Favorite level or area in a game?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JfqOZlNxbfI

It isn't a level or area, it is the beginning of a game. It was just so ground breaking and exciting back in the day.

The lost dwemer city in Skyrim garnered the biggest "look at that" for me in recent times. It's one of my favourite things about CRPGs, exploring and discovering something surprising/beautiful/awesome.

I liked the zero G levels in Crysis. Going zero G was a surprising twist and the interiors were suitably gyger(sp?)/alienesque from memory.

I'm also a fan of Suran in MW. Have still got screenshots of the huge dwarven statue from EQ. Oblivion with Snu's/better dungeons installed makes for some great spelunking. Nostalgia making it hard to settle on just one game.


-kaos

I guess I should add my own

Well, obviously we all have several examples - and I didn't mean to hold anyone back there.

But, I just find it interesting to hear what people think of first - if such a thing happens.

Personally, it would be the Stoneship age in MYST.

The very first time I stepped into that partially sunken ship and looked out the window and saw ocean life - I was sold. I finally realised what MYST was all about

Beyond that, I should probably mention the very first level in Bioshock.

I don't think I've ever played a game with such a promising start and premise. I was absolutely and totally enthralled during that first swim to the lighthouse - and that trip in the bathysphere.

That was before I realised it wasn't going to be System Shock underwater - but rather some kind of console-inspired shooter with casualised roots in SS.

Best beginning of any of the Shock games, frankly. Bioshock Infinite is close, though.

Ah yes, the opening levels of Bioshock are good. Setting is really about all that game had going for it, sadly.

Seyda Need in Morrowind is alright, but it's the lighthouse in particular that stands out in my mind. The first time I played, I climbed up there and had an amazing view of the sun setting out over the water. It's funny that games with "better" graphics generally don't look that good.

There are some levels in Unreal Tournament that are kinda the same. Technically inferior than modern games, but oh so much better looking. Any where you can see the sky are particularly good, but there was one capture the flag level with two towers on opposite ends of an asteroid in orbit around a planet that still looks fantastic. Of course, in a game like that you don't have time to admire the view.

Can we include old platformers? World 4 in Super Mario Bros 3 was the giant world, with huge sized enemies, blocks, etc. I often played just to go there and mess around.

You can include anything you like

Now that you mention Unreal, I suddenly remembered the first time I saw the Sunspire level in the original.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uDoBhXI1T8s

Definitely one of the most impressive things I'd ever seen, at that point. My Voodoo 2 card was being put to excellent use!

Well, there are so many.... so I will just add a few as a I remmember.

But I am going to mention the game which is so hated... I mostly hate it because with the right polishing it could have been one of the greatest games ever, but instead it turned out just average.

Anyway it is Ultima IX, there are a lot of locations there, and it looked a lot better than anything else at the time if you could get it to run with the right renderer. Running with a glowing magical sword at the beach at nightfall was so cool! The labyrinth in the castle garden.. the underwater city.. lots of memorable moments in that one!

Dark Souls has some really amazing locations, it never stops to shock you with what kind of things you can discover, one that comes to mind is Sen's fortress, it is not so much that it is a beautiful place... but rather the amazing level design, and also the feeling when you finally get through it!

More to be added later... there are so many locations that keep popping up.

Completely agree about Ultima IX. I actually loved the game, too.

So many great areas - especially the towns and the underwater stuff.

I tend to like dreary areas best. So my favourite is Angmar in LOTRO. Followed in no particular order by the Ashlands in Morrowind, parts of Ultima Underworld and vtm:bloodlines.

pibbur who as far as he remembers also liked the area around the city in U8. Those zombies (ghouls?) coming up from the earth…

Menigal said:

There are some levels in Unreal Tournament that are kinda the same. Technically inferior than modern games, but oh so much better looking. Any where you can see the sky are particularly good, but there was one capture the flag level with two towers on opposite ends of an asteroid in orbit around a planet that still looks fantastic. Of course, in a game like that you don't have time to admire the view.

Click to expand...

Speaking of Unreal… How about emerging from the crashed prison ship in Unreal 1 and seeing Na Pali for the first time? From a visual standpoint, that game was truly amazing back then.

JDR13 said:

Speaking of Unreal… How about emerging from the crashed prison ship in Unreal 1 and seeing Na Pali for the first time? From a visual standpoint, that game was truly amazing back then.

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You damn right. It's still an amazingly pretty game now.

The Scarecrow levels in Arkham Asylum were a nice bit of craziness, and reminded me of the Mad Hatter levels in American McGee's Alice. That had some really funky level design. Huh, just realised I don't have a digital copy of that one.

