Favorite Towns/Cities in RPGS?

Guiltyofbeingtrite

Guiltyofbeingtrite

Vault Dweller
For all of the games/rpgs I play, the towns are often what I remember the most. What are some of your favorites, and why? 2 of my favorites

1. Sigil - Planescape Torment -- This is one is a bit unfair as it is a huge chunk of the game. But I've been in a more immersive npc driven community.

2. Tarant - Arcanum -- Roughly at the same level as Sigil for me. Full of unique NPCs with great dialogue and quests, a great history, functional layout.
 
the towns in The Witcher would be my choice. Sigil is really close to that, but I have to chose The Witcher 1 and 2 because they also looks really nice. Particularly the first town in Witcher 2. With saying this ... if all about Witcher 3 is right ... then Novigrad will be easily the best town any RPG on the PC has ever seen ...
 
From game I played recently, Harbor town of Risen 1(or Khorinis of Gothic 2).
I suspect that Harbor town is kind of copy of Khorinis but better.
both town are really well designed.

New camp from Gothic 1
I really like theme and concept of Gothic 1 especially New camp

Imperial city from Oblivion
while game itself is fake RPG, I like some part of the game.

Vivec from Morrowind
Freaking big!

Good spring from NV
well designed tutorial town.


Needles from Wasteland 1.
hobo dogs!
and I can use artillery to something funny!
OMG I can fix my car!

Tarant from Arcanum.
so big, so interacted, so good

Avalon from Romancing saga2
the city get bigger and better by my investment.

Caldera from Risen2.
quest plot of chasing Garcia is really great
 
Morrowind's Vivec and Ald'ruhn were always my favourites.
Vivec's weird pyramid layout. So impractical, but so cool.
And Ald'ruhn's Skar district, really fucking awesome. I never understood how they got such big mansions into that shell.
Come to think of it, Sadrith Mora was also really nice. Morrowind had some really nice design going on.
 
While we're at Morrowind, I just plain like Balmora. It could always have been bigger, it's supposed to be the 2nd largest city after Vivec afaik, but so cozy :D
 
For cities/towns that are just aesthetically pleasing, I'm going with Zanarkand and Bevelle from Final Fantasy X simply because they look so good. However, they're more like a piece of art than a settlement, so... Rabanastre in Final Fantasy: Star Wars! The crowded streets and cozy atmosphere are, dare I say, immersive! The other cities in FFXII were actually almost as good-looking as FFX cities, but they lack the homely feeling Rabanastre produces. The market street feels like you're walking through a crowded bazaar. The underground feels like a gypsy slum. Etcetera.

As for more role-play-ey RPGs, I'm going with Neverwinter in both NWN and NWN2. The surrounding settlements help it resemble the model of an actual city in most nations. Since the game is based around it, it's so expansive there's always something to do (until you do all of it)! It's great fullness brings out the color that other cities often lack. Also Sigil in Planescape: Torment, New Reno in FO2, and Tarant in Arcanum, all for similar reasons, but lacking one or another.
 
Super Mario RPG: Monstro Town - I always liked this town for some reason. It was filled with talking Goombas and Koopa Troopas, not to mention the secret Final Fantasy boss. Being one of the first RPG's I ever beat, it holds a special place in my heart.

Fallout 2: New Reno - Some might hate it, but I was never bothered by the issues others had with it. New Reno was the first city in a RPG that truly felt alive to me. Every seedy alleyway held some secret or nuance. The bouncers were one of my favorite parts. Sure they looked as big as mutants, but the 1950's gangster vibe nailed it imo. Hell I want to play it just thinking about it. Getting your car stolen was classic.

Final Fantasy VII: Midgard - Love it or hate it, the game has made a long lasting impact, which I think is largely due to an amazing opening act. Midgard plays a large part in this. The whole city is filled to the brim with cyberpunk tropes - Neon lights, slums, and all powerful corporations galore. It might be fairly linear, but the prerendered backgrounds are still a sight to behold.

Earthbound: Moonside - A dark and twisted duplicate of the city Fourside, this location stands out as one of my favorites of all time. In Moonside everything is backwards. There are people called Warp Men that you can talk to that teleport you to other parts of the city. It's filled with enemies such as Abstract Paintings that have come to life and strange melting clocks along with other absurdities. Most of the resident are incomprehensible, speaking in riddles and generally acting strange. The whole city is night all the time, with the buildings being composed of neon lights. It's fairly small but memorable.

Diablo: Tristram - One of the greats imo. It oozes with atmosphere the whole way. Being the only town in the game it makes it all the more important. The music for the town is probably one of my favorites. It doesn't have much to do in it, but the characters are all very well done, with plenty of lore sprinkled in along the way.

I also liked the towns in Witcher 1, the largest city in Final Fantasy VIII, Rivet City in Fallout 3, and the starting town in Divinity Original Sin. Knights of the Old Republic had some nice cities as well. I also agree with Rabanastre being a very well designed city location. It really did feel like a Star Wars game! The starting town in Legend of Mana is really pretty too. I think the watercolors set it off. Oh and how can I forget Seattle in Shadowrun? The whole damn game is one giant city.
 
I won't pretend it is an ultimate list, since there are far more RPG that i want to try than RPGs i already tried.

