Favourite FF Towns and Cities

Mr.Nice Guy

Sorry if this thread has been done before but I just noticed this forum and got nostalgic about Final Fantasy games. Anyone have any towns and cities that stick out for them? I always enjoyed Kilika in Final Fantasy X. I think the scene where Yuna does her sacred dance mojo there after it was attacked by Sin is one of the most visually beautiful scenes I've seen in any game. I also think it looks a great place to live if you're a character (when not attacked by monsters of course):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KO8xd2qvIA4

Anyone know what location Kilika was based on? I know the game was said to be inspired by South-East Asia. I'd guess maybe Thailand.

Any towns or cities that anybody else liked?

Bjorn Bored.

Bloody hell you had me confused there, I was gonna say maybe Galway when the races are on but other than that I think its fair to say FF are fooked!:D

nmblade

Midgar in FF7 really stands out for me and plays a major part in getting you hooked initially.

Esthar in FF8 aswell. For the time it was just such a vast area to explore and looked great. It was also completely different from any of the other locations expored in the game.

In FF9 I loved Esto Gaza and Treno, because both those places had the best music in the game imo!

Retr0gamer

Kind of hard to choose. Always found FF to be very poor at doing towns. Midgar is the only real standout and it really says something of it's quality that FFVII was fairly average after it left Midgar.

Conde Petie in FF9 was great, thought the dwarves were brilliant. FF9 did have some good locations with stunning art.

There's always the tower of Kefka in FF6.

Mindkiller

Midgar, naturally.

I really liked Esthar in FFVIII as well. Sucked when you couldn't return to it in disc 4.

I'd have to disagree with what Retro said about FF not having particularly good towns. If were looking at it purely from an aesthetic perspective then the towns in FFIX are mind-boggingly beautiful. Even more so than the locales in FFX,XII and XIII. Best pre-rendered backdrops in the series.
Really sucked that most of them got blown up in that game.

Retr0gamer

The towns might be gorgeous to look at but the only purpose they serve is pit stops. They're small, bland and the people say inane things in them. Compare that to dragon quest were every town has it's own story to tell and quest.

landsleaving

The City of the Ancients in FFVII really stood out to me. It had a really desloate and bleak atmosphere, captured the idea that a civilsation was lost from there quite well. The music made it even better.

Fisherman's Horizon in VIII always appealed to me, not sure why really.

Narshe was a nice opening to VI, it had a really interesting aesthetic and I always like snowy places in games. Unless they're slippy.

The Gold Saucer was great too, such a contrast to the rest of VII. And Midgar, obviously.

Revolution9

In FF7 Cloud's home town was really eerie. Nieblehem or something?

Also, Cosmo Canyon just for the cool music!

noodler

Retr0gamer wrote: »

Kind of hard to choose. Always found FF to be very poor at doing towns. Midgar is the only real standout and it really says something of it's quality that FFVII was fairly average after it left Midgar.

Conde Petie in FF9 was great, thought the dwarves were brilliant. FF9 did have some good locations with stunning art.

There's always the tower of Kefka in FF6.

As usual Retr0 reels out a load of crap about FF7!

And I fcuking hated Conde Petie - I hated the people, the stupid language, the dry boring desert-like area - in fact that whole northen continent bored the arse of me in FF9.

landsleaving wrote: »

The City of the Ancients in FFVII really stood out to me. It had a really desloate and bleak atmosphere, captured the idea that a civilsation was lost from there quite well. The music made it even better.

Fisherman's Horizon in VIII always appealed to me, not sure why really.

Narshe was a nice opening to VI, it had a really interesting aesthetic and I always like snowy places in games. Unless they're slippy.

The Gold Saucer was great too, such a contrast to the rest of VII. And Midgar, obviously.

The City of the Ancients is a good shout, love that music. A real crossroads in the game.

Loved Treno is FF9 - there was so much to do, really fun town and my first auction experience.

Nibelheim in FF7 was brilliant as well, even if I don't include the mountains and reactor in there it was a really contrasting place (Cloud's kid memories => scorched earth => creepy reconstruction.

I really liked Wutai as well, I wish we could have had more about the Shinra war etc but the whole town of ancient ways losing out to big business/technology etc was nice.

Gold Saucer was great as well, god the hours I spent in there. Not aesthetically pleasing or anything but lots to do.

In FF8 - I liked Dollet alot. Scene of the first training mission etc.

I hated Esther though - I felt sick wandering that town.

I found it a little creepy wandering Galbadia Garden - it was weird having one of your sister organisations being controlled by the enemy in disc 1.

