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Good area designs in RPGs

Eisenheinrich

Scholar
Joined
Apr 16, 2018
Messages
806
Location
Germania
So, what are good examples for great area designs in an RPG? Mind you, it's not just about the graphics, it's about when it all comes together: Look, sound, content density, questing in that particular area, music, atmosphere ... all that. Which maps/areas left a lasting impression on you and why? Which companies succeed in area design and which fail?

Random example that popped into my head:

Kuldahar IWD. Good location, the green grass is a welcome sight when battling for hours on icy plains. Also very great music. Besides that maybe a little bit random content wise, pretty basic quest hub.

So many great areas in Icewind Dale actually ...
 

Snorkack

Arcane
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Lower Bavaria
Shadorwun: Hong Kong
I haven't played it in years, so my memories might be a bit cloudy and inaccurate. But Divinity 2 Dragon Knight Saga has two of the most well-designed areas of all rpgs I've ever played, and both are pretty different from each other.
The Orobas Fjords are huge, full of interesting things to discover, have to be explored both by foot and in dragon form and are unsurpassed when it comes to true three-dimensional level design and exploration in rpgs.
Aleroth is a hub done right. It's not just a town with the sole purpose of providing the player with adventuring services and quests, but it breathes, provides interesting stories and more interesting stuff to discover.
 
Joined
Jan 14, 2018
Messages
50,754
Codex Year of the Donut
Enderal's Ark(major city) including the undercity
one of the few times in an RPG where a city felt like a city even though they had obvious constraints due to shit engine
 

Neanderthal

Arcane
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Jul 7, 2015
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Granbretan
Most of the levels in Severance: Blade of Darkness are exquisitely designed, the Dwarf intro level is perhaps the closest i've felt to exploring Moria in a game. The combat is sharp, short, shocks interspersed by great atmospheric transit.

Praecor Loth's Tomb in Labyrinth of Worlds was also my idea of a megadungeon done right.

EoB 1&2 had some damn nice levels.

Most of southern Serpent Isle.
 

Dorateen

Arcane
Joined
Aug 30, 2012
Messages
4,332
Location
The Crystal Mist Mountains
Kalistes' Dimension in Pools of Darkness

pod-kalistesland.gif


A spider and drow infested realm of fire and web, which captured the atmosphere reminiscent of Queen of the Demon Web Pits and the unsettling feeling of an arrival in the Abyss. This was an overland map complete with multiple sub-areas to explore on the way to the fortress of the marilith. The SVGA colors at the time of 1991, those deep purple hues and the red and orange of molten lava, were gorgeous.
 

smaug

Secular Koranism with Israeli Characteristics
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Dumbfuck
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Insert Title Here
Kalistes' Dimension in Pools of Darkness

pod-kalistesland.gif


A spider and drow infested realm of fire and web, which captured the atmosphere reminiscent of Queen of the Demon Web Pits and the unsettling feeling of an arrival in the Abyss. This was an overland map complete with multiple sub-areas to explore on the way to the fortress of the marilith. The SVGA colors at the time of 1991, those deep purple hues and the red and orange of molten lava, were gorgeous.
Please tell me the Krynn trilogy has cool locations like that? (Cause I’m starting with it first)
 

Dorateen

Arcane
Joined
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Messages
4,332
Location
The Crystal Mist Mountains
Kalistes' Dimension in Pools of Darkness

pod-kalistesland.gif


A spider and drow infested realm of fire and web, which captured the atmosphere reminiscent of Queen of the Demon Web Pits and the unsettling feeling of an arrival in the Abyss. This was an overland map complete with multiple sub-areas to explore on the way to the fortress of the marilith. The SVGA colors at the time of 1991, those deep purple hues and the red and orange of molten lava, were gorgeous.
Please tell me the Krynn trilogy has cool locations like that? (Cause I’m starting with it first)

The Krynn trilogy is great, and has its own particular ambiance consistent with the Dragonlance setting. Maybe the Tower of Flame in DQoK comes close. But I think the Pools saga did the high-level epic scope of adventure better. Still, very much worth it to go through the Krynn series.
 
Joined
Feb 6, 2011
Messages
4
Pelagiad in Morrowind. I love most of the regions of Vvardenfell; particularly the entire west coast, but Pelagiad and its surroundings just has heaps of character. I believe my first time leveling up in an RPG was just north of there at night on the shore of Lake Amaya.
 

anvi

Prophet
Village Idiot
Joined
Oct 12, 2016
Messages
7,530
Location
Kelethin
Again I'd go with old EverQuest. I picked an Elf so I started in a treetop village called Kelethin that was all made out of wood and looked and felt great. And when you left the village you were in a big forest that was permanently dark and misty so you couldn't see far which made it challenging and creepy but also sort of beautiful. I also loved the dwarven city of Thurgadin which was built inside a glacier so the whole place was surrounded by blue ice, and below the city were a series of mines. Loved it. Also a dungeon called Mistmoore which started outdoors and you go through a valley and then up to a huge creepy castle on top of a hill that was filled with gargoyles that came alive to serve their vampire masters.

Also Velkator's Labyrinth which was also inside a glacier, but it was like a vertical dungeon where you start at the bottom and you work your way up a sort of spiral built around a huge stalagmite and you go up and up really high, and then at the top the level opens out, so the dungeon is sort of mushroom shaped. Also the Oasis of Marr which was like a desert that meets the ocean so there are tribes of enemies in the desert and then once you reach the coast there are crocodiles and roaming the beach. And in the middle of the desert was a lake with a temple on a small island in the center that had been taken over by undead. And the lake is filled with dangerous water goblins. And then there is Plane of Sky... There were so many great locations.
 

Filthy Sauce

Arbiter
Joined
Jan 26, 2016
Messages
614
Again I'd go with old EverQuest. I picked an Elf so I started in a treetop village called Kelethin that was all made out of wood and looked and felt great. And when you left the village you were in a big forest that was permanently dark and misty so you couldn't see far which made it challenging and creepy but also sort of beautiful. I also loved the dwarven city of Thurgadin which was built inside a glacier so the whole place was surrounded by blue ice, and below the city were a series of mines. Loved it. Also a dungeon called Mistmoore which started outdoors and you go through a valley and then up to a huge creepy castle on top of a hill that was filled with gargoyles that came alive to serve their vampire masters.

Also Velkator's Labyrinth which was also inside a glacier, but it was like a vertical dungeon where you start at the bottom and you work your way up a sort of spiral built around a huge stalagmite and you go up and up really high, and then at the top the level opens out, so the dungeon is sort of mushroom shaped. Also the Oasis of Marr which was like a desert that meets the ocean so there are tribes of enemies in the desert and then once you reach the coast there are crocodiles and roaming the beach. And in the middle of the desert was a lake with a temple on a small island in the center that had been taken over by undead. And the lake is filled with dangerous water goblins. And then there is Plane of Sky... There were so many great locations.

Was going to say the same thing. EQ has/had the best zones & dungeons Ive experienced.
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Catacombs

Arcane
Patron
Joined
Aug 10, 2017
Messages
5,928
Kalistes' Dimension in Pools of Darkness

pod-kalistesland.gif


A spider and drow infested realm of fire and web, which captured the atmosphere reminiscent of Queen of the Demon Web Pits and the unsettling feeling of an arrival in the Abyss. This was an overland map complete with multiple sub-areas to explore on the way to the fortress of the marilith. The SVGA colors at the time of 1991, those deep purple hues and the red and orange of molten lava, were gorgeous.

This looks great. Is there an HD version of this picture?
 

Master

Arbiter
Joined
Oct 19, 2016
Messages
1,160
Kuldahar is great although the shops are kinda far from eachother.
PST Mortuary? I played pst just a bit some time ago, but this area left a lasting impression.
Peragus - its good
The Hub - the best rpg town
Shrowded Hills - best small town
Vizima Outskirts - best village
Gothic Sleeper Temple - most atmospheric
Deus Ex Cathedral - great design
 

Zed Duke of Banville

Dungeon Master
Patron
Joined
Oct 3, 2015
Messages
11,756
The entirety of Dungeon Master, Chaos Strikes Back, Legend of Grimrock, and Legend of Grimrock II

Morrowind had a few dungeons with notable design: Arkngthand, the Urshilaku Burial Caverns, and Lost Kogoruhn.
 

Eisenheinrich

Scholar
Joined
Apr 16, 2018
Messages
806
Location
Germania
2D areas, and that also might depend on nostalgia, but I always liked Trademeet in BG 2. Big enough to count as a city but yet very compact, very stilish and distinct approach:

latest

Queen's Berth PoE Deadfire was an exceptional city map that showed a lot of improvement compared to Defiance Bay.

QueensBerthMap.jpg
 

Optimist

Savant
Patron
Joined
Jun 18, 2018
Messages
337
My team has the sexiest and deadliest waifus you can recruit.
Piranha Bytes always had a knack for mid-sized, well-done game worlds. This was especially visible in Gothic 1 and 2 (as much as I am a G3 apologist, I must admit that at that time Piranha folks weren't able to deliver a big open world as good as the one in G1/G2).

I'm not a huge fan of Risen 2, but it's 'numerous small isles' formula given PB a chance to create largish open world split into small areas, and it was pretty good.

Even Elex and Risen 1, while not as good as the early Gothics, stand head and shoulder above most games.
 

RatTower

Arcane
Developer
Joined
Apr 24, 2017
Messages
468
Just from recent memory:

For interaction:
Arx Fatalis - Goblin City. You sneak some wine into a cake mix and give the goblin king the shits. Also the area has some locked rooms you can enter once your lockpicking skill gets better, so coming back actually pays off.

For area layout:
Dark Souls 2 - Shulva. Next to DS1's Undead Burg the sanctum city Shulva is probably my favorite area in the whole series. Challenging encounter design that can be tricked here and there. Also great use of verticality.

For atmosphere:
King's Field 4 - The upper parts of the ancient city. Feels like an abandoned fortress. You find traces (and (un)dead soldiers) of an expedition that entered the city just shortly before you. King's Field's atmosphere is really hard to explain though.

For puzzle/encounter design:
Wizardry 6 - The Castle (first zone). As you find more and more items/keys, a couple hallways with several locked doors slowly evolve into a real place where every room had a certain purpose.
 

Fowyr

Arcane
Vatnik
Joined
Mar 29, 2009
Messages
7,671
A lot of locations from Ultima Underworlds and The Legacy. Labyrinth of the Winds from Shadow of the Yserbius.
Final dungeon from The Crescent Hawk's Inception was worse than BMC, by the way.
 

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