Best RPG Settings/Universes

[ItsChon]

When it comes to a game's setting and universe, I usually refer back to this video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wvwlt4FqmS0

While it takes a while to get to the point, and I don't necessarily think Fallout 3 was a good game, this concept of "shandification" is a really good one. I always look for ways to make the setting more real and more immersive. Seeing regular towns folk walking around, explanations for how things function, how people get their food, etc, are all a part of what makes a game an immersive one. You see a lot of this in the classic IE games, the original Fallout games and NV, you see it in Underrail; though I haven't yet played Arcanum and some of the other classics, I'm sure you see it there as well.

So that takes me to my question, what are some of your favorite settings in RPG's that you'd like to see more done with. Underrail is what comes to my mind atm, as that's what I've been playing.

 

[Lurker47]

Fallout, duh. But the best things about Fallout's universe aren't mentioned in this OP.

 

[ItsChon]

While I do love the setting of Fallout, I haven't been able to see it fully realized in game yet due to me not getting around to forcing myself to get engrossed by Fallout 1 or 2. Fallout 3 and onward just aren't good RPG's for me, as I don't really fuck with the first person walking simulators. As much as I do love the idea behind Fallout, it just hasn't gotten me as interested as something like PS:T or Underrail for example.

 

[Vlajdermen]

Arcanum's setting is great, not just because it's moderately original, but because it's well-presented. You don't just see the conflict between magic and technology, you also see the poor spitting on the rich and being forced to steal. Not to mention everyone reacts to your character accordingly, so the world feels as alive as it should.

 

[Mexi]

Fallout is GOAT.

Second best is VtM:B.

 

[Binky]

There are plenty of great settings. Doesn't mean all games that have them are actually good.
Some that come to mind:

Arcanum - magic & tech
Fallout - US 50s mindset + postnukyulur societies
Tyranny - bronze age societies + magic
Underrail - underground societies + mutation + weirdness
Age of Decadence - crumbling remnant of a highly advanced civilization + lovecraft
Planescape: Torment - too much awesomeness (head may explode)
Tides of Numenera - what a waste of a great setting...
Banner Saga - world serpent breaking mountains in two, the end of the norse world is nigh
Darklands - 15th century HRE with saints, witches, hussites, dragons, the works
Inquisitor - holy inquisition fighting the good fight against the forces of hell
Diablo - a possessed boy's nightmares slowly corrupting the world
Bloodlines - world of men & world of beasties playing politics

Edit.
Expeditions: Conquistator - A history buff's wet dream. Factions within factions. Ex. Natives in Mexico: Totonacs vs Aztecs vs Tlaxcalans... And then the Spanish enter the mix.
Expeditions: Viking - A history buff's wet dream. Factions within factions. Norse vs Anglosaxons vs Picts. Danes vs Norwegians. Danes vs other Danes.
Jade Empire - Spirits causing ruckus in fantasy medieval China.

 

[Zed Duke of Banville]

Morrowind is the best sui generis setting created for a CRPG. The dark elves dunmer are depicted with their own well-realized history, culture, religion, architecture, language, etc. And the natural environment is both aesthetically pleasing and a great departure from fantasy RPG norms. Although the shift in game design away from procedural generation necessitated that the geography be scaled down considerably from what it represents, in contrast to Daggerfall where the game world actually did consist of tens of thousands of square miles due to a 1:1 scale, it managed to create an illusion of being a vast island, with varied cities, towns, villages, plantations, farms, and mines.

Planescape: Torment has the best sui generis setting adopted by a CRPG, namely the Planescape campaign setting created by David Zeb Cook (with artwork by Tony DiTerlizzi), with origins in earlier TSR products. The CRPG made excellent use of the campaign setting's city of Sigil, but faltered when it came to utilizing the rest of the Planes.

The Champions / Death Knights / Dark Queen of Krynn trilogy used AD&D's Tolkienesque Dragonlance setting to great effect, tying in to the events of the original series of Dragonlance adventures and novels.

Not sure if there's ever been a CRPG with a good pulp setting, in the style of Robert E. Howard's Hyboria.

 

[Bigg Boss]

Fallout.
Earthbound.
Vagrant Story/FF Tactics.

