Pokémon towns are somewhat unique compared to other RPGs, since they’re typically where you encounter the game’s main bosses (the gym leaders). Most RPGs have their bosses at the end of a dungeon, which Pokémon sometimes does (like with legendaries or the evil team leaders), but it’s much more rare.
Other parts of Pokémon are very different from most RPGs too. The random battles are with wild animals who are ALL potential friends, instead of ravaging hordes of ghouls. The other enemies are trainers who are just people like you, they’re hanging out, hiking, swimming, and they want to exercise with you not really “fight”.
@@AquaticMammalOnBicycle well this is the same logic for every monster colleting game basically, smt principally (excluding all the personas that aren't 5).
Traverse Town has always been a big favourite of mine - the warm colours, chill atmosphere, the starry sky above you and the relaxing music always made it a nice place to come back to.
Its really a great town. The music is quite literally one of the best smooth jazz songs ive ever heard. Also traverse town has a ton of small changes if you keep coming back and there is quite a bit of content there.
It also helps set one of my favorite details about KH1, where clearing the plot for a world will make the whole world peaceful until you return. Seeing the people return to Agrabah is always one of the most magical moments on replay for me. You get to actually see a more populated place compared to the typical window dressing. Also huge shoutout to being able to see how much it changed in DDD. Getting to see various aspects of the town you never knew about originally is such a neat idea.
Personally, I prefer Twilight Town (I'm still not over how little of it was accessible in KH3 - how can you give players an almost unlimited vertical wall-run and not give them access to the station clocktower?) but Traverse Town does the job in KH1.
Clock Town from Majora's Mask is definitely one of my favorite video game towns. It's a hub that you can visit to buy things and take a break from combat, but what's happening there is also the central conflict and tension point of the entire game, to the point that it can almost feel more relaxing to get away from it and not feel the moon bearing down on you so directly. The way the music increases in pace ups the anxiety the more time you spend there, and nothing brings me dread like the sound of the bell tower chiming away, 12 hours closer to doom.
It's also very different than most other towns as the town does change based on the time left. The town couldn't be any more different on day 1 and day 3 and KNOWING how the town used to be on the first day, makes seeing it's state on the third hit much harder. And it isn't all, the there are plenty of little quests to do that change details within the town, but thanks to the game's nature, none of them are permanent. The little detail I love the most about Clock Town is about the goron that has the same name as you. If you check into the hotel before he does, you'll steal his room, forcing him to sleep outside. Now, he is a Goron, so he doesn't mind too much, but you definitely will feel bad about doing that. What's also so great about it is that it could (and often will) happen by accident. There is a good chance that you run in there and steal his room without even knowing what's going on. Then you see a poor little goron forced to sleep on the street because of that. But once you reset the time, he will have another chance to get his room and finally sleep under sturdy roof in a comfy bed.
@@CornishCreamtea07 It is to some extent, as an "Action-adventure" RPG. RPG just means "Role-playing game" which can encompass the majority of games today, though it is more often used to describe JRPGs and games like them. Game genres are weird.
The unspoken rule of RPG towns is that their theme music MUST be one of the best songs on the entire soundtrack. Chrono Cross in particular knocks this out of the park with its fantastic town themes throughout the whole game.
The House of Hades in, well, Hades, is a fantastic Town. Not only does it provide downtime between plays, the ability to check on quests, and to spend currency customizing the town and your next runs, but in so many little ways as well. For example, the characters may or may not be present each time you visit. Hades also does a stellar job in evolving the dialogue of these characters between visits -- and having an entire system in place to prevent the player from missing dialogue by accident.
At first, it kinda bugged us that characters weren't always available to talk to, especially if I was trying to max out friendships. After some runs, I began to appreciate their absences. Just because Zagreus can't venture out into other areas of the Underworld doesn't mean that everyone else is trapped. Where do some of the NPCs go? Where do they live? Makes it feel like everyone is living their life and just doing their jobs within The House.
On the other hand, I'm much more fond of towns that grow completely without your influence. It feels a little contrived to me that a full town would stagnate without the player's influence, and I feel it makes the world feel more alive if large events can happen without you needing to directly cause that event. (Not saying your opinion is wrong, just giving some reasons why I prefer these towns).
Rebuilding Colony 6 in Xenoblade was kind of a hassle in some spaces, but seeing the world visibly improve and expand with more characters was an amazing feeling!
I love Ishgard Restoration. So much so I ranked in it one season. There's just something special about knowing you helped build a massive section of a game.
13:18 I agree with the point, but I don't agree that it's easy. Trails in the Sky went through absolute hell and nearly didn't make it through localization specifically because of the amount of dialog that had to be translated in towns and such. Growing and changing towns are a great thing to aspire to, but it can be dangerous to underestimate the significant amount of time and effort that goes into actually creating something like this. It's actually no wonder why even big-name games often end up sticking with their one-line-of-dialogue NPCs
I think it'd be easy if restricted to its' native language. An English RPG within only English -> it wouldn't be necessarily more difficult. But yeah, the moment you go into another language, which all RPGs basically have to do since most RPGs are kind of niche, the complexity and difficulty goes through the roof.
Dang, I had no idea. It makes me want a remaster/port of the Sky games even more. Xseed is sitting on so many good games that they're just letting rot.
Dirtmouth from Hollowknight is one of the more interesting town hubs in my opinion: Rather than being this large sprawling space with dozens of npcs, it's just a handful of buildings, a bench, and a fast travel station. By the end of the game barely makes it to 10 npcs total, though it is possible to complete the game with the only bug present in dirtmouth being Elderbug if you went out of your way to avoid expanding Dirtmouth (though doing so entails skipping incredibly useful utilities like area maps or the Lumafly lantern). It is nice though, that whenever something happens to change Dirtmouth, like Cornifer and Iselda moving in and setting up shop, or Bretta returning to her home, Elderbug always has something to say about it.
I think one of the big things is that it starts with only 1 Person and then grows over time. Even if it only grows to 10 people by the end, that's a 1000% increase which really does make a huge difference in how the area feels. When you first enter, Dirtmouth is a fading town sitting atop a forgotten kingdom. You don't even know why you came here in the first place. But as you explore and begin to understand your purpose in this world, you also interact with NPCs and get the town to grow. This way, you develop your own reason to fight and save Hallownest separate from just being told that its what you have to do.
Rogueport has always been so memorable to me. All the hidden things around every corner really bring the place to life, and there is always a reason to go back throughout the game. There's nothing more disappointing than a starting town that you leave for good (unless there's a satisfying plot reason for leaving).
I love getting to explore more and more of a town once I get new abilities on my journey. Flipside in Super Paper Mario was crazy too! With some new abilities and exploration, you find an entire Flopside!
@@matthewjones6786 I forgot about that! Man, I need to replay Super. I hope Nintendo goes back to more unique stories and worlds for Paper Mario. Origami King was a step in the right direction but it still lacked the originality of the first three games.
@@daizbid I totally understand that and I love the first three, but I'm also one of those who fell in love with Origami King! Where it lacks in character design, I think it makes up for in creative mechanics, insane visual detail, some of my favorite music in any game, etc. :3
@@matthewjones6786 oh, absolutely! I did still love the game and it made me feel nostalgic for TTYD. I thought the combat was super creative, too. I just miss the more unique characters and environments of the older games
One thing that always hits home if when a town turns into a combat zone and acts like a dungeon for a bit. Or other variants of destruction and disruption. Final fantasy IX really likes to have these situations happen every other town or so.
IX does a real good job of giving you time to get attached before things go south. I appreciated that you got to see Lindblum rebuilding as the discs went on, too.
I was going to mention Balamb Garden in FFVIII for exactly this reason. Sometimes it functions as a town, sometimes it's a dungeon, sometimes it's an action set piece. Eventually it becomes a vehicle for world map travel.
Super Mario RPG had some really great and memorable towns. Monstro Town, in particular, was fun because the standard friendly villagers were all classic Mario enemies, like koopas and thwomps.
Persona has always been interesting, because there's so many different storylines that progresses throughout the game and intertwine at times with the main plot or some sidequests. Some characters even feel like genuine friends sometimes (In Persona 4 a female student on the first floor will always be cheering you on and just have a nice chat with you, I love that)
I also think that the fact that you spend so much time there and the fact that no one really cares about the progress your characters are making in the main plot also makes the late game events when the town and plot intersect hit harder. That moment in persona 3 where you can see the city you spent so much time in starts to fall apart and lose hope as the track changes to memories of the city still makes me genuinely sad and really helps sell the fact that doomsday is approaching.
In p5 there is a guy in the practice building always thinking he is a phantom thief and his dialogue change throughout the story, I love that guy he is so funny 🤣
Midgar's fine. It just so happens to have a government that is hostile to you. Actually that would be an interesting concept for a town where you have to avoid detection even while doing the usual stuff. Stay out of the light, avoid guards and don't talk to the wrong person or he'll rat you out. Like an RPG crossed with Metal Gear.
It is amazing what trails in the sky made with this towns, they are not just there, it's like they exist. Every NPC has a name and a backstory, but what I liked more is that the conversations is not just you listeing to them, but sometimes you or your party members will start to talk to them and becomes an interesting conversation like ones from main story, this only increases in trails from zero where it is a hub city, basicily everyone knows you and sometimes you will just talk to your friend in the bakery or scolding a kid who is skipping class or even listing the cassino owner complaing that his teammate is going to the casino a lot. This is incredible becase this attests the existence of your party in the world, and most of the NPC won't have any appearance in the main plot or even in a side quest but some of then will have dialogue as complex as the ones found in the main plot.
And then they repeated (and expanded) the same thing with every other games of the franchise. This is absolutely insane. And it's also what allow every side quests to be absolutely worth it.
The only time i didn't enjoy cities in trails is in CS4. you know, Doom clock and all, yet So. Many. Cities. I Love the field trip idea of exploring a town but when you move past that its always on a some kind urgency in Cold Steel.
@@fjhatsu That didn't actually bother me that much because sky already trained me to ignore urgency with town conversations. If you recall there's that one part where the orphan kids get mugged on the highway along with the grant money to rebuild the building and you have to try and stop the perpetrator and hopefully recover the grant money. But no, first you got to run in the opposite direction to goto town or else you miss a carnelia book and lose your chance at the best weapon in the game... I found the most tedious time was in Zero/Azure no kiseki. Crossbell is quite big, and you're there the entire game, and you have to travel to goto the cathedral, and the mining town, and the honey town, etc, and it just takes SO LONG to do it after every event, and the npc chatter just didn't strike me as interesting as it did in Cold steel. So I basically gave up and settled talking to only a favored few npcs. Sunita's family, Renne's family, Lloyd's house, the bakery, etc. The Crossbell games seemed like they had alot more nameless npcs too. In any case I didn't even watch this video yet, I just saw it before my nap time, and wanted to save it for later but was thinking as soon as I saw it 'trails better mention or at least what makes trails' good better get a mention or else'. And saw this comment near the top, so hopefully that's the case.
Some NPCs even have story arcs across the multiple games. We're talking about town level NPCs, and just the supporting cast NPCs. I don't know how creators write all of this stuff, as some shop owners have a backstory and/or react to changes in the games or changes to other NPCs.
Ah man perfect example of that game's party members talking with npcs? The random older ladies hitting on Joshua. And then Olivier would agree, join in and start buttering up Joshua too. And Estelle is just standing right there and she explodes and flips her lid on everyone lmao.
Shibuya on The World Ends With You and its sequel NEO The World Ends With You is pretty interesting because, well, the entirety of those games is that town (well city, but you get it). Due to how encounter enemy works on that game there is not a clear separation between "danger zones" and sanctuaries" outside of you scanning the zone. Whats more, the entire game has only 1 "town". However each zone of Shibuya has its own personality and aesthethic and stores, so, in a way, each zone is also its own town, which fits perfectly on the games themes, especially in the first.
@@KopperNeoman I have to disagree, I think that the localization of NEO is great. A lot people don't like it becaude it changes a lot from the original script, but in general is just doing thr same as the localization of the first game: making so the original intention can be translated to a different culture
@@KopperNeoman or maybe the fact that for those who only have a computer the only option is to buy it on the epic games store. i dont think the game having some cringe slang puts people off, but i have not played it, maybe you are referring to something else?
@@darkfire1289 is this for real? way to go square cause that obviously worked out for the first game >.> and geez, why does everyone seem to think “yeah lets put all the best lines or all the spoilers in our trailer!”
The sixth generation of Pokémon games might've been disappointing overall, but I loved that you could sit on chairs and benches in towns and it would sometimes give you a panoramic view with the camera. I alvays saved my game sitting on a bench before closing it and I'm kinda mad that you cannot do that anymore in more recent games.