I would say that one of the things that stuck me into Fallout 2 was the level of content you would find into the city. I usually spend 90% of my playing time INSIDE the cities, talking with npcs, thant in filler dungeons full on generic stuff to kill. It might not be important for everyone, but it means a lot to me to just be able to spend my time exploring the lore, the personality of the npcs, socialize with them, etc... It is a billion times better that just killing random stuff. There are already enough games for killing stuff. Anyway, the level of city content compared of filler content is far higher in Fo1-Fo2 than any other episode of the franchise. Amongs those Fo1-Fo2 cities, those that stuck the most for me were New Reno, Broken Hills, Vault City, The Hub & Necropolis. I also loved the Strip/Freeside/Vegas neigborought in FoNV, as it not only fit very well with the lore, was interesting, and provided me HOURS of contents while not leaving it, not being forced to meet random filler monsters. Unfortunatelly, it was the only place like that in the whole FoT-FoBos-Fo3-FoNV set of episodes that provided me so much.

On other RPG that i played, i fell really in Love with The Witcher 1's Vizima. I had the opportunity to play two whole chapters, tons of hours worthy of contents inside that big city, full of believable and living npcs. It reminded me the pleasure i had in exploring Fo1-Fo2 cities, meeting those people, interacting with that world, investigating, discovering the lore, see how it evolved. I mostly enjoyed Vizima, and much less the countryside, but they did that city totally right IMO.

Other than that, i think there are more RPGs to try out there to have a better list.
 
Tarant (Arcanum), Sigil (Planescape Torment), Junktown (Fallout), Modoc (Fallout 2) and Tristram (Diablo).

Tarant is my absolute favourite. It's big (as in: with a complete sewer system, underground, harbour, train station, ... and tons of houses just waiting to get looted).
 
I like Tarant and Sigil as well.

I'm surprised no one has mentioned Athkatla from Baldur's Gate 2. I'm not a huge BG fan, but that city was my favorite part of the whole BG1 and BG2 story.

Fallout is tricky. I like the towns in those games for their character as much as their content. I probably like Junktown, The Hub, and Vault City the best. But Klamath and The Den are good too.

After that...maybe Santa Monica from Bloodlines.
 
First ones that come to mind are the uncut versions of Freeside and The Strip in New Vegas. Maybe because I've been playing and modding F:NV again as of late.
The original versions shipped with the game cut to fit the console hardware did not make much of an impression on me. The uncut versions, however, really stand out as lively places with a lot of quests, events, and dialogue in them.
 
alec said:
Tarant (Arcanum), Sigil (Planescape Torment), Junktown (Fallout), Modoc (Fallout 2) and Tristram (Diablo).

Tarant is my absolute favourite. It's big (as in: with a complete sewer system, underground, harbour, train station, ... and tons of houses just waiting to get looted).
Click to expand...


Tristram for me. Diablo has always been able to give me that feeling I love (until the third one, anyways) that just gives you this luminous dark, evil feeling. Not like some cheap "horror" feeling like the horror games today try to achieve. But rather that there is something truly evil here. That something about this place just isn't right.

Diablo 3 just made it all fucking cartoony though. I mean you can tell how they try to bring back that feeling (such as re-using old audio clips), but first of all, the graphics. Those fucking graphics. I'm not one to complain when graphics aren't bad. Because in this sense, they aren't bad, plus I play games from the fuckin 80's. But they give a cartoon feeling. Even Wasteland didn't give me that cheap cartoon feeling, perhaps because I knew that was the limit of their technology, but like I said even Wasteland didn't give me a feeling like I was playing a little kids game. Even more so, their graphics seem like they were fit to harken to WoW players. Which threw me the hell off. I played it only because I'm a Diablo series fan, and I really wanted to see the other two lesser evils (and the other Archangels). I liked Belial, but Azmodan seemed like something out of Warcraft. That one fat demon with wings, fuck I can't remember his name.
 
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I guess it's a different discussion, but I wouldn't call Diablo a RPG. Still, I agree that Tristram is pretty good. Frankly I think it's by far the best part of the entire franchise. It has a sinister, on-the-brink-of-destruction feel to it.
 
It is sad that when you say Diablo isn't an RPG, there are still people wanting to discuss it...
 
Best Cities: Tarant (Arcanum), Junktown (FO), entire city (Santa Monica, Hollywood & LA @ VtM:B), Sigil (Planescape Torment) and Tristram (Diablo).
Honorable mention: The Hub (FO)
Best starting town: Shrouded Hills (Arcanum)

woo1108 said:
Hollywood of WL2.
it's quest is really awesome.
Click to expand...
It's also bugged out the ass sadly. It's also hugely over the top, which is somewhat of a turn off for me.
 
I think it's called The Underdark in BGII where the drow live. Even though there wasn't a huge amount to do there I loved the atmosphere especially as a male PC with Viconia in my party.
 
naossano said:
It is sad that when you say Diablo isn't an RPG, there are still people wanting to discuss it...
Click to expand...
I don't mind discussing it. I liked that town too when I played Diablo. I think what we're discussing is "towns" more than whether or not Diablo qualifies as a RPG.
 
Morrowind's Balmora was great. Always felt like a real place and an excellent town to start the game with.

Shadowrun (Genesis) had the greatest cyberpunk version of Seattle imaginable.

Fallout 2's Vault City. Always loved how it made me feel like an outsider just by being such a contrast to everything before it.

Diablo 1's Tristram also.
 
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