These three worlds always thrilled me. Maybe it is the closeness to our own world, our own politics. Even Vagrant Story, while clearly fantasy, has political intrigue and real world parallels that just ring true. Earthbound is like the world as you perceive it as a child. Fallout is the way the world will really be one day. Haha.

Now notice nobody is coming in here and saying "I love me some Elves and Orcs guys!"

When I think of the best RPG settings I think of unique titles like Jade Empire, even though that game is fairly weak in the RPG department. I am willing to bet nobody will pick Divinity: Original Sin even though it is one of the best playing RPG's I have played in the past few years.

 

[kintake]

I love how Rainer tries to rationalize everything he observes on Albion through his scientist mindset. He wants to quantify magic as a physical and logical apparition, and wishes he had tools to study the phenomenon and make sense of it. I like the way they created this clash of fantasy and science, how the natural inhabitants have no need to understand magic or their biology, it's a clash of chaos and order; like Enkidu getting literally fucked from nature into society. Wish there would be a spiritual successor other than Avatar as it didn't really do the game justice. Great setting given much life through dialogue in a time before budgets were allocated to rendering perky tits.

 

[Micormic]

Roughly in this order


Siege of Avalon- Dark medieval, low magic
Arcanum - Steampunk
Fallout(specifically the first one)- dark post apoc
underrail- Dark post apoc, underground
AOD- Post apoc bronze age
Diablo 1- Gothic medieval
Thunderscape- Dark steampunk




These aren't necessarily the order I enjoy these games or even games I enjoy.


I'm well aware of the setting of Darklands but since I've never actually played it I won't include it, it would make the list though.

 

[V_K]

Geneforge. A very fresh take on technomagic and very well thought out at that. I really liked how everything was living matter - from lockpicks, to computers, to mines. If anything, I wouldn't mind having more of these utility creatures in the game (e.g. transportation means mentioned in some intros).

Morrowind. Even though Daggerfall is a better game, and even though TES general setting is quite generic high fantasy, MW manages to paint a very convincing picture (sometimes in the literal sense, through different visual styles) of clashing cultures at a colonial frontier.

Darklands. This goes without saying, the amount of research that went into it is mindblowing.

Alvora Tactics. Less setting a more setup - the party is traversing the insides of a giant snake that has over the years swallowed whole different parts of the world, from mountains and caves to palaces.

West of Loathing. For all its goofiness, its version of Weird West has very deep and consistent lore, and does an even better job of not shoving it all in your face creating a sense of mystery and adventure as you dig deeper into it.

 

[frajaq]

I really want to see Morrowind with modern graphics

Well, before it was covered in ash too

 

[Goral]

I don't want to repeat some obvious choices (like Fallout, World of Darkness setting, Arcanum, AoD, Diablo, etc. etc.) so I'll go with not so obvious one: Sacrifice (an RTS with RPG elements and the best game ever created). Here you're playing as a wizard who has to choose which god to serve and with each mission he gains more trust and more power from them. After each mission you get either a new spell or a new creature you can summon (or both) and if you perform particularly well you can get a bonus (called boon here) like higher mana pool or higher speed or higher magic or physical resistance.

The world has been destroyed during war between the god (creator of the world) and demons and it was reduced to flying islands which 5 lesser gods claimed as their own. What's best in all this is that the setting has so much potential with many interesting worlds that have only been mentioned (like protagonist's home world) but the world shown in Sacrifice is enough for a couple of RPGs, those other worlds are just a bonus.

Sacrifice is a real-time strategy game published in the year 2000. Players control wizards that are able to cast spells and conjure armies of creatures using magical energy known as mana. The objective of the game is to desecrate the enemy's altar.

Sacrifice's campaign follows the story of a vagrant wizard known as Eldred. Five gods offer him a home, but Eldred must settle with only one. Early on in the campaign, the gods hear a prophecy that foretells their destruction by a traitor amongst them, a traitor that only a wanderer could defeat. As a result of this, their once harmless bickering transforms into all-out warfare, and Eldred must pick a side.

