Favorite Memorable Locations?

[limaxophobiacq]

The frozen museum and the Seldarine Hand in Icewind Dale, The Mortuary, Ravels Maze, and the Fortress of Regrets in Planescape. The Death Gods Vault and Myrkuls corpse in the astral plane in MotB. Visually distinct and interesting locations you remember. The one thing I fault the BG games the most for it is not having much of these (IMO), and since those two seem to be what P:E draws the most from I hope it's something they'll take from the other games.

 

So what location(s) was your favorite and which game was it from*?

 

*Visually, I mean Durlags Tower is great for the combat, traps, and puzzles but IMO it looks kind of interchangably like everything else in BG I.

[Godwin]

I voted BG2 but to be fair they all have memorable locations, the Ice Wind series probably wont get many votes but soem of the locations in those were brilliant.

[descalabro]

The frozen museum and the Seldarine Hand in Icewind Dale, The Mortuary, Ravels Maze, and the Fortress of Regrets in Planescape. The Death Gods Vault and Myrkuls corpse in the astral plane in MotB. Visually distinct and interesting locations you remember. The one thing I fault the BG games the most for it is not having much of these (IMO), and since those two seem to be what P:E draws the most from I hope it's something they'll take from the other games.

 

So what location(s) was your favorite and which game was it from*?

 

*Visually, I mean Durlags Tower is great for the combat, traps, and puzzles but IMO it looks kind of interchangably like everything else in BG I.

 

Well, I think BG2 had a great number of remarkable locations, and most of them seemed to be designed with a lot of attention, but I think the "problem" was that they were so many, so it's generally easier to remember Durlag's Tower (which was the first mega-dungeon in a IE game) and places like Dorn's Deep or the Modron Maze (or Castle Maluradek for the ones who played it).

[the.only.ara54]

I just loved the open areas of BG1.

 

 

This might be because it felt so nice to start the adventure by going through in a lot of forests and mountains, especially knowing that the main character stayed all his life within the walls of Candlekeep. The mood this sets you in, right at the start of the game, is incomparable in my opinion.

 

I didn't like the start of BG2 so much in comparison: a rather long dungeon, followed by a HUGE city.

 

I've always felt like I have to visit every corner before leaving Athkatla, which takes quite a while and is a bit coercive. Another possibility is, of course, to leave and try keep track of the areas you haven't visited yet, but it doesn't sounds so good either.

 

On the contrary, the city of Baldur's Gate, in BG1, is definitely a place you want to visit: the fact that you cannot enter it at the start, and all the things you discover slowly as the main plot is revealed, make you really eager to enter.

 

In the end, it sounds rather similar: you have open areas, and a big city. But I believe that the way (and the order in which) they are presented to the player is also important.

[Krikkert]

Aww, c'mon that's a no brainer.

Kuldahar ! Vale of Shadows ! Temple of the Forgotten God ! Hand of the Seldarine (Severed Hand), Dorn's Deep !

 

The atmosphere and feel of ancientness and mystery in the beautifully drawn 2d backgrounds of Icewind Dale was second to none, so beautifully enhanced by Jeremy Soule's amazing music.

 

When it comes to locations, atmosphere and sound (Music and voice-acting), Icewind Dale completely crushes all of the other mentioned games.

[descalabro]

Aww, c'mon that's a no brainer.

Kuldahar ! Vale of Shadows ! Temple of the Forgotten God ! Hand of the Seldarine (Severed Hand), Dorn's Deep !

 

The atmosphere and feel of ancientness and mystery in the beautifully drawn 2d backgrounds of Icewind Dale was second to none, so beautifully enhanced by Jeremy Soule's amazing music.

 

When it comes to locations, atmosphere and sound (Music and voice-acting), Icewind Dale completely crushes all of the other mentioned games.

 

That's pretty much what I feel too. It wasn't a very complete game in the sense BG2 was, but instead it specialized in extreme locations with either freezing cold caves or burning hot lava pits. And the way they managed to insert temples and lush palaces inside these elements was stunning to me. The entrance to Dorn's Deep with the glowing mushrooms and the sorcerer's iron lab; the sorcerer's tower at Kuldahar! the horse-riding statue at Easthaven temple! So many enchanting places within a fairly small game. I felt it was the darkest of Black Isle games, and yet it was the one where magic seemed to be more present. So far PE looks like it's going to be a cross between IWD and BG, so let's wait and see.

[Krikkert]

Aww, c'mon that's a no brainer.

Kuldahar ! Vale of Shadows ! Temple of the Forgotten God ! Hand of the Seldarine (Severed Hand), Dorn's Deep !

 

The atmosphere and feel of ancientness and mystery in the beautifully drawn 2d backgrounds of Icewind Dale was second to none, so beautifully enhanced by Jeremy Soule's amazing music.

 

When it comes to locations, atmosphere and sound (Music and voice-acting), Icewind Dale completely crushes all of the other mentioned games.

 

That's pretty much what I feel too. It wasn't a very complete game in the sense BG2 was, but instead it specialized in extreme locations with either freezing cold caves or burning hot lava pits. And the way they managed to insert temples and lush palaces inside these elements was stunning to me. The entrance to Dorn's Deep with the glowing mushrooms and the sorcerer's iron lab; the sorcerer's tower at Kuldahar! the horse-riding statue at Easthaven temple! So many enchanting places within a fairly small game. I felt it was the darkest of Black Isle games, and yet it was the one where magic seemed to be more present. So far PE looks like it's going to be a cross between IWD and BG, so let's wait and see.

 

I also liked Easthaven for some reason. It just felt like a cozy, little fishing village. The beautiful Easthaven theme no doubt enhanced that feeling.

 

In Baldur's Gate II I found the Arnise Keep highly interesting, not to mention The Copper Coronet where a lot of things was going on. Also the water-city of the Shaugin (or however it is spelled) was cool.

[melkathi]

New Reno, Klamath, Vault City...

The Mechanon Cube

The Siege Tower

The alley of Dangerous Angles

The rest of Sigil...

 

That cave with the giant spider in BG 1 that had Minsc, Imhoen and myself webbed for the whole fight until Dynaheir said "Sod this" and threw a fireball in the middle of the cave burning everyone and everything.

[Brother Pain]

I feel Fallout was missing from that list with Junktown, Boneyard, and so many other memorable places.

Of the list, defenitely Planescape: Torment though, especially since I'd be hard pressed to remember any locations of the BG or IWD games without mixing them up. That's probably just because it's all Forgotten Realms though.

[descalabro]

I feel Fallout was missing from that list with Junktown, Boneyard, and so many other memorable places.

Of the list, defenitely Planescape: Torment though, especially since I'd be hard pressed to remember any locations of the BG or IWD games without mixing them up. That's probably just because it's all Forgotten Realms though.

 

IWD had a completely different atmosphere from BG. I enjoyed some locations in Fallout too, but the visuals rarely allowed them to stand out. That's what usually happens with tiled games, there rarely anything unique in the visuals.

[cyberarmy]

Both IWD games.

 

And Vault City from FO2.

 

And also Sigil from PS:T.

 

Pocket Plane form BG2.

 

Meh, just put a vote option including all of'em.