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I would like to arrange the map selection for season 6 here.
I believe that a team's design, and not the map on which it does battle, should determine the outcome of a match. One of the largest conflicting factors to this criterion is a map's size. Some designs naturally synchronise with large maps, others small. In attempt to excuse this factor, we change the map's size between rounds. Other conflicting factors, such as bottlenecks, poor placement, and so on, are less excusable. As the majority of FFT's maps contain at least one of these other factors, the majority are ill-suited for an assessment of sound team design. While I am comfortable with throwing out all of these maps, I would suspect the resultant lack of map variety will not sit well with most others. So, it is our task to separate the bad from the irredeemable.
I'll kick things off with my own arrangement. I've sorted them in terms of size. Here are my size qualifiers.
Small
Large
Naturally, most maps will not fit all of a size's qualifiers in practise. For example, Colliery Underground First Floor (028) is large enough to be labeled large, but fighting tends to be clustered on its high ground, so teams stick together. This is where medium maps - which meet the small and large qualifiers halfway - come in.
I deem maps guilty of
to be the irredeemable kind. Of course, classification of such maps is subjective.
Anyway, here is my arrangement. I regard maps in bold to be of high quality. Maps I regard to be nearly irredeemable but are present for the sake of variety are italicised. If I believe that a map has undesirable features, I will indicate so in parentheses.
004 - Office of Lesalia Castle
008 - Riovanes Castle
012 - Office of Igros Castle
013 - Inside of Lionel Castle
014 - Office of Igros Castle (extremely small - teams are susceptible to fatal first round AoE)
018 - Office of Limberry Castle
020 - Inside of Zeltennia Castle
021 - Zeltennia Castle
024 - Military Academy's Auditorium (units with fly/teleport can escape to the elevated platform)
025 - Yardow Fort City
051 - St. Murond Temple
053 - Entrance to Death City (units can escape melee damage by fleeing the centre platform)
058 - Underground Book Storage Second Floor (medium size, but fighting is clustered above the stairs)
065 - Granary of Bethla Garrison
068 - Bethla Garrison
073 - Inside of Windmill Shed (units might attempt to throw items through the elevated platform and fail)
086 - Doguola Pass (medium size, but clustered fighting in low region)
092 - Igros, Beoulve Residence
094 - Broke Down Shed-Stone Building
096 - Pub
103 - Windmill Shed (distant unit placement for a small map)
112 - HORROR (large map, but fighting is clustered on one side)
006 - At the Gate of Riovanes Castle
029 - Colliery Underground Second Floor
030 - Colliery Underground Third Floor
037 - Ruins Outside Zaland
044 - Bervenia Free City
045 - Ruins of Zeltennia Castle's Church
046 - Cemetary of Heavenly Knight Balbanes (medium size, but placement is separated)
054 - Lost Sacred Precincts (bottlenecks exist, but there is plenty of room to run around)
055 - Graveyard of Airships
061 - Underground Book Storage Fifth Floor
071 - Dolbodar Swamp
074 - Sweegy Woods
076 - Zeklaus Desert
084 - Bariaus Hill (close placement)
085 - Mandalia Plains (fighting tends to cluster in one corner)
087 - Bariaus Valley
088 - Finath River
089 - Poeskas Lake
100 - Public Cemetary
102 - Tutorial (2)
105 - TERMINATE
106 - DELTA
109 - BRIDGE
110 - VALKYRIES (extremely distant placement and clustered fighting upon contact)
112 - TIGER (units with fly/teleport outpace their team)
125 - Checkerboard Stairs
001 - At Main Gate of Igros Castle
002 - Back Gate of Lesalia Castle
003 - Hall of St. Murond Temple
005 - Roof of Riovanes Castle
010 - Inside of Igros Castle (movement restricted for units without fly/teleport/ignore height)
016 - Inside of Limberry Castle
017 - Underground Cemetary of Limberry Castle
019 - At the Gate of Limberry Castle (2)
022 - Magic City Gariland
027 - Goland Coal City
028 - Colliery Underground First Floor (large size, but fighting is clustered in the high region)
031 - Dorter Trade City
032 - Slums in Dorter (large size, but fighting is clustered on the ground)
034 - Cellar of Sand Mouse
035 - Zaland Fort City
048 - Slums in Zarghidas (large size, but fighting is clustered on one half of the map
049 - Fort Zeakden
056 - Orbonne Monastery
060 - Underground Book Storage Fourth Floor (large size, but fighting is clustered in the lower region)
063 - Golgorland Execution Site
069 - Murond Death City
072 - Fovoham Plains (large size, but fighting is clustered by the water)
075 - Bervenia Volcano
077 - Lenalia Plateau
079 - Yuguo Woods
080 - Araguay Woods
090 - Germinas Peak
091 - Thieves Fort
098 - Outside Castle Gate in Lesalia
101 - Tutorial (1)
108 - VOYAGE (map is large, but narrow)
118 - Checkerboard Land 2
Here are the maps that didn't make the cut with my reasons for cutting them.