In the single-player campaign, the player assumes the role of (unsurprisingly) a wandering wizard named Eldred, who leapt into the world when his own was destroyed. Eldred had been a man of substance in his old world; when the monarch died and power fell to him alone, he was despised by his subjects and was forced to turn to dark forces (and he confronts these dark forces towards the end of the game). Accompanied by an Imp named Zyzyx, the game takes place through flashbacks, with Eldred recounting his exploits along the way.

You represent individual members of a pantheon of gods, which are not only central to the plot and the setting, but also to the gameplay itself: Each grants you access to his or her arsenal of magical spells. To summon creatures Eldred needs souls, and to cast a spell, he needs mana: these are the game's resources (remember, it’s a RTS). You can collect souls from the corpses of your enemies, and mana regenerates from fountains spread around the world.

But the most interesting bit is included in the Sacrifice manual:

Spoiler

In the beginning there was the Creator. Where there was naught but the cold void, the Creator gave of his flesh, and thus was all matter born. Where all was dark, the Creator spread his arms and gave light, thus was born the stars, the moon, and the sun. Where there was naught but silence and loneliness, the Creator did spill his blood, causing the very beginnings of life. This life manifested in a multitude of forms, from the ancient behemoths of Thryhring to our own people, the Fyllid. In those times we were the chosen of the creator, the keepers of the lesser beasts and defenders of all the realms. As befit our role as his primary servants, the creator gifted us with power. The power to shape the world, the very trees, the land, the beasts, even the untouchable essence of the elements was granted us. Our people grew heady with the gift of power, and some of us turned our face from the creator. The gift became corrupted, used for forbidden experimentation and malicious purpose.

It was then that the Fallen One, he whose name must not be spoken, tore asunder the earth. In the land of Golgotha, profaning and defying the very laws of nature, the Fallen One opened a permanent gateway from this world to the demonic realms of the nether. The strain of opening this unnatural portal took its toll upon the world and the earth began to shatter. The Fyllid and all of creation watched in stunned silence as the benevolent Creator warred with the Demons of the nether, but the forces of hell proved too much for even he. A cry of unspeakable anguish broke the silence and echoed in the minds of his children as the creator was forever banished from this existence. None of his children heard the cry so loudly as the Fyllid, for it was one of our own that had ultimately betrayed and murdered our master. Most were driven mad and hurled themselves from one of the newly formed floating islands or sat useless, gibbering and moaning. For a time the Fyllid wandered these new realms seeking signs of our former master. What was discovered was the stuff of nightmares. The creatures of the land began to warp and twist, the very land was changing. The home realm of the Fyllid, known as Elysium, grew lush and green, seeming to welcome us, even after the horrible betrayal of the Creator. So too did the other lands twist, the high reaches of Empyria grew cold and desolate; the lush, sweltering lands of Helios erupted with liquid hot magma while the arid Glebe grew even more rocky and barren. Most terrible of all were the blasted lands of Dys, which lay near Golgotha. These lands grew pestilent and the very earth rotted.

Five new Gods appeared to take the place of the Creator. Of the five it was our Lady Persephone who took us in. Grateful were we that any God would accept us into their fold and ever since we have served our Lady faithfully. We stand guard against the enemies of our Lady. We are ever vigilant, for it is the Fyllid who know intimately the price of failure.

 

[Feyd Rautha]

Lionheart: Legacy of the Crusader

 

[Generic-Giant-Spider]

I absolutely loved Darklands for this alone. The decision to blend the realistic aspects with making all those superstitions come to life was wonderful, the research that went into trying to bring that era to life was mind-blowing and to this day I still enjoy reading through that big manual.

I tend to enjoy a variety of settings, so rather than list every game I'll categorize them:

1) Realistic/Low Fantasy - This is my preferred, where it's all blood and steel. Fantasy elements are either in great moderation or have some sort of coherency to them. Magic is ideally treated as theatrical trickery and sleight of hand rather than simply shooting fire out of your fingers and there's a lot of moral ambiguity at play.

2) Gothic Medieval/Horror - Another visually striking setting and when done well can definitely leave a pleasant impression. If it mixes with low fantasy then it has high potential to take my number one position. Things like a constantly bleak sky, tall and imposing spires, dark themes and if there are monsters then they likely come from out of a mausoleum at dusk.