One of the most frustrating things in the Pokemon series is that every generation seems to add a few quality of life changes that are just completely forgotten for any later games.
@@Broockle The big one I can remember off the top of my head was some Pokemon being visible in the grass in Omega Ruby/Alpha Sapphire, but that feature dropped from Sun/Moon. I vaguely remember thinking about some battle screen upgrades that were lost at some point as well, but I don't remember the rest of my thoughts from 8 months ago anymore.
I like how in pokemon towns and cities are thematically diverse, usually around the same type as the gym, specially in Hoenn where nature is an important theme and there is secret bases giving the impression of living nearby some town, specially good how it applies the theme of people and pokemon living in places affected by nature, like Fortree City with everyone living in trees, Sootopolis in the mid of an ancient conflict and Pacifidlog in the middle of the sea
Pacifidlog was always weird to me, like who would choose to live in a small town in the middle of an ocean, but it makes up for it because funny softlock
Clock Town from Legend of Zelda MM is one of the best RPG towns in games. The three day time mechanic is implemented beautifully here as 90 percent of the town's residents can be followed and we can see what they do throughout the day. Not only that but 90 percent of them have their own side quest which we the player can interact with and they have clear relationships with other characters as well. By the end of the game it makes Clock Town feel like a real town going through an end of the world event and it's up to us to stop that from happening.
@@isayasbashiri5371 Fair but the idea is ultimately the same. Towns in action adventure games with minimal RPG elements still serve the same function as towns in heavy stat based RPGs.
The Tales series probably has my favorite towns from a visual standpoint. The towns in those games are visually interesting and do a good job with environmental storytelling.
The towns and cities in the Trails series are always phenomenal in making it feel like a living, breathing location. Every NPC has a unique name and dialogue which updates constantly throughout the story. Some NPCs move between towns and even make appearances in other games years later. I've never seen any other studio achieve this kind of world immersion since.
I can't forget that an NPC you meet in Trails in the Sky called Lloyd has an especial dialogue with the protagonist of Zero no Kiseki only because they share a name, boy that's attention to detail
@@roxanepineda3609 can forget when Estelle acknowledges the name sharing too Estelle: "Wait... Tio and Lloyd? Hahaha, sorry about that! I just thought it was funny because I have two friends named Tio and Lloyd."
Crossbell City is a great JRPG city but I don't like the ''independence thing''. It would be more interesting if Crossbell became part of Erebonia ''forever'' and the SSS had to deal with they choice (To protect KeA but condemn the city). But at this point I don't care anymore. Trails Series before ToCS = A great ''Slice of Life JRPG''. Simple but charming characters and good Story. The pacing could be done a little better but it's not like it's bad. Monsters are a bit generic and my least favorite part about the series. ToCS = A complete mess! Too much ''special'' characters with the most generic development(IMO Rean is the worst JRPG MC). Bonding Events being a main mechanic that fails miserably. Horrible pacing for a bad Story. And the worst part: The absurd amount of ''anime jokes''. I feel like they went from a ''human world'' with anime design to a ''generic anime world''. I dropped everything during Crossbell Act in ColdSteel 3(I couldn't stand how annoying Alisa, Musse, Juna, Sharon and Elise are)
@@mystocaixeta2065 Anton is, in my opinion, the greatest NPC of all-time. His story is so gripping, and evolves throughout the course of so many games. His sidequests are mostly comedic, but you're rooting for him to find love every step of the way, with Ricky always by his side. When he finally meets someone, it makes complete and total perfect sense. That's a great NPC.
The best game towns are definitely the ones that evolve based on the player's actions. The Wellspring Glade from Ori and the Will of the Wisps is a perfect example. You initially find this place nearly abandoned, overgrown with thorns, without any of the plants or environmental features that fill the rest of the game. But, as you play, you'll build houses for the local critters, remove the thorns, clean up the water, and plant a ton of different seeds that allow you access to a whole bunch of Metroidvania goodies. It turns the town from basically nothing into one of the most beautiful areas in a gorgeous game. In kind of the opposite, Palm Brinks from Dark Cloud 2 (or Dark Chronicle, if you're in a PAL region) has everyone leave due to the player's influence. It starts out being completely isolated - nobody has been outside in living memory. But as you repair the old railroad and venture out in the world, you'll find new towns you need to restore and populate. So, you head back to Palm Brinks and do a ton of (mostly fun) sidequests to recruit townsfolk to join you on your quest. They all have their own desires for a place to live, and can even help you out in the dungeons. It fits the theme of the game perfectly.
just curious. what would you say is the main theme in dark chronicle? it's one of my favorite games from my childhood but i'm not sure it sets out to say anything in particular. from what i can remember.
@@landis9767 My read on the game is that it's about broadening your horizons. Most of the characters' formative moments are defined by contact with the outside world. There's a pervasive fear of the world around them that keeps everyone in Palm Brinks isolated, but they can't grow. The town is stuck. And that's reflected in Sirus himself; his fear of humans is reinforced by his separation from the world. But, as you play, Max and the townsfolk meet more people and grow as characters. That fear begins to disappear. Sirus's fear - and his persona as Griffin - is shattered by one moment of empathy. It's hardly a revolutionary take, but a theme doesn't necessarily have to be an explicit moral.
Dude, I fucking love your channel. As a Designer myself, its simply amazing to have these lovely breakdowns of all the different aspects of gameplay and worldbuilding. Keep up the good work!
I always like it when a town has a dungeon hidden inside of it that reveals its secret dark backstory or something alike. The hidde team rocket bases pokemon for example.
Though I only started playing Persona 4 recently, Inaba has been a very memorable hub town for me. It's got everything that a generic town needs, such as shops, a place to heal up, and NPCs to take on sidequests for, but it also has a great launchpad for the party's adventures with the Junes department store. You may not do much navigation around the world, but one city and one dungeon entrance area alone will give you more than enough to do.
Inaba is probably one of the most perfectly designed towns I've ever seen. All of the details you would expect from a small town outside of the major commerce hubs are there, but placed well enough to not only feel lived in, but eventually reinforce the idea of Inaba being your "true home."
Tazmily Village from Mother 3 is perhaps one of my favorite towns in all of gaming. Back in the day, I knew every single person in the village by name, and they sort of felt like family, due to how close-knit of a community they had going. It also helps that they employ the hub town model, where character dialogue will change every chapter, and often multiple times per chapter depending on what you do. It truly feels alive, and there are so many fun easter eggs and quirky hidden dialogue to find, it made exploring the town and talking to everyone each chapter a total blast.
It almost feels wrong to compare Tazmily to other rpg towns, because Mother 3 is an rpg ABOUT a town. It's not a connecting point between different areas of focus, it's the primary area of focus, the stakes of the plot. From a purely gameplay perspective it's like, say, Toadtown, but in terms of story it's almost a main character.
Tbh, one of my fave parts of any RPG is going to a new town. I usually completely abandon any and all storylines & quests for the sake of stumbling around, wide-eyed like a little kid, exploring every single nook & cranny and talking to every single person. Seeing a new place is a whole experience unto itself, and I savour every bit of it. A town with lots of things to do never fails to put a great big smile on my face. Especially if it's got a great soaring score added to it. Ding Dong Dell from Ni No Kuni comes to mind, among many others. a good town is somewhere that feels so nice it makes you want to go there IRL, maybe even live there. I think that's why when people that about an RPG they love, they always talk about the towns.
I think Traverse Town is one of my favorites. It does a good job of feeling like a place for refugees. The moment you leave the first district, you're still in the town but now Heartless can attack you. But it's so full of different puzzles and hidden secrets that it's fun to explore. When I was a kid I was scared of the heartless. Which made the first district and actual sigh of relief for me whenever I got back to it. And then moment near the beginning where the Heartless finally make their in was a very scary and unnerving moment for me. Suddenly the one place I found safety wasn't that any more. It pushed me out of my comfort zone. Traverse Town is my favorite world in the series and I don't think it gets enough credit for how cool it is.
Agreed. I never felt the towns in the sequels were as fleshed out and filled with secrets as Traverse Town was. It was so much fun exploring and finding all the different paths and see how the were all connected.
It's also where you meet Leon, Aerith, Cid, and Yuffie. I had never played a final fantasy that wasn't 10 before KH, so those characters may as well have been new to me. I loved them regardless. I missed them in kh3 :c.
That feeling of a town on the edge of danger is always really interesting because of how well it sets the standing state of the universe for the foreseeable future, not every world is in imminent world ending danger like you just escaped, but almost everywhere is under threat from the dark monsters lurking in the unseen corners, just waiting for the chance to prey upon the weak and the misguided, nowhere is truly safe, but very little is on the verge of destruction just yet, creating a universe in a tense balance
Goldenrod City in the Pokemon GSC/HGSS games. A 100% improvement over Celadon City in Kanto. A game corner, a gym leader, underground, a plot-based reason to return, the radio tower, and a day care with a cycling/grindng path. And the music is...heavily nostalgic to me.
Goldenrod City serves roles that Celadon City, Saffron City, and Fucshia City did in the Gen I games. That's why it's such an important fixture of Johto.
@@reillywalker195 it shows an interesting dynamic between the two regions too, since johto is a much more rural region than kanto is they have all their urban features in one place unlike kanto which has its manmade underground passages, casinos, department stores, daycares, and other large buildings all spread out, johto has all of those in one place (on top of how a lot of johto's routes are more natural and foresty, while kanto still has caves and a forest, a lot of its routes are things like roads and docks and bike paths)
It seems quaint now, but I was obsessed with Goldenrod City from Pokémon Silver back in 2000. The day/night cycle, the friendship rater, weekly rates on haircuts, it all seemed sooo compelling on that little GameBoy Color screen.
I recently played the first Dragon Quest and while overall I found it to be just ok, one of my favorite moments is when you’re exploring the over world and you see this town and instantly you think “Oh cool, a town! I can’t wait to heal up and stock up on items and new weapons and see what the town folk have to say!” So you walk into it only to find once inside that the town has been completely destroyed and random encounters appear in it. For as simple as it is, it has a lot of cool features to it. For one, it does a good job at conveying the threat the dragon lord and his monsters possess and adds to the fear so many NPCs express with how the monsters have been attacking more. It also just feels immersive in a way because that feeling of excitement to shock is probably akin to what the hero is feeling too at seeing this. It’s really simple and it doesn’t fit the criteria of this video a ton but still, for as much as Dragon Quest 1 felt primitive, this was a moment in the game that genuinely impressed me and left an impact
When a game has multiple towns, giving them something both unique and useful that makes them worth revisiting really helps to make the towns standout. I find that in most games, after you clear the local threat near a town, you move on with no reason to ever return. Towns that have minigames, expensive shops with items you couldn't afford the first visit, or special functions such as class-changing, multiplayer connection, crafting stations, apparel customization and the like. Some places that come to mind are Alltrades Abbey and Stornway from Dragon Quest XI. Any city that has a Game Corner in Pokemon. Castele from Fantasy Life. The more often you return to a previous town because you want to, not because you have to, the better.
Some of my favorite RPG towns: - Mercado from Dragon Warrior 1. You need to beat a boss fight (one of the exactly _four_ boss fights in the entire game) in order to enter, and the boss is nearly impossible without using a key item from another town. Once in, the city's buildings are densely packed and maze-like with need to use keys and fake walls to access all that it has to offer, like a dungeon but without combat inside. There are multiple shops of each type, showing that there's a lot of competing commerce going on in it. The best sword and shield money can buy require a little looking around, and this is where you get hints leading you to the best armor in the game (guarded by one of the game's other three bosses). - Melmond from Final Fantasy 1. The use of sandy/dirt tiles mixed in with the grass as well as some of the destroyed buildings (including critical services you've been trained to take for granted in towns to this point) tell a story of just how ruinous the Fiends' presence in the world is. - Rogueport from Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door. It does a really good job conveying that it's a crime-ridden slum, a wretched hive of scum and villainy, and also serves as a well-designed hub from which to access the rest of the game. The first Paper Mario was really good at making flavorful NPCs and towns and the second just stepped it up to a degree few professional games ever reach. - Valada from Spellshard: The Black Crown of Horgoth. Does everything a town in a retro 8-bit throwback RPG town should. Mostly I just want to shamelessly plug one of my favorite indie RPGs here. --It was an 8-bit retro RPG back in 2004, half a decade before that became "cool"--
Balamb in FF8 has been my favorite. I think it’s mostly nostalgia for me but the theme and the crickets at night and of course the cafeteria with no hot dogs!
Trails towns are just amazing, every NPC feels like a real person and it's great to see that no matter what you do, the world it's always changing and moving on, with or without you. Something about that franchise that I can't forget it's just the part where you return to the hometown of Estelle in Trails in the sky 2, I felt so nostalgic because everyone were commenting about how they missed you, everyone remembered Estelle but also continued with their life, but also it was sad because everyone were asking for Joshua, for a moment I thought about how hard it has to be for Estelle just being remembered that he left her behind. My favorite game of all Legend of Heroes
Persona 5's downtime to explore different parts of the city was a true joy and being limited to only a few actions each day meant you had to have a more meaningful use of your time. I also always enjoyed town's that felt like they had their own character. It's really cool when you visit real towns that have this charm.
While not a traditional town, I really enjoyed Castaway Village from Ys VIII. Mechanically it’s not much aside from your main restock point and quest hub, as the game takes place on a deserted island, but I love watching it grow as you find more castaways. The character interactions are fun to observe a lot of the time, and they change quite a bit as you progress through the main story. It’s 100% a town defined by the people in it - people who start out as strangers from all walks of life, working together and becoming a community
Twilight town from KH2 specifically. It’s one of those places that feels comfortable whenever I visit it. The ambiance and music complement the fairly close together, but not obscenely tall buildings so it all feels cozy as you go through the place. It’s supposed to feel like home, and does a great job of it so you feel extra motivated to get rid of the baddies. Or maybe that’s just me! For you super old fans, Destiny Islands is another place I really like (KH1). It isn’t a town at all (at least not the portions of it the player has access to) but it feels like something the player has to protect- an innocence and peace that shouldn’t be disturbed. The fact that it’s the set price to one of the greatest ‘call to action’ moments in gaming history compounds it’s greatness.
Bastions' town was the first of it's kind for me when I played it. Before it, towns were rock solid locations where there will be hardly any modifications after your first visit. It was also my first time experiencing a hub in any game because there's just no other choice. But because of it, the town seemed more like a system menu screen that came out of your bag and happens to morph with the story.
Towns can play an additional role in open world or non-linear games, as they can guide players to locations they may not have explored. This could be through hints in dialogue or more straightforward in quests. They can also give a sense of direction to players who may be overwhelmed otherwise if they just wondered into the world. Riverwood in Skyrim served this role pretty well. After the tutorial, you are free to go wherever. However, you’re right nearby the town, so it doesn’t hurt to check it out. Once in Riverwood, you get directions for starting the main quest, and you get a couple of side quests that lead to other areas as well, including what is the first dungeon for many players.
Nice vid. JRPG towns are peak comfy, and Arni Village is one of my all time favorites. The beautiful pre-rendered backgrounds combined with the relaxing music is just magical
The castle in Suikoden II and TownShip in Breath of Fire II. I really enjoy how I’m responsible for a single set of population and what I do outside the walls directly reflects on the town.
growing/creating/evolving/selecting your own home-hub town is a lot of fun, really a great mechanic, having a base of operations that you have some control over in what it is/becomes Breath of Fire 2's (ruins -> township) as you already mentioned Breath of Fire 3's (fairy village) as well too (though it's not really a town, more of a limited/lvlup type of mechanic of what I remember, hadn't played BoF3 in quite a while) TES: morrowind, the built-in great house faction's (strongholds) for you Might and Magic Xeen's (newcastle) town, you can upgrade/unlock it a bit, if my memory serves
Suikoden II has so many awesome and beautiful towns, I love experiencing how the castle progresses and even the music changes as you progress through the story and recruit more members ❤️ In my earliest playthroughs back in the day I didn't manage to recruit all 108 stars right away (there also weren't any online guides yet), so my castle was pretty small compared to how it can potentially look. One of my all-time favorite games!
The most important part of a town is the one obligatory completely pointless building you can enter which has nothing worthwhile inside it. A town doesn't feel "right" without it.
@IAmNotASandwich453 except they're still worth checking out cuz the people inside occasionally give u items or useful hints or even HMs which are needed for progression!
Does Tarrey Town from Breath of the Wild count? I loved how once you’ve finished the homeowner side quest in Hateno village, you help Hudson build this town. As you find residents to move into the town, more buildings are built and the town theme gets instruments added with each resident as well. My only issue is that there was no shrine in the town but at least you could glide to the town from the nearest one.
One thing I like and dislike about SMT Nocturne is that even in towns you can get attacked via random encounters. It makes sense since it's the apocalypse and demons have taken their place in most of the towns. It adds to the hostile environment and gives you the feeling of never being safe. Obviously this can also lead to a lot of frustration because you never get a break and can die in 1 or 2 turns due to bad luck.
Yes, running to a fountain of life or amala terminal and hoping to not have another encounter is very tense. Although there is one town that is safe, asakusa before the mifunashiro incident
Same deal in smt 1 where your characters home is basically the only place in the game without random encounters. Though that does make the only other place without demons feel even more “”off”” than it already did
Is it weird to say my favorite town is... all of them from FF6? Like every one of them is connected to the plot in some way or another, some functioning as hideouts for rebels or Imperial strongholds, or just trying to ignore the conflict entirely on top of filling all the roles mentioned here. Add on top of that how the entire world changes at the half point of the game and the environmental storytelling gets cranked up to 11. It really was the first time a game really drove home the gravity of an event through the town design and how that event reverberated through the world
Narshe was the best. Soooo many things happen there. It has both a mine and a cave system connected to it. A siege, Tritoch, Terra awakening, Yeti, Moogles, I probably missed some things too.
I love Sumaru City from the Persona 2 Duology, it hits a lot of the points mentioned in this video. When in a conversation area (generally shops, public parks, or even dungeons you've already cleared), you're able to talk with people around town, as well as your own party members - and much like Trails, their dialogue is updating _constantly._ This is where Persona 2 packs most of its flavor, as you get to see both your party's development, and small sub stories between NPCs. Generally revolving around main villain Joker and his curse. And how everything is slowly going to hell. Joker grants wishes, but always in such a way that they're primed to go sour. Then, dreams crushed, Joker claims the target's "ideal energy", causing them to become a Shadow. Shadows slowly fade away as the plot progresses and dialogue updates. Going from bemoaning that their dreams could never have worked out, to simply groaning, to staying silent, to no longer being interactable, to fading away entirely... Also, foreshadowing. So much foreshadowing. When rumors become reality, the idle speculation of townspeople becomes a dangerous thing. And sometimes NPCs will discuss things in Innocent Sin that won't even pay off until Eternal Punishment. And that feeling of disconcertion Chrono Cross manages? The player gets that too, with the version of Samuru seen in Eternal Punishment being ever so slightly different - including a different JOKER with a different curse, causing everything to go to hell in entirely new and exciting ways!
20 years on, I still remember the towns from Skies of Arcadia. All of them were awesome lore-wise since (in a game about being a sky pirate) they were all ports for airships inspired by different cultures from around the world during the Age of Discovery. One "town that isn't a town" was your airship, the Delphinus, itself. At any time, while cruising the skies, you could opt to just take a break, walk around the decks of your ship, and talk to your crew. The crew were all NPCs that you met and recruited, some as part of the story, but most during side quests, and I still remember how immersive it was to just see them all interacting with each other (independent of me) in the galley or on the bridge. Then there was Crescent Isle, your secret hideout/pirate base that you get to build up and choose what buildings to add, and what they should look like. When you're on Crescent Isle, your crew become the town NPCs, all of them keeping busy and giving more context to their little side stories (as well as more of their interactions with each other). It really felt like you were building a town from the ground up, and helping it to thrive as you convinced more specialists to join your crew and add their talents to the community.
Bump for Skies of Arcadia! The town designs were so **interesting.** Like Ixa'taka, with giant tree houses, and a wooden slide several stories high that you could take a ride on. Or Yafutoma, with multiple levels of floating islands, and a waterfall from the top island down to the bottom (you can ride over the edge in a Japanese taraibune, or tub-boat). Just fantastic towns in that game.
While I don't have much experience with rpg towns (unless I get Darkest Dungeons) I do have an idea for a topic you can go over: Economy. Specifically how designers can use the in-game currencies of a game to influence player behaviour, while also weaving it into the games mechanics in unique ways.
The video already touched on this and there's some overlap with the categories mentioned here, but a (hub) town that functions as a measure for progress is my favorite kind. As you play through the game, you might add different folks to your town, growing it and increasing the services available. Examples of this would be the Village of Beginnings in Digimon Adventure, Dunan Castle in Suikoden II, and despite being tied to a single side quest, Tarrey Town in Breath of the Wild. A very tangible way of seeing the change you've made in the world.
Xenoblade X is also a great example since you can ally with a number of aliens and they will come and populate your home city and help you fight against the Ganglion.
I loved the towns in Bug Fables. Not only did I enjoy getting to know all of the NPCs because of their designs and personalities, but I like how each town subtly clues you into what's really going on in the game. The first building and dungeon you enter seem normal enough. The building's made with twigs and plants and the cave is, a cave. The way the towns look and where they are located later on get, interesting. Plus, I LOVE how your party can comment on things when you press the button. They'll comment on what they think of areas and that dialogue will change as you progress.
The coolest town may be Khorinis in Gothic 2. Everyone has a unique time schedule, the social dynamics are a LOT and there is so much to see. Probably the best town I know.
The Hunter’s Dream in Bloodborne. It has this compact and vertical design that makes it feel like a diorama, and it has a surprising number of nooks and crannies for such a small space. It’s incredibly atmospheric and mysterious, and its eerie calm contrasts wonderfully with the incessant screeches of beasts and loud action in the overworld.
Majula in Dark Souls 2 has a lot of similar qualities too. I think it shines in environmental story telling. It looks like a shanty town, but one gets the vibe that it has a thriving crossroad at some point. The souls series in general just excels at that stuff.
Bastion, Pyre and Hades all do this well. There's always so much to learn and get involved in. In bastion you are literally the mechanism by which the hub evolves and you get to pick what changes occur in it over the narrative
I'd have to say, at least dialogue-wise, the Monastery from Fire Emblem Three Houses is one of my favorites. Every month, every single character has something new to say about what's going on in the story. Characters are frequently interacting with another character, and you can even have a conversation with them both! Edit: I meant every month. Good catch!
Well it actually only changes every month, but it's still worth praising since the characters often hang around places that interest them. For example Felix and Catherine are often in the training hall or armory because he is basically Sasuke and wants to get stronger so he can be the strongest. Marianne usually is near the stables or in the cathedral because she likes horses and wants forgiveness for her being born into her family. Raphael can often be found in the dining or training hall because he loves food and working out. Seteth is usually on the faculty floor or in the cathedral because he's basically the principal or vice principal and... spoilers...
@@AdamTheGameBoy This is also related to the lost items side quests since you'll usually find them near where the owner was hanging out the previous month.
I like the dialog changes and playing hide and seek. I just wish there as a little more variety in the Monastery itself over time. The second half has some cosmetic changes, but nothing drastic. You're still running laps and checking in on the same routes, which gets a little stale by the third run. They could have reduced this issue by giving each route a unique hub (or unique variant of the Monastery) in the second half. I liked how the Suikoden games handled this. They continued to add new areas as the story progressed (Three Houses only did this for a couple chapters) making it so that you got to see more of the fort being built up while playing hide and seek with the oversized cast. They even moved the save point around and the main character's room frequently changed decor and occasionally location. Granted adding more to a hub isn't unique. This is just an example that I think would gel well with Three Houses if they'd decided to go that way. Just adding the underground town in the DLC added some much needed variety and a slightly different perspective. (Plus some more places to play hide and seek.)
Funny on the breaking-and-entering part is the Quest for Glory series, where breaking-and-entering is actually a whole mechanic for the Thief (or any Devon with Stealth and Lockpicking) - and far from being a sanctuary, it's a life-or-death puzzle. I think there's only once in the entire quintilogy where you even get the option to fight your way out if you get caught. Ah, cutscenes truly are the Kryptonite of video game heroes.
One of the most memorable towns for me was Zere from Dragon Quest IX, though not necessarily for the town itself and more so the tone it indirectly sets. The town itself is a pretty standard Dragon Quest fair where you hear of an sculptor who used to live that that now lives at the top of a mountain by himself. When you actually arrive to the mountain later on in the game however, you discover that at the top is an exact stone made replica of the town, even down to stone statues of the citizens littering about, and the only NPC that even lives here is a talking slime you reveals that the sculptor built it all by himself and passed away some time ago. Even if it's not the actual town, there's an intense feeling of unsettledness, seeing a normally very active place with characters to talk to completely devoid of practically all life, which isn't helped either by the very muted grey stone color of the town replica.
