Overland Map Question

Hello all.
I have a quick question on the overland map.

When you are traveling in the overland map can you just click anywhere and even if there is no town or city there on the map will it load you into a scene for that area?
And if so are all of the scenes like that where there is no specific town or city marked on the map just a generic wooded scene and all of them the same?
I ask because I was wondering if there is any reason to just go out adventuring or exploring in this game?
That is an aspect of RPGs that I like very much and wonder if that is something that I will be able to do in this game and if so will it have any real meaning behind it.

Thanks for responses ahead of time. You all have been very helpful so far.

 

So far every random grassy area with nothing on it I accidentally clicked on brought me into a scene for the area, so I assume the whole map is like that.

Not sure about your other questions.

 

The idea, as far as my knowledge goes, is to have those hexes indeed be "generic hexes". Generic here means a pre-conceived set of maps (no random generation). Thus far, the only points of interests of these maps are raw resources (ore veins, plants, trees, etc.) which are guarded by NPC monsters (we've only seen spiders, bears and wolves so far, but many more are to come) who also count as resources (wolves' pelts, spider legs, etc.).

Last time it was discussed, each "generic" hex was to be the same all the time (waiting 15 min won't make that hex become a new instance with a new map).

And now that I explained the general idea, I really want to join you in pleading the devs for random encounters in generic hexes : have one hex out a hundred contain an NPC which could be a merchant, or a questgiver, or just a "short story teller". Could even just be an abnormally strong monster with chances of decent loot or something.

Devs have already said they want the overmap travelling to be interrupted by random encounters, but I think random encounters should also appear in random hexes without pulling you inside that hex (discover them by chance, basically).

Hope that helps !

 

this is only Hidden Vale.

http://www.newbritannia.info/Atlas/NewBritannia/HiddenVale/HiddenVale.php#

 

Statements that the world is huge may be misleading if generic hexes are duplicates across the map. I wonder how big the world would be if you only counted one each of generic hexes, and one each of the storyline, city, dungeon and etc. hexes. I too am a little dismayed re: generic hexes. I hope there is some other offering in the works so that at least there would be a reason to click on a generic area, instead of never visiting 90% of what the map represents.

 

Hmm, I think on this map there are 2-3 types of terrain missing
1. beach
2. swamp
3. cliffs

I hope that those will be implemented at some time. I thought it was odd having a swamp like terrain on the overland map but the scene was a forest. The same with beaches/deserts...

 

Ah yes that does help thank you.

Ya I would like to see that too. Obviously any kind of random event that happens on the overland map wouldnt affect the storyline but for those who like to explore and just go out and get in trouble it would add some endgame things to do as well.
When it would make it worth your time to go out and explore random hexes with no real destination in mind. Have them randomly spawn monsters, maybe some harder then your average monsters with better loot drops. Or like you said maybe just random people who tell stories or off some kind of random fetch/deliver quest pulled from a pool of quests just for random NPCs.

Would make the world outside of the towns and cities appear more alive as well. As it stands now it seems like once you are out of the town traveling the overland map to another town there is no real life outside of that scene you just left.

So looking forward to this game now. I really hope the devs keep some of these things in mind. A somewhat random dynamic world outside of towns really would make the world feel more alive and also give stories to tell to strengthen the RPG element while your sipping your ale with your friends at the pub.

 

Aldo thats a very good point. If 90% of the map you never care about or pay any attention to what use is it other then window dressing?
I too hope that isnt the plan.

Edit: Oh nice Mata thanks. I just became a backer yesterday so I havent had a chance to play the game yet to see whats what. I look forward to the next event so I can see things for myself.
Until then I have to rely on picking all of you nice peoples brains

 

Your welcome

 

It was my understanding that there would be a set of scenes for a particular hex type, and that at least one of the set would contain some sort of rare encounter.
So, for example, let's say there are a dozen or maybe two dozen forest scenes. One of the scenes might contain a gypsy camp. Another might contain a mysterious temple, but the rest would just be forest with standard animals and resources.

When you enter a forest hex, a random forest scene would load.

