Areas in games you like for reasons other than gameplay

What are some of your favorite levels/worlds/cities/dungeons/general areas/etc. in games for reasons which are not based on the area's primary gameplay? In other words, areas you like for reasons based on music, atmosphere, potential for fun glitches, getting Sidetracked By The Golden Saucer, or whatever other non-primary-gameplay criteria you can come up with.

• The Village Bridge from Pokemon Black/White. I go there just to listen to the music, and run around while listening to it. I have no idea what enka is doing in AMERICA, but damn if it's not soothing. Oh eh aaah eh me ji eee oh...
• Level 5-3 in Kirby 64 The Crystal Shards, AKA "The Shopping Mall." When I was little, I used to narrate Kirby and Adeline's adventures in the mall to my little sister to entertain her, but that idea has stuck with me so fiercely, I still enjoy doing it to myself.
• Level 3-2, "The Tall Tower," in Yoshis Story. I love both the music (which is awesome) and the atmosphere, which reminds me of a bedtime story with its Toy Time aesthetic. Perfect for lulling yourself to sleep with.
• The Galaxy 3000 in Rocket Robot On Wheels, because rollercoaster.

Phendrana Drifts. The music and scenery are just wonderful. I love the gameplay in it, but it wouldn't be as special an area without the aesthetics at all.

Additionally, almost everything in Symphony Of The Night. It's a really fun game, albeit too easy by far, but it has a lot of personality and it's a beautiful game in terms of sound and visuals.

The Waterwrld music from Duke Nukem. The world of Talorus from Ultima Underworld II.

The Cave of Bad Dreams, from Rayman 2.

Absolutely gorgeous atmosphere and music, gameplay's kinda annoying.

Some of the towns in Earthbound have such lovley atmosphere, I just take a walk around.

My little sisters like to play Mario Kart with zero atempt at actually racing. They just drive around and goof around.

I have a little theory that players have a tendency to derail the gameplay when asked to do something and get bored when in something that's supposed to be in a sandbox.

edited 10th Apr '11 12:51:49 PM by DrStarky

The Station of Awakening in whatever Kingdom Hearts games it appears in. The music and those beautiful stained glass motifs really make it for me.

I'll probably be the only one to say this, but... pretty much every continent in the HD versions of Sonic Unleashed, especially Eggmanland. When not blasting through the stages at high speed or beating the tar out of various enemies, I always find myself just walking through the stages and hubs whenever possible, admiring the scenery, chatting with the locals and doing little sidequests for them, listen to the game's music, etc. It's pretty much why I can simply never hate the game.

edited 10th Apr '11 12:57:37 PM by Komodin

My favorite area in Cave Story has to be the Waterway, solely for the aesthetic of it— namely, this:

edited 10th Apr '11 1:00:59 PM by Blueeyedrat

I'm with him.

Beach Bowl Galaxy. All the beach levels in the SMG games are great, but this one's my favorite. I feel no shame in turning on the game and just playing around in that little watering hole with all the penguins. And don't even get me started on the music...

The Kingdom of Radiata. I love exploring this fairly large, bustling city; it always feels like I find somewhere new every time I wander through it. Plus, because of the way the game gives schedules to the NP Cs that they follow, it's fun to just follow random people when you're bored and see how they go about their day.

Honestly, I could name, like, a bajillion more of these (and I probably will, when I think of 'em ). I've always loved finding areas where I can take a break from the plot and just relax and explore to my heart's content.

Hey Komodin, I agree. Adabat and Apotos really stand out to me.

I love that little landing area in Metroid Prime 1. It's especially good when you get there the first time. Rain is pouring down from above, you've landed on some completely alien planet, there's cascading waterfalls around the edges of the area, and tons and tons of plant life growing. There's also a small lake at the bottom of the waterfall that you can go in, and there's a stream from that lake leading to a smaller underground lake. Then there's the rocks around the waterfall that can be climbed on for no reason, and the cliffs around the outer edge that lead to the Artifact Temple. And the music is really soothing too.

