-The fucking map! Limsa Limonosa (sp?) is one confusing city. And yet your map is barely bigger than your mini-map, up in the top left corner of the screen. Until I figured out (hours later) how to get the mouse cursor to drag it to full size, the map was utterly unsuable, and it was killing the game for me. This was the number one place they should have made a huge change for consoles. One button to open up a full screen map, with console controls to move around and select things.
-The world not being one continuous streamed area is just awful. I couldn't figure out where the gates were in Limsa because you don't see the gates! You run up to a blue line with a gate presumably in the distance, and then there's a load screen and you've gone from in the city to out into a field. As someone who plays these games primarily to explore every nook and cranny and cover every blade of grass, that was the biggest disappointment of all. I can forgive all the janky stuff and HUD issues, but I want a full world to explore. I'll never walk that bridge and pass through that Limsa gate - it's not in the game.
First: The "full screen map" was in 1.0, and it completely covered the entire screen, which means you can only view it and then close it and run, then view it again and close it and run again. The current map, however you complain about it, is better because 1) you can resize it and 2) it is useable while you leg about, because it can be left open and you can still run about with roughly 3/4ths of your field view available. And it is possible to open with 1 button!
Use the square button. I am quite sure the controls say "Square Button = Open Map".
The map is not "utterly unuseable", but in fact useable, with exactly the console controls you're clamoring for. If you open the map and it has the cursor (doable while standing still), you can use the right stick to move it around like a "click and drag", you can hold L1 or R1 and use Up/Down on the right stick to zoom in/out. If you are moving, when you press square the map will open without the cursor and function as a larger minimap, and it will move with you at the center. To get the cursor to appear while it is in this state, you simply press square again.
Reading a guy's post further up who complained there was no map when he was using only the minimap, really depresses me who tried hard and read all the active text and experimented with all the options available. There are some things that are obtuse, but because this is an MMO, you can ask other people if certain UI things are available so that you can increase your quality of play. I don't want to complain that players who complain about finding quest objectives or whatever are being lazy, but short of a yellow brick road holding your hand to the place, I can't imagine how much easier they can make it. Are bright yellow, immersive floor arrows guiding you to your quest objective better?
Second: It is lamentable that the game is not a seamless area, but this is a compromise made for PS3. If you can't figure out where the gates are when you can use the map, then I don't know what to say. Sure you can have the "go through the actual gates" option, 1.0 had it and it took you two minutes just running to leave the city, and two minutes to run back in. Here with the zone lines and the aethernet, it takes at max, even on PS3, 30 seconds to get around anywhere you want within the city or leaving it. The aethernet in each city ensures that you barely use the actual entrances/exits anyway.
Moreover, if you're exploring, you can find the gates just by checking out what is beyond the zone lines. To be honest you saying you like exploring everything, but also complaining you can't use the map, these are a bit at odds with each other, no? If you're exploring, you won't need the map, and just use landmarks/paths to find things. If you're complaining about how you can't use the map, then you're not exploring or using the environment to guide you. As one of the few people who actually does run around and not use teleport for everything, gates and bridges and the like aren't really the things I consider "an experience" when it comes to exploration and travel. Passing that Wood Wailer in Treespeak killing a whole pack of low level squirrels every time because of the way aggro mechanics work, seeing Rock Volnutt out in the field and immediately changing course to /salute him, stopping by to notice that lalafell merchant trying to scam a goblin just outside the Drowning Wench, and so on.
Sure, there are sights. But the world is much more than that, and complaining about not being able to 'pass under the gates of Limsa' is about as touristy shallow as it gets.
