What do you think are the greatest areas/stages/levels ever designed in a video game?

[Crys]

Like the topic question says....

Which areas, or stages, or levels, do you think are the greatest ever designed in a video game? Don't name too many; I'm only going to name a couple (for now; if I think of more, I'll be sure to add them in later).

Be sure to include reasons as to why you think those levels are the greatest you've ever played.

My list (In no particular order):

1. The Legend of Zelda - The Ocarina of Time: The Water Temple. Seriously. This area was brilliant AND YOU KNOW IT. Some people adore it, others find it utterly mad. I can run through this one fairly briskly because I know where all the small keys are, but this area was gorgeous, challenging, AND well-designed, earning it a spot on my top-five list. For those of you who haven't played it, go buy a Nintendo 64 and Ocarina of Time cartridge off of eBay and play this level. You'll never complain about another area ever again.

2. Chrono Cross - The Dead Sea/Chronopolis: Gorgeous music accentuated a beautiful landscape of frozen (literally), ravaged, and discarded time. This area is by far the most immersive area from a video game that I have ever played through. This area can be described as "raw concept realized", and I applaud the design team for capturing such emotion so effectively.

Those are the only two I came up with. I had three others, but ultimately scrapped them because these two stood over all. Also, I made a note to myself to leave out any non-combat areas like towns from RPGs, which Final Fantasy VIII would populate my list with: Deling City, Timber, Esthar, Dollet, I love all those places, but don't feel that they belong on this list.

If you have any to add, let's hear them!

[CannedOldMan]

Well, one of the best levels I remember was the dungeon Mt. Osore in Inindo: Way of the Ninja. It was the perfect length; not long enough to be boring yet not too short. There were four paths, the path of Gaki, Shura, Good, and the subpath of Hardship and Reward; of course, I took all of them, but each path matched their name. The density of monsters was just enough to make it interesting, and there was enough treasure to make it actually worth exploring.

[syndromicon]

Legend of Mana - Hometown Domina.
The music does most of the part. I just feel like home in that town. Big plus for the park too.

[Crys]

Well, here are the other three that I liked:

Terraniux - Unreal: The best-looking futuristic-style level that I've ever been to. If anyone remembers this area, please speak up! Terraniux was a waste management and disposal facility for the Skaarj that was sleek and dark, with black and glowing flourescent green as the primary colors, with glowing green panels on the walls and floor, and with green radioactive sludge all over the place. It was just an esthetically pleasing area, and I apologize to the Skaarj that I wrecked it the last time I came through.

Gourmet Submarine Castle - Mystical Ninja Starring Goemon: The most creative level I've EVER seen. It has memorable, catchy music, FANTASTIC design, a great theme, and a MASSIVE glitch that would allow you to skip half the level (I'd never use it, though). The level was a submarine with cool red and blue lighting effects, but the theme was "food". This submarine allowed you to jump on moving sushi bars, play on top of rice ball mounds, swim through Japanese soup, and jump from tofu block to tofu block over hot coal. A sheer joy to play through.

The Serpent Yards - Serious Sam - The Second Encounter: Gorgeous level fashioned modeled to look like an ancient outdoor courtyard in the Mayan Empire, this level was lush and green with wonderful stone architecture and a fantastic heavy metal music track by Damjan Mravunac, this level is high art, as well as the ONLY level in the ENTIRE Serious Sam series that I can finish on Serious difficulty. I wish I could share this game with you guys.....~_~

[Houly]

Hell -- Doom

[chippermonky]

That's a tough one, I would have to say.. Dark energy on half life 2, though kudos to some of the other ones as well. Also, just about any level in windwaker, they are all done so beutifully.

[KrazzyKat]

Hell in Doom 3 was just so cool. very good stage.

[Takayanagi-Phoenix]

The gold saucer from ffVII would have to be in the top ten. I remember back when I was 13 and hooked on the game when I first got to that area. It completely blew me away, I couldn't get enough of it. I actually felt like I was there. If they were ever to do a remake I'd look forward to that area being expanded even more.
Another off the top of my head would have to be ALL of Shenmue 2 on the Dreamcast. The level of design in that game was awesome from start to finish. I haven't played anything quite like that since, and it was a pretty good simulation of a small town (though it was meant to be HK but give them a break eh? lol).

