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[SantaC]

The soothing music, the lush green landscape, hidden stuff around every corner. Fantastic exploration and It blew me away. Peak video games.

.

 

[Dynasty8]

Agreed. I knew I was in for something special as soon as I opened those doors.

 

[BennyBlanco]

Agreed but fuck that huge knight on the horse as soon as you pop out

 

[Danjin44]

I love it as well, it was brilliant way introducing its open world to you.

Agreed but fuck that huge knight on the horse as soon as you pop out

 

[NeverYouMind]

I hated it. A whole lot of nothing. My pick would be infiltrating the Shadow Clan Fortress in Ninja Gaiden.

A close second would be waking up in Krat Central Station, traversing the surrounding plaza, beating Parade Master, and lying to enter Hotel Krat in Lies of P.

 

[LectureMaster]

I love The Great Plateau in BOTW better.

Limgrave didn't do much for me as I vastly prefer level based designs in previous souls games.

 

[Angry_Megalodon]

 

[bender]

The world feels handcrafted and painterly. I have a lot of issues with Elden Ring and how that used that open world, but not with the world itself.

 

[Gaiff]

Agreed but fuck that huge knight on the horse as soon as you pop out

Teaches you a fundamental aspect of the game: not everything needs to be fought right away.

 

[TintoConCasera]

That's a bold statement man.

I think my vote would go to Starfox 64, Corneria never got boring even after a hundred times. Teaches you all the stuff, it's varied enough and it's easy to beat but tough to master, or at least as a kid it was for me.

ps: is it called Corneria because it's on the corner of the map? Might have just realized that after all those years.

Peak

 

[tusharngf]

Dark souls has good starting area till the firelink shrine part

 

[cinnamonandgravy]

something about DS1's firelink shrine for me (the starting area + bird crap that precedes this is dumb)

unassuming, mysterious, interesting crossroads, melancholy boy, cool verticality

 

[Kagoshima_Luke]

I spent like 20 hours in Limgrave and actually thought it was the entire game just because of the map size and number of bosses was so high. When the map expanded, my mind was absolutely blown.

 

[intbal]

Hollywood Holocaust was unlike anything previously seen in a FPS at that time. That would be my pick.

 

[DaciaJC]

It's not my favorite area, but the music has definitely stuck with me.

 

[NeverYouMind]

Hollywood Holocaust was unlike anything previously seen in a FPS at that time. That would be my pick.

Are you referring to first level of Duke Nukem 3D? I have never gotten around to any of the episodes after L.A. Meltdown but that was a great first experience. Are there any levels later in the game with similarly cool realized environments?

 

[AV]

Prefer some other Fromsoft starter areas personally, but Limgrave's horse rider is such a great tutorial that you don't need to fight everything you see in order, you can come back later.

 

[Buggy Loop]

Hard to imagine a better starting area yea. I think I honestly spent 30 hours in that zone

Witcher 3's White Orchard also comes to mind. An introduction to everything you'll need in the game, feels huge (yet so small after you open the other maps), has good introduction quests like slaying that Griffin.

 

[intbal]

Are you referring to first level of Duke Nukem 3D? I have never gotten around to any of the episodes after L.A. Meltdown but that was a great first experience. Are there any levels later in the game with similarly cool realized environments?

I would say there's at least one great level per episode, but none of them have the impact of that first level.

 

[nemiroff]

 

[Dacvak]

That's a bold statement man.

I think my vote would go to Starfox 64, Corneria never got boring even after a hundred times. Teaches you all the stuff, it's varied enough and it's easy to beat but tough to master, or at least as a kid it was for me.

Star Fox 64’s intro level design doesn’t get enough praise. Great pick.

I’d also nominate Mega Man X’s intro stage.

 

[Gp1]

The first area in Dark souls (Firelink Shrine) is a masterclass in design

.


That, and Doom e1m1

 

[StreetsofBeige]

 

[Codes 208]

I was far more invested in the plateau from botw and checking every nook and cranny in yharnam

Limgrave isnt bad though

 

[Represent.]

 

[Gojiira]

Hmm Limgrave is a fantastic map regardless of what naysayers may claim.
All these people mentioning the Great Plateau,Krat etc, nobody mentioning the actual GOAT intro for a game :
MGS2 Tanker Mission.
Its absolute perfection, fantastic intro sequence, introduces you to all the new and old mechanics, its moody and atmospheric,doesnt overstay its welcome yet to this day many will say its the best sequence in the game. You have ample opportunity to explore and approach the Tanker however you want. Its great, just great.
And to top it all off it ends in a pretty surprising way seemingly killing off the main character. Either way its a intro you dont forget.

 

[Saber]

Stormveil Castle is the best place to explore and the level of attention is beyond anything.