007 - Inside of Riovanes Castle (unit placement is too spread out)
009 - Citadel of Igros Castle (bottlenecks)
015 - At the Gate of Limberry Castle (1) (bottleneck)
023 - Beoulve Residence (placement clustered around the building; units with fly/teleport can escape to the roof)
026 - Weapon Storage of Yardow (team 1's unit placement is split across different heights)
033 - Hospital in Slums (horrible camera)
036 - Church Outside of Town (bottleneck for team 1)
038 - Goug Machine City (bottlenecks)
039 - Underground Passage in Goland (team 1's side of the map lacks stairs near the middle area)
042 - Warjilis Trade City (bottleneck for team 2)
047 - Zarghidas Trade City (fighting is split between either the rooftops or the ground; could be relabeled as large)
050 - St. Murond Temple (bottleneck)
052 - Chapel of St. Murond Temple (units are placed in pairs; unfavourable to support strategies)
057 - Underground Book Storage First Floor (bottlenecks)
059 - Underground Book Storage Third Floor (movement severely restricted for 3 jump units)
062 - Chapel of Orbonne Monastery (units with fly/teleport can escape to the lower region)
064 - In Front of Bethla Garrison's Sluice (bottleneck)
066 - South Wall of Bethla Garrison (unit placement is too spread out)
067 - North Wall of Bethla Garrison (team 1's unit placement is spread across different heights)
070 - Nelveska Temple (team 2 is pinned within the temple)
077 - Zigolis Swamp (AI is not mindful of the poisonous water)
081 - Grog Hill (horrible layout)
082 - Bed Desert (bottleneck for team 2)
083 - Zirekile Falls (bottleneck)
093 - Broke Down Shed-Wooden Building (ridiculously small)
097 - Inside Castle Gate in Lesalia (ugly; fighting breaks into two sets of 2v2 at the start)
104 - Beoulve Residence (ridiculously small)
107 - NOGIAS (split placement)
111 - MLAPAN (water inhibits movement)
114 - END (horrible layout)
115 - Banished Fort (bottlenecks; units with >3 jump on team 1 easily separate themselves from their team)
117 - Checkerboard Land 1 (same map as 118, but with worse placement)
119 - Checkerboard Land 3 (same map as 118, but with worse placement)
And finally, here are maps whose fate is undecided
041 - Besrodio's House (small if that golden contraption is removed, else cut)
095 - Church (medium if teams 1 and 2 are grouped together on opposing corners of the map, else cut. Didn't Wiz fix this?)
