(11-18-2013, 07:58 PM)Naunet Wrote:(11-18-2013, 07:08 PM)Lament Wrote:(11-18-2013, 02:29 AM)Naunet Wrote: Keep in mind that not only are the zones significantly larger than they appear in game (if they weren't, it would make no sense), but also that most of the zones don't even line up border-for-border. Often when you pass into another zone, you're quite obviously skipping a pretty large chunk of area.
Through mining and botany it's actually possible to estimate the size of each area and they are tiny. The gate to Ul'dah is only 360 yalms/yards (a fifth of a mile) from the ore in Copperbell Mines, which means the entire Western Thanalan area would span maybe just above a mile diagonally. D|
I just refuse to believe the world is really that small. It makes no sense. Squeenix sucks at distance and that's it.
It's not that they suck at distance so much as the fact they just can't make a huge world - it's not feasible. The size of the areas makes sense considering the amount of time it takes to walk/run from one end to the other, but in terms of anything else, it doesn't. Even if you consider that it's just a tiny portion of Western Thanalan - the distance between Ul'dah and the Castrum in WT being just above a single mile would be ridiculous considering the animosity/tension between the two. The distances aren't supposed to make any sense, really, they're there because of technical restrictions.
For better or worse, though, it does mean we have plenty of freedom to decide for ourselves on things like actual distances and travel times, since what the game offers would defy all logic (as would most rpgs where you can travel by air around the world and if you fly off a corner of the map, you end up on the opposite corner - a planet that small wouldn't even have enough of a gravitational pull).
