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Coziest game settings that make your heart swell

TheSubsequentStrajack

TheSubsequentStrajack

Banned
Dec 12, 2017
587
You ever wander into a town, village, or even a particular shop and it just feels so nice and homey? You almost want to live there inside the game world, and just be a simple villager or shop keeper and have an ideallic country life. Even when setting out back on the road to adventure in the game, I feel bad about leaving the town.

Nintendo are the masters of this. The most recent towns to make me feel like this are Hateno & Kakariko from BOTW. What are you favorite cozy towns and settings?

Honorable Mention : First town from Okami.
 
Cipher Peon

Cipher Peon

One Winged Slayer
Member
Oct 25, 2017
7,823
Silent Hill, easily!

I've never fallen in love with a setting as much as I have for Silent Hill. The definition of nice and homey and cozy for me<3
 
joefro

joