What is your favorite Biome/environment in a cRPG?

[Murk]

Been playing a few games recently and I find myself consistently drawn to snowy, icy, and mountainous areas. Especially with some atmospheric soundscapes, music, and sporadic landmarks to not only orient by, but also reach as little milestones. I think my favorite example of this is still finding Nordmar in Gothic 3 the first time -- completely by accident from a side-path that was blocked by an Orc camp. Running past and stumbling around, freezing, and just enjoying the exploration aspect for what it was.

Sometimes the area stands out because of how the game in question handles it -- coupling it with good design, encounters, music, plot/quests, etc. Sometimes the area is just wonderful regardless of any of that, and encourages just stumbling around.

What is your favorite environment? What game is it from? What made it your favorite? How much would you enjoy it if it was decoupled from the above mentioned factors (encounters, music, etc.)?

 

[octavius]

Swamps. They look great and are atmospheric in Gothic and Morrowind. Draining the swamps of the festering corruption is an uphill struggle, though.

 

[Stormcrowfleet]

I voted Ancient Ruins because I like those in theme. But in terms of visual, snow is very nice. Ice Wind Dale was very cool to look at.

 

[Devastator]

I love ancient ruins, usually their scale, detail and intrigue. Although they’re not ancient, I would also count ruined cities from Fallout here, as their vibe is pretty neat.
Crypts are a close second. Think the Graveyard District from BG2 and crypts from IWD.

 

[V_K]

The dungeon, obviously.

 

[undecaf]

Urban scifi.

I'd love a darkly noir scifi (more cyberpunk than star wars) setting played from a top down perspective, where the interactivity and systems were done at least close to "right".

 

[Butter]

Snowpoors outing themselves ITT. There's nothing like climbing a frigid glacier or wading through metre-high snow drifts, and they make for the best settings in all video games.

 

[luj1]

Volcanic/desert

 

[Murk]

The dungeon, obviously.

What would this look like though? You can have dungeons that look like anything, based on setting. You mean the diablo 1 stone walls and dimly lit corridors type?

 

[The Avatar]

Extraplanar or dream world kind of thing.

 

[Funposter]

Swamps. They look great and are atmospheric in Gothic and Morrowind. Draining the swamps of the festering corruption is an uphill struggle, though.

Was going to say "comfy forest" or some such, but I think I have to agree here. Swamps are great - they have a lot of atmosphere, work for a variety of different characters for different reasons, and they provide cool gameplay scenarios. World 5-2 in Demon's Souls is a great example of how cool a swamp biome can be and what it can do for gameplay, although FromSoft would unfortunately copy and paste the idea in each subsequent game and water it down.

 

[octavius]

If I want snow and ice I just take walk up the mountain, like I did yesterday:

Spoiler

Forgot to charge the battery of my camera, so this was the best shot I got.

 

[pomenitul]

 

[lukaszek]

deterministic system > RNG

 

[Ghulgothas]

Urban Fantasy/Medieval. More a fan of fully realized and implemented domestic locations myself, not cities but places within cities. Opulent mansions, soaring cathedrals, stacked libraries and overcrowded tenements, so lived-in with so much potential for level design and architecture. Doubly so if it's on a cliff or peak with a great view. More games need that Dark Messiah level of altitude and vertigo.

But for Other...
Organic Locations/Womb Levels. Places composed of flesh and viscera, the location itself is alive. Precisely because the atmosphere of such is the opposite of cozy, a feeling of perverse, claustrophobic unease in being somewhere you really shouldn't. The Body of the Many for instance.

 

[bandersnatch]

Definitely Swamps, Dagobah style.

 

[vortex]

All of them (also lava lands)

 

[laclongquan]

Tactically, Urban modern, of course. You have plenty of nooks and crannies to set up cover and ambush. The best tactical RPG usually set in such style.

Not urban fantasy because the best tactical RPG in fantasy subgenre doesnt make use of it very well. Or it's not easy to make use of them. I speak, of course, of Icewind Dale 2.

While ancient ruins do be in use they are just... rocks. What's good about rocks?

 

[mondblut]

The walls of lush greenery were a refreshing change after same old dungeon bricks.

But I have to admit that when I reached the snowy mountain level in Ishar 2, it was breathtaking. No blobber looked as beautiful to this day.

 

[Heroic Liberator]

Ancient ruins, particularly when overran by nature.

 

[Twiglard]

Tactically, Urban modern, of course. You have plenty of nooks and crannies to set up cover and ambush. The best tactical RPG usually set in such style.

Hell, it's such a bummer when JA2 changes from urban areas to sparse open fields.

 

[Eirinjas]

Brothels

 

[Heroic Liberator]

Couldn't find any decent artwork of the Prothean ruins in Mass Effect or of Star Wars' Valley of the Dark Lords on Korriban, so have some Necron-themed ruins instead:

 

[Daemongar]

I always liked ruins and such. Makes you wonder what happened. The worst thing the writers can do is explain the "why?" Well integrated into Serpent Isle. Just see a little at first outside of Monitor, and the ruins kind of add more to the story as you progress. Same thing goes for the Dwarven ruins and such in Morrowind. Something to think about as you go through the story. The best stories tell you enough but also leave a lot to wonder on. The worst thing the Star Wars prequels did was explain too much of what happened before, explain too much of the force, explain too much of Star Wars. Killed all the mystery. Serpent Isle was that kind of game, until you find out that the Gwanni were working with the Emps - then it explains/ruins everything - but up until that point, its very mysterious.

 

[curds]

My dream CRPG setting is medieval fantasy but entirely urban. Think a whole game set in a Lankhmar/Ankh-Morpork type city of adventure. Or even a huge Gormenghast type castle.