116 - Arena (medium if teams 1 and 2 are grouped together on opposing corners of the map, else cut)
I believe that a team's design, and not the map on which it does battle, should determine the outcome of a match. One of the largest conflicting factors to this criterion is a map's size. Some designs naturally synchronise with large maps, others small. In attempt to excuse this factor, we change the map's size between rounds. Other conflicting factors, such as bottlenecks, poor placement, and so on, are less excusable. As the majority of FFT's maps contain at least one of these other factors, the majority are ill-suited for an assessment of sound team design. While I am comfortable with throwing out all of these maps, I would suspect the resultant lack of map variety will not sit well with most others. So, it is our task to separate the bad from the irredeemable.
I'll kick things off with my own arrangement. I've sorted them in terms of size. Here are my size qualifiers.
Small
- Teams placed closely enough to make contact within the first turn
- The majority of the opposing team's units are within striking distance at all times during battle
Large
- Teams cannot make contact within their first turn
- The map is large enough for units to attempt to stay outside of striking distance
- Teams are subjected to the risk of spreading out and fighting on several fronts
Naturally, most maps will not fit all of a size's qualifiers in practise. For example, Colliery Underground First Floor (028) is large enough to be labeled large, but fighting tends to be clustered on its high ground, so teams stick together. This is where medium maps - which meet the small and large qualifiers halfway - come in.
I deem maps guilty of
- bottlenecks (ex. Gates of Limberry Castle)
- wide unit placement (ex. Inside of Riovanes Castle)
- Unfair unit placement (ex. Weapon Storage of Yardow - team 1 is split across different heights, while team 2 is not)
to be the irredeemable kind. Of course, classification of such maps is subjective.
Anyway, here is my arrangement. I regard maps in bold to be of high quality. Maps I regard to be nearly irredeemable but are present for the sake of variety are italicised. If I believe that a map has undesirable features, I will indicate so in parentheses.
004 - Office of Lesalia Castle
008 - Riovanes Castle
012 - Office of Igros Castle
013 - Inside of Lionel Castle
014 - Office of Igros Castle (extremely small - teams are susceptible to fatal first round AoE)
018 - Office of Limberry Castle
020 - Inside of Zeltennia Castle
021 - Zeltennia Castle
024 - Military Academy's Auditorium (units with fly/teleport can escape to the elevated platform)
025 - Yardow Fort City
051 - St. Murond Temple
053 - Entrance to Death City (units can escape melee damage by fleeing the centre platform)
058 - Underground Book Storage Second Floor (medium size, but fighting is clustered above the stairs)
065 - Granary of Bethla Garrison
068 - Bethla Garrison
073 - Inside of Windmill Shed (units might attempt to throw items through the elevated platform and fail)
086 - Doguola Pass (medium size, but clustered fighting in low region)
092 - Igros, Beoulve Residence
094 - Broke Down Shed-Stone Building
096 - Pub
103 - Windmill Shed (distant unit placement for a small map)
112 - HORROR (large map, but fighting is clustered on one side)
006 - At the Gate of Riovanes Castle
029 - Colliery Underground Second Floor
030 - Colliery Underground Third Floor
037 - Ruins Outside Zaland
044 - Bervenia Free City
045 - Ruins of Zeltennia Castle's Church
046 - Cemetary of Heavenly Knight Balbanes (medium size, but placement is separated)
054 - Lost Sacred Precincts (bottlenecks exist, but there is plenty of room to run around)
055 - Graveyard of Airships
061 - Underground Book Storage Fifth Floor
071 - Dolbodar Swamp
074 - Sweegy Woods
076 - Zeklaus Desert
084 - Bariaus Hill (close placement)
085 - Mandalia Plains (fighting tends to cluster in one corner)
087 - Bariaus Valley
088 - Finath River
089 - Poeskas Lake
100 - Public Cemetary