One must keep in mind that this was not meant to be an MMO.

And, it must also be said that the team seems to be taking opportunities to flesh out more of the world.
Chris might have mentioned a change of the original plan. I can't remember.

 

Hello and Welcome...

Just to be clear, Hidden Vale is just a test bed and not meant to be complete, it is a small island off the NE coast of Novia (the main continent).


Here's the main continent:


I hope I shared those right... (nope, right click to open in new tab)

As for the overland map, if you click on a spot (hex), your avatar will move (pathfind) to that spot. Dbl clicking anywhere will cause your avatar to enter the hex they are standing on. You can scroll the map to click a farther distance. The avatar is to animate in R9 as opposed to a placeholder figure. There are only a handful of scenes, but each scene has resources to gather (which do randomize now), or an Elf fighters camp, or spiders/bears/wolves to fight, one scene has skeletons in the ruins with the entrance to a dungeon in it too. There is a Sytre enclave, and caves to explore, and all the towns/villages are different, there will be cities on the main continent. If you follow the quest lines, the Mayor gives you rewards for Bandit sashes & skeleton essence. You can PvP now in the marked areas or go down in the Clink, you will find chests with loot... Depending on time of day the lunar rifts takes you to different places...

I play with the Windows client, there is a 64 bit ver but it crashes sometimes...

It's been said that with each new episode there will be a new continent opened, it will be some time to have all the hexes with individual scenes, but thats the beauty of hexes/instancing, they can add/change a hex at will, without us knowing it happened...

 

So welcome to the jungle (or wathever hex you choose)!

 

Well, the original plan during kickstarter was that those hexes could load a new hex when you enter depending on many different scenerios. IE weather/time/date.

Now, even if they load the same scene when you enter...the actual contents of the scene will change....so different enemies, possible NPC's etc.

With this in mind the game will become more fleshed out with each release allowing them to add to the overall map with new scenes.

Another thing is that the overland map will have events taking place as you play the game...these could basically be on any hex(I assume non important hexes) such as shardfalls/volcanoes/ battles....all of which will be dynamic. I'm sure they have more plans in the vein as well.

 

Oh thats great to hear!
Sounds like they are doing things that I had mentioned already or at least its in the pipeline.
Wonderful!

And yes I do understand its not meant to be an MMO and I dont want that either. I was just thinking about how open the world is in regards to meaningful exploring for replay value once the main quest line is complete while waiting for the next episode. I for one certainly wont want to quit playing for months while I wait and they cant rush things so I guess we need something to do. Unless you just live for PVP i guess.

And even though its not an MMO there is a lot of focus on things that you find in MMOs and the social aspects of the game.

 

During the last release, I went to many areas other than towns, woods, plains etc. . Although there were similarities to some of them, they were each a different experience. I for one have grown tired of the liner quest type game, and this was my test for this game. I was pleased with what I found, and am sure that it will flesh out as development continues.

 

Angor that is great to hear!

My mind is at ease.

thanks all

 

I first thought randomising those rare elements would make more sense, but this approach has the advantage of both having hand-crafted interesting scenes (you won't just stumble upon a big kobold warlord who just happens to walk by this forest 1000 miles away from any kobold encampment) while leaving the possibility to add more scenes at any time during the life of the game.

Let's remember the devs aren't just shipping Episode 1 and then going for a year-long vacation on the famous Poratalarium Pacific Island our money bought . The game is modular, so any scene can be modified, added or withdrawn "on-the-fly" (not sure if it'll go that far but that's the idea).

 

Good points Jam

Thank you

 

@Stardog765 -- Not sure if you have see this map example but I love to see it. So just in case you are interested.

overland map original example This is an example of Richard Garriotts original map idea that drew so many people in. We loved it, then when we saw the overland map that was being actually put in the game, it was so not like this one, that so many were distraught. Anyway so the point being that we wanted to see something more on these lines for our game. Each release now will show more on the development of the map. It has already come so far.

****cheers**** to you

 

Oh ya thats nice!
Thank you Majoria