Best cities and settlements in RPGs

[Verylittlefishes]

Krasnoznamenny from ATOM RPG
Maadoran from The Age Of Decadence
Anor Londo from Dark Souls

 

[Mexi]

Anor Londo from Dark Souls

Forgot about that one, but yeah, that was a great one.

 

[madhouse]

I like those shitty swamp towns in Morrowind. Seyda Neen, Hla Oad, etc...
Gothic 1/2 has pretty decent towns. That port town is probably the best one in the series.
Underraill. Junktown really embodies its name.
There's more, but these are the first ones that spring to my mind right now.

 

[Serus]

Daggerfall is the only game with actual cities.

Nope, still only rows of 0s and 1s.

 

[mondblut]

Daggerfall is the only game with actual cities.

Nope, still only rows of 0s and 1s.

Fair enough. IRL cities are mostly rows of 0s.

 

[user]

PoE2 - Neketaka

Witcher 3 - Beauclair

Dark Souls 3 - Irithyll of the Boreal Valley

 

[Verylittlefishes]

PoE2 - Neketaka

Witcher 3 - Beauclair

Dark Souls 3 - Irithyll of the Boreal Valley

Well, they are both beautiful, that's for sure.

 

[Ol' Willy]

Bathesda's cities always feel alive and have secrets and shit.

"Shittesda cities feel alive". Kek. What was the joke about NPC routines in there?

 

[fantadomat]

Bathesda's cities always feel alive and have secrets and shit.

"Shittesda cities feel alive". Kek. What was the joke about NPC routines in there?

You sound butthurt,bathesda does most thing wrong,but they do some things good. Their cities do feel live unlike all the static standing statues of most games lol.

 

[Silly Germans]

Nadoret from Drakensang River of Time is nice. It doesn't feel artificial like most towns in games.

 

[user]

Bathesda's cities always feel alive and have secrets and shit.

"Shittesda cities feel alive". Kek. What was the joke about NPC routines in there?

You sound butthurt,bathesda does most thing wrong,but they do some things good. Their cities do feel live unlike all the static standing statues of most games lol.

They are more like hamlets nowadays and with the exception of some Morrowind cities and perhaps Markath in Skyrim their layout is super boring... In terms of liveliness, yes - CDPR outclassed them though.

 

[V_K]

For all their shortcomings, Beth cities are fully simulated. You can rob, kill and/or investigate NPCs in non-scripted ways. It's not used very much outside of Thieves Guild and Dark Brotherhood questlines, but it is there.
Witcher cities on the other hand are pretty, but they're barely interactive scenery.

 

[Darth Canoli]

Sigil has only been mentioned twice and of course, it deserves the top spot.

Aside from the obvious ones, i really like the main city from Drakensang The River of Time, most ATOM cities, specially the starting village and the capital, and Arnika (could be more lively but everyone left when the Savan's tower appeared).

Also, some JRPG did it right, like Shining Force 1 & 2 and Suikoden 1 & 2 where most cities are quite interesting and with enough content.

 

[Zed Duke of Banville]

Tarant from Arcanum is the only CRPG city that boasts a street named after Chris Avellone:

 

[Silly Germans]

Tarant felt somewhat life- and bloodless to me. The large size and the Tarant soundtrack theme amplified that impression. I am not sure if that was the kind of mood they were going for. But the content was good.

 

[Farewell into the night]

lol

 

[Gargaune]

Fuck it, let me throw a spanner in the works here - Prague in DX4.

 

[DraQ]

In approximate order:
Morrowind towns and cities (of which Ald'Ruhn is probably the most iconic).
Sigil in PS:T.
Cities in Witcher series (like Vizima in 1).
Honorable mention to Daggerfall (especially the largest one like Daggerfall, Sentinel or Wayrest) cities for sheer scale and various settlements in FO1 and 2.

I guess Athkatla from BG2 works pretty damn well from what I've seen.

OTOH Baldur's Gate is murdered by the pants on head retarded way it's split into zones (by arbitrary rectangles rather than its actual districts, making it absolute pain to get around).
It's also a complete mystery to me why would anyone ever like fucking Tarant - it's not nearly the biggest, bland in terms of layout and environments and critically fails to convey faux-Victorian atmosphere.

 

[Darth Canoli]

It's also a complete mystery to me why would anyone ever like fucking Tarant - it's not nearly the biggest, bland in terms of layout and environments and critically fails to convey faux-Victorian atmosphere.

The layout is really lame, i agree, reminds some English former industrial districts but it's all about the content, the small pubs full of people you'll interact with, the news paper delivery boys, the hidden content...

Tarant is in the top 2 of the richest city from a cRPG, content-wise.
Still, Sigil beat it because not only the content is more inspired (not that some Tarant's quest aren't very good) but Sigil layout and background is just unequalled.

 

[Red Hexapus]

Tarant from Arcanum is the only CRPG city that boasts a street named after Chris Avellone:

Shouldn't that be "Rue d'Avellone"? I know this is a fantasy world not France, but it still feels somehow wrong...

 

[Gargaune]

Tarant from Arcanum is the only CRPG city that boasts a street named after Chris Avellone:

Shouldn't that be "Rue d'Avellone"? I know this is a fantasy world not France, but it still feels somehow wrong...

I'm surprised Quebec didn't secede after someone in Alberta typed "de'Arnise" on their keyboard.

 

[Monolith]

Starting planet in Anachronox is among my top 5 and was not mentioned.

 

[kangaxx]

It's small, but I have a soft spot for Ust'Natha. There's something I can't put my finger on, but I think it's quite a well done section. And from memory if you use SCS it makes slaughtering everyone on the way out less of a thing.

 

[JarlFrank]

For all their shortcomings, Beth cities are fully simulated. You can rob, kill and/or investigate NPCs in non-scripted ways. It's not used very much outside of Thieves Guild and Dark Brotherhood questlines, but it is there.
Witcher cities on the other hand are pretty, but they're barely interactive scenery.

Yeah, the city in Dragon's Dogma is a great example. It looks good and it's big and exploring its streets and rooftops is fun until you realize there's barely anything to interact with. It's all just non-interactive scenery to look at.

 

[JarlFrank]

In approximate order:
Morrowind towns and cities (of which Ald'Ruhn is probably the most iconic).
Sigil in PS:T.
Cities in Witcher series (like Vizima in 1).
Honorable mention to Daggerfall (especially the largest one like Daggerfall, Sentinel or Wayrest) cities for sheer scale and various settlements in FO1 and 2.

I guess Athkatla from BG2 works pretty damn well from what I've seen.

OTOH Baldur's Gate is murdered by the pants on head retarded way it's split into zones (by arbitrary rectangles rather than its actual districts, making it absolute pain to get around).

Brofist...

It's also a complete mystery to me why would anyone ever like fucking Tarant - it's not nearly the biggest, bland in terms of layout and environments and critically fails to convey faux-Victorian atmosphere.

Brofist retracted.