Not counting the Final Fantasy games, what RPG do you feel has the best world design whether it was just creating a fantastic world to explore, having a rich history, or just being someplace you enjoyed visiting, let's discuss World design
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Not counting the Final Fantasy games, what RPG do you feel has the best world design whether it was just creating a fantastic world to explore, having a rich history, or just being someplace you enjoyed visiting, let's discuss World design
Lordran from Dark Souls is my favourite by far. The connectivity with routes and shortcuts is incredibly smart and I was amazed countless times by paths taking me back to familiar areas by surprise.
The game doesn't have a map at all and to me that's proof of how recognisable and intuitive the world structure is.
I'd have to give special mention to the Suikoden series, which does the best job of feeling like a world that has existed for hundreds of years. There are other aspects of world building that other series do better, but Suikoden certainly excels at history.
Chrono Cross has my favorite world by far in terms of pure beauty and design.
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Originally Posted by The Man
Gothic, by a wide margin.
Septerra Core had sick world design. The world consists of a core and seven continents that rotate around it in layers, or 'shells'. The people in the top layer are the snobby Chosen who drop all their trout below, to Shell 2, which has been reduced to a barren wasteland thanks to the assholes on shell 1 and 3's nuclear wars, and now they're basically living off the junk from the upper shell. Then you've got a continent where mostly pirates live, there's one with weird-ass aliens and jungles, another one that has two genocidal warring nations on the same shell. The world is either high-tech and pretty or dirty and gritty, depending on where you are. There's criminals, nobles, farmers, prostitutes and whatnot among all the people.
The protagonist, Maya, is a tough gal who grew up as a junk collector on the second shell. Along this epic journey that could rival any Final Fantasy game you make friends and party members from every part of this awesome world. Among these are a robot dog, a cyborg pirate, an engineer who lost both her legs in a war.
Morrowind is top without a doubt. The level of detail is completely absurd; it's been out for a decade and people are still finding new things.
The Infinity Engine D&D games are based on, well, D&D, but Baldur's Gate and Planescape: Torment use and develop the Forgotten Realms and ...Planescape :p settings to tremendous effect.
Fallout is a lot of fun too, more for the aesthetic than anything else. Actually, I have to admit that although I don't regard it as a particularly impressive Fallout game, 3 probably has the best pure aesthetic - crawling around the ruins of DC was pretty damn cool.
I do like the Suikoden setting too. It's a really developed and thought-out setting by JRPG standards.
I have a huge soft spot for Breath of Fire III as well, it's pretty detailed and coherent even if a bit lightweight.
Never in my life have I seen lore like Morrowind's lore. I'll probably never see lore like it again.
Honorable mentions to World of Warcraft (yeah I said it), Deus Ex and Fallout.
I'll second Septerra Core. God that game was great, despite the bugs due to it's insanely rushed release.
One of the most depressingly unknown games out there.
>>> From all the RPG games I have played, Dark Souls win this by far..
I was amazed by most of its locations, specially Blighttown that was pure genius..:luca:
Honorable mention to Xenoblade Chronicles, another amazing world to explore..
This is a hard one for me outside of the FF games there aren't many RPGs that have a world that resonated with me a lot. I was going to say Dragon Quest VIII, but I believe it's more of the art style that appeals to me than the world. I would have to give this to Kingdom Hearts and Dragon's Crown. Kingdom Hearts and Kingdom Hearts II have the most diverse locations in RPGs I've played and the Disney worlds mark back to nostalgia and my childhood. Dragon's Crowns environments are rich with color and textures that really hit with me.