[syndromicon]

I have a new to add:
The town Altamira from Tales of Symphonia. It totally blew my away, as this is my favorite type of town :)

It's a large luxury hotel made of glass (looks like it), with a beach, an amusement park and a casino. Man, I revisited that place so many times :)

[soutaku]

I liked the city Luca in Final Fantasy X, only the looks. I think that Ninja Gaiden had a few cool spots like in the hurricane packs.

[H2O]

How About "Hell" In Painkiller ?

[LordThyMaster]

those are all good, but of the top of my head, Ico has got to take the cake, the whole game is beautiful. But if I had too choose just one part of it, it have to be the windmill level; it beautfully made, just like the whole game, but more...
I there are more game's I know of that looks well made but I can't think of them off the top of my head.

[Lapse]

Hmh.. one of the best..
I'd have to say the Lake View Hotel in Silent hill 2.
It's so calm and beautiful at that place, but at the same time the darkness and the music makes you wanna turn off the game, eat some buns and drink some lemonade in the sun. But of course you wont, because SH2 is the greatest game ever made:)
Anyways, it's even scarier when you're in the nightmare world. The walls, the floor and the roof looks like they're rotten, maybe burnt(!), it's kind of hard to tell I think.
And the music is so depressing.

[Maria Renard]

I like a lot zarnakand in ffx-x2 :)

yeah, I

[Takayanagi-Phoenix]

How could I forget Zanarkand? Thanks for reminding me, that city rocks!

[tsuyoshiro]

A couple of my favorites:
The Doll House in Shadow Hearts: Covenant
The Cathedral Ship from Xenosaga
That Bhuddist temple from Tenchu: Wrath of Heaven.

[nick64]

UT - Morpheus, floating maps in games suck, but this one in UT was just brilliant, lots of wide open spaces with perfect weapons to accompany this level (The UT Sniper rifle is THE best sniper rifle in any game..ever)

Goldeneye - Facility, brilliant level design, which also doubles as a great multiplayer map. Well done rare!

Final Fantasy VII - Gold Saucer, this is the house of fun, good for money, trainign and just plain entertainment. I love that snowboarding game and totally enjoyed the battle stage.

Soul Calibur 2 - Pirate's Cove, superb graphics and superb music, with a wide enough stage so battles are always ring outs. Good stage :)

[TheException]

Metroid Prime: the whole game atmosphere and decor was just fabulous

~Zelda 64: the bes game i ever played...all the dungeons were at least very beautiful....and the water temple was incomparable. I also love the temple of time.

~Zelda Wind Waker: Although some people complained about the "kiddish" graphics, the decor was beautifuly made. Remarkable job in the colors, enviroment...although the game was too short and easy to be called a true Zelda game.

~GTA Vice City, GTA San Andreas: never have i thought that any thing like that was possible. I was surprised when i played each of the games.~ LA is such a beautiful city^^

[S&T Kawaii Love]

FFIX - Lindblum. The city was beautifull allthough it could be a bit more expanded. The castle was nice and big too. Highly detailed enviroment.

UT - Facing worlds, not much of artistic creation :p . But I liked it because the map was so standard it was familiar. Also Ammo, weapons etc where all in the right place. Both good for sniping and close combat.

GTA Series - The enviroment and Maps are getting beter and beter. Very realistic and nice use of vehicles, ammo etc.

[Kitee]

FFVIII - Esthar: The place is huge. It's full of high tech equipment and the scenery is good too. I got lost the first time I went there. The place is just very big and pleasant to look at.

Ace Combat 5: All the areas are well designed and have many details. Even the ground has plenty of details.

Winning Eleven 8 - Soccer Field: they're green. :D :D

[Ponzu]

I have to say Pikmin 1 and 2.
The areas are very beautiful and some times very big.

[TheException]

Winning Eleven 8 - Soccer Field: they're green. :D :D

LoL~
~Indeed, they are green!...but what a green! :p:D

[CannedOldMan]

Another great area in a game was the second level in Galerians. It was unbelievably creepy; the fact that the enemies are actually scary and that it used to be the main character's house made me jumpy when I played. The various scenes and memories accessed throughout the level creeped me out too.

[S&T Kawaii Love]

FFVIII - Esthar: The place is huge. It's full of high tech equipment and the scenery is good too. I got lost the first time I went there. The place is just very big and pleasant to look at.

Oh Esthar yes I remember that one ^^. It is so wonderfull and futuristic. I remember the first time I got there. It is a huge place. I used to fight the same monster there over and over to get a special item.