In FF10:, Killika is a good one to whoever said it, that sending Yuna performed there really set the tone for the way people of Spira just generally accepted Sin as a part of their everyday lives.

I also loved Zanarkand, the music that plays there when you arrive (not quite there but on the path there) is epic and replaces the battle music.

In FF6 I had a soft spot for Figaro - that was the occupied town, right?

Retr0gamer

The truth hurts.

Raze_them_all

Retr0gamer wrote: »

The truth hurts.

Pffft I used to listen to your opinion on rpg's till that day you started praising FF13

carbonkid

Raze_them_all wrote: »

Pffft I used to listen to your opinion on rpg's till that day you started praising FF13

LOL...a little over dramatic :P

Retr0gamer

Ah I was only trolling. I'll try and get this back on topic.

Forgot about nibelheim. Great art design there and a good story around it.

Actually I like rocket town or whatever it's called in FFVII. Cid had a good story.

RedXIV

FFVII:
Loved the idea of Midgar, thought it was well done
Music in Cosmo Canyon always thought was well done
I thought Junon was a well thought out town but didn't particularly like it in the game

FFVIII: I really like Fishermans Wharf and the Shumi Village

FFIX: I think Treno is brilliant here, so much to do in it. And I always liked Alexandria for some reason I can't put my thumb on

FFX: Luca all the way. think its an awesome idea of where technology COULD have led us

Xluna

Well considering FFXIII doesn't have towns it narrows the choices down a bit.:pac:
I will go for Midgar,( reminds me of the dysthopian city of Langs Metropolis) Nibelheim, Gold Saucer, Wutai, Balamb town, Deling city, F.H., Dollet, Shumi Village ( I am a big fan of the locales in FFVIII.) Alexandria and Treno.

The locales of FF1-4 are too small and basic to have much character for me. ( Even on their GBA,DS, PS1 and PSP remakes.) It's been too long since I've played 5&6 to comment. I didn't like the towns in X,X-2 or XII.

I really should do a Suikoden version of this thread.

noodler

Retr0gamer wrote: »

Ah I was only trolling. I'll try and get this back on topic.

Forgot about nibelheim. Great art design there and a good story around it.

Actually I like rocket town or whatever it's called in FFVII. Cid had a good story.

I think Cid just had a flashback, after that I am not too sure how much of a story he had personally.

Still though, that flashback with ...Thera? (can't remember her name but she better make me some goddamn &@*%$ TEA!) was really cool. "Aw man, my dream, outerspace......"

Other than that Rocket Town was boring actually!

Retr0gamer

Don't you remember the rocket ship going to space to try and destroy the meteor? and how your wan didn't want to spoil Cids dream of being the first man in space so didn't stop the launch sequence even though she was trapped because she didn't want to let him down again?

noodler

Well on your latter point, that is what I was referring to with the flashback. You know, when I paraphrased his lamentations when he ultimately decides not to toast her alive for the sake of his dream.

On your former point - wasn't Rocket Town just a point of departure for the launch? I just mean that it could have been anywhere - it had nothing really to do with the town if that makes any sense.

Retr0gamer

Not really. It was a boring town with the only thing of note being the massive rocket but that was the point of it. Thought it had a nice back story behind the place and a good resolution to it. It was a very dragon quest town, I liked it and the story behind the launch and how Cid eventually got into space even when your wan got trapped again.

Mr.Nice Guy

I can't recall any FF IX locations. Of the FF games I've played it's probably been the least impactful for me, although I recall liking it at the time. Strange. Nibelheim from VII has remained with me but I found it a creepy place. The music is incredible though. Cosmo Canyon are Wutai were places I enjoyed visiting too. In FF VIII I liked the SeeD place you are in at the start. In FF X Mount Gagazet was another place that stood out. I loved the music there and would take my time around the place just to hear it. I didn't necessarilly like it visually however.

keane2097

Balamb garden was brilliant.

A ton of the FFVIII locations were smashing actually...

RedXIV

noodler wrote: »

Still though, that flashback with ...Thera? (can't remember her name but she better make me some goddamn &@*%$ TEA!) was really cool. "Aw man, my dream, outerspace......"

Other than that Rocket Town was boring actually!

It was Shera, and the only reason I remember is because she's supposed to make the goddamn %@*$ tea!

Xluna

Retr0gamer wrote: »

Ah I was only trolling.

