The new map of Terminus is looking great!
http://www.pantheonmmo.com/images/atlas-hi-res.jpg
Malsirian said:
Zarriya said:
The new map of Terminus is looking great!
I agree! Love it!
Is there still more to be revealed?
Yep! Much more of Terminus to be revealed:
"This is the current, known world of Terminus, as expeditions from Kingsreach and Reignfall have only just begun. However, reports are already coming in from the great regions of the East and the frozen reaches of the South..."
For me I like the rustic type of map or something a little more hand drawn rather than a painting map. Would be Nice to see a larger rolling landmass with landmarks and no names other than regions to represent the vast explorable areas of this game which is what it is all about right ? But as a starter for 10 not bad , I just dread we have the classic Good and Evil Empire set up here and I wish the large areas represented are a large single landmass in the main.
Joppa said:
Malsirian said:
Zarriya said:
The new map of Terminus is looking great!
I agree! Love it!
Is there still more to be revealed?
Yep! Much more of Terminus to be revealed:
"This is the current, known world of Terminus, as expeditions from Kingsreach and Reignfall have only just begun. However, reports are already coming in from the great regions of the East and the frozen reaches of the South..."
We all understand that Pantheon is not going to make any noise before 2017 and is following a very methodical milestones and phases of alpha thru beta. But exactly how big are these outer reaches of the current map going to be? I understand the technical know how of how big zones can be, so will they be walled together to make big woods? And seamless with no artifical zone walls like VG. How will the zones be used?
And given Today's 64bit engine, OS and hardware running on top of 8gig of space off a Solid State device. I understand that splash screens won't be present when crossing zone line and be very fast. While other times, it may have a splash for theme, or setting the tone of the encounter.
But I want to know is how big and filled out (wide) Pantheon is going to be. Wideness is why Kunark and Velious were so well liked. They each provided a true Continent-like feeling, that you could move about in different ways. Not always threw "this" zone.
I will explain with this simple picture: And understand what I am asking below..
SEE... all the area missing next to each of those zones, and outward to fill out Antonica and it's shore line? I would like to hear more about how the world will come alive. I have a hard time framing my imaginary gameplay within Pantheon, because I am unable to understand the scope of the game world. Is it piecemeal like Shroud of the Avatar and EQ, or will zones align into a grid that maps out an island, like Vanguard was..
Is Pantheon using a more true open world design, with the use of modern day zones & technology. Or just theatrical environments, with zone pathing to navigate around ?
Even micro-boxes like Zotac will run a 64bit environements. How are we going to be presented, the world of Terminus..?
Due to some not being able to read these forums and others. I wanted to get some opinions on this gentlmen's opinion of our new atlas.
I hate to be that guy, but it looks kind of "meh".
Compare to Morrowind, Game of the Year Edition's map (2003).
One of these is not even an MMO, and yet it has far more detail. The geology even looks halfway believable. PROTF's map seems more geared toward... selling the concepts, I guess? The buildings are huge, compared to the terrain. The terrain itself is very minimal, and jarring. You have a forest, right next to some islands, next to a huge waterfall (where is the watershed for that drainage feature, I wonder... north? Those mountains appear to have a lower elevation). What's that huge purple cauldron/vortex thing? I dunno... seems very "Themepark", like I'd need to buy a ticket to get in to "Tasrin's Gaze" (look how huge that building is!).
Again, let's compare this to a master of mapwork, Tolkien. Notice how everything flows? There is clear geological continuity, and the cultures that cover the landscape emerge as a result. Pantheon's map appears pock-marked by comparison.
/shrug
That's my critic's five minutes for the day.
I will say one thing I noticed right away is that the at places like Wilds End, where the land mass to the east looks to be separated by a rather small body of water are not explored at all, but the area of Kingsreach and Reingfall are able to be traveled?
I understand Lore and that other "areas" will be opened up with expansions, but I hope this is just a highly stylized map to show us the places and get a general idea of their relationship to each other than an actual map.
Hieromonk said:Joppa said:
Malsirian said:
Zarriya said:
The new map of Terminus is looking great!
I agree! Love it!
Is there still more to be revealed?
Yep! Much more of Terminus to be revealed:
"This is the current, known world of Terminus, as expeditions from Kingsreach and Reignfall have only just begun. However, reports are already coming in from the great regions of the East and the frozen reaches of the South..."
