Smash cut to me back in the waiting area I just departed from and an error message saying that I didn't have a proper permit to go to that city.
Despite every attempt at verisimilitude FFXI gave me the most unceremonious, video game, does not compute-ass rejection it possibly could have. I liked it a lot.
Do I wish maybe the lady at the front desk told me I didn't have my papers in order before she sold me a ticket to a place she knew I couldn't go and let me wait 5 minutes of Real Earth time for an arbitrary digital representation of an analogue conveyance through an arbitrary digital space? I guess so? But maybe that's also what it means to engage with limitations of a medium in a time it was trying so hard to make Living Breathing Worlds™.
Fast forward to this past week when I finally managed to secure myself a boarding pass. I watched that same cutscene of the ferry shoving off into the water and this time I was greeted with a beautiful 16 MINUTE LONG journey across the sea complete with changing weather, a beautiful sunrise, passing scenery, lovely background music, and the company of three player characters who boarded for an opportunity to fish.
It might just be me but it seems like the draw distance here was higher than usual which really gave the islands a chance to peek over the horizon before coming into full view. This is the sense of place that is missing from FFXIV, specifically the ocean fishing.
I understand that it's ultimately a problem of increased fidelity; XI could afford to make these passing islands or the low-resolution version of the world seen during airship flights because the expectations for detail weren't as high as they are now. But it still makes me wish that XIV would be willing to invest in the things that aren't tied to Progress.
Maybe Dawntrail's summer vacation vibe means it will have a bit more Island Time Design but I doubt it.
XI on the other hand knows how to take it slow and let the space breathe that salt sea air.
Maynwii
DNC/RDM
Asura