I can’t believe you would leave out the fact that the original town (which is absolutely gorgeous) is called Zere, but the (kind of sad-feeling) stone copy is called Zere Rocks. As in Xerox. The copy machine.
So hey, I know this has NOTHING to do with the video, but... Nice run on Jeaprody, Mike! This is the LAST place I would have expected to hear/see you with my folks watching in the back. You did damn good, but Amy is just nuts, it's crazy how much she dominates!
I'm honestly surprised The World Ends With You and its Sequel were not brought up. Their town Shibuya is such a key part to it and is a character of its own. NEO also leans more into this too with its Social Network system and its different clothing and eating system. All of these systems play into the combat of the game.
I think it was not mentioned because Shibuya is where the games take place. There are different areas, shops, different npc dialogues and all that but there isnt a clear distinction between the part of the world you explore and the town/city. The setting doesnt quite fulfill all of the elements/roles that he mentioned, but to be fair i dont know if any of the games that were showed are similar. But i did expect him to at least mention them, too
Midgar from FF7 is an interesting one because for a while it act's as a town, a combat zone, and the whole world of the first stage of the game. Midgar felt so huge and lived in that I would have been content if the entire game took place in it. Leaving it for the first time made the game feel epic in a way I had never experienced in a game before.
I came to appreciate JRPG towns a lot more once I understood that they're hubs to learn about the world and the way people live in it. The reason why Townsfolks talk "like that" is because their dialog follows an implied question your character asked them.
I've always preferred Hub towns over multiple towns. Look at Skyloft from Skyward Sword and Castle Town in Ocarina of Time. Everything you need is in Skyloft. And all the NPCs have their own stories and experiences. Ocarina of time has a few mini games and a shop that I never visit because it's cheaper finding bombs and arrows instead of buying them.
Khorinis.... entering khorinis was kinda your first quest and that you had different ways to achieve that made it so nice and rewarding. Also the city has such a perfect atmosphere... god i love gothic 2 :D
Colony 6 from Xenoblade is an interesting example, as (slight spoilers below) . . . . . . you get to rebuild the whole town from scratch through the course of the game. And it's all optional, but you can get great rewards from it.
Rune Factory, especially RF3 has one of the best towns in gaming, it's a hub world, a lived-in place, holds a lot of secrets, but a welcoming and warm place to call home.
Gran Soren in Dragon's Dogma, with it's side quests, the possibility to explore the rooftops and ramparts and how it changes as the scenario unfolds, hosting the final dungeon. Plus they're masterworks all, you can't go wrong ! Also Dalaran/New Dalaran in WoW were great hubs with stellar soundtracks and a bit of exploration. Silvermoon, Ironforge and the Undercity also had good environmental storytelling and layouts. In fact IF and UC became the base layout model for subsequent hub cities. FFVII had towns as part of main/sub quests which could be considered as part town, part non-combat dungeons like Wall Market, the Gold Saucer, Wutai... Square did a great job of making the towns more than just a waypoint to restock on your way, rather a part of your progression through the story.
Dragon's dogma's story takes a backseat for the majority of the game, but the way everything changes in the last few hours especially is just incredible. I'll never forget my first time re-entering Gran Soren after shit hit the fan near the end.
The Normandy is easily my favorite hub town that isn't a town. Returning from a mission to chat with your crew, do upgrades and enjoy hours of the galaxy map's music. It also has major importance in the story and features in a couple of interesting ways.
This isn’t an rpg, or a town, but I love Station Square from Sonic Adventure. So many npcs have unique dialogue and it even changes throughout the game. There are so many subplots going on throughout the story that go a long way to making station square feel like a real life city, like the girl outside the burger place. Edit: apparently “npcs” autocorrects to “nice”
Gothic 1 and 2 each had a town you sorely needed, but you had to work a questline to even be allowed in past the walls. The respite aspect was much stronger through this one. Also each inhabitant had a job with day a night cycle, which was really rare in other games.
I really, really loved this video. I've gone in hard these last few months into making an RPG as well, and your channel has been such a great help. This though in particular really strikes a chord with me and gave me a lot to think about. Heck, this even applies well to tabletop gaming too I feel. Great work~
FF12 Rabanastre has to be my number one pick for a well designed town. Final fantasy 12 was my first real RPG I played and the way the dialog and people changed throughout the game has shaped my expectations for similar games.
I love the first town you come to in Final Fantasy IX. After the craziness of the opening and after some overworld trekking, you come to a sleepy little town that has way more going on under the surface than it first appears.
HOLY wow! I’m watching you on Jeapordy right now!! Mike! Wow! Tough luck going against such a powerhouse but wow it was neat to realize who you were lol! You did awesome!
Loved the Chrono Cross example if only because it further proves it has the best OST of all time for a reason. Audio can affect the player's perception if used well.
I'm glad you mentionned Trails in the Sky; the effort put into the world building of these games is stellar. The NPCs changes their dialogue each time the story progresses and each one (or at least the named ones) have a personnality and/or their own little stories happening at the same time as the main one, reinforcing the idea that they exist with or without the main characters; some can foreshadow upcoming sidequests; some can extend to several towns throughout the game or even several games; and some can hint at an element of the main story that has not yet relevant, you can learn some elements before the main brought it up, and the main characters will sometimes comment on that info in the main story (the game even encourage you in either sidequests or story missions to go beyond what is required of you, and rewards the player for his curiosity with bonus points). Though I can agree and confirm on the fact that it's hell for a completionist, to make a tour of every NPCs in a region or town can take a while ( 1-2 hours per tour), and it must have been really difficult to translate all of this (the script sizes of these games are already ridiculous in Japanese), the story of the localization of Trails in the Sky SC is a prime exemple of that massive task. The in-universe books, newspapers, and collectible book series (which you can collect through the game by talking with certain NPCs at certain times), also contribute to the world-building of the game, but perhaps it would be more appropriate for another video on that specific subject. And to talk about something you said in the video, town or certain locations being places of respite; an element that I love in storytelling is when the game suddenly broke that respite zone and put a battle or tense situation in the middle of it, making you no longer feel safe and adds another layer of danger and urgency to this situation.
Something i like about some towns NPCs that make the whole world be more realistic, are *Foreign NPCs* In such a big world, you aren't gonna be the only one traveling from here to there, and people don't always stay on the same places forever, so it makes sense some NPCs from other areas appear as "other visitors" besides you, and not only for the sake of variety or sticking out in the crowd, but can also have fun functions in the game. Maybe a NPC that comes from a more advanced mid/late game town, is on an early game town for any reason, and it's mere presence, design, and even story can give you a glimpse of what might be ahead of your journey and hype you up for it... or even better, maybe the NPC has some sidequest that could reward you with a more advanced item you won't find for a while, until you reach their actual home that sells them, specially if they might come from an place that isn't tied to the main story, so visiting their home town isn't needed, unless that item they show you or the NPC as a whole raised your interest to search their hometown, and explore what special secrets they might hide.
For sure, I remember Stiltzkin the moogle played this role in FF9 and it made the world so much more real when you would hear about his adventures in the coming town. He would describe the icy cavern in a way that makes you imagine all sorts of cool stuff, so when you get there, it's like actually travelling to a place you've heard about. You also had that british dude in FF10 who would seem to travel a lot and made the destinations in the game feel like a popular, genuine route in the world, rather than one that simply fulfills some storyline.
One of my favourites is the Castle in Suikoden, that you build and populate with the characters you enlist along your way, and you see it progressively grow and fill with people and new features.
I don't know anyone else who's played the first Alundra game, but it had a central hub that revolved around your relationships and delving into the residents dreams. It really evolved throughout the game
i tryed this year but could not go pass the puzzles and old platform control. kinda sad but i dont have enough time this days to lose time when i am not having fun.
Dali Village is the most memorable for sure. It has some very endearing moments, and the plot mystery of the first half of the game kicks in. The music is very calm and soothing which creates a great deal of juxtaposition with the dramatic events that take place. There is also a cool bonus if you return to the place later in the game.
I love how the cities in ffxiv actually have their own communities and subcultures. Spend 5 mins in Gridania and 5 in Limsa, and you will feel the difference immediately!
I absolutely love the kingdom of hyrule in zelda twilight princess. There’s so many people walking around all living their lives, the stores you can enter, the circus you can play games at. And when you go into town as wolf Link all of the people run away from you.
Any town that lets you explore! Although this is also a trait of hub worlds, I love places that you can spend hours finding every nook and cranny of. The Zelda series does this particularly well, especially in WW imo
Been a huge fan of your channel for years now. This channel has been constantly giving me inspiration and motivation to work on my passion. But rn I'm working part time to buy my own pc! Cheers to this channel's success!
The towns/hubs in the Etrian Odyssey are great! Despite exploration and interaction with EO’s towns/hubs being menu-based, each town and interactions with villagers ooze with charm.
If you’re not 100% ready to commit, I believe most of the 3DS have demos that will carry you through a few floors of the dungeon before barring further progress.
I love the towns in the pokemon ranger series so much! vientown is so memorable and charming, and who could forget little tims quest!? I love the aura of peace most of the locations have, since in the caves and roads and ruins its just a constant barge of pokemon ready to run at you lol
![Lp. Сердце Вселенной #60 РОЖДЕНИЕ ЛОЛОЛОШКИ [Финал] • Майнкрафт](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/YoR0pAV9FVQ/mqdefault.jpg)
Pokémon towns are somewhat unique compared to other RPGs, since they’re typically where you encounter the game’s main bosses (the gym leaders). Most RPGs have their bosses at the end of a dungeon, which Pokémon sometimes does (like with legendaries or the evil team leaders), but it’s much more rare.
I'd argue that the gyms are non-traditional dungeons
@@TheWrathAbove true
Other parts of Pokémon are very different from most RPGs too. The random battles are with wild animals who are ALL potential friends, instead of ravaging hordes of ghouls. The other enemies are trainers who are just people like you, they’re hanging out, hiking, swimming, and they want to exercise with you not really “fight”.
@@AquaticMammalOnBicycle well this is the same logic for every monster colleting game basically, smt principally (excluding all the personas that aren't 5).
@@AquaticMammalOnBicycle The evil team's grunts function the most like traditional enemies from JRPGs
Traverse Town has always been a big favourite of mine - the warm colours, chill atmosphere, the starry sky above you and the relaxing music always made it a nice place to come back to.
Its really a great town. The music is quite literally one of the best smooth jazz songs ive ever heard. Also traverse town has a ton of small changes if you keep coming back and there is quite a bit of content there.
If I could visit one place from a video game, traverse town is very close to the top
It also helps set one of my favorite details about KH1, where clearing the plot for a world will make the whole world peaceful until you return. Seeing the people return to Agrabah is always one of the most magical moments on replay for me. You get to actually see a more populated place compared to the typical window dressing.
Also huge shoutout to being able to see how much it changed in DDD. Getting to see various aspects of the town you never knew about originally is such a neat idea.
@@SapphireCarbuncle009 I have DDD but never played. Currentlly on Data Xehnort and then finally yozora. How good is the gameplay?
Personally, I prefer Twilight Town (I'm still not over how little of it was accessible in KH3 - how can you give players an almost unlimited vertical wall-run and not give them access to the station clocktower?) but Traverse Town does the job in KH1.
Clock Town from Majora's Mask is definitely one of my favorite video game towns. It's a hub that you can visit to buy things and take a break from combat, but what's happening there is also the central conflict and tension point of the entire game, to the point that it can almost feel more relaxing to get away from it and not feel the moon bearing down on you so directly. The way the music increases in pace ups the anxiety the more time you spend there, and nothing brings me dread like the sound of the bell tower chiming away, 12 hours closer to doom.
You have met with a terrible faith haven't you?
It's also very different than most other towns as the town does change based on the time left. The town couldn't be any more different on day 1 and day 3 and KNOWING how the town used to be on the first day, makes seeing it's state on the third hit much harder.
And it isn't all, the there are plenty of little quests to do that change details within the town, but thanks to the game's nature, none of them are permanent. The little detail I love the most about Clock Town is about the goron that has the same name as you. If you check into the hotel before he does, you'll steal his room, forcing him to sleep outside. Now, he is a Goron, so he doesn't mind too much, but you definitely will feel bad about doing that.
What's also so great about it is that it could (and often will) happen by accident. There is a good chance that you run in there and steal his room without even knowing what's going on. Then you see a poor little goron forced to sleep on the street because of that.
But once you reset the time, he will have another chance to get his room and finally sleep under sturdy roof in a comfy bed.