We all understand that Pantheon is not going to make any noise before 2017 and is following a very methodical milestones and phases of alpha thru beta. But exactly how big are these outer reaches of the current map going to be? I understand the technical know how of how big zones can be, so will they be walled together to make big woods? And seamless with no artifical zone walls like VG. How will the zones be used?
And given Today's 64bit engine, OS and hardware running on top of 8gig of space off a Solid State device. I understand that splash screens won't be present when crossing zone line and be very fast. While other times, it may have a splash for theme, or setting the tone of the encounter.
But I want to know is how big and filled out (wide) Pantheon is going to be. Wideness is why Kunark and Velious were so well liked. They each provided a true Continent-like feeling, that you could move about in different ways. Not always threw "this" zone.
I will explain with this simple picture: And understand what I am asking below..
SEE... all the area missing next to each of those zones, and outward to fill out Antonica and it's shore line? I would like to hear more about how the world will come alive. I have a hard time framing my imaginary gameplay within Pantheon, because I am unable to understand the scope of the game world. Is it piecemeal like Shroud of the Avatar and EQ, or will zones align into a grid that maps out an island, like Vanguard was..
Is Pantheon using a more true open world design, with the use of modern day zones & technology. Or just theatrical environments, with zone pathing to navigate around ?
Even micro-boxes like Zotac will run a 64bit environements. How are we going to be presented, the world of Terminus..?
We're never going to release detailed maps like you posted above. If you want to make them, share them, etc., that's great, but it's not what EQ or VG or Pantheon was ever about from an 'information release' standpoint. Our maps our purposely less detailed. We would prefer people explored and made their own maps. In the world of the Internet, we know that some people will just download maps from unofficial sites. Nothing much we can do about that, other than not release such maps ourselves.
I think you misunderstood my post.
I am not inquiring into a map, but in the technology and use of Zones to map out a game world. Are zones in pantheon going to be like Vanguard "chunks"..? Making Pantheon a more open world, or is Pantheon going to be funneled content threw strings of zones like EQ zone chart from above..?
Are you going to have zones in a grid and they make out a logical tangible island/continent..? Or just like above, where areas next to these zones are unattainable, or not even in game, and just piecemeal..?
Apologies for misunderstanding your post. It's hard for me to answer your question, however. It is not a grid of Vanguard chunks -- Pantheon is a zoned based world. But the zones, especially the outdoor zones, are very large and it's easy for us to make them look correct, adjacent to each other. We are striving for the 'if you can see it, you can get there' goal. So we don't need to 'funnel' you through from one zone to another like we often had to in EQ. So while it's technically more like EQ, it feels more like VG. It's more open, the zones are larger (so you will see the 'loading please wait' less frequently, and the zones load pretty quickly), and we don't need to make those strange corridors between zones like we did with EQ.
Dreconic said:Yes it is, but looks way more stylized then i normally like my maps to be, Hoping there is a way to get more of a real world type map for in game.
It is because this is not a map.
Here the purpose is obviously to only symbolically show the game zones and where they approximately are in relation to each other (e.g this zone is broadly eastwards of that zone) .
This is why it doesn't feel and look like a map of a real world .
A real map wouldn't use zones as primary objects because there are no "game zones" in a world .
It would use the whole world as a primary object so that spatial continuity and correct scales would be natural corollaries of the mapping process .
The "zones" would then just be implicitely included as regions of the world. Of important note is that it is not necessary that every part of the world exists as a playable "game zone" but it is necessary that every part of the world exists in a consistent believable way on the world map .
As I am a semi professional cartographer, I have created a map of the old Terminus as it existed about 1 year ago. It illustrates the process that starts with belieavable world building and finishes with "zones" while what we have here is exactly opposite - it starts with zones and finishes with a symbolical zones' sketch .
This world map creating process looks like that :
Then it is possible to create a more classical map of the whole world or of a part of it like that :
Now if the purpose is to only show the game zones without mapping the world then the symbolical approach used in the atlas will do .
