Topic: Your favourite settings in video games

[Thursday]

I know, it's not a consistent point of view, but it's something that annoyed me.

As you say the lack of real air travel, even though military universities can float, and Esthar has space travel. The whole world feels very inconsistent.

[The Culture Bunker]

I put the no-air-travel thing down to there being no wireless communication ie radio making it unsafe. No air traffic control and all that stuff. And the floating university only happened after a secret button (or something) was found.

The space travel for Esthar is more of a loophole, though. I can only assume they work to terribly accurate timetables in terms of resupplies/personnel changes. Or maybe someone in the station drops an empty beer can down to the planet below when they need the fridge filled up.

I mean, I don't know why I'm defending this. I've got to be up for work in six hours.

[Pseudopath]

Might not be very handy for the shops, but I could quite happily live in this area of Journey:

[Mr_Simnock]

Is that thanks a trump setting in the graphics area?

[Thursday]

I put the no-air-travel thing down to there being no wireless communication ie radio making it unsafe.

Huh? Sure there is. They even have television, although that had been switched off for ages which isn't really explained.

[Twed]

I dunno - even as a teen who loved the game, the world of Final Fantasy VII didn't make a lot of sense to me. Why is Midgar so horrendously densely populated when there's a load of fields and clear land (and a cute Chocobo ranch!) just to the south? Who travels across an entire desert to get to the Golden Saucer, and how does the world's economy manage to sustain it? Why are all these little towns so dramatically technologically behind Midgar?

Fuckin' liberals is why.

[Fry]

Although I loved FF7, I gotta say it's FF10 for me. The South Pacific/Polynesian influence was an inspired departure from the standard, grim medieval fantasy of 9. Those beautiful tropical islands, with the pristine blue waters and vast beaches of white sand were gorgeous, and it was all really made to pop on the PS2 (one of the many "graphics will never get better than this moments from me). From the very beginning the world had a great sense of history and depth, you got to run around the villages with their cool little yurts and temples. Chat to people and find out about their religion which was all built around the summons and summoners. Hanging out with Wakka, thinking he's chill 'til he brings up the Al Bhed and you realise it's like when you meet a cool new friend at a party and you find out he's got some dodgy views about Muslims. Not to mention all the sexy tanned islanders wearing skimpy clothes, being all relaxed and laid-back, smoking weed (probably) and loving that island life. Number one top FF world to live in ever.

Y'know, apart from the poison nightmare whale that pops up every so often

[Urinal Cake]

FFVII for all the reasons above. It's an amazing game that holds up.

Persona 2,4 and 5. Living the life I always wanted- a Japanese High School student. Particularly 4 which sort of exists in some mid 90s, pre-Internet era in a sleepy town which was nostalgic. 3 sucked.

Fucking Vagrant Story which took place on an island was varied, beautiful and creepy as fuck.

Fallout, Transistor etc.

[The Culture Bunker]

Huh? Sure there is. They even have television, although that had been switched off for ages which isn't really explained.

All through cables, until that massive aerial thing is turned on for the President to give his speech. Selphie gives a throwaway explanation about the moon being the reason for it all.

[Lemming]

I dunno - even as a teen who loved the game, the world of Final Fantasy VII didn't make a lot of sense to me. Why is Midgar so horrendously densely populated when there's a load of fields and clear land (and a cute Chocobo ranch!) just to the south? Who travels across an entire desert to get to the Golden Saucer, and how does the world's economy manage to sustain it? Why are all these little towns so dramatically technologically behind Midgar?

FF7 is in pretty much the same position as every other Final Fantasy game (1 through 9, at least) in that it's got an amazing aesthetic world with an incredible feeling of atmosphere, but the actual plot makes virtually zero frigging sense. FF2 (the real one, not FF4) and FF6 both also have awesome worlds that make absolutely no sense at all.

To this day I have no fucking idea what the plot of FF2 even was. Okay, there's an Empire that wants to control the world, but it seems like it already does control the entire world, so it sends out a dreadnought to bomb all of its own citizens to... consolidate its control? Then the Emperor, who is already the supreme unchallenged ruler, kills himself (or we kill him, I forget) and goes to Hell for... a reason, and we have to follow him into Hell and kill him, which saves the world which was already carpet bombed and destroyed. Ok!

Final Fantasy games work best when you don't think too hard about them and just sort of let them wash over you with the music, visuals and all that.

[Sin Agog]

The Soul Reaver series is one of those instances when the immense amount of lore and intricate plotting (one of the better uses of time travel) easily make up for some only alright gameplay.

[Sebastian Cobb]

The crumbling art-deco world of Kingpin was pretty cool I thought.

[Glebe]

The Soul Reaver series is one of those instances when the immense amount of lore and intricate plotting (one of the better uses of time travel) easily make up for some only alright gameplay.

Yeah was gonna say, Nosgoth is quite beguiling.

[the]

Batman Returns CD - driving stages only

[Phil_A]

Clock Town/Termina in Majora's Mask.

The level of detail put into a single setting is what sells it, the weather/music changing across the three days as the tension increases, watching all the people of the town running around trying to deal with their day-to-day troubles while disaster looms above them. It gets under my skin moreso than any other Zelda game.

