We’ve spent what little time we’ve had in the open beta preparing our website for the release of the game. But we have had time to explore the five playable regions of Thanalan, La Noscea, The Black Shroud, Coerthas and Mor Dhona plus the six dungeons contained within.
We thought it would be a great idea to take screenshots in each area so that we could add them to the map pages. This proved to be challenging because some of the dungeons are very dangerous places! The regions aren’t difficult to navigate around, although The Black Shroud can cause problems with its narrow passages.
To give you some idea of where each of the five regions are located and how they fit together, I have put together the five maps and drawn on them where they connect. La Noscea is not actually physically connected to Thanalan, the route is by ferry.
Here’s a breakdown of each region, along with our best six screenshots from each area. If you want the game to be full of surprises at launch, you may wish to avoid clicking on the screenshots.
La Noscea
La Noscea is the region located outside of Limsa Lominsa. It contains lots of low level monsters designed for starting players. The region contains the dungeon areas of Cassiopeia Hollow and Mistbeard Cove.
There is nothing new to talk about with this region, we have been seeing it for months. But it remains a fine place for early levelling with a varied landscape, including the only beach we have encountered so far.
Thanalan
Thanalan is the region located outside of Ul’dah. It contains lots of low level monsters designed for starting players. The region contains the dungeon areas of Copperbell Mines and Nanawa Mines.
The region has a lot of beautiful scenery, ranging from mountains to canyons. It is easy to navigate and is well connected with easy access to both Limsa Lominsa and Gridania.
The Black Shroud
The Black Shroud is the region located outside of Gridania. It contains lots of low level monsters designed for starting players. The region contains the dungeon areas of The Mun-Tuy Cellars and The Tam-Tara Deepcroft.
As you can see from the map, the whole region is a maze with rivers and lakes dotted around the region. While it is not that difficult to navigate, it is the least open of the three starting areas. This can cause problems when exploring if you encounter an agressive monster on a narrow path.
Coerthas
Coerthas is the mountainous region outside the city of Ishgard and can be accessed from Ishgard, the northwest of The Black Shroud and the north of Mor Dhona.
In my opinion it is the most beautiful region currently in the game. It is nice to see the mountains in this game are more accessible than those in FFXI. There is also a number of lakes in the region, and a nice view of Ishgard. Ishgard currently can not be accessed. Hopefully you will have better luck with the weather when you visit it.
Mor Dhona
Mor Dhona is a dark wasteland kind of area in the west of Eorzea. It has a large lake in the centre with what looks like a crashed airship from a battle fought long ago. It can be accessed from the south of Coerthas, the west of The Black Shroud and the north of Thanalan.
I get the impression this is a high level region, especially after getting poked by a Rainbow Basilisk.
 |  The best piece of advice I can give you is to not go near a Rainbow Basilisk. |
Exploring Eorzea
Certainly, FFXIV has a massive, realistic looking world and you will enjoy exploring it. The screenshots shown here only show a small taster of what each of the regions have to offer. There are also five more regions within Eorzea to the north and the west of the continent that are currently not accessible. We look forward to seeing what these have to offer.
We’ll be doing an article on the dungeons later today so check back for more screenshots and experiences!
You may have noticed we’ve made some changes to the navigation of the site. We’ve done this to make useful content easier to find. So far – the disciplines, world and races sections are full of information on abilities, maps and race information. The guildleves, crafting and items sections are still in development. We will keep you informed on the progress of these. The item database is the next project as we fell it will be the most useful of the three.
