Best "World" in Gaming

[DoPo]

But end of idle chit chatter. I've said enough to cover my ass. Time for World of Darkness.

You must be HYPED for the upcoming MMO, eh?

Sort of. If only CCp released, like, any information. There is very little things we know about it and very little they say. Last time, they didn't even confirm which clans would be in, preferring to be vague with "the original ones". I'd assume they mean the 7, but dunno, why are they being vague? Bastards.

 

[Griffolion]

I must admit I loved the Deus Ex universe. I am a sucker for cyber-punk. I know I'm in the minority, but I really enjoyed the art style of Human Revolution and how the music went alongside it as this ominous, dark futuristic theme.

 

[Zack Alklazaris]

Dragon Age was a pretty cool world. I like Fallout as well, it can get pretty massive.

 

[The_Scrivener]

Mass Effect and Skyrim come to mind for me, however I will never be more interested more in what is between the lines of a world than Final Fantasy VII's planet. All these years later I still wish I could see more of the exhaust pipes and abandoned storefronts of Midgar's slums and streets. That world, more than any other, left me wanting more of it.

 

[Auron225]

I always loved Spira (FFX).

Besaid Island and Kilika are just stunning to look at. Macalania forest is beautiful, Luca is awesome-looking and Zanarkand (before it was destroyed anyway) looks freaking incredible.

 

[KissmahArceus]

Halo blew me away the first time I played it, the scale of the ring itself was astounding, just looking up and seeing the other side of it... wow

And Tamriel is just plain my favourite place to wander, ES might not have the best combat or animation or whatever but the worlds....

 

[ratzofftoya]

For whatever reason, I loved the world of Xenogears. Maybe it's just because I sunk so much time into the game, but I loved the different factions and their backstory, the role of religion, and their take on futuristic architecture. I guess one major drawback is that the terrain was somewhat generic--you've got your average forests, mountains, deserts, etc. In that sense, it's hard to beat the world of Earthworm Jim.

 

[Pinkamena]

The tunnels of Metro 2033 does it for me. I have rarely played a game with such a convincing world.

 

[Smolderin]

Man this is a hard one, but I think the obvious mention goes to the world of Elder Scrolls. There is tons of history there, but honorable mentions go out to WoW's Azeroth and the world of Dark Souls. Especially Dark Souls, that world has such a rich background that if it ever continued to build on itself with the same quality, it could quite easily rival the Elder Scrolls in how well the world is fleshed out.

 

[ElectroJosh]

The Legend of Zelda universe is pretty unique - especially considering its split into three alternate time-lines.

 

[Chungus]

Ivalice, from the various Final Fantasy games, suitably called the Ivalice Aliance. Each game (FF Tactics, FF Tactics Advance, FF XII and FF12: Revenant Wings) is absolutely packed with lore.

 

[Bostur]

Azeroth pre-cataclysm was probably the best. Blizzard made a very big world, a very detailed one, but probably most importantly one that felt alive and believable. I think partly due to the many small stories about everyday life.
The design of Cataclysm was good too, but when the designers decided to plasma bomb the old stuff and start anew, I lost confidence and faith in the world.

I've had some good times in Britannia. The geography is some of the best I've seen in an artificial world, but I never really believed in it. Something about the whole virtue setup I think that made it feel contrieved. But Origin made some of the best maps I've ever seen.
I got a letter from Origin once. A letter, not one of those modern fancy e-thingies. On the envelope it had a logo that said "Others create software, we create worlds". Thats the spirit you don't see often these days.

I don't have enough experience with Tamriel to judge it on its own merits. Gameplay mechanics always got in the way of my experience of the world.

New Eden has some extraordinary lore, and represents a lot of good times. But it's not a world, it's a bunch of stations and jump-gates and spreadsheets.

Fallen Earth deserves a special mention. Not because the lore has any significance, or for the quality of the narrative. But simply because the geography feels realistic. Scavenging in the outskirts of New Flagstaff, seeing the metropolis in the distance and knowing that it will take 10 minutes to ride there gives the world a sense of scale that I've rarely seen in other games. Although Wurm Online accomplishes something of the same.

The world of LOTRO looks great at a distance, in sort of an impressionistic way. I know it's Middle Earth, but reading about it just isn't the same as smelling crispy, burnt bacon in Michael Delving. Boy that game always makes me hungry, even during the darkest of times theres always someone, somewhere talking about food.

 

[Mycroft Holmes]

Firstly, why is everyone calling Azeroth the "WoW" universe like there weren't six Warcraft games released before WoW was even a thing?