Other levels that come to mind…

The 8th level in Doom (Phobos Anomaly). Specifically, when you get off that elevator at the end and encounter two Barons of Hell for the first time. I was still fairly new to PC gaming, and that's something I'll never forget.

I hate to repeat what others have already listed, but I have to mention Seyda Neen. Despite how badly Morrowind has aged, I'll never forget how blown away I was the first time I saw that pixel-shaded water.

The abandoned tower overlooking the ocean northeast of the Old Camp in Gothic 1. It's the one with the catacombs underneath where you receive the Chromanin quest. I remember descending the spiral staircase at night, with nothing but the light from a torch I was carrying, and nearly colliding with a skeleton on the stairs. I think I may have changed my underwear afterwards.

Sentinel Island in Divinity II. Very atmospheric, and it had the best music track in a game that was full of great tracks.

Most recently, the Skellige Islands in The Witcher 3. The entire region is simply beautiful, and the accompanying music is beautiful as well. Until TW3, I still considered Gothic 3 to have the best looking landscapes in a game, but Skellige trumps it.

Another "wow!" moment was emerging from the vault at the beginning of Fallout 3 and seeing, once your eyes adjusted to the light, the ruins of DC in the distance. I feel bad going with so many based on looks alone, but they do stick out in the memory.

I suppose to counter that... "You are at the bottom of a seemingly endless stair, winding its way upward beyond your vision."

Menigal said:

I suppose to counter that… "You are at the bottom of a seemingly endless stair, winding its way upward beyond your vision."

Click to expand...

Zork?

+1 on exiting the vault in FO3. I almost included that in my previous post.

JDR13 said:

Zork?

+1 on exiting the vault in FO3. I almost included that in my previous post.

Click to expand...

Zork 3, apparently. I remembered it as the first one, but that's probably because it's the first one I played way back when.

Oh, can I just mention Phlan? Like, all of it, and most of the land around it. Pool of Radiance was probably the first CRPG that I really got drawn into. Phlan felt like a real place, and each little section was a joy to explore, from the slums to the haunted keep.

Seriously, that game should be required playing for anyone designing games these days.

The Olthoi hives in Asheron's Call are very memorable to me. The tenseness of knowing that at any moment a single (usually multiple) Olthoi were about to mob you and they were super deadly. I had special acid resistant armor just for those hives and the biggest best shield I could find. I remember being backed up into a corner many times with who knows how many bugs were trying to get past my shield to kill me. And if you did die, getting back to your body to get your dropped items was pretty much impossible without help. What a rush!

Being inside the Many in System Shock 2 has to be one of the creepiest levels I've ever been inside. I don't know about favorite, but it'd have to be way up there for memorable.

The city of Daggerfall. Aside from being one of the very few instances in a game where a city does feel like a real city, it also had that wonderfully creepy feature of Lysandus' ghost coming out at night with his sidekicks.

Granted, the effect itself isn't that impressive, considering that it's just a bunch of low-level wraiths that get stuck into the buildings, but the first time I experienced it in-game it was incredibly effective: you heard rumors of "ghost haunting the city" from random NPCs, then you got out at night and… VENGEANCE!.

- Seyda Neen (Morrowind) - setting my feet on the ground there just felt like coming home.
- Raquia, the realm of Raysiel (Realms of the Haunting) - gardens, sunlight, arched windows, fountains … everything looked so peaceful in Raquia. Nice contrast to the rest of the game.
- Winnowing Hall (Hexen) - the first level/mini-hub. Twilight, stained glass, falling leaves, a sense of impending doom. I was duly impressed.
- Eavesdropping (Thief:Metal Age) - sitting in a dark corner of a Mechanist courtyard, trying not to be seen by the roaming Children of Karras. Argh … I will never forget the yard, the stained glass windows and the dark silhouettes of the chanting Children.

There are so many more in-game places and/or levels I love … the Monster Condo in Doom II, E3M3 in Heretic …

EDIT
Oh yes, the city of Daggerfall was very cool .

One more: Not a playable area, but I do think the intro to Half Life is very good and eerie.

@Jaz: Heretic, Hexen, Hexen 2 and Heretic 2 are games on my all-time favourites list. Wish the latter was available on Gog (the first three are on Steam).

pibbur who was regularly screened for radiation when working as a radiologist wannabe.

*SO* much great stuff listed!

Here are some of mine
- Shalebridge Cradle in Thief: Deadly Shadows - wonderful atmosphere and design.
- I really love all of Gothic 2 so it is hard to pick out anything specific.
- Crashing ship on Jedi Knight: Mysteries of the Sith

Definitely agree on Unreal, played that last year again and it really holds up well.