102 - Tutorial (2)
105 - TERMINATE
106 - DELTA
109 - BRIDGE
110 - VALKYRIES (extremely distant placement and clustered fighting upon contact)
112 - TIGER (units with fly/teleport outpace their team)
125 - Checkerboard Stairs
001 - At Main Gate of Igros Castle
002 - Back Gate of Lesalia Castle
003 - Hall of St. Murond Temple
005 - Roof of Riovanes Castle
010 - Inside of Igros Castle (movement restricted for units without fly/teleport/ignore height)
016 - Inside of Limberry Castle
017 - Underground Cemetary of Limberry Castle
019 - At the Gate of Limberry Castle (2)
022 - Magic City Gariland
027 - Goland Coal City
028 - Colliery Underground First Floor (large size, but fighting is clustered in the high region)
031 - Dorter Trade City
032 - Slums in Dorter (large size, but fighting is clustered on the ground)
034 - Cellar of Sand Mouse
035 - Zaland Fort City
048 - Slums in Zarghidas (large size, but fighting is clustered on one half of the map
049 - Fort Zeakden
056 - Orbonne Monastery
060 - Underground Book Storage Fourth Floor (large size, but fighting is clustered in the lower region)
063 - Golgorland Execution Site
069 - Murond Death City
072 - Fovoham Plains (large size, but fighting is clustered by the water)
075 - Bervenia Volcano
077 - Lenalia Plateau
079 - Yuguo Woods
080 - Araguay Woods
090 - Germinas Peak
091 - Thieves Fort
098 - Outside Castle Gate in Lesalia
101 - Tutorial (1)
108 - VOYAGE (map is large, but narrow)
118 - Checkerboard Land 2
Here are the maps that didn't make the cut with my reasons for cutting them.
007 - Inside of Riovanes Castle (unit placement is too spread out)
009 - Citadel of Igros Castle (bottlenecks)
015 - At the Gate of Limberry Castle (1) (bottleneck)
023 - Beoulve Residence (placement clustered around the building; units with fly/teleport can escape to the roof)
026 - Weapon Storage of Yardow (team 1's unit placement is split across different heights)
033 - Hospital in Slums (horrible camera)
036 - Church Outside of Town (bottleneck for team 1)
038 - Goug Machine City (bottlenecks)
039 - Underground Passage in Goland (team 1's side of the map lacks stairs near the middle area)
042 - Warjilis Trade City (bottleneck for team 2)
047 - Zarghidas Trade City (fighting is split between either the rooftops or the ground; could be relabeled as large)
050 - St. Murond Temple (bottleneck)
052 - Chapel of St. Murond Temple (units are placed in pairs; unfavourable to support strategies)
057 - Underground Book Storage First Floor (bottlenecks)
059 - Underground Book Storage Third Floor (movement severely restricted for 3 jump units)
062 - Chapel of Orbonne Monastery (units with fly/teleport can escape to the lower region)
064 - In Front of Bethla Garrison's Sluice (bottleneck)
066 - South Wall of Bethla Garrison (unit placement is too spread out)
067 - North Wall of Bethla Garrison (team 1's unit placement is spread across different heights)
070 - Nelveska Temple (team 2 is pinned within the temple)
077 - Zigolis Swamp (AI is not mindful of the poisonous water)
081 - Grog Hill (horrible layout)
082 - Bed Desert (bottleneck for team 2)
083 - Zirekile Falls (bottleneck)
093 - Broke Down Shed-Wooden Building (ridiculously small)
097 - Inside Castle Gate in Lesalia (ugly; fighting breaks into two sets of 2v2 at the start)
104 - Beoulve Residence (ridiculously small)
107 - NOGIAS (split placement)
111 - MLAPAN (water inhibits movement)
114 - END (horrible layout)
115 - Banished Fort (bottlenecks; units with >3 jump on team 1 easily separate themselves from their team)
117 - Checkerboard Land 1 (same map as 118, but with worse placement)
119 - Checkerboard Land 3 (same map as 118, but with worse placement)
And finally, here are maps whose fate is undecided
041 - Besrodio's House (small if that golden contraption is removed, else cut)
095 - Church (medium if teams 1 and 2 are grouped together on opposing corners of the map, else cut. Didn't Wiz fix this?)
116 - Arena (medium if teams 1 and 2 are grouped together on opposing corners of the map, else cut)