When you said FFXIII was good? It all makes sense now.:D:pac:

Retr0gamer wrote: »

The towns might be gorgeous to look at but the only purpose they serve is pit stops. They're small, bland and the people say inane things in them. Compare that to dragon quest were every town has it's own story to tell and quest.

True, D.Q. always had towns with great character. Don't forget the towns of Suikoden though. I'd say they were even better than D.Q. That series had the most immersive world of any RPG. Hell, they even have the town populations and primary industries on Suikosource. I am still hoping for Suikoden VI or even a way to play Suikoden 3.

Retr0gamer

Big fan of of the Suikoden series as well, well Suikoden 4 was a bit crap.

seraphimvc

i love this kinda nostalgic topic lol the awesomenss of a town is always linked to the memorable events of the games really.

cant remember much for 4-6 lol
ff4: does the crystally dungeon count?lol
ff5:the pirate hideout
ff6:the coal city, the little hut where celes wake up, opera house, edgar castle (SON OF A SUBMARINER) - i generally like the castle design in ff6, the magic tower(this thing is so huge on the map and the creepy disciples walking lol), that town with harbour.

3D makes big difference to vision memory apparently
ff7:
Midgar (the BEST core town in FF imo),
Cosmo canyon (music and the astronomicky feeling rock big time),
Junon (strictly speaking, it is a military base lol DAT CANNON),
Wutai( this is such a memorable town made up only for sidequest of a hidden character, brilliant stuff),
the lake side resort where aeris die that was such a comfy place to stay lol

ff8:
balamb garden (i love high school lol)
the town where you fight the black widow,
the traffic jammed city where laguna met the girl

ff9:
vivi village!! funky music!
dragoon's tree kingdom(beautiful race intro, the dancing and the unique design of the house)
Lindbum (i love mechanical city, and this one is the airship capital!!! remember that airship CG when they are crashing in?!!)

ff10:
zanarkan,
besaid island,
Moonflow(cozy peaceful little place)

ff12:
Archadia (this city deserved a medal because it is a REAL city! look at that bazaar!!! so much details and so many characters in it.this should be the best FF core city but the story didnt fully utilise it.)
the harbour city,
vierra village(jungle hut is cool)

fck, i forget most of the names of the towns lol time for a revision soon maybe.

Xluna

Retr0gamer wrote: »

Big fan of of the Suikoden series as well, well Suikoden 4 was a bit crap.

We probably have Suikoden IV to blame for the current lack of Suikoden VI. IV introduced the series to the sixth generation of consoles and gave the series a bad impression for noobs to Suikoden, which resulted in the excellent Suikoden V's poor sales, which in turn lead Konami to currently ignore the series in favour of it's more profitable franchises'. Mystical Ninja/Ganbare Goemon is another series Konami need to ressurect on consoles, or at least release the DS version in Europe.

Retr0gamer

Well Suikoden is getting a new game. Unfortunately it's a bloody pachinko machine based on Suikoden 4. Heard the music is unusually good.

Pity there's been no new games. Suikoden 5 was a return to form and a fantastic game. Haven't played Tierkreis but heard it's only ok and it's not set in the suikoden continuity.

YouSavedMyLife

I honestly cant remember anything before Final Fantasy 7. Alot of the older games (bar FF6) the towns feel very similiar and didnt really stand out for me.

I like Gongaga for some reason. No idea why. The town was ****ed. Woulda been nice if they could have done more with it. Mideel was also nice to look at. The kinda place i would like to live if i was in the world of FF7 The city of the ancients on the Northern continent was fantastic to walk around and explore, very eerie, loved the music also. Midgar for its dystopian'ness. Love the whole dystopian'ness me I do.

Nothing really stands out from FF8 for me. The Gardens where cool...yeah

Its all so hazzy. Loved the Mice people area in FFIX. The place where Freya was from. And the other Mice people area that was destroyed, god i forget the names. I recall a town kinda place in a desert, but it wasnt a town more of a dungeon....that was...nice...

noodler

I loved Lindblum and Burmecia as well.

Would have loved to see Burmecia before the Alexandrian invasion.

Defo the best FF game I have played in terms of pulling off the whole war thing.

seraphimvc

seraphimvc wrote: »

ff12:
Archadia (this city deserved a medal because it is a REAL city! look at that bazaar!!! so much details and so many characters in it.this should be the best FF core city but the story didnt fully utilise it.)
the harbour city,
vierra village(jungle hut is cool)

fck, i forget most of the names of the towns lol time for a revision soon maybe.

the ff12 city i mentioned was Rabanastre:o

Pyongyang

Costa Del Sol.

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