@@ducksauce2696 Fate
While I don't disagree, Majora's Mask is not an RPG.
@@CornishCreamtea07 It is to some extent, as an "Action-adventure" RPG. RPG just means "Role-playing game" which can encompass the majority of games today, though it is more often used to describe JRPGs and games like them. Game genres are weird.
The unspoken rule of RPG towns is that their theme music MUST be one of the best songs on the entire soundtrack. Chrono Cross in particular knocks this out of the park with its fantastic town themes throughout the whole game.
Agree 100%
I don't see what you're talking about...
*He said as he loaded Another Termina in the media player.*
Especially the Snow Town lol.
@@Terranigma23 Damn snow towns, they get me every time !
Traverse town in Kingdom hearts 1
The House of Hades in, well, Hades, is a fantastic Town. Not only does it provide downtime between plays, the ability to check on quests, and to spend currency customizing the town and your next runs, but in so many little ways as well. For example, the characters may or may not be present each time you visit. Hades also does a stellar job in evolving the dialogue of these characters between visits -- and having an entire system in place to prevent the player from missing dialogue by accident.
Love the decor aspect
At first, it kinda bugged us that characters weren't always available to talk to, especially if I was trying to max out friendships. After some runs, I began to appreciate their absences. Just because Zagreus can't venture out into other areas of the Underworld doesn't mean that everyone else is trapped. Where do some of the NPCs go? Where do they live? Makes it feel like everyone is living their life and just doing their jobs within The House.
@@avereynakama9854 Also gives a reason to play again
I had a completely opposite experience. Almost no interactivity.
I came down to the comments to say just this and I am glad others found the same.
Personally, I like towns where you have a part in the construction and implementation. It gives you a sense of personality, customization, and growth.
this brings to mind the Georama mechanics from the Dark Cloud games and Tarrey Town from Breath of the Wild; I wonder what some others may be
On the other hand, I'm much more fond of towns that grow completely without your influence. It feels a little contrived to me that a full town would stagnate without the player's influence, and I feel it makes the world feel more alive if large events can happen without you needing to directly cause that event.
(Not saying your opinion is wrong, just giving some reasons why I prefer these towns).
Fallout 4
Luin from Tales of Symphonia was one of my favorite towns. Seeing how much it grew was great, although you weren't involved in the implementation.
Rebuilding Colony 6 in Xenoblade was kind of a hassle in some spaces, but seeing the world visibly improve and expand with more characters was an amazing feeling!
I think I could watch an entire video delving into the environmental storytelling of FFXIV, it's really something special
I love Ishgard Restoration. So much so I ranked in it one season. There's just something special about knowing you helped build a massive section of a game.
Eeh
13:18 I agree with the point, but I don't agree that it's easy. Trails in the Sky went through absolute hell and nearly didn't make it through localization specifically because of the amount of dialog that had to be translated in towns and such.
Growing and changing towns are a great thing to aspire to, but it can be dangerous to underestimate the significant amount of time and effort that goes into actually creating something like this. It's actually no wonder why even big-name games often end up sticking with their one-line-of-dialogue NPCs
Yeah, that should probably be 'straightforward' rather than 'easy'.
I think it'd be easy if restricted to its' native language. An English RPG within only English -> it wouldn't be necessarily more difficult.
But yeah, the moment you go into another language, which all RPGs basically have to do since most RPGs are kind of niche, the complexity and difficulty goes through the roof.
Dang, I had no idea. It makes me want a remaster/port of the Sky games even more. Xseed is sitting on so many good games that they're just letting rot.
Dirtmouth from Hollowknight is one of the more interesting town hubs in my opinion: Rather than being this large sprawling space with dozens of npcs, it's just a handful of buildings, a bench, and a fast travel station. By the end of the game barely makes it to 10 npcs total, though it is possible to complete the game with the only bug present in dirtmouth being Elderbug if you went out of your way to avoid expanding Dirtmouth (though doing so entails skipping incredibly useful utilities like area maps or the Lumafly lantern).
It is nice though, that whenever something happens to change Dirtmouth, like Cornifer and Iselda moving in and setting up shop, or Bretta returning to her home, Elderbug always has something to say about it.
I think one of the big things is that it starts with only 1 Person and then grows over time. Even if it only grows to 10 people by the end, that's a 1000% increase which really does make a huge difference in how the area feels.
When you first enter, Dirtmouth is a fading town sitting atop a forgotten kingdom. You don't even know why you came here in the first place. But as you explore and begin to understand your purpose in this world, you also interact with NPCs and get the town to grow. This way, you develop your own reason to fight and save Hallownest separate from just being told that its what you have to do.
@@adamweinberg2532 you’re not even told to save hallownest until you get the dream nail. By then, a lot of people are in dirtmouth already
Rogueport has always been so memorable to me. All the hidden things around every corner really bring the place to life, and there is always a reason to go back throughout the game. There's nothing more disappointing than a starting town that you leave for good (unless there's a satisfying plot reason for leaving).
I love getting to explore more and more of a town once I get new abilities on my journey. Flipside in Super Paper Mario was crazy too! With some new abilities and exploration, you find an entire Flopside!
@@matthewjones6786 I forgot about that! Man, I need to replay Super. I hope Nintendo goes back to more unique stories and worlds for Paper Mario. Origami King was a step in the right direction but it still lacked the originality of the first three games.
@@daizbid I totally understand that and I love the first three, but I'm also one of those who fell in love with Origami King! Where it lacks in character design, I think it makes up for in creative mechanics, insane visual detail, some of my favorite music in any game, etc. :3
@@matthewjones6786 oh, absolutely! I did still love the game and it made me feel nostalgic for TTYD. I thought the combat was super creative, too. I just miss the more unique characters and environments of the older games
One thing that always hits home if when a town turns into a combat zone and acts like a dungeon for a bit. Or other variants of destruction and disruption.
Final fantasy IX really likes to have these situations happen every other town or so.
Oh man, I liked Lindblum so much, and seeing it destroyed like that with almost half of the city becoming inaccessible was so sad.
Resistance Camp from Nier Automata, ooooh boy what a gut punch..
IX does a real good job of giving you time to get attached before things go south.
I appreciated that you got to see Lindblum rebuilding as the discs went on, too.
I was going to mention Balamb Garden in FFVIII for exactly this reason. Sometimes it functions as a town, sometimes it's a dungeon, sometimes it's an action set piece. Eventually it becomes a vehicle for world map travel.
I love when this happened in Nier Automata and Replicant.
Super Mario RPG had some really great and memorable towns. Monstro Town, in particular, was fun because the standard friendly villagers were all classic Mario enemies, like koopas and thwomps.
Probably my favorite version of the Mushroom Kingdom/castle as well.
Persona has always been interesting, because there's so many different storylines that progresses throughout the game and intertwine at times with the main plot or some sidequests. Some characters even feel like genuine friends sometimes (In Persona 4 a female student on the first floor will always be cheering you on and just have a nice chat with you, I love that)
Oh man, you made me think about Kotaro again T-T
I also think that the fact that you spend so much time there and the fact that no one really cares about the progress your characters are making in the main plot also makes the late game events when the town and plot intersect hit harder.
That moment in persona 3 where you can see the city you spent so much time in starts to fall apart and lose hope as the track changes to memories of the city still makes me genuinely sad and really helps sell the fact that doomsday is approaching.
Remember that one girl just outside the library? She definitely has quite a bit of progression, but perhaps not in the best way... o_o;;;
In p5 there is a guy in the practice building always thinking he is a phantom thief and his dialogue change throughout the story, I love that guy he is so funny 🤣
"Towns are a sanctuary"
Midgar: "I don't think so"
I wouldn't say Midgar counts as a town in this sense. There are towns within Midgar though. Like the area around Seventh Heaven or Wall Market.
- "Towns are a sanctuary"
- "yes, literally", said the developers of Borderlands 2
Midgar's fine. It just so happens to have a government that is hostile to you. Actually that would be an interesting concept for a town where you have to avoid detection even while doing the usual stuff. Stay out of the light, avoid guards and don't talk to the wrong person or he'll rat you out. Like an RPG crossed with Metal Gear.
@WhiteFangofWhoa assassins creed Valhalla in a nutshell
*laughs in SMT Nocturne*
It is amazing what trails in the sky made with this towns, they are not just there, it's like they exist.
Every NPC has a name and a backstory, but what I liked more is that the conversations is not just you listeing to them, but sometimes you or your party members will start to talk to them and becomes an interesting conversation like ones from main story, this only increases in trails from zero where it is a hub city, basicily everyone knows you and sometimes you will just talk to your friend in the bakery or scolding a kid who is skipping class or even listing the cassino owner complaing that his teammate is going to the casino a lot.
This is incredible becase this attests the existence of your party in the world, and most of the NPC won't have any appearance in the main plot or even in a side quest but some of then will have dialogue as complex as the ones found in the main plot.
And then they repeated (and expanded) the same thing with every other games of the franchise. This is absolutely insane.
And it's also what allow every side quests to be absolutely worth it.
The only time i didn't enjoy cities in trails is in CS4. you know, Doom clock and all, yet So. Many. Cities. I Love the field trip idea of exploring a town but when you move past that its always on a some kind urgency in Cold Steel.
@@fjhatsu That didn't actually bother me that much because sky already trained me to ignore urgency with town conversations. If you recall there's that one part where the orphan kids get mugged on the highway along with the grant money to rebuild the building and you have to try and stop the perpetrator and hopefully recover the grant money. But no, first you got to run in the opposite direction to goto town or else you miss a carnelia book and lose your chance at the best weapon in the game...
I found the most tedious time was in Zero/Azure no kiseki. Crossbell is quite big, and you're there the entire game, and you have to travel to goto the cathedral, and the mining town, and the honey town, etc, and it just takes SO LONG to do it after every event, and the npc chatter just didn't strike me as interesting as it did in Cold steel. So I basically gave up and settled talking to only a favored few npcs. Sunita's family, Renne's family, Lloyd's house, the bakery, etc. The Crossbell games seemed like they had alot more nameless npcs too.
In any case I didn't even watch this video yet, I just saw it before my nap time, and wanted to save it for later but was thinking as soon as I saw it 'trails better mention or at least what makes trails' good better get a mention or else'. And saw this comment near the top, so hopefully that's the case.
Some NPCs even have story arcs across the multiple games. We're talking about town level NPCs, and just the supporting cast NPCs. I don't know how creators write all of this stuff, as some shop owners have a backstory and/or react to changes in the games or changes to other NPCs.
Ah man perfect example of that game's party members talking with npcs? The random older ladies hitting on Joshua. And then Olivier would agree, join in and start buttering up Joshua too. And Estelle is just standing right there and she explodes and flips her lid on everyone lmao.
Shibuya on The World Ends With You and its sequel NEO The World Ends With You is pretty interesting because, well, the entirety of those games is that town (well city, but you get it). Due to how encounter enemy works on that game there is not a clear separation between "danger zones" and sanctuaries" outside of you scanning the zone. Whats more, the entire game has only 1 "town". However each zone of Shibuya has its own personality and aesthethic and stores, so, in a way, each zone is also its own town, which fits perfectly on the games themes, especially in the first.
The deliberately awful localisation of NEO probably put a lot of people off.
@@KopperNeoman I have to disagree, I think that the localization of NEO is great. A lot people don't like it becaude it changes a lot from the original script, but in general is just doing thr same as the localization of the first game: making so the original intention can be translated to a different culture
@@KopperNeoman or maybe the fact that for those who only have a computer the only option is to buy it on the epic games store. i dont think the game having some cringe slang puts people off, but i have not played it, maybe you are referring to something else?
@@KopperNeoman No, what put people off is the literal non existent marketing save for one ad on Crunchyroll with a clip from the literal final boss
@@darkfire1289 is this for real? way to go square cause that obviously worked out for the first game >.>
and geez, why does everyone seem to think “yeah lets put all the best lines or all the spoilers in our trailer!”
The sixth generation of Pokémon games might've been disappointing overall, but I loved that you could sit on chairs and benches in towns and it would sometimes give you a panoramic view with the camera. I alvays saved my game sitting on a bench before closing it and I'm kinda mad that you cannot do that anymore in more recent games.
One of the most frustrating things in the Pokemon series is that every generation seems to add a few quality of life changes that are just completely forgotten for any later games.
I say Lumiose City is probably in my Top 5 best Pokemon places in concept but hoped it isn't as constricting as it was times.
@@danielisbell
really? like what? Sounds curious.
