I am a fan of tragic beauty in games, here are a few examples.

Dead Moscow-Metro:2033 and Last Light http://vignette3.wikia.nocookie.net/metro2033/images/7/71/Moscow_City.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20110626144446

Anor Londo-Dark Souls http://img3.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20120608040006/darksouls/images/5/53/Anor-Londo1.jpg

And a few other cities i like.

Steelport-Saints Row http://cdn-sr3.saintsrow.com/media/images/03-SteelportNight.jpg

Columbia-Bioshock Infinite http://vignette4.wikia.nocookie.net/bioshock/images/7/7e/The_Flying_City_of_Columbia.png/revision/latest?cb=20130512002726

Omikron-Omikron The Nomad Soul (David Bowie intro to the game as a bonus) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FiodKBLDpys

New Mombasa-Halo 2 http://vignette3.wikia.nocookie.net/halo/images/d/d5/Nm_skyline_1.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20090925130043

And last but not least, Windhelm http://vignette3.wikia.nocookie.net/elderscrolls/images/4/47/Windhelm_Street.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20131112100006

I was more so fond of Hengsha, it being a city on top of a city and all. If only we could have seen more of Upper Hengsha.

Aw, absolutely this. I am a svcker for Gothic architecture, and I was staring at Anor Londo with awe at first sight.

As mentioned already, I'd say the Citadel from Mass Effect is definitely up there, but I'd like to give some credit to the planet of http://vignette1.wikia.nocookie.net/masseffect/images/1/13/IlliumSkyline.png/revision/latest?cb=20120426162501&path-prefix=de from Mass Effect 2. I felt it was the first real location we saw in Mass Effect that gave that super city in space feel that reminded me of Coruscant from Star Wars. Especially love it during the Lair of the Shadow Broker DLC.

Really beautiful thumbnails.

I'll agree with Moscow in the Metro series though; really beautiful in its twisted way.

Think my vote would have to go to Rapture also, seeing it for the first time really left an impression.

Anor Londo

That's true, I guess Vivec is just the easiest choice, but I agree with your point that some of them were wonderfully inventive. Likewise, I think I generally preferred the villages, and wished that Oblivion's performance was good enough to match them instead of having settlements with three houses and a sheep (though I still liked places like Pells Gate).


I was considering mentioning Stilwater in my earlier post, partly on the basis that "it's so much nicer than Steelport", but I have to admit that's a really nice cityscape.


Actually I can see what you mean there. I guess I feel I saw enough of "nice Columbia" as dictated by the story, but there was too much of dreary, smeggy Columbia that was really mostly just a bit of a dungeon crawl. It made the point, but perhaps the point didn't need quite so much of that Making A Point about it. I guess one could consider it quite a feat to make Columbia feel grubby and claustrophobic.

I think i prefer Steelport over Stillwater, while they both look great, Steelport has this gritty soft sci-fi look (Maybe about 10 years into the future from now?) which i love, especially the area around the power plant and the Centre area.

Steelport was dirty dump of a city. Probably smells as bad NYC or Manchester to boot. Stillwater had more variety and such. But Steelport is just a generic urban junkyard.

I live in an urban junkyard, maybe that is why i prefer Steelport.

Or maybe, just maybe, some people genuinely like the looks of Vivec. Gotta say this thread has gotten rather irritating with people bashing those of us who actually truly liked and enjoyed Vivec. It has ZERO to do with being the easy choice, and everything to do with the fact that I(and I imagine the rest of us) genuinely believe Vivec is one of the best looking computer game cities I've ever seen. Even now I find myself hard pressed to find a city I like more in modern games, and for it's time it was years and years ahead of anything else.

in my opinion it was just a bland city it was a bunch of floating blocks and then there were so many loadings cells inside the city itself even though they were only seconds long i still didnt like it. For me that city didnt give me any vibe.

That's absolutely fine. You are certainly entitled to your opinion. What has me irritated is those who have been bashing those of us who do find Vivec to be an attractive city. Saying that "We just made the typical, easy choice" for cities to like is insulting and rude, and it wasn't just the person I quoted, I've seen several others make insinuations that anyone who chose Vivec are basically idiots(you have to read in between the lines). What one person finds attractive is not going to be what others find attractive, and insulting someone for what they find attractive is about as dumb as judging a person by superficial appearances.

Vivec does look pretty imo, my only problem is i always felt the cantons were a bit too large, that is really my only issue with the city though.

Columbia from Bioshock Infinite, and Victorian London in AC Syndicate are my picks, great scenery and detail in my opnion.

That was part of the charm for me. It felt like an honest to goodness large city, complete with the ability to get lost, even after you've been there for a while. Hell, I still find new stuff there whenever I load up Morrowind, and I have thousands of hours invested in that game.

But yeah, the immense size of it, the floating jail above it, the sewers, the gargantuan statues, the style of the architecture, it all just added up to a most magical experience for me when I first saw it, and it's never lost that feeling after all these years. Hell, talking about it has me wanting to re-install Morrowind(recently was gifted a 500gb SSD from a friend so don't have any of my games on it yet) and start playing again.

I must admit I actually quite liked it personally. It did have its own vibe and it was IMHO interestingly different. But Balmora always felt like "home" in Morrowind, which is probably an even less imaginative choice.

Bethesda should Vivec more often, imo. With today's graphics a city like that, with all the gondoliers actually sailing, etc... so beautiful.

Thanks to abot and his gondoliers mod we already have that, and it is beautiful.

Whoa, I didn't see anyone bash people for picking Vivic, even the person you quoted said it's an easy choice, not a bad one. Way to over react.


That said, the city has no appeal to me at all. If you like it, that's all and good though.


Personally I'm pretty fond of Solitude in Skyrim. I'd love to see Rapture from Bioshock before everything went to crap.

Vivec's appeal, for me at least, is the sheer sense of scale. At that time in gaming, it was the largest singular city I've seen.

I also agree with Stilwater (SR2 version) being more memorable than Steelport. Stilwater had more variety, the different districts flowed together relatively well, and just felt more alive and complete. Steelport was basically residential, nuke plant, and generic urban for most of it with civilians that felt more like something to fill space than actual people.

Columbia wins over Rapture if only because it has the benefit of being in direct sunlight, at least for the first half or so. It's a really close decision, though, since even ruined Rapture is stunning.

There is a DLC for Infinite called Burial at Sea, that is set in Rapture before the fall.

Probably Shattrath and Dalaran from WoW.


http://rs21.pbsrc.com/albums/b267/hunterisdead/WoW%20screenshots/Shattrath.jpg?w=480&h=480&fit=clip


https://scontent.cdninstagram.com/hphotos-xaf1/t51.2885-15/s320x320/e35/11352280_1676655615904108_765877479_n.jpg

Rapture is literally the antithesis to everything I believe in but the city itself is so damn beautiful; literally my favourite setting in any game ever.