 

[TheChadOfGaming]

elywnn forest in WoW is the GoaT

 

[Josemayuste]

I'm sorry, but there's only one real answer to a best starting area in a game ever:

 

[NeverYouMind]

Stormveil Castle is the best place to explore and the level of attention is beyond anything.

I personally preferred Caria Manor, Ephael Brace of the Erdtree, and Nokron.

 

[farmerboy]

 

[NeverYouMind]

It just occured to me that they were doing freaky stuff in a cemetery at night. No wonder the undead and demons of the underworld were out to get them.

 

[The Lunch Legend]

Stop using the word peak.

 

[bender]

Tenchu was such an amazing sandbox. I love that you could throw a rice wine to distract a guard and if you were quick enough to kill him before he was able to take a sip, the item would drop back to the ground were it could be recollected.

 

[Rockondevil]

I just remember having to avoid the knight dude repeatedly.

 

[sigmaZ]

The soothing music, the lush green landscape, hidden stuff around every corner. Fantastic exploration and It blew me away. Peak video games.

.

Out of the modern open world Soulsborne games, I agree.
Mario 64 when it originally game out though was more mindblowing.

 

[Davevil]

nothing beat this

 

[Fess]

Agreed.
Tbh even if I never beat Margit I would’ve still been satisfied with my purchase.

 

[Skelterz]

It’s not technically the first area but Besaid island in FFX always stuck out to me as a nice place after all the bullshit that precedes it.

 

[cireza]

If I had to pick a Souls game (having played all of them), Majula from Dark Souls II left the strongest impression.

I didn't like Limgrave much, because you could already feel the upcoming bloat.

Otherwise there are a ton of great examples of excellent starting areas in games.

For example the Shibuya Bus Terminal in Jet Set Radio is fantastic. It is small, yet teaches you all the core game-design and level-design elements of the game. Tag, grinding, the order in which you should do things as cops arrive and tagging on the ground is not safe anymore, hanging in the heights while mastering jumping etc...

The first Day Stage in Sonic Unleashed, Apotos, has all the core elements of level-design of the game while being very accessible and a blast to play through. Day stages are an absolute masterclass in this game anyway.

First level of Tomb Raider 1 is also excellent. Teaches you everything in a smooth way.

 

[SJRB]

Masterpiece of visual design.

You subconsciously process the entire golden path up until the first legacy dungeon just by how the landscape is layered.

 

[GymWolf]

Meh, even between fromsoft games it would not be even my 2nd or even 3rd choice, let alone if we consider non-fromsoft games.

 

[Johnny Concrete]

The first time that door opened up and I got greeted with that landscape it blew my mind. And I had no idea how big that world beyond it was.

Masterpiece of visual design.

You subconsciously process the entire golden path up until the first legacy dungeon just by how the landscape is layered.

Yes and they do this all the time. After you get over that hill it does it again with the landscape. You often stand on the edge of a bowl-shaped landscape where you can see the structures you can visit and the paths towards it.

Fantastic stuff really.

 

[thefool]

DS2 Majala is so much comfier.

If we're talking fromsoft, Bloodborne is the best one. If you learn to play the first level, the rest of the game is kind of a breeze. It teaches you pretty much everything you need to move forward. I think that first encampment in limgrave is a terrible intro to the game mechanics, it's made as if users are experienced in souls games.

 

[GymWolf]

DS2 Majala is so much comfier.

If we're talking fromsoft, Bloodborne is the best one. If you do learn to play the first level, the rest of the game is kind of a breeze. It teaches you pretty much everything you need to move forward. I think that first encampment in limgrave is a terrible intro to the game mechanics, it's made as if users are experienced in souls game.

I think the first encampement teach you to use stealth because fighting 20 soldiers at once is a suicide.

At worse we can say that stealth against VERY large groups of enemies is not really used that much in the rest of the game and basically useless in the actual quality contents like the main dungeons unless my memory is tricking me.

 

[The Cockatrice]

Some unpopular examples:

Santa Monica in Bloodlines.
Sarif Manufacturing plant in Deus Ex HR

 

[GymWolf]

Some unpopular examples:

Santa Monica in Bloodlines.
Sarif Manufacturing plant in Deus Ex HR

There are so many great locations in gaming that unpopular might be the wrong term, it's just impossible to remember all of them.

 

[Northeastmonk]

I love the wind and music

 

[Rickyiez]

Nope, it's Yharnam for me

 

[Toots]

Best styarting area and "Punish the evil merchant" is the best objective i ever saw in a game
Going from the village, up to the castle, to inside the castle with all the secret passages was mind blowing, it felt "open worldly" (even with the loadings) when at the time no game was open world.