It gets pretty damn existential. You're the Hero Of Time and yet time has been taken away from you, constantly battling against the knowledge that everything you do(short of actually beating the game) is ultimately futile as you'll eventually have to put things back the way they were. That idea that you just don't have enough time to do all the things you want or need to do is pretty heavy for a Nintendo game.

[madhair60]

Oddworld

[Jerzy Bondov]

I love Yharnam from off of Bloodborne. Massive Victorian gothic city full of shambling monsters and torch waving psychos, with nearby woods teeming with snake beasts and fat pigs, the esteemed seat of learning that is Byrgenwerth with its famous big spider, and of course multiple gateways to fucked up dream realities. Top place.

[biggytitbo]

The toilet in Silent Hill 2.

[Thursday]

I love Yharnam from off of Bloodborne. Massive Victorian gothic city full of shambling monsters and torch waving psychos, with nearby woods teeming with snake beasts and fat pigs, the esteemed seat of learning that is Byrgenwerth with its famous big spider, and of course multiple gateways to fucked up dream realities. Top place.

It's probably fine when it's not a night of the curse. It's like Edinburgh, you got to go down during the Fringe.

[Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth]

Half-Life might be getting on a bit these days, but the Black Mesa facility is still a favourite. I like all that kind of industrial architecture, bunkers etc. anyway, but what really sticks in the mind is that it was one of the first game environments I can remember that felt like a plausible, living place. It's not just laboratories and whatnot, but admin offices, transport systems, power stations, canteens and all the other stuff that a place like that would require to keep functioning.

[biggytitbo]

What was the first 3d game with a fully flushable toilet in it? Its such a common feature of games now we take it for granted by someone must have done it first.

[Zetetic]

^ Duke Nukem 3D, perhaps.

[Lemming]

The Black Mesa facility really is incredible, just for the way that believably mundane environments become battlefields and deathtraps.

The arrival of the Marines and Black Ops makes the setting even better, as you realise the outside world/American government is completely against you, and you really are completely fucked and alone.

On a similar note, Red Faction 1's Ultor mining facility is pretty cool. The game basically tries to ape Half-Life with varying degrees of success, but in its best moments it manages to just about replicate the same feeling of being trapped alone in a mundane-turned-hostile environment with limited hope of escape, though it's laid out much less logically than Black Mesa.

[Zetetic]

The Blackwell/Unavowed setting and Shadowrun setting appeal to me enormously - not terribly clever or deep (and Shadowrun is clearly more than a bit stupid) but just entertaining enough magical realism to stick in my head for a while.

[biggytitbo]

Columbia from Bioshock Infinite would be a nice place for a holiday, if you could stay out of trouble.

[St_Eddie]

The toilet in Silent Hill 2.

My mate has recreated the Silent Hill 2 toilet, in his own bathroom, to a spookily accurate degree.  The attention to detail is second to none, right down to the very last poo flake.

Duke Nukem 3D, perhaps.

I believe so, yes.  It was certainly the first time that I encountered a flushable toilet in a 3D game.  22 years on and I still have yet to tire of flushing virtual bogs.  I don't know why they bother crafting an entire separate game outside of the central attraction, quite frankly.

Columbia from Bioshock Infinite would be a nice place for a holiday, if you could stay out of trouble.

Worst place ever for a holiday.  What's the point of going on vacation if you can't get blind drunk, lest you risk plummeting to your death?!

[Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth]

On a similar note, Red Faction 1's Ultor mining facility is pretty cool. The game basically tries to ape Half-Life... though it's laid out much less logically than Black Mesa.

The office building that can only be accessed via submarine springs to mind. I have a lot of fond memories of that game (thanks to getting it along with the PS2 during my first term at university) but, yeah, I don't think I could argue that it was as artfully made as Half-Life.

[The Boston Crab]

How do you watch pornos on PSVR

[Thursday]

Columbia from Bioshock Infinite would be a nice place for a holiday, if you could stay out of trouble.

Well... for most of us it'd be fine yeah...

[MojoJojo]

My mate has recreated the Silent Hill 2 toilet, in his own bathroom, to a spookily accurate degree.  The attention to detail is second to none, right down to the very last poo flake.

I believe so, yes.  It was certainly the first time that I encountered a flushable toilet in a 3D game.  22 years on and I still have yet to tire of flushing virtual bogs.  I don't know why they bother crafting an entire separate game outside of the central attraction, quite frankly.

Worst place ever for a holiday.  What's the point of going on vacation if you can't get blind drunk, lest you risk plummeting to your death?!

Looking for a more authoritative answer to this, led me to here http://atariage.com/forums/topic/48354-strange-question/ and the following post:

I know this question is seriously retarded, but have you even seen a toilet in a atari 2600 game?

the reason is I have a website http://www.incog.org.uk with screenshots of toilets from games...

the earliest one is from jet set willy on the zx spectrum but I want the 2600 to have that title...  :P

yes, I am a nutcase

Sadly, www.incog.org.uk seems to be gone, obviously meant for a more innocent age.