Favorite World Maps to Traverse

[Vyk]

We've talked about stories, characters, endings, side quests, and even battle systems (quite a bit longer ago). But I would be interested in hearing about some of your favorite world maps (or overworlds) you enjoy walking around in/on

They get very generic and cookie-cutter in most JRPGs, but some of them definitely stand-out. Especially in the Final Fantasy series. And some games are built around this whole idea (Bethesda)

What were some of your favorites?

What did you like about them?

[Fox]

I quite like Final Fantasy XII for it's sense of scale and some lovely art direction. But then I think about the game that took that philosophy to a whole new level, and that is Xenoblade Chronicles.

I think show will be better than tell.

[Skyblade]

Honestly, I can't stand the "overworld" in Bethesda's games. There's a reason RPGs like Final Fantasy abstract it out, because travelling the same barren landscape for hours is BORING. I stopped playing Skyrim as soon as I realized that I had to spend an hour in transit to get anywhere interesting.

Final Fantasy VII and Final Fantasy VIII both have good overworlds. I also enjoy the overworld in the Golden Sun titles, and Chrono Trigger.

[Formalhaut]

I love the overworld in FFVII just to hear that glorious theme music.

[VeloZer0]

I actually supremely disliked FF12's world because of it's scale. It was so fringing small. Yeah, lets go to this forbidden and mysterious otherworldly shrine of the 'gods'
...which happens to be closer to the capital than my real life Saturday morning jog. There is a reason to use scaling in maps.

My favourite in terms of moving around on is FF7, I like the tile-set and the music.

[Pumpkin]

Xenoblade is one of course

Eternal Sonata is another
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Suikoden V
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Tales of Xillia

Well some of it
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Tales of Vesperia
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As far as Final Fantasy, I think VIII has my favourite world, but I really like X as well

[Fox]

I liked the aesthetic of X - it had a similar vibe to Xenoblade in a lot of ways. Especially something like the Macalania Woods. But it was so constrained and linear it felt too small to me. The Calm Lands were great though, it was nice after running down corridors for so long when it opened up and gave you these huge empty plains.

[Vyk]

It's funny because as soon as I brought up Bethesda, I immediately thought: "I'd rather walk around in Final Fantasy VII"

Though I don't hate Elder Scrolls or Fallout 3/NV, I do get wrapped up in wandring around doing random stuff in them. I just enjoyed the atmosphere of VI and VII more. The music, and the purpose seem more visceral

Sadly I had completely forgotten about Xenoblade. And Xillia wouldn't have even occurred to me, but that is a really good choice. It plays just like a generic JRPG overworld, but you're actually legitimately down in the world. Everything was scaled pretty well and weird and diverse and fun to explore. And Xenoblade was just gorgeous. And massive. And the draw distances were crazy

[Bright Shield]

Dragon Quest VIII by far. Followed by Chrono Cross.

[Mr. Carnelian]

I actually really like Skyrim's world map.

Granted, it's nowhere near as fantastical and colourful as some of the other examples which have come up on this thread. But, that's kind of the point: it's meant to look like a real landscape.

[Skyblade]

I actually really like Skyrim's world map.

Granted, it's nowhere near as fantastical and colourful as some of the other examples which have come up on this thread. But, that's kind of the point: it's meant to look like a real landscape.

I can get a real landscape just by going outside. There's a reason I just look at pretty landscapes, rather than travel through them. The thread is about our favorites to traverse. And traversing the world map of Skyrim is tedious, repetitive, and boring.

[Formalhaut]

I actually really like Skyrim's world map.

Granted, it's nowhere near as fantastical and colourful as some of the other examples which have come up on this thread. But, that's kind of the point: it's meant to look like a real landscape.

I can get a real landscape just by going outside. There's a reason I just look at pretty landscapes, rather than travel through them. The thread is about our favorites to traverse. And traversing the world map of Skyrim is tedious, repetitive, and boring.

But does your landscape include dragons!​?

[Madame Adequate]

I really like the Suikoden world maps, they always feel expansive and interesting.

FFX is something of a sui generis, given that the exploration of the map is pretty much the game itself, up until you hit endgame at least. I absolutely LOVE X so it's hardly a surprise that I rate this highly! It's always a strong point in FFs though, and even the games I don't personally like that much (IX and XII) have smurfing amazing world maps and everything. I kind of like VIII the most of all though, just because of all the vehicles and stuff, which I find oddly enjoyable.

There are definitely some games I want to play purely because of how the world map looks. Back in the day, I saw a magazine advert for Tales of Destiny and the world map was one of the shots. It looked cool as smurf and I always wanted to play it, but there was never a UK release. It's on the emulation list though! Also some of the things in this thread have amazing looking world maps, I definitely need to play Xenoblade now.

[FFNut]

I loved traveling the map of Breath of fire 2. Whether you crossed oceans in a whale, took hometown for a fly. You could also use the character's special abilities to get from point A to point B. The Rand ball express comes to mind while making your way through the plains, or need to cross a lake? Put Jean in the lead and have him swim you where you need to go. They did it right!

[Raistlin]

Final Fantasy XII is far and away the most notable FF world map. I enjoyed exploring all the new areas, which felt so large. It makes most traditional world maps seem tiny by comparison.

Suikoden V is my favorite traditional world map. It somehow managed to make the world feel massive when I first played it.