Favorite RPG enviroment?

[bemushroomed]

What would your favorite environment in a RPG be, and why? Could be from an existing RPG's (cRPG's or not) or environments you'd like to see.

Personally:

* Lush, dark, european looking forests. Classical settings with classical enemies. Gothic 2 is just superb imo. Oblivion looked a bit too much like a Tiger Woods game in some cases (generic) :/ I loved playing in the woods as a kid as, i bet many RPG fans did, i guess those kind of environments takes me back to that time..

* "Nature taking over". Think STALKER but even more lush, like the movie "Nausicaa valley of the wind" (possibly the most wonderful environments in a movie ever). I'd love to see that. FO might be cool and all, but wow does the environment get old quick.

* Under the sea - or even better; under the sea in space! Why? I think marrying those two themes is just plain.. awesomeness Me being a big fan of space and underwater-horror movies like Pandorum, Event Horizon, Sphere and Alien.

I'd like to hear which environments you prefer and why

 

[Maylander]

The main reason I like Mass Effect so much is due to the setting and environment. While it's not very original in book/movie context, it's very original in gaming. I like that a lot.

I agree that Gothic, both 1 and 2, are great as far as environment goes. Among the very best. Definetly my favourite standard fantasy/medieval setting environment.

Oh, and I also like the desert environment in Gothic 3 and the samurai city of Two Worlds. Something out of the ordinary that still presents a good atmosphere (being original is not enough to make a good setting if the presentation is all wrong).

 

[Zaleukos]

I enjoy deserts, great cities (not the puny towns with 20 odd population that make up the center of a world-spanning empire in Oblivion), dense forests where you can get lost, and arctic environs.

Two Worlds was far from a perfect game, but I think it did most environments well. A frozen waste (albeit empty), standard "medieval" setting, orc-infested ravaged lands in the south, the fairly unique bamboo forest/samurai area, a credible desert, and creepy ghostly forests. The icing on the cake was that it gave an illusion of size that I havent encountered in any other RPG.

Gothic 3 had a great desert environment and some cool forests (though not as foreboding as G1 and G2).

And since I enjoy desert environments I guess I also have to mention the first Darksun game.

Cities are sadly impractical in first person games as they require a lot of fluff content. The best cities I've seen are probably Baldurs Gate, Amn (BG2), Ferdok (Drakensang), Barcelona (Lionheart), and Tarant (Arcanum). NWN2 also had a decent Neverwinter.

 

[magerette]

I like a mix of environments in a game; I know that's almost rote production these days-one per act following the Diablo pattern—town, forest, jungle, desert, underground, frozen waste, etc. but few games seem to do it really well. The original Gothic had a nice cohesive island environment that never really got stale. MM6&7 had great and diverse towns and open areas that you couldn't help but want to explore, and Arcanum did a good job with the steampunk setting. For arpgs, Titan Quest had a very successful and immersive mix of locales. My favorite place in any game, though, is a good dungeon—creepy, atmospheric, confusing and dangerous. Icewind Dale's Severed Hand is my favorite, along with most of ToEE.


@bemushroomed: Other than Alien, which I don't remember an underwater component in, I haven't seen the movies you mentioned so I'm wondering how you mix underwater environments with outer space???

 

[Anderson]

I like the lush, natural, wooded environments you mentioned, too, beshroomed. I'm a nature boy, so I like games that give me a taste of that. I dislike being in underground caverns and dungeons.

I liked Morrowind's Telvanni cities, with their weird architecture. I like fantastical environments like that.

And what magerette said, about variety -- that's important, too.

 

[Nex]

A more alien landscape with lots of mushrooms! Done well in Ultima 8 and then Morrowind.

 

[Melvil]

I tend to enjoy City environments, medieval, with detective themed quests. Arcanum and The Witcher come to mind as great examples of this type of environ.

 

[azraelck]

I have a fondness for the old Darksun setting. Post-apocalyptic desert wasteland mixed with twisted standard fantasy tropes. I was so happy to learn that Darksun will be getting a 4E version. I WILL buy it, solely to support Darksun.

Beyond that, the basic Fantasy or World War II setting are also long-standing favorites. Out of DnD games, I'd say that Dragonlance is my favored setting, though I really enjoyed the classic Might and Magics with their mesh of fantasy and science fiction. Wizardry 6-8 as well.

I can't honestly recall a WWII-based RPG off hand however. It is a favorite period of history for me to study though, to the point that I even collect the battle rifles that saw service in the war. And yes, they are fully functional.

 

[bemushroomed]

magerette: I didnt mean that that those movies (except for one) mix the themes, i just meant that i enjoy both of those themes and environments. I also agree that RPG's needs a vareity of environments, but most people probably have a favorite if they had to choose just 1.. or a few

DarkSun had a cool setting, i remember liking it much.. I somehow forgot to mention that i'm a huge fan of steampunk. Arcanum was really cool, i'd really like to see more Steampunk RPG's.

 

[Zaleukos]

While I enjoy many different kinds of environment I dont really see the point of throwing them all into one game. You end up with "obligatory lava levels". Many ADD games feel like showcases of all different environments at the cost of coherence. It is as if the devs just HAVE to throw in a bit of Underdark and whatnot.