Secondly, Arcanum is probably the most interesting. Metro 2033 and The Witcher also have very good lores, but it feels like cheating to use lore from already established book series. Fallout and Ultima would have been good as well were it not for EAs meddling in Ultima's lore and Bethesda meddling in Fallout's lore. Plus at the end of the day there's no place in metro/witcher/ultima/fallout for a shotgun wielding retarded half ogre.

Spoiler

I need to get this game now. Where can I find it? Is the character meant to be like that or does it depend on an IQ stat?

It's on sale right now on GOG for 3$. http://www.gog.com/gamecard/arcanum_of_steamworks_and_magick_obscura

And yeah it uses a stats system that is like Fallout's(as that's where most of the Arcanum devs came from.) One of those stats is intelligence and I think the threshold is anything less than either 4 or 3 out of 20 and the game switches to a completely different set of dialogue writing. You can also make a character with an idiot savant background which makes you have very high intelligence and amazing math/gambling skills but you talk like an idiot no matter what.

The character does not always have to be like that, Troika games was just unbelievably amazing at story and dialogue. If you do play as an idiot, other characters often trick you into doing things for them or just plain pray on your stupidity. But there's an absolutely huge variety of character types you can make. My favorite is a half-elf charismatic sharpshooter/inventor. But you can mix and match all kinds of things, I've played as an aggressive fighter halfling who relies on his dexterity to outmatch bigger opponents. A debutante human female who recruited others to fight for her and abstained from combat completely. A genius half-ogre inventor with no social graces.

 

[SD-Fiend]

I can't really think of anything so i'll just say the bionis for various reasons

 

[Quesa]

It's been stated once, the BattleTech universe has always captured my imagination the most; humanity's successful colonization and industrialization of the galaxy, its fall from grace and the political lines drawn in the stars.

 

[havoc33]

The world of Final Fantasy IX.

Firstly, it still looks stunning today. The art direction for this game is absolutely superb, and I've never played another game where the world feels so large, and yet so cohesive, and utterly, bizarrely beautiful at the same time.

Spoiler

Not only is the world amazing to look at, but Squaresoft did an amazing job with the lore.

A lot of other games, especially RPGs, tend to lay the lore really thick and heavy. Any chance the writers get to show off just how much background stuff they've written, they'll happily bog you down with exposition about the history of this faction versus that faction, or the royal lineage of this kingdom, yadda yadda yadda. It's a really leaden, dull way to convey lore, I find.

The world of FFIX has lore. Plenty of it, in fact. But the developers never burden the player by walloping them in the face with a load of it. The lore of FFIX isn't told through cutscenes, or extended database entries. It's told through the actual gameworld itself. So you may see a statue dedicated to a character here, or a recurring symbol there. Characters might mention a bit of local history just in passing, or a recurring name might appear on key items. But actual lore exposition is kept to a minimum, which makes the world so much easier to get into. The world is presented to you, and if you want to know more about its history, it's up to you to go find all the details Square hid throughout the game. It's possible to get a surprisingly dense, rich and consistent sense of history in Final Fantasy IX if you look hard and see all the little snippets of info scattered everywhere.

What a great post. I totally agree with everything you said. First off, FFIX is my favourite FF next to FFVII. From the moment you boot up, you know you're in for a real treat. A real throwback to the FFs of old, it just oozes fun and adventure! And you're so dead on when it comes to the lore. That has always been the strength of the good FF games I thought, that they integrate it into the story and gameplay as you discover the world. This in stark contrast to the Elder Scroll games for example, where there is thousands of pages of lore for those who care to read it, but sadly not much of a story that is taking advantage of such a fleshed out universe. Ultimately, these worlds to me seem more empty and less fleshed out than the quality FFs ever did.

Mass Effect and Skyrim come to mind for me, however I will never be more interested more in what is between the lines of a world than Final Fantasy VII's planet. All these years later I still wish I could see more of the exhaust pipes and abandoned storefronts of Midgar's slums and streets. That world, more than any other, left me wanting more of it.

Absolutely, Midgar was amazing. Just like FFIX, FFVII set the tone early, and threw you right into the action as you hopped off the train, going to blow up the Mako reactor. I just loved the gritty cyberpunk vibe, where strong turquise and red colors were beaming from the reactors. The scenery was just so strong, with beautiful contrasts of nature vs industry throughout.

Other than that, Hyrule in A Link to the Past and the world of Mana in Secret of Mana is amazing. Tallon IV from Metroid Prime, Rapture from Bioshock and Liberty City from GTAIV were totally immersive too.