I didn't play Pokemon since Gen 2
@@Broockle The big one I can remember off the top of my head was some Pokemon being visible in the grass in Omega Ruby/Alpha Sapphire, but that feature dropped from Sun/Moon. I vaguely remember thinking about some battle screen upgrades that were lost at some point as well, but I don't remember the rest of my thoughts from 8 months ago anymore.
@@Broockle there's fairy type pokemon now. They've usurped dragon types in the meta too.
I like how in pokemon towns and cities are thematically diverse, usually around the same type as the gym, specially in Hoenn where nature is an important theme and there is secret bases giving the impression of living nearby some town, specially good how it applies the theme of people and pokemon living in places affected by nature, like Fortree City with everyone living in trees, Sootopolis in the mid of an ancient conflict and Pacifidlog in the middle of the sea
Pacifidlog was always weird to me, like who would choose to live in a small town in the middle of an ocean, but it makes up for it because funny softlock
@@Boooo There is real people that lives in places like that, usually fisher towns
@@Boooo There are lots of towns that are based near the ocean, especially in Asia.
Clock Town from Legend of Zelda MM is one of the best RPG towns in games. The three day time mechanic is implemented beautifully here as 90 percent of the town's residents can be followed and we can see what they do throughout the day. Not only that but 90 percent of them have their own side quest which we the player can interact with and they have clear relationships with other characters as well. By the end of the game it makes Clock Town feel like a real town going through an end of the world event and it's up to us to stop that from happening.
Zelda is not an RPG.
@@isayasbashiri5371 Fair but the idea is ultimately the same. Towns in action adventure games with minimal RPG elements still serve the same function as towns in heavy stat based RPGs.
very well said
I always loved the hand drawn towns from the Bravely Default games, they had such a unique vibe to them.
The Tales series probably has my favorite towns from a visual standpoint. The towns in those games are visually interesting and do a good job with environmental storytelling.
The towns and cities in the Trails series are always phenomenal in making it feel like a living, breathing location. Every NPC has a unique name and dialogue which updates constantly throughout the story. Some NPCs move between towns and even make appearances in other games years later. I've never seen any other studio achieve this kind of world immersion since.
I can't forget that an NPC you meet in Trails in the Sky called Lloyd has an especial dialogue with the protagonist of Zero no Kiseki only because they share a name, boy that's attention to detail
@@roxanepineda3609 can forget when Estelle acknowledges the name sharing too
Estelle: "Wait... Tio and Lloyd? Hahaha, sorry about that! I just thought it was funny because I have two friends named Tio and Lloyd."
Crossbell City is a great JRPG city but I don't like the ''independence thing''. It would be more interesting if Crossbell became part of Erebonia ''forever'' and the SSS had to deal with they choice (To protect KeA but condemn
the city). But at this point I don't care anymore.
Trails Series before ToCS = A great ''Slice of Life JRPG''. Simple but charming characters and good Story. The pacing could be done a little better but it's not like it's bad. Monsters are a bit generic and my least favorite part about the series.
ToCS = A complete mess! Too much ''special'' characters with the most generic development(IMO Rean is the worst JRPG MC). Bonding Events being a main mechanic that fails miserably. Horrible pacing for a bad Story. And the worst part: The absurd amount of ''anime jokes''.
I feel like they went from a ''human world'' with anime design to a ''generic anime world''. I dropped everything during Crossbell Act in ColdSteel 3(I couldn't stand how annoying Alisa, Musse, Juna, Sharon and Elise are)
Anton is my favorite NPC and is more interesting than the entire Thors Academy together. Falcom immersion was really good in Sky/Zero/Ao.
@@mystocaixeta2065 Anton is, in my opinion, the greatest NPC of all-time. His story is so gripping, and evolves throughout the course of so many games. His sidequests are mostly comedic, but you're rooting for him to find love every step of the way, with Ricky always by his side.
When he finally meets someone, it makes complete and total perfect sense. That's a great NPC.
The best game towns are definitely the ones that evolve based on the player's actions. The Wellspring Glade from Ori and the Will of the Wisps is a perfect example. You initially find this place nearly abandoned, overgrown with thorns, without any of the plants or environmental features that fill the rest of the game. But, as you play, you'll build houses for the local critters, remove the thorns, clean up the water, and plant a ton of different seeds that allow you access to a whole bunch of Metroidvania goodies. It turns the town from basically nothing into one of the most beautiful areas in a gorgeous game.
In kind of the opposite, Palm Brinks from Dark Cloud 2 (or Dark Chronicle, if you're in a PAL region) has everyone leave due to the player's influence. It starts out being completely isolated - nobody has been outside in living memory. But as you repair the old railroad and venture out in the world, you'll find new towns you need to restore and populate. So, you head back to Palm Brinks and do a ton of (mostly fun) sidequests to recruit townsfolk to join you on your quest. They all have their own desires for a place to live, and can even help you out in the dungeons. It fits the theme of the game perfectly.
just curious. what would you say is the main theme in dark chronicle? it's one of my favorite games from my childhood but i'm not sure it sets out to say anything in particular. from what i can remember.
@@landis9767 My read on the game is that it's about broadening your horizons. Most of the characters' formative moments are defined by contact with the outside world. There's a pervasive fear of the world around them that keeps everyone in Palm Brinks isolated, but they can't grow. The town is stuck. And that's reflected in Sirus himself; his fear of humans is reinforced by his separation from the world. But, as you play, Max and the townsfolk meet more people and grow as characters. That fear begins to disappear. Sirus's fear - and his persona as Griffin - is shattered by one moment of empathy.
It's hardly a revolutionary take, but a theme doesn't necessarily have to be an explicit moral.
@@clairity266 huh... makes sense. thanks.
i should play it again, too bad it's so lenghty
@@landis9767 It's real good! But that's true, it does drag a bit by the end. I always skip the fish races as much as possible lol
Dirtmouth in Hollow Knight is also a great example of this
Dude, I fucking love your channel. As a Designer myself, its simply amazing to have these lovely breakdowns of all the different aspects of gameplay and worldbuilding. Keep up the good work!
I always like it when a town has a dungeon hidden inside of it that reveals its secret dark backstory or something alike. The hidde team rocket bases pokemon for example.
Though I only started playing Persona 4 recently, Inaba has been a very memorable hub town for me. It's got everything that a generic town needs, such as shops, a place to heal up, and NPCs to take on sidequests for, but it also has a great launchpad for the party's adventures with the Junes department store. You may not do much navigation around the world, but one city and one dungeon entrance area alone will give you more than enough to do.
Inaba is probably one of the most perfectly designed towns I've ever seen. All of the details you would expect from a small town outside of the major commerce hubs are there, but placed well enough to not only feel lived in, but eventually reinforce the idea of Inaba being your "true home."
Just spent a solid hour trying to find the channel of tonight’s Jeopardy contestant, little did I know I’ve been watching you for years!
Tazmily Village from Mother 3 is perhaps one of my favorite towns in all of gaming. Back in the day, I knew every single person in the village by name, and they sort of felt like family, due to how close-knit of a community they had going. It also helps that they employ the hub town model, where character dialogue will change every chapter, and often multiple times per chapter depending on what you do. It truly feels alive, and there are so many fun easter eggs and quirky hidden dialogue to find, it made exploring the town and talking to everyone each chapter a total blast.
Exploring the empty Tazmily village near the end of the game makes me feels sad.
It almost feels wrong to compare Tazmily to other rpg towns, because Mother 3 is an rpg ABOUT a town. It's not a connecting point between different areas of focus, it's the primary area of focus, the stakes of the plot. From a purely gameplay perspective it's like, say, Toadtown, but in terms of story it's almost a main character.
Exactly. I just started playing (still on chapter one) and I already feel a deep bond with the locals
@@NookStudios You're in for quite a ride. Hope you enjoy it!
Tbh, one of my fave parts of any RPG is going to a new town. I usually completely abandon any and all storylines & quests for the sake of stumbling around, wide-eyed like a little kid, exploring every single nook & cranny and talking to every single person.
Seeing a new place is a whole experience unto itself, and I savour every bit of it. A town with lots of things to do never fails to put a great big smile on my face. Especially if it's got a great soaring score added to it. Ding Dong Dell from Ni No Kuni comes to mind, among many others. a good town is somewhere that feels so nice it makes you want to go there IRL, maybe even live there. I think that's why when people that about an RPG they love, they always talk about the towns.
Great comment, I can totally relate and agree!
I think Traverse Town is one of my favorites. It does a good job of feeling like a place for refugees. The moment you leave the first district, you're still in the town but now Heartless can attack you. But it's so full of different puzzles and hidden secrets that it's fun to explore.
When I was a kid I was scared of the heartless. Which made the first district and actual sigh of relief for me whenever I got back to it. And then moment near the beginning where the Heartless finally make their in was a very scary and unnerving moment for me. Suddenly the one place I found safety wasn't that any more. It pushed me out of my comfort zone.
Traverse Town is my favorite world in the series and I don't think it gets enough credit for how cool it is.
Agreed. I never felt the towns in the sequels were as fleshed out and filled with secrets as Traverse Town was. It was so much fun exploring and finding all the different paths and see how the were all connected.
It's also where you meet Leon, Aerith, Cid, and Yuffie. I had never played a final fantasy that wasn't 10 before KH, so those characters may as well have been new to me. I loved them regardless. I missed them in kh3 :c.
That feeling of a town on the edge of danger is always really interesting because of how well it sets the standing state of the universe for the foreseeable future, not every world is in imminent world ending danger like you just escaped, but almost everywhere is under threat from the dark monsters lurking in the unseen corners, just waiting for the chance to prey upon the weak and the misguided, nowhere is truly safe, but very little is on the verge of destruction just yet, creating a universe in a tense balance
Goldenrod City in the Pokemon GSC/HGSS games.
A 100% improvement over Celadon City in Kanto. A game corner, a gym leader, underground, a plot-based reason to return, the radio tower, and a day care with a cycling/grindng path. And the music is...heavily nostalgic to me.
Miltank used Rollout!
>_>;;;
Yes, but the layout made my head hurt in places...
Uhhhm Castelia City might want to have a talk with you-🤨🌉🏙🏙🏙🌉
Goldenrod City serves roles that Celadon City, Saffron City, and Fucshia City did in the Gen I games. That's why it's such an important fixture of Johto.
@@reillywalker195 it shows an interesting dynamic between the two regions too, since johto is a much more rural region than kanto is they have all their urban features in one place unlike kanto which has its manmade underground passages, casinos, department stores, daycares, and other large buildings all spread out, johto has all of those in one place
(on top of how a lot of johto's routes are more natural and foresty, while kanto still has caves and a forest, a lot of its routes are things like roads and docks and bike paths)
It seems quaint now, but I was obsessed with Goldenrod City from Pokémon Silver back in 2000. The day/night cycle, the friendship rater, weekly rates on haircuts, it all seemed sooo compelling on that little GameBoy Color screen.
I recently played the first Dragon Quest and while overall I found it to be just ok, one of my favorite moments is when you’re exploring the over world and you see this town and instantly you think “Oh cool, a town! I can’t wait to heal up and stock up on items and new weapons and see what the town folk have to say!” So you walk into it only to find once inside that the town has been completely destroyed and random encounters appear in it. For as simple as it is, it has a lot of cool features to it. For one, it does a good job at conveying the threat the dragon lord and his monsters possess and adds to the fear so many NPCs express with how the monsters have been attacking more. It also just feels immersive in a way because that feeling of excitement to shock is probably akin to what the hero is feeling too at seeing this. It’s really simple and it doesn’t fit the criteria of this video a ton but still, for as much as Dragon Quest 1 felt primitive, this was a moment in the game that genuinely impressed me and left an impact
And when i found the town where everyone was asleep that was pretty interesting
When a game has multiple towns, giving them something both unique and useful that makes them worth revisiting really helps to make the towns standout. I find that in most games, after you clear the local threat near a town, you move on with no reason to ever return. Towns that have minigames, expensive shops with items you couldn't afford the first visit, or special functions such as class-changing, multiplayer connection, crafting stations, apparel customization and the like.
Some places that come to mind are Alltrades Abbey and Stornway from Dragon Quest XI. Any city that has a Game Corner in Pokemon. Castele from Fantasy Life.
The more often you return to a previous town because you want to, not because you have to, the better.
Balamb Garden in FF8 is one of the most creative towns.
Ding Dong Dell from Ni No Kuni is just beautiful.
Some of my favorite RPG towns:
- Mercado from Dragon Warrior 1. You need to beat a boss fight (one of the exactly _four_ boss fights in the entire game) in order to enter, and the boss is nearly impossible without using a key item from another town. Once in, the city's buildings are densely packed and maze-like with need to use keys and fake walls to access all that it has to offer, like a dungeon but without combat inside. There are multiple shops of each type, showing that there's a lot of competing commerce going on in it. The best sword and shield money can buy require a little looking around, and this is where you get hints leading you to the best armor in the game (guarded by one of the game's other three bosses).