Sometimes it would be better to stick with one environment and make the most out of it. The island of Khorinis in G2 was plausible because it didnt contain every climate zone, while Jharkendar in the NotR expansion was less credible as a world.

 

[magerette]

magerette: I didnt mean that that those movies (except for one) mix the themes, i just meant that i enjoy both of those themes and environments. I also agree that RPG's needs a vareity of environments, but most people probably have a favorite if they had to choose just 1.. or a few
.

Ah, I get you. It *would* be kind of cool to combine some science-fictiony space stuff with a doomed underwater city on a distant planet or something, too.

@Zaleukos: yes, exactly. Too many games roll out the progression from one environment to another as I said, by rote, so you know that once you finish killing everything in the jungle, you'll be going somewhere else next; a frozen waste or a dessert with the same monsters and events wearing different graphical skins. Still, I like a changing environment, and some games do it well. But I agree, it's better to have one real, living and immersive environment, than a dozen plastic and artificial ones.

As others have mentioned, Morrowind had a great sense of place. That was one of the best games for just taking your breath away with the environments, putting you in spots that felt totally alien but also totally real.

 

[holeraw]

I like anything that doesn't give me a deja vu feeling.
+ one for Morrowind - I especially liked how the general design of the landscape and the insect-like creatures passed naturally into the architecture and the clothes/armor of the natives, which contrasted with the 'imported' style of the other races.

I also like when there's some underlying creepiness. Like in the Witcher and especially chapter 4 where everything is so colorful and bright that for a moment it makes you feel like you've accidentally switched to some other game… and then the noonwraiths start dancing around!

 

[Phonix]

Sometimes it would be better to stick with one environment and make the most out of it.

The danger whit that, is:

FO might be cool and all, but wow does the environment get old quick.

My personal favorit is Dark Fantasy setting, as in The Witcher

 

[Rills]

+1 on Morrowind. There is an "otherness" about it that few match. And I hated the Sixth House. I felt it my duty to eradicate every one.

Temperate Forest settings like Gothic 2 (and to a degree 3) are some of my very favorite settings and the desert in Gothic 3 are another type that I enjoy playing in. There are few NWN1 community mods that utilize the desert tiles and are quite good.

Thief: The Dark Project while not a true RPG isn't really a true FPS either. In fact you RPG a thief and some the chapters were outstanding like the Haunted Cathedral and the Return to the Haunted Cathedral. The only chapter I hated playing was the Bonehoard because it was claustrophobic with a whole lot of zombies.

Winter landscapes are my least favorite.

 

[Anderson]

Good question and interesting discussion.

 

[DArtagnan]

Well, I'm sort of a traditionalist when it comes to Fantasy CRPGs - and I can't get enough of lush forests, and generally a strong variety of natural environments - like desert areas, snow-covered mountains, and things of that nature.

I generally don't care for "alien" environments ala Morrowind or Planescape - because I don't enjoy immersing myself in a world I wouldn't want to live in, unless it's a different KIND of game.

But I'm also a huge sci-fi fan, and I love tension based horror themed environments like in the Shock games. Also, Bioforge had a fantastic sci-fi setting that all too few games achieve. So it's kind of conflicted, because I wouldn't want to BE there, but since the games are "survival horror" or tension-based, the setting fits the mood perfectly.

Beyond that, I'm a great fan of Shadowrun and the "Tokyo" environments of Blade Runner or similar Cyberpunk settings.

 

[Tragos]

Morowind's ashlands and Redoran cities of course , the only alternative is the cold vacuum of space .

 

[Ergonpandilus]

Well, there is already same kind of thread (thread. So my answer is Nashkell type of place.

I also like those dark European forests. And if you like to experience that kind of forests then Gothic 3 is the game.

Old Finnish forest.

Gothic 3 forest.

 

[Lemonhead]

For fantasy I'm a big fan of leafy forests. Though I can't think of a game that's done it really well. I'm talking about something like this: http://larsvandegoor.zenfolio.com/p446081890/h2871b05e#h2871b05e

Other than that I really like Post-Apocalyptic settings. Be it a virus/zombies/a-bomb or whatever that caused it. I find the breaking point of society really interesting. When it's right at the edge of tipping over into chaos. Transportation/Governments/Police/Healthcare/Human-behavior breaks down and you get looting, pillaging and what not. A game set in that exact time frame would be very interesting. Settings like Fallout are nice too, even though they are set a few hundred(?) years after the bomb and you get a whole other setting/vibe.

The first few minutes of Dawn of the Dead(remake) there's a few really nice scenes of society gone to hell. Check about 3 minutes into this clip: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QBVELmoI1CQ

 

[bemushroomed]

Lemonhead; very nice artwork! makes me think of Fable 1/2 in a sense.. Fable 2 was actually quite enjoyable, didnt care for Fable 1 at all since exploring was extremely restricted. Bet you'd like Left4Dead, at least if you care the slightest for a bit of mindless shooting in that kind of atmosphere, you'd totally love the settings at least hehe

Ergonpandilus: Gothic3 does look kind of nice at times, too bad it stutters a bit when it loads news cells (like Morrowind), kind of immersion breaking.

Tragos: Ashlands is indeed very cool! Morrowind lore is just so incredible deep and rich..