10 of the Most Unique RPG Towns

  So I figured for todays blog, I would write about some of the strangest RPG Towns I have seen since gaming.  These are not ranked,  just put in a list format for the sake of organization.  So,  everyone enjoy this trip through crazy town with me.  

10.  The Village of Split - Elder Scrolls Oblivion

   In the Shivering Isles,  the land is split between Mania and Dementia.  This makes for some pretty interesting monsters and NPCs (allthough the leader of the Realm,  Sheogorath, is by far the best).  So on the border of the dividing line, stands the Village of Split.

   This town is populated (like other areas of the Shivering Isles) with people who are extremely Manic and also people who are severely Demented.  There are both types of people here because it's on the border of where the land splits between Mania and Dementia (Hence the name).  However the residents are even more unique than that, as it's populated with two of each person, one manic and one depressive.  This causes some crazy confusion as each one wants you to deal with the other one.  

    Everyone of course has their own reason for wanting you to kill their alternate.  All of these reasons are of course really insane, and they make for some entertaining dialogue.  Some think their alternates are going to kill them while others think they are going to eat them.  I applaud Bethesda's writers for making such a unique town.

9. Reverence - Baten Kaitos

  This game is already unique as it is.  Baten Kaitos, made by Tri-Ace, had a unique combat system (turn based but using a Poker Style to do attacks) and a great world (floating continents because most characters had wings).  The story was amazing and the art was beautiful.  Truly a great game with a sense of personality.

  Nowhere does this show most than the Town of Reverence.  My first impression was blown away, this town has a different animation style,  more old school than the rest of the game.  Everything is very flat, from the backgrounds to the residents.  But it's how the town itself is presented that makes it truly strange.  See Reverence is more like a story book.  By that I mean a Pop up Book,  everything unfolds, turns like pages, then springs out.  It's really amazing to see, and it really fits the uniqueness of this entire world.

   But Reverence truly stands as a unique town and shows great imagination on the parts of Tri-Ace for creating this.  I really would recommend watching the video and seeing it for yourself.  It is really awesome.

8. Shrunk down area - Shining Force 2

   The Shining Force series was on of those games that set the bar for me, in both RPGs and Tactical RPGs. It had a big amount of characters, great story,  everything even played out like an anime.  Also there were no random battles,  every battle was strategic and necessary.  There were many places you could travel around in on two pretty big continents.  One place in particular stands out.

   Without giving too much away,  you are heading towards Creed's mansion.  Once inside,  you attempt to find him and talk with the Devil Creed.   Instead you end up getting shrunk down,  from here you have to fight your way through some roaches (yes, roaches!).  Once your done with them you find a small gathering of people on a desk and bookshelves.  There's some people you will eventually recruit and a King of the area who tells you that you must fight the Chess army.  Basically meaning that you engage in a normal Shining Force battle,  but with a bunch of chess pieces.  This battle can actually be quite tough if your not prepared for it.  But it is a bit strange going from fighting fantasy world monsters (orcs, goblins, zombies, and such) to a tiny sentient Chess army.  

7. Saturn Valley - Earthbound

   Already a very unique game,  Earthbound (or Mother 2 as it's known in Japan) oozed with personality.  Having been used to RPGs being games that were taking knights and wizards to fight dragons or other demons.  This game was out of left field for me,  taking 4 psychic kids from a modern setting and pitting them against an alien force.  I instantly fell in love with it.  Of course that description barely scratches the surface of what the game is all about.  Every character, enemy, and ally all stood out (even the Strategy guide was unique,  it was freaking scratch and sniff!!!).  

   I would have to say that one particular set of characters stood out more than anything in this world, The Mr Saturns.  See Mr Saturn is well.... uhhh... some weird round thing with two legs, a nose, and some sort of reddish/pinkish hair on top of it.  When it spoke, it's text was just strange looking.  They all live in a place called Saturn Valley and they are all named Mr Saturn.  This is the sort of thing that would be inspired by someone taking many psychedelic mushrooms (Of course I think 99% of this game might fall in that category).  

   Never before or after this game have I ever seen anything so weird.  But that's also what made Mr Saturn so awesome.  This is a character that I really hope to see more of in the future.  Really,  I just want more Earthbound!!! 

6. Seaside Town - Super Mario RPG

   A grand crossover,  Nintendo decided that they would put the fate of their most beloved franchise in the skilled hands of Square.  A decision that may very well have been one of the smartest things they have ever done.  Even though we have Paper Mario nowadays,  Super Mario RPG was something altogether different (different = awesome).  

  The whole game you interacted with many characters from the Mushroom Kingdom, and some new characters unique to the game itself (Even a small cameo from Link).  You were going around trying to find all Seven Stars so you could defeat Smithy.  In about the middle of the quest,  you run across seaside town.  This area is populated by Toads who are acting kinda strange.  They behave as if they are possessed and also hiding something from you.  It creates some really odd scenarios where they keep whispering things to each other and moving back and forth on the counters kinda strangely.

   The game itself is just an awesome creation of Squares.  But they really make the strange aspects of the Mushroom Kingdom that much more strange.

5. Village of Mythril - Final Fantasy IV

  Whether on the surface of the world, or under it,  all the villages in Final Fantasy IV featured many of your typical Final Fantasy occupants;  Humans, Elfs, and Dwarves.  While each village wasn't boring,  none stood out as much as Mythril.  It's inhabitants, while strange, were all based on status effects you could inflict or have inflicted upon you in battle. 