Aradune said:Apologies for misunderstanding your post. It's hard for me to answer your question, however. It is not a grid of Vanguard chunks -- Pantheon is a zoned based world. But the zones, especially the outdoor zones, are very large and it's easy for us to make them look correct, adjacent to each other. We are striving for the 'if you can see it, you can get there' goal. So we don't need to 'funnel' you through from one zone to another like we often had to in EQ. So while it's technically more like EQ, it feels more like VG. It's more open, the zones are larger (so you will see the 'loading please wait' less frequently, and the zones load pretty quickly), and we don't need to make those strange corridors between zones like we did with EQ.
That sounds great. It will be a blast to test it out for you guys. Keep up the great work!
Niien said:I hope we don't see highly detailed maps in game and if we do... I hope we don't see little dots on the screen of where we are at lol... I will cry a bit.
We won't be providing a 'highly detailed map' and will avoid 'spoilers' at all costs. Likewise, no mini-map.
I posted this elsewhere, when a concern was raised that the atlas had some topographic 'anomalies' -- e.g. regions, mountains, rivers, etc. that wouldn't make sense in a real world. Thought I would share it with you all:
The idea of different pieces of planets colliding with Terminus, bringing new races, their architecture, their gods, etc. gives us a ton of creative freedom and a really fun sandbox to play in. Part of that freedom means that one region of the world doesn't have to make sense geographically when compared to an adjacent region. The topography can totally change and in a surprising, unexpected, and yes, 'unrealistic' ways. Yes, this includes the directions rivers may seem to be running or any other 'anomaly' you may perceive in the atlas. Pantheon's world is truly fantasy, with an emphasis on the fantastic.
I realize this is different than, say, Middle Earth. I'm a huge Tolkien fan, I assure you, but so many 'fantasy' worlds (in novels, games, etc.) have also been crafted to be 'realistic fantasy' that we decided to take a different approach with Pantheon, similar to our different (non-traditional) approaches to some of the playable races, etc. Too much 'sameness' is something MMOs have been struggling with, IMHO.
Aradune said:Niien said:I hope we don't see highly detailed maps in game and if we do... I hope we don't see little dots on the screen of where we are at lol... I will cry a bit.
We won't be providing a 'highly detailed map' and will avoid 'spoilers' at all costs. Likewise, no mini-map.
Aradune said:I posted this elsewhere, when a concern was raised that the atlas had some topographic 'anomalies' -- e.g. regions, mountains, rivers, etc. that wouldn't make sense in a real world. Thought I would share it with you all:
The idea of different pieces of planets colliding with Terminus, bringing new races, their architecture, their gods, etc. gives us a ton of creative freedom and a really fun sandbox to play in. Part of that freedom means that one region of the world doesn't have to make sense geographically when compared to an adjacent region. The topography can totally change and in a surprising, unexpected, and yes, 'unrealistic' ways. Yes, this includes the directions rivers may seem to be running or any other 'anomaly' you may perceive in the atlas. Pantheon's world is truly fantasy, with an emphasis on the fantastic.
I realize this is different than, say, Middle Earth. I'm a huge Tolkien fan, I assure you, but so many 'fantasy' worlds (in novels, games, etc.) have also been crafted to be 'realistic fantasy' that we decided to take a different approach with Pantheon, similar to our different (non-traditional) approaches to some of the playable races, etc. Too much 'sameness' is something MMOs have been struggling with, IMHO.
Thank you Brad!
Thank you Brad, I understand the direction Visionary Realms is going with world building.
I was hoping for more of an open world feel.
More like VG, or ArcheAge. I do like your idea of.. if you can see it, you should be able to reach it.. type comment. I am just hoping that most transition between zones are open world (100% zone'able wall), like in the Karanas.
Instead of funneled to single points, creating linear travel. I completely understand role play choke points, and understand the creative control that needs to take place.
But knowing 100% zone wall travel is possible, imagine how a six by six grid of open zones could make one massive Island... fully engulfed within those side-by-side zones. One massive biosphere to adventure in. I think fully tailored biospheres would have a great role playing and story telling aspect to them. It is how parts of the future world can be given to us.
Even a massive (right of passage) quest and now a sailor is dropping you off on a the docks of a small island... You are on a spec of land, near the actual zone wall of a large grid of 6 by 6 zones, w/100% zone line travel. The journey begins there..
I think the Unity zoning system is dynamic and we could have such content I idealized, some day..
edit:
Brad.. given what you know and seeing what inernal limitation exists, of what size can you largest zone be? Could a single modern day 64bit zone... be bigger than 5x Ocean of Tears ..?
