Favorite towns in RPG's

[Qeo]

What are your favorite towns in RPG's?


Also what do you want to see more of in towns? Personally I love the way the Zelda series and Skies of Arcadia do their towns, with every single character looking different. I'd rather a small town with 10 people looking different than a large town with a bunch of clones.

 

[aliensalmon]

Although I don't know if I'd consider Zelda an RPG, I did like Clock Town in Zelda: Majora's Mask. It was a fairly large and lively town that had a lot of happenings going on.


As for more traditional RPGs...I liked Midgar because it was a big place, also with a lot of places and happenings to visit. Too bad not much of the city is revisitable. I also liked Rabanastre and Arcadia in Final Fantasy XII.

 

[Chrispy]

I like it when each town looks different and has a personality all their own. Bravely Default does a great job of this. Out of those cities and locations, Ancheim, the Land of Sand and Time is easily my favorite.

 

[Rogue Milk]

I like the way towns are made on the Tales series. I read somewhere that the designers always think of the towns as characters and therefore put a lot of effort on making them unique.


My favorites are the towns on Tales of the Abyss. Most of them don't have nothing exotic, but they are full of personality and have great characters. And on top of that, each are named after a concept of the sephirot from the jewish kabbalah. 

 

[noctiluca]

Midgar is the first one that comes to mind-- the location has just as much personality (if not more) than the playable cast. Seriously I love it when settings have an identity, it's so very gothic (in the literary sense).


Zeal from Chrono Trigger is the next one that comes to mind, and then Solaris from Xenogears (though it really doesn't fit the traditional "RPG town" mould, it's more of a concept/story thing that I love), and Inaba from Persona 4

 

[jonthefox]

I really like Cyseal from Divinity Original Sin.  Great music, great voice acting, great NPCs, distinct feel to it and a lot of things to do.  Also feels like a real city with a lot going on.  Very memorable and fun to interact in.  


And Midgar goes without saying, for a variety of reasons that is one of the most compelling locations in the history of RPGs.  

 

[Kitsou]

That little city or village full of nature right before some action. Not even alot of nature necessary, just a little break from all the adventures, before you dive right back in.


Like a calm before and after the storm!


Particulary that little village in Kings Quest 9 Mask of Eternity. It's in some lavaish area and there are only some passive fire ants and a giant obelisk, but what makes it special is that you have been in the tunnels of the mountain for ages. Then you finally get outta there and are met with some fresh air and peace, a few npcs and shops, and a place, that doesn't seem to be affected by anything terrible. I might be remembering something wrong and I wouldn't need too long for the mountains nowadays, but the feeling that I remember is great.


Second one would be the seaside village from Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky. It's on a cliff and there are just a few houses, benches with a view on the sea in front of a lighthouse I think it was. Could've been a windmill too, but it was pretty chill nonetheless.

 

[Qeo]

I see a lot of people mentioning Midgar - that was a huge place though, with multiple towns and dungeons within it.


What town in Midgar was the best one? The one where Barret lives? The one where Aeris lives? The wall market? Everywhere in Midgar has a cool and interesting atmosphere though.


Does anyone else get annoyed with Copy Paste NPC's? I like them all to look different and to have some point for them to be there.

 

[Shake0615]

Though I like Midgar, I have to say that the Kingdom of Zeal is my all-time favorite place because of the combined effect the beautiful maps, hypnotic music and an engaging subplot. I think it holds up even now as one of the most interesting locales in any video game.

 

[BigToastie]

I realllly liked Breath of Fire 3's general map layout and town maps - I miss this game

 

[TheGamedawg]

One of my big pet peeves in RPGs is when they make towns big just for the sake of making towns big.  It makes them very easy to get lose in and super annoying when I have to run from one end to the other in order to advance the story.


With that in mind, a couple games I can think of off the top of my head with really good towns are Secret of Evermore and Golden Sun.  In those games, towns are spacious, but are never any larger than they have to be.  They also do a good job of adding landmarks and unique sprites to different parts of the town so you always know where you are.

 

[Qeo]

If there is someone here that has made a game where everyone looks different in every town I would be interested in your game. Let me know.

 

[c0sa]

I like Brave Fencer Musashi town... it's only one, but a lot of things happen there, from day to night, each character doing always different things.

 

[byronclaude]

Narshe from FF6.  I'm not even sure why this town holds so much allure for me...  but if I had lived in this world...  I would have been happiest in Narshe.

 

[Wavelength]

I like when towns have a lot interaction - things to do in the town as you explore - and atmosphere - an evocative setting that makes me feel something about the town and not just about the plot.


Among a few towns that I stick out in my mind as favorites:

• Super Mario RPG - Tadpole Pond, Nimbus Land
  
• Dark Cloud 2 - Palm Brinks
  
• Tales of Symphonia - Flanoir, Palmacosta
  
• Star Ocean 2 - Hilton, Fun City
  
• Star Ocean 3 - Moonbase
  
• Pokemon Red/Blue - Celadon City (interesting fact about Pokemon - all of its cities and regions are loosely based on real-world places) 
  
• World of Warcraft - Darnassus, Ironforge
  
• Persona 3 - Paulownia Mall
  

 

[Qeo]

These are all pretty cool towns, but no one has answered this yet:



"If there is someone here that has made a game where everyone looks different in every town I would be interested in your game. Let me know."


Surely someone has done that apart from me? It's important for every character to have a point rather than to just fill up space too.

 

[Azurecyan]

My favorite town/city would have to be Radiata City from Radiata Stories. The town is always bustling with every character having personalities of their own. You can pretty much recruit almost every character in the town as your ally as well. The amount of work that went into that game was immense with every character following their own schedule throughout the day and night. You really feel like you're in an actual city.

 

[Phonantiphon]

At first thought:


Denerim in DA and any of the towns in Cyrodiil - (Oblivion).

 

[jwideman]

Megaton in Fallout 3. I blew it up (of course) in one of my games and realized how much I missed it afterward. So I killed the guy that wanted me to blow it up and let the ghouls into the tower.

 

[chaucer]

Hmm, for me it'd be New Los Angeles in XenoBlade Chronicles X, lots of people to talk to and lots of places to explore, still don't think I've managed to explore everything in there yet lol. as for oldschool rpg's I agree with byronclaude Narshe from FF6 is awesome, I can't stand the snow but this place just looks amazing, and for MMORPG's(dunno if this counts) I'd definitely pick Essene is secret of the solstice(shutdown lol).