    Residents fell mainly into 3 categories; frogs, pigs, and mini people.  The character could cast spells to turn enemies (or even yourself in the town map) into one of these.  The town itself also featured the dancing Mythril Brothers (seen in the video above from the DS version).  The main draw, however, was that they lived near Mythril mines.  The strongest material in the game, used to make the best weapon in the game.  The town was located on a secluded island, away from the empire and other villages.  Even their mine could only be reached by hovercraft.  

   This location sells the occasional strangeness of Japanese RPGs, but also the final fantasy series in general. It really shows that while they take their property seriously,  Square can also be really silly sometimes with it.

4. Rokkaku Hamlet - Suikoden 2

  Ah Ninjas.  What list could be complete without them.  Suikoden featured many characters from all types of backgrounds and parts of the world.  You would see nearly everything that fit into a typical fantasy world work itself into the gameworld,  but always in a way that made perfect sense.  So it only made even more sense that it would have ninjas.

  Rokkaku was first introduced in Suikoden 1.  Although at this point it was only merely mentioned,  which you even recruiting some of it's members in your party and army.  It wasn't until the awesome Suikoden 2 that you could actually visit the village itself.  However,  it wasn't something that was on your typical travel route through the game.  The village itself was hidden (which makes sense because hey, they're Ninjas.  It's not like there would be a big sign saying "Hidden Ninja Village this way".).  Not only was it a total geek moment for me finding it,  but the music was super awesome.  Plus you get to recruit more Ninjas, and you can never go wrong with that.

   Suikoden 2 is an amazing game as it stands.  But being able to see Rokkaku after only hearing about it in part 1 really made it an even better game in my opinion.   I would say everyone needs to play this game,  however, procuring a copy for yourself nowadays is gonna take a $100+ investment.  This game is extrememly rare and worth every penny you spend on it.

3. Dunwich - Cthulhu Saves the World

   This game had to make my list for many reasons.  For one,  you play as Cthulhu who has to become a hero. This is in order to get his stolen powers back so get can blanket the world with insanity (Hey he's a demon, what did you expect?).  What ensues is a hilarious trek through a world that not only pokes fun at RPGs stereotypes,  but pays tribute the Lovecraftian lore.

    Which brings us to the village of Dunwich,  Cthulhu and crew pass through here on their travels.  Of course, everyone in his party is taken aback by the town being overrun by zombies.  Cthulhu however, wants you to minimize zombie casualties (hey zombies are people too!), so you have work your way around all the various zombies partying in the streets.  While the town itself is still overrun (and it's one of the very few instances where you run into battles in a town),  there are still survivors and scattered shopkeepers throughout.  Some even take advantage of the situation by price gouging (bastards!!!).  You get to the end of the town only to find that  (as Cthulhu expected) Nyarlathotep is controlling all of them. 

   Not only is this game hilarious, but it has a very unique story.  Playing as Cthulhu is just plain awesome.  For any lovers of old school rpgs out there,  this game is only $2.99 on Steam and comes with Breath of Death VII (another awesome comedy RPG).  

2. Village of Magic - Chrono Trigger

  Chrono Trigger is a timeless RPG classic.  Shaping for many what games to come should be like.  I personally have sunk untold amounts of time into it.  Which is somewhat ironic to say, because this game is mainly about time travel.  As you played the game,  you would affect history, and in some cases, change the course of certain things in future parts of the world.

  The Village of Magic is one of those places.  It's a town built by and lived in by Monsters,  originally founded by worshipers of Magus (one of the games many villains/allies).   However, as you go through the game, defeating different bosses.  This town changes, from worshiping one villain to another and disliking all humans.  Eventually,  if you do the related side quests, they worship no one and become much friendlier with the player.  Dropping shop prices, inn prices, and dismantling the statues in the courtyard.  

   It's really awesome to see this town evolve as the game progresses.  Especially to it's eventual conclusion.  It's moments like this that really show how awesome time travel can be in gaming,  when used correctly.  Chrono Trigger is truly a unique gem of a game and would be my number one RPG ever, if it wasn't for the next game on this list...

1. Zozo - Final Fantasy VI

  Ah, Final Fantasy VI,  my all time favorite RPG.  What can I say about this game that hasn't been already said.  It had everything;  a unique cast, a madman bent on world destruction, train suplexing,  huge enemy variety, a believable world, and an amazing soundtrack.

   There's one other thing it had that has always stood out to me.  What I consider to be my favorite RPG town.  Now I know I said in the beginning this list is in no particular order.  This is the one exception,  Zozo is my all time favorite RPG Town ever.  First off,  one thing to know,  everyone here is a liar (except for the innkeeper!).  They say things like giving you the wrong time (for a clock puzzle to unlock the Chainsaw for Edgar),to telling you that Zozo has no crime (only thieves and brigands live here), and that the weather is perfect (it's always pouring down raining in Zozo).  This is also one of the only towns in Final Fantasy where random battles are engaged.  You have to initially come here because Terra runs away here.  But the town has so much atmosphere and an awesome theme to boot (check out the video to listen, it's Nobuo Uematsu at his best).  Honestly I would love a summer home here (not really :P).

   So remember for those who don't know,  come visit Zozo.  It's a great town and the people are wonderful.  By that I mean,  this place sucks and everyone is a lying asshole.  

Thanks for reading this and I look forward to all your comments.  If you enjoy my blogs, please follow me (not literally,  stalking is illegal!).  

-Chris