- Melmond from Final Fantasy 1. The use of sandy/dirt tiles mixed in with the grass as well as some of the destroyed buildings (including critical services you've been trained to take for granted in towns to this point) tell a story of just how ruinous the Fiends' presence in the world is.
- Rogueport from Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door. It does a really good job conveying that it's a crime-ridden slum, a wretched hive of scum and villainy, and also serves as a well-designed hub from which to access the rest of the game. The first Paper Mario was really good at making flavorful NPCs and towns and the second just stepped it up to a degree few professional games ever reach.
- Valada from Spellshard: The Black Crown of Horgoth. Does everything a town in a retro 8-bit throwback RPG town should. Mostly I just want to shamelessly plug one of my favorite indie RPGs here. --It was an 8-bit retro RPG back in 2004, half a decade before that became "cool"--
Balamb in FF8 has been my favorite. I think it’s mostly nostalgia for me but the theme and the crickets at night and of course the cafeteria with no hot dogs!
Trails towns are just amazing, every NPC feels like a real person and it's great to see that no matter what you do, the world it's always changing and moving on, with or without you. Something about that franchise that I can't forget it's just the part where you return to the hometown of Estelle in Trails in the sky 2, I felt so nostalgic because everyone were commenting about how they missed you, everyone remembered Estelle but also continued with their life, but also it was sad because everyone were asking for Joshua, for a moment I thought about how hard it has to be for Estelle just being remembered that he left her behind. My favorite game of all Legend of Heroes
Persona 5's downtime to explore different parts of the city was a true joy and being limited to only a few actions each day meant you had to have a more meaningful use of your time. I also always enjoyed town's that felt like they had their own character. It's really cool when you visit real towns that have this charm.
While not a traditional town, I really enjoyed Castaway Village from Ys VIII. Mechanically it’s not much aside from your main restock point and quest hub, as the game takes place on a deserted island, but I love watching it grow as you find more castaways. The character interactions are fun to observe a lot of the time, and they change quite a bit as you progress through the main story. It’s 100% a town defined by the people in it - people who start out as strangers from all walks of life, working together and becoming a community
based ys
based ys player
Twilight town from KH2 specifically. It’s one of those places that feels comfortable whenever I visit it. The ambiance and music complement the fairly close together, but not obscenely tall buildings so it all feels cozy as you go through the place. It’s supposed to feel like home, and does a great job of it so you feel extra motivated to get rid of the baddies. Or maybe that’s just me!
For you super old fans, Destiny Islands is another place I really like (KH1). It isn’t a town at all (at least not the portions of it the player has access to) but it feels like something the player has to protect- an innocence and peace that shouldn’t be disturbed. The fact that it’s the set price to one of the greatest ‘call to action’ moments in gaming history compounds it’s greatness.
From what I can remember the Normandy from Mass Effect felt pretty alive, and was the usual setting for getting to know your crew.
I kinda wish Pressley, Adams, and the other officers had more to say, though.
Especially after what happens in ME2...
Bastions' town was the first of it's kind for me when I played it. Before it, towns were rock solid locations where there will be hardly any modifications after your first visit. It was also my first time experiencing a hub in any game because there's just no other choice. But because of it, the town seemed more like a system menu screen that came out of your bag and happens to morph with the story.
Towns can play an additional role in open world or non-linear games, as they can guide players to locations they may not have explored. This could be through hints in dialogue or more straightforward in quests. They can also give a sense of direction to players who may be overwhelmed otherwise if they just wondered into the world.
Riverwood in Skyrim served this role pretty well. After the tutorial, you are free to go wherever. However, you’re right nearby the town, so it doesn’t hurt to check it out. Once in Riverwood, you get directions for starting the main quest, and you get a couple of side quests that lead to other areas as well, including what is the first dungeon for many players.
Nice vid. JRPG towns are peak comfy, and Arni Village is one of my all time favorites. The beautiful pre-rendered backgrounds combined with the relaxing music is just magical
The castle in Suikoden II and TownShip in Breath of Fire II. I really enjoy how I’m responsible for a single set of population and what I do outside the walls directly reflects on the town.
growing/creating/evolving/selecting your own home-hub town is a lot of fun, really a great mechanic, having a base of operations that you have some control over in what it is/becomes
Breath of Fire 2's (ruins -> township) as you already mentioned
Breath of Fire 3's (fairy village) as well too (though it's not really a town, more of a limited/lvlup type of mechanic of what I remember, hadn't played BoF3 in quite a while)
TES: morrowind, the built-in great house faction's (strongholds) for you
Might and Magic Xeen's (newcastle) town, you can upgrade/unlock it a bit, if my memory serves
Suikoden II has so many awesome and beautiful towns, I love experiencing how the castle progresses and even the music changes as you progress through the story and recruit more members ❤️ In my earliest playthroughs back in the day I didn't manage to recruit all 108 stars right away (there also weren't any online guides yet), so my castle was pretty small compared to how it can potentially look. One of my all-time favorite games!
The most important part of a town is the one obligatory completely pointless building you can enter which has nothing worthwhile inside it. A town doesn't feel "right" without it.
So like, 80% of all houses in Pokemon Towns
No? Most houses in pokemon have an NPC that usually gives you items at the very least@@IAmNotASandwich453
@IAmNotASandwich453 except they're still worth checking out cuz the people inside occasionally give u items or useful hints or even HMs which are needed for progression!
Does Tarrey Town from Breath of the Wild count? I loved how once you’ve finished the homeowner side quest in Hateno village, you help Hudson build this town. As you find residents to move into the town, more buildings are built and the town theme gets instruments added with each resident as well. My only issue is that there was no shrine in the town but at least you could glide to the town from the nearest one.
Aaaah, this town. I remember arriving at the town for the marriage on the motorcycle, felt like the uncle that's absent 95% of the time.
One thing I like and dislike about SMT Nocturne is that even in towns you can get attacked via random encounters. It makes sense since it's the apocalypse and demons have taken their place in most of the towns. It adds to the hostile environment and gives you the feeling of never being safe. Obviously this can also lead to a lot of frustration because you never get a break and can die in 1 or 2 turns due to bad luck.
Yes, running to a fountain of life or amala terminal and hoping to not have another encounter is very tense. Although there is one town that is safe, asakusa before the mifunashiro incident
Same deal in smt 1 where your characters home is basically the only place in the game without random encounters.
Though that does make the only other place without demons feel even more “”off”” than it already did
Is it weird to say my favorite town is... all of them from FF6? Like every one of them is connected to the plot in some way or another, some functioning as hideouts for rebels or Imperial strongholds, or just trying to ignore the conflict entirely on top of filling all the roles mentioned here. Add on top of that how the entire world changes at the half point of the game and the environmental storytelling gets cranked up to 11. It really was the first time a game really drove home the gravity of an event through the town design and how that event reverberated through the world
Zozo is the best town (or at least the best town music).
Zozos such a great place with great people.
Narshe was the best. Soooo many things happen there. It has both a mine and a cave system connected to it. A siege, Tritoch, Terra awakening, Yeti, Moogles, I probably missed some things too.
I love Sumaru City from the Persona 2 Duology, it hits a lot of the points mentioned in this video.
When in a conversation area (generally shops, public parks, or even dungeons you've already cleared), you're able to talk with people around town, as well as your own party members - and much like Trails, their dialogue is updating _constantly._
This is where Persona 2 packs most of its flavor, as you get to see both your party's development, and small sub stories between NPCs. Generally revolving around main villain Joker and his curse. And how everything is slowly going to hell. Joker grants wishes, but always in such a way that they're primed to go sour. Then, dreams crushed, Joker claims the target's "ideal energy", causing them to become a Shadow.
Shadows slowly fade away as the plot progresses and dialogue updates. Going from bemoaning that their dreams could never have worked out, to simply groaning, to staying silent, to no longer being interactable, to fading away entirely...
Also, foreshadowing. So much foreshadowing. When rumors become reality, the idle speculation of townspeople becomes a dangerous thing. And sometimes NPCs will discuss things in Innocent Sin that won't even pay off until Eternal Punishment.
And that feeling of disconcertion Chrono Cross manages? The player gets that too, with the version of Samuru seen in Eternal Punishment being ever so slightly different - including a different JOKER with a different curse, causing everything to go to hell in entirely new and exciting ways!
20 years on, I still remember the towns from Skies of Arcadia. All of them were awesome lore-wise since (in a game about being a sky pirate) they were all ports for airships inspired by different cultures from around the world during the Age of Discovery. One "town that isn't a town" was your airship, the Delphinus, itself. At any time, while cruising the skies, you could opt to just take a break, walk around the decks of your ship, and talk to your crew. The crew were all NPCs that you met and recruited, some as part of the story, but most during side quests, and I still remember how immersive it was to just see them all interacting with each other (independent of me) in the galley or on the bridge.
Then there was Crescent Isle, your secret hideout/pirate base that you get to build up and choose what buildings to add, and what they should look like. When you're on Crescent Isle, your crew become the town NPCs, all of them keeping busy and giving more context to their little side stories (as well as more of their interactions with each other). It really felt like you were building a town from the ground up, and helping it to thrive as you convinced more specialists to join your crew and add their talents to the community.
Bump for Skies of Arcadia! The town designs were so **interesting.** Like Ixa'taka, with giant tree houses, and a wooden slide several stories high that you could take a ride on. Or Yafutoma, with multiple levels of floating islands, and a waterfall from the top island down to the bottom (you can ride over the edge in a Japanese taraibune, or tub-boat). Just fantastic towns in that game.
That's because Skies of Arcadia is a masterpiece.
While I don't have much experience with rpg towns (unless I get Darkest Dungeons) I do have an idea for a topic you can go over: Economy. Specifically how designers can use the in-game currencies of a game to influence player behaviour, while also weaving it into the games mechanics in unique ways.
The video already touched on this and there's some overlap with the categories mentioned here, but a (hub) town that functions as a measure for progress is my favorite kind. As you play through the game, you might add different folks to your town, growing it and increasing the services available. Examples of this would be the Village of Beginnings in Digimon Adventure, Dunan Castle in Suikoden II, and despite being tied to a single side quest, Tarrey Town in Breath of the Wild. A very tangible way of seeing the change you've made in the world.
Xenoblade X is also a great example since you can ally with a number of aliens and they will come and populate your home city and help you fight against the Ganglion.
Tarry Town is too precious and pure for this world *cries*
I loved the towns in Bug Fables. Not only did I enjoy getting to know all of the NPCs because of their designs and personalities, but I like how each town subtly clues you into what's really going on in the game. The first building and dungeon you enter seem normal enough. The building's made with twigs and plants and the cave is, a cave. The way the towns look and where they are located later on get, interesting. Plus, I LOVE how your party can comment on things when you press the button. They'll comment on what they think of areas and that dialogue will change as you progress.
The coolest town may be Khorinis in Gothic 2. Everyone has a unique time schedule, the social dynamics are a LOT and there is so much to see. Probably the best town I know.
The Hunter’s Dream in Bloodborne. It has this compact and vertical design that makes it feel like a diorama, and it has a surprising number of nooks and crannies for such a small space. It’s incredibly atmospheric and mysterious, and its eerie calm contrasts wonderfully with the incessant screeches of beasts and loud action in the overworld.
Majula in Dark Souls 2 has a lot of similar qualities too. I think it shines in environmental story telling. It looks like a shanty town, but one gets the vibe that it has a thriving crossroad at some point. The souls series in general just excels at that stuff.
Damn bro, glad you bet almost all on DD3.
Bastion, Pyre and Hades all do this well. There's always so much to learn and get involved in. In bastion you are literally the mechanism by which the hub evolves and you get to pick what changes occur in it over the narrative
I'd have to say, at least dialogue-wise, the Monastery from Fire Emblem Three Houses is one of my favorites. Every month, every single character has something new to say about what's going on in the story. Characters are frequently interacting with another character, and you can even have a conversation with them both!
Edit: I meant every month. Good catch!
Well it actually only changes every month, but it's still worth praising since the characters often hang around places that interest them.
For example Felix and Catherine are often in the training hall or armory because he is basically Sasuke and wants to get stronger so he can be the strongest.
Marianne usually is near the stables or in the cathedral because she likes horses and wants forgiveness for her being born into her family.
Raphael can often be found in the dining or training hall because he loves food and working out.
Seteth is usually on the faculty floor or in the cathedral because he's basically the principal or vice principal and... spoilers...