Come to think of it the shumi village was nice too ^^ and timber and balamb garden where all nice too. lol I quess there where alot of nice places. Also the SeeD costumes where awesome :eek: . But I am going off-topic here sorry.

[Hitokiri|cMi]

In Call of Duty, the Brecourt manor stage and Berlin. Brecourt you're American, and Berlin you're Russian. All I have to say it OMFG!!! The music the sounds as bombs drop and nades blow up in Berlin, it makes it seem like you are a ghost haunting the battlefield. Of course Call of Duty: United Offensive also has two great areas as the British. First you're a gunner on a B-17 "Flying Fortress" Homing in on Messerschmidts and bringing them down with the tale gun or the top turrent. Talk about bringing your pulse through the roof. Then later on, you invade a gun battery to destroy the cannons and ammo magazine in the side of a cliff. I swear it was exactly like it was out of "The Guns of Navarone".

[nick64]

Another Call of Duty map, Pegasus bridge.. OMG! How can that one map produce so much emotional for me, i cried when the music kicked in and everythign was in 'slow mo'
That was pure gaming experience :)

[Crys]

Oh Esthar yes I remember that one ^^. It is so wonderfull and futuristic. I remember the first time I got there. It is a huge place. I used to fight the same monster there over and over to get a special item.

Come to think of it the shumi village was nice too ^^ and timber and balamb garden where all nice too. lol I quess there where alot of nice places. Also the SeeD costumes where awesome :eek: . But I am going off-topic here sorry.

You fought them damn Elnoyles. But see? This is why I declined to name any cities or towns from FFVIII. I love them all! But Dollet is my favorite....so cozy....

Other locations I like:

Metroid Prime: Phendrana Drifts. BEST ICE LEVEL EVAR!!1
Star Ocean - The Second Story: Arlia Village, because the music there is probably the best town theme I've ever heard in ANY game. "The Venerable Forest" = Sakuraba-sensei's masterpiece.
Super Mario Sunshine: Noki Bay. Although I HATE this game for its high frustration factor, this level is beautiful unlike anything I thought possible in a Mario game.

Other people mentioned:

Final Fantasy IX: Lindblum. Cool place, but not as cool as Esthar.
Goldeneye 007: The Facility. I'm probably the only person who didn't like that level as a Multiplayer level, because I like levels that loop, like The Temple, Stack, and Complex.
Painkiller: Hell. What level in this game WASN'T cool?

[SpaceGhost]

How about the super tanker mission from Deus Ex? There's so many different ways to do it, and they're all fun. You can rambo. You can go stealth, but account for the possible need to rambo if the alarm goes off and destroy the heavy armor as part of your mission and stealth kill everyone you come acorss. You can go stealth through the vents, through the water, or sneak straight through guards and cameras by wearing camo. Or disable everything, security systems and people alike, slowly and methodically. Then you finally get on the boat and all...

The last mission of Homeworld. Incredibly intense fight at any skill level, unless you totally obsessively collected the entire enemy fleet in the previous level. Probably the way you did it the first time was totally awesome, tactical genius, and had your heart pounding all the way. Having to trust your little group of 10 mine layer corvettes to take down a fleet of three destroyers and their escorts because your three other fleets were busy on other fronts? Awesome.

I think the most fun I've had in multiplayer was on Starsiege Tribes's Dangerous Crossing map. The bases are pretty close to each other, and are well fortified. They are well protected on two sides, and are covered in turrets. Inventory stations are difficult to maintain because of their exposure, but Heavy offense is vital to the map, so it's a very bitter fight to keep your stations or to rape the enemy's. Both bases have very high-speed but easy to intercept routes to grab the flag. There's usually a lot of friendly and enemy at your base to keep tossing the flag inbetween and plenty of people to kill.

[nick64]

Maybe i have mention Half Life 2 and that Ravenholm level, its a good use of physics in this level and was fun to mess around with zombies.

[spiderlance1]

I liked Elf village from suikoden... alot of greenery because it was in a tree

[Lordofevilcr]

I also liked the scenery for the Elves for World of Warcraft a lot. It was beautiful although the graphics weren't top quality. It really made you feel like you were in a magical forest :).

[Chanman]

Metal Gear Solid 3 all the way, the surround sound of the birds and animals in the jungle, individual grass!!!, LIghting, models of trees, rivers, the texture, and all packed into the PS2, i didnt even know the ps2 can handle such graphics. OH and oh xbox i also LOVE Dead or Alive, how u can change different places in a fighting game is the best and the detail they put into the levels are GREAT!!!