Lava Reef Zone and Hidden Palace Zone from Sonic 3 And Knuckles. They had two of my favorite songs from an entire game full of good music. I liked how the aesthetics of Lava Reef Zone didn't go with the "oppressive cavern" look I expect from a Lethal Lava Land, but went with bright and upbeat, and then switched to cold and mysterious. I like how the the Hidden Palace music first shows up much earlier in the game, as a bit of foreshadowing to get me excited that "something important is going to happen!" And then something important does indeed happen.

@Blueeyedrat: Me Too!, though I liked it more for the scene in the cabin with Curly waking up.

The actual fortress from the main menu background of Unreal once you reach it in-game. Mind-bendingly awesome graphics for its time =)

The bars in Nar Shaddaa in Dark Forces felt like nothing ever before... long before Duke Nukem3d popularised the idea of using actual practical places as settings for FPS action.

Pretty much all of Symphony Of The Night. That game is a work of art, from the backgrounds to the music to the overall style.

Any given The Elder Scrolls game. They all had amazing graphics for their time, from Arena's epic skyboxes to Daggerfall's amazing weather patterns (complete with personalized music for whatever region you were AND which weather it was at the moment, something gravely missing from latter installments) to Redguard's ancient constructions to Morrowind's day/night cycles to Oblivion's forests, you always, always had something to stare in awe at. Too bad Buggerfall was the last one of the series to have an actual soul to it.

The forest from the first Simon The Sorcerer. From the moment you set foot outside the town, your jaw hits the floor and refuses to get back in place, damn those awesome graphics. Same goes for most of the first Legend Of Kyrandia. The second lost some of the charm, but had a much more likeable protagonist and much more Funny Background Event going on to compensate =)

The Pokkaball scenes in The Spellcasting Series, since the The Dev Team Thinks of Everything aspect was concentrated in those =) I actually felt as part of the audience =)

The Swamp Trek scene in Eric The Unready. Those Swampfleet Command messages were hilarious to no end, and also made the scene feel as something more than a mere Shout-Out. "The Cling-ons are no longer out enemies."

edited 10th Apr '11 1:47:12 PM by Noelemahc

Seconded, but Sanctuary Fortress from Prime 2 might be even better.

The Atlantica and Aquatica tracks from Need For Speed III: Hot Pursuit. They're both set in a futuristic city and feature gorgeous architecture, and the latter even has a Shark Tunnel. Oh, and both have some of the best music in the game.

Oh, and maps like Upward, Avanti, Hydro, Dustbowl, Panic, Vertigo, Cashworks and Aerospace from Team Fortress 2 feature impressive, well-constructed scenery and memorable layouts along with more central elements (like Vertigo's skyscraper setting or Avanti's TFC-based design).

edited 11th Apr '11 3:36:09 PM by RocketDude

In Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing with Banjo-Kazooie, I love to play in most any area for the visuals. The two places I don't are the unlockable Super Monkey Ball tracks because, you know, you can't move around enough to stare at all the pretty graphics.

Then there's the Orbital something-something which I go to for the music. That's about all I remember for now.

All of Bioshock and Metroid Prime.

That sums up my feelings on Bioshock pretty nicely, I think. As a game... it's OK. As an experience, with the graphics and the music and the atmosphere, it's pretty friggin' awesome.

[[Fallout Galaxy News Radio]]

Metropolis Zone in Sonic 2. Very cool music and steampunkish aesthetic, but hell to go through.

The Tower of Latria in Demon's Souls. The dark, enclosed atmosphere kept me on the edge of my seat the entire time, especially considering the inherent difficulty of the entire game.

Planescape Torment is incredible to explore, but that doesn't really count, does it? It's a plot-heavy western RPG: drinking in the world is the core of the game, bashing things and getting experience is an excuse to do so.

Monkey Island 2 is cozy. The game is close to twenty years old, but the graphics still look good (they were digitized from watercolour paintings), the world is generally bright and colorful, and things are lively thanks to a great number of graphical details, tiny animations, and NPC chatter.

[Edit: AQUARIA! Do yourself a favor.]

edited 11th Apr '11 12:16:52 PM by Kizor

The Secret Base in Persona 4. It really feels like you're penetrating some sort of top-secret facility, what with the PA system tossing out intruder alerts.

The Capital Wasteland does have a beauty to it, especially in the north.