@@AdamTheGameBoy
This is also related to the lost items side quests since you'll usually find them near where the owner was hanging out the previous month.
I like the dialog changes and playing hide and seek. I just wish there as a little more variety in the Monastery itself over time. The second half has some cosmetic changes, but nothing drastic. You're still running laps and checking in on the same routes, which gets a little stale by the third run. They could have reduced this issue by giving each route a unique hub (or unique variant of the Monastery) in the second half.
I liked how the Suikoden games handled this. They continued to add new areas as the story progressed (Three Houses only did this for a couple chapters) making it so that you got to see more of the fort being built up while playing hide and seek with the oversized cast. They even moved the save point around and the main character's room frequently changed decor and occasionally location.
Granted adding more to a hub isn't unique. This is just an example that I think would gel well with Three Houses if they'd decided to go that way. Just adding the underground town in the DLC added some much needed variety and a slightly different perspective. (Plus some more places to play hide and seek.)
Funny on the breaking-and-entering part is the Quest for Glory series, where breaking-and-entering is actually a whole mechanic for the Thief (or any Devon with Stealth and Lockpicking) - and far from being a sanctuary, it's a life-or-death puzzle.
I think there's only once in the entire quintilogy where you even get the option to fight your way out if you get caught. Ah, cutscenes truly are the Kryptonite of video game heroes.
One of the most memorable towns for me was Zere from Dragon Quest IX, though not necessarily for the town itself and more so the tone it indirectly sets. The town itself is a pretty standard Dragon Quest fair where you hear of an sculptor who used to live that that now lives at the top of a mountain by himself.
When you actually arrive to the mountain later on in the game however, you discover that at the top is an exact stone made replica of the town, even down to stone statues of the citizens littering about, and the only NPC that even lives here is a talking slime you reveals that the sculptor built it all by himself and passed away some time ago. Even if it's not the actual town, there's an intense feeling of unsettledness, seeing a normally very active place with characters to talk to completely devoid of practically all life, which isn't helped either by the very muted grey stone color of the town replica.
I can’t believe you would leave out the fact that the original town (which is absolutely gorgeous) is called Zere, but the (kind of sad-feeling) stone copy is called Zere Rocks. As in Xerox. The copy machine.
So hey, I know this has NOTHING to do with the video, but...
Nice run on Jeaprody, Mike! This is the LAST place I would have expected to hear/see you with my folks watching in the back. You did damn good, but Amy is just nuts, it's crazy how much she dominates!
I'm honestly surprised The World Ends With You and its Sequel were not brought up. Their town Shibuya is such a key part to it and is a character of its own. NEO also leans more into this too with its Social Network system and its different clothing and eating system. All of these systems play into the combat of the game.
I think it was not mentioned because Shibuya is where the games take place. There are different areas, shops, different npc dialogues and all that but there isnt a clear distinction between the part of the world you explore and the town/city. The setting doesnt quite fulfill all of the elements/roles that he mentioned, but to be fair i dont know if any of the games that were showed are similar. But i did expect him to at least mention them, too
Midgar from FF7 is an interesting one because for a while it act's as a town, a combat zone, and the whole world of the first stage of the game. Midgar felt so huge and lived in that I would have been content if the entire game took place in it. Leaving it for the first time made the game feel epic in a way I had never experienced in a game before.
I came to appreciate JRPG towns a lot more once I understood that they're hubs to learn about the world and the way people live in it. The reason why Townsfolks talk "like that" is because their dialog follows an implied question your character asked them.
I've always preferred Hub towns over multiple towns. Look at Skyloft from Skyward Sword and Castle Town in Ocarina of Time. Everything you need is in Skyloft. And all the NPCs have their own stories and experiences. Ocarina of time has a few mini games and a shop that I never visit because it's cheaper finding bombs and arrows instead of buying them.
Khorinis....
entering khorinis was kinda your first quest and that you had different ways to achieve that made it so nice and rewarding.
Also the city has such a perfect atmosphere... god i love gothic 2 :D
Thanks! Your RPG videos are really helping me create my dream RPG game, which I'm working on right now! :D
Colony 6 from Xenoblade is an interesting example, as (slight spoilers below)
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you get to rebuild the whole town from scratch through the course of the game. And it's all optional, but you can get great rewards from it.
also, the music gets more lively as you build the town.. cheers to minami kiyota..
Rune Factory, especially RF3 has one of the best towns in gaming, it's a hub world, a lived-in place, holds a lot of secrets, but a welcoming and warm place to call home.
Gran Soren in Dragon's Dogma, with it's side quests, the possibility to explore the rooftops and ramparts and how it changes as the scenario unfolds, hosting the final dungeon. Plus they're masterworks all, you can't go wrong !
Also Dalaran/New Dalaran in WoW were great hubs with stellar soundtracks and a bit of exploration. Silvermoon, Ironforge and the Undercity also had good environmental storytelling and layouts. In fact IF and UC became the base layout model for subsequent hub cities.
FFVII had towns as part of main/sub quests which could be considered as part town, part non-combat dungeons like Wall Market, the Gold Saucer, Wutai... Square did a great job of making the towns more than just a waypoint to restock on your way, rather a part of your progression through the story.
They're masterworks all, ya can't go wrong!
Dragon's dogma's story takes a backseat for the majority of the game, but the way everything changes in the last few hours especially is just incredible. I'll never forget my first time re-entering Gran Soren after shit hit the fan near the end.
The Normandy is easily my favorite hub town that isn't a town. Returning from a mission to chat with your crew, do upgrades and enjoy hours of the galaxy map's music. It also has major importance in the story and features in a couple of interesting ways.
Final Fantasy XIII was really ahead of the curve. Instead of towns, they just had you ponder an orb.
This isn’t an rpg, or a town, but I love Station Square from Sonic Adventure. So many npcs have unique dialogue and it even changes throughout the game. There are so many subplots going on throughout the story that go a long way to making station square feel like a real life city, like the girl outside the burger place.
Edit: apparently “npcs” autocorrects to “nice”
Gothic 1 and 2 each had a town you sorely needed, but you had to work a questline to even be allowed in past the walls. The respite aspect was much stronger through this one. Also each inhabitant had a job with day a night cycle, which was really rare in other games.
FFV is so underrated imo. I think it’s got the best town exploration in the series
FFV has nice music, exploration, combat system but is just that the story is not rlly good.
My favourite Town might be a Hat in Times Necuza Dlc. This Cat Town feels just so alive and good.
I really, really loved this video. I've gone in hard these last few months into making an RPG as well, and your channel has been such a great help. This though in particular really strikes a chord with me and gave me a lot to think about. Heck, this even applies well to tabletop gaming too I feel.
Great work~
Thanks! Yeah, there's not much that ties these concepts specifically to 'JRPGs' or even 'RPG video game'.
FF12 Rabanastre has to be my number one pick for a well designed town. Final fantasy 12 was my first real RPG I played and the way the dialog and people changed throughout the game has shaped my expectations for similar games.
it's also freaking gorgeous and i wanna live in it dammit
Sigil from Planescape Torment. The city hides so many fascinating secrets and it has such an unique atmosphere.
You gotta make a video about being on jeopardy. Its there for the taking my guy
I love the first town you come to in Final Fantasy IX. After the craziness of the opening and after some overworld trekking, you come to a sleepy little town that has way more going on under the surface than it first appears.
HOLY wow! I’m watching you on Jeapordy right now!! Mike! Wow! Tough luck going against such a powerhouse but wow it was neat to realize who you were lol! You did awesome!
Octopath Traveler has some of the BEST! Towns and overall world building one of my favorite RPGs
Loved the Chrono Cross example if only because it further proves it has the best OST of all time for a reason. Audio can affect the player's perception if used well.
I'm glad you mentionned Trails in the Sky; the effort put into the world building of these games is stellar. The NPCs changes their dialogue each time the story progresses and each one (or at least the named ones) have a personnality and/or their own little stories happening at the same time as the main one, reinforcing the idea that they exist with or without the main characters; some can foreshadow upcoming sidequests; some can extend to several towns throughout the game or even several games; and some can hint at an element of the main story that has not yet relevant, you can learn some elements before the main brought it up, and the main characters will sometimes comment on that info in the main story (the game even encourage you in either sidequests or story missions to go beyond what is required of you, and rewards the player for his curiosity with bonus points).
Though I can agree and confirm on the fact that it's hell for a completionist, to make a tour of every NPCs in a region or town can take a while ( 1-2 hours per tour), and it must have been really difficult to translate all of this (the script sizes of these games are already ridiculous in Japanese), the story of the localization of Trails in the Sky SC is a prime exemple of that massive task.
The in-universe books, newspapers, and collectible book series (which you can collect through the game by talking with certain NPCs at certain times), also contribute to the world-building of the game, but perhaps it would be more appropriate for another video on that specific subject.
And to talk about something you said in the video, town or certain locations being places of respite; an element that I love in storytelling is when the game suddenly broke that respite zone and put a battle or tense situation in the middle of it, making you no longer feel safe and adds another layer of danger and urgency to this situation.
Something i like about some towns NPCs that make the whole world be more realistic, are *Foreign NPCs*
In such a big world, you aren't gonna be the only one traveling from here to there, and people don't always stay on the same places forever, so it makes sense some NPCs from other areas appear as "other visitors" besides you, and not only for the sake of variety or sticking out in the crowd, but can also have fun functions in the game.
Maybe a NPC that comes from a more advanced mid/late game town, is on an early game town for any reason, and it's mere presence, design, and even story can give you a glimpse of what might be ahead of your journey and hype you up for it... or even better, maybe the NPC has some sidequest that could reward you with a more advanced item you won't find for a while, until you reach their actual home that sells them, specially if they might come from an place that isn't tied to the main story, so visiting their home town isn't needed, unless that item they show you or the NPC as a whole raised your interest to search their hometown, and explore what special secrets they might hide.
For sure, I remember Stiltzkin the moogle played this role in FF9 and it made the world so much more real when you would hear about his adventures in the coming town. He would describe the icy cavern in a way that makes you imagine all sorts of cool stuff, so when you get there, it's like actually travelling to a place you've heard about. You also had that british dude in FF10 who would seem to travel a lot and made the destinations in the game feel like a popular, genuine route in the world, rather than one that simply fulfills some storyline.
I love how you showed the Ant Kingdom from bug fables so many times during this, and I was just waiting for you to talk about it lol
This video was incredibly interesting and enlightening!! The vast display of diverse games shown is pleasant as well, do love me some crosscode...
One of my favourites is the Castle in Suikoden, that you build and populate with the characters you enlist along your way, and you see it progressively grow and fill with people and new features.
I don't know anyone else who's played the first Alundra game, but it had a central hub that revolved around your relationships and delving into the residents dreams. It really evolved throughout the game
i tryed this year but could not go pass the puzzles and old platform control. kinda sad but i dont have enough time this days to lose time when i am not having fun.
I remember it! Especially how much of a downer the village gets near the middle point, with pretty much everyone feeling hopeless.
Dali Village is the most memorable for sure. It has some very endearing moments, and the plot mystery of the first half of the game kicks in. The music is very calm and soothing which creates a great deal of juxtaposition with the dramatic events that take place. There is also a cool bonus if you return to the place later in the game.
I love how the cities in ffxiv actually have their own communities and subcultures. Spend 5 mins in Gridania and 5 in Limsa, and you will feel the difference immediately!
I absolutely love the kingdom of hyrule in zelda twilight princess. There’s so many people walking around all living their lives, the stores you can enter, the circus you can play games at. And when you go into town as wolf Link all of the people run away from you.
Any town that lets you explore! Although this is also a trait of hub worlds, I love places that you can spend hours finding every nook and cranny of. The Zelda series does this particularly well, especially in WW imo
Been a huge fan of your channel for years now. This channel has been constantly giving me inspiration and motivation to work on my passion. But rn I'm working part time to buy my own pc! Cheers to this channel's success!
The towns/hubs in the Etrian Odyssey are great! Despite exploration and interaction with EO’s towns/hubs being menu-based, each town and interactions with villagers ooze with charm.
I've been very back and forth on getting Etrian Odyssey, but I think you've convinced me. Game looks great.
If you’re not 100% ready to commit, I believe most of the 3DS have demos that will carry you through a few floors of the dungeon before barring further progress.
I love the towns in the pokemon ranger series so much! vientown is so memorable and charming, and who could forget little tims quest!? I love the aura of peace most of the locations have, since in the caves and roads and ruins its just a constant barge of pokemon ready to run at you lol
I loved to see cross code in this video! Such a great game.