Something I really like when playing video games is the world building! I love how each game I play has a completely different setting, even if it’s part of the same game series, there are alterations and differences. I’m going to list my favourites and a little bit about why!
Hyrule - Breath of The Wild: botw was the first open world game I ever played, I know the area like the back of my hand by now and sometimes I’m still blown away by how pretty it is
The Continent - Witcher 3: I’m doing my first playthrough of Witcher 3 currently and it’s huge, not just in terms of content but in terms of the world. It’s also literally gorgeous, the music really adds to the settings.
Spira - Final Fantasy 10: This world really blew me away, it’s not open world but it is literally gorgeous and has many different areas. Like all FF games, the music alone really really adds to the feelings.
Gaia - Final Fantasy 7: For a game made in 1997 the world is actually quite impressive! Plus the worldbuilding is perfect! Again, it’s not open world, but the song that plays in the overworld is one of my favourite songs in all of FF. So here it is.
Gaia - Final Fantasy 9: Different world but same name as 7, the thing I love about Gaia in FF9 is the whimsical fantasy settings and painted backgrounds.
Every place in Final Fantasy 14: Honestly, I was originally going to cut it down to just Eorzea, then just The Source but that cut out some of my favourite areas. So literally every area in FF14 is amazing and has its pretty parts! Plus again, the music is great!
Minecraft worlds. 1.18 Made every world so much better to explore. Natural but at the same time unnaturally good lucking.
Also the mass effect world. Species are probably kinda simple but I do like the world building in that series. (especially if you play the “perfect route” where you keep as many people as possible alive)
My favorite would have to be the Mass Effect trilogy world. I think the whole thing is just a masterpiece.
Some could argue that amazing textures and graphics can really make a world stand-out and that it might also be a really important factor and yeah, it can, but I’ve found that despite the lack of state-of-the-art graphics and textures in the trilogy, the atmosphere, the soundtracks, the diversity, the sheer amount of mattering choices and variables such as shaping your character, deciding whether or not the galaxy will unite, deciding the fate of lives, romancing the squad mate of your choice or totally missing out on recruiting them, as well as the development of characters and connections propels it much further than a lot of other video game worlds.
It has such a compelling story and an amazing main character (Commander Shepard). Shepard seems so well fleshed out despite the fact that they’re a self-insert character with a background you can decide, a class you can choose, a gender you pick and a physical appearance that is totally up to the player, not to mention all of the choices you can make that shape Shepard as a person and Commander.
Also, Jennifer Hale’s voice acting is just wow, well all of the casts’ voices are amazing and so genuine and full of emotion but Jennifer’s voice and emotion really enhances Shepard so well. It’s not just the voices too, but their actual dialogue - it’s unique to every character’s personality, it’s relatable, it’s funny, it’s cool and it’s inspiring.
I’ve actually been playing quite alot of persona 4 and I really love Inaba, it’s just supposed to be a small country town but the way it looks makes it feel so dreamy in a way, it also feels extremely familiar despite not being a real place.
Persona 4 Golden I think works perfectly fine
Persona 5 Royal is on there too but Idk how well it runs, it’s a very very good game
As for Persona 3 Portable, it’s fine but the original P3P was a point and click game so it’s not really as good as original persona 3 imo, Idk if the switch version changed that
I can’t believe it hasn’t been mentioned here, but Elysium of Disco Elysium. The worldbuilding is crazy extensive and the art direction is amazing. Such a shame we will probably only ever get to see Revachol, as much as I love it
I don’t play many open world games, but I know from reading I love when creators are unafraid to make societies entirely different from our own, including having different expectations and standards. My classic example is almost any of Le Guin’s sci-fi, but to give a specific instance the relationship standards on Anarres [anarchist planet] being relationship anarchy, not using possessive pronouns etc. I think it shows a level of consideration/care that I appreciate, and makes the worlds feel richer//more realistic.
I have yet to play any Dragon Age games but I think the Qunari could be an interesting example of this [sexist, but also accepting of binary trans people who fall in line with their gender roles].
Very! It’s a RPG that I highly recommend! The story itself is amazingly well-written, so I’m pretty confident in saying people here might enjoy it.
The setting itself feels very real, they made like a whole in-depth history and different political factions you encounter members of in-game. I think the creators were meant to release other games exploring the same setting, but there was a bunch of copyright drama so we’re unlikely to see any of them. I think the game was stolen from the original creators by a larger publisher?
screenshots from in game [not mine, as spoiler free as possible]
please ignore the main character’s outfits everyone dresses him stupid