3) Cyberpunk - To be more specific, I absolutely adore the cyberpunk of the '70s and '80s where the outlook of the future was technologically impressive yet urban decay was all around. The newer age which makes things very clean, shiny and 'sexy' doesn't hold much appeal to me. A game like the original Syndicate has one of the best cyberpunk settings that gives you that disjointed, soulless vibe.

 

[ERYFKRAD]

Brutal Legend had some merit to its setting.

 

[Lilura]

cRPG-wise, The Forgotten Realms is the bee's knees: wizards and magic are everything.

 

[ERYFKRAD]

Magic is boring without a high price.

 

[Dodo1610]

Mass Effect has hands down the best Sci-Fi universe ever created for a video game, sadly Bioware never made a real CRPG for it.

 

[vazha]

Here's a couple of my favorites, discounting the obvious picks like D&D, TDE, Darklands and Arcanum etc:

1. Prelude to Darkness - Have yet to find the game with such an authentic, organic atmosphere. Give us the source code dammit!
2. Siege of Avalon - Dark medieval fantasy with some really nice quests & writing. Slow-paced, atmospheric, stylish - Like a Werner Herzog film.
3. Inquisitor - Unrivaled art and a highly original setting. Ruined by terrible, terrible combat mechanics.
4. Of Orcs and Men & Styx series - If there is one thing Cyanide are good at, then that is telling a good story and creating an interesting universe. Universe was also the only saving grace of Bound by Flame

Addendum: For a mobile game, Tales of Illyria had a very rich, detailed universe and lore going for it.

 

[ERYFKRAD]

Tales of Illyria

Actually a pretty decent RPG.

 

[Serus]

There are plenty of great settings. Doesn't mean all games that have them are actually good.
Some that come to mind:

Arcanum - magic & tech
Fallout - US 50s mindset + postnukyulur societies
Tyranny - bronze age societies + magic
Underrail - underground societies + mutation + weirdness
Age of Decadence - crumbling remnant of a highly advanced civilization + lovecraft
Planescape: Torment - too much awesomeness (head may explode)
Tides of Numenera - what a waste of a great setting...
Banner Saga - world serpent breaking mountains in two, the end of the norse world is nigh
Darklands - 15th century HRE with saints, witches, hussites, dragons, the works
Inquisitor - holy inquisition fighting the good fight against the forces of hell
Diablo - a possessed boy's nightmares slowly corrupting the world
Bloodlines - world of men & world of beasties playing politics

Edit.
Expeditions: Conquistator - A history buff's wet dream. Factions within factions. Ex. Natives in Mexico: Totonacs vs Aztecs vs Tlaxcalans... And then the Spanish enter the mix.
Expeditions: Viking - A history buff's wet dream. Factions within factions. Norse vs Anglosaxons vs Picts. Danes vs Norwegians. Danes vs other Danes.
Jade Empire - Spirits causing ruckus in fantasy medieval China.

That's a good list.
I'd add Dark Sun games. Out of the popular D&D based settings Dark Sun looked actually original and interesting. In case someone doesn't know it at all: fantasy, desert world, primitive tech - pre iron age mostly, psionics.

Edit: In Age of Decadence you also have Roman Empire and Indiana Jones vibes. Plus it's a setting based on Clarke's law: "Every sufficiently advanced technology is unrecognisable from magic" which isn't something used very often in CRPG, sadly imo.

 

[V_K]

Tales of Illyria had a very rich, detailed universe and lore going for it.

Well, the everything and the kitchen sink approach is certainly rich, but not sure if good.

Give us the source code dammit!

I think at this point it'd be much easier to just redo the engine in Unity and use the scripts from the original game. Would look better too.

 

[deama]

I don't really get his criticism of Fallout 3's Megaton town. It has food, there's traders coming and going from it, there's game outside the town. It also has a natural water supply (the bomb opened up a crater revealing water deposit). Sure, if the town was bigger, the traders and game might not be enough, but the town isn't all that big.

 

[Herald of Durance]

What about the fact they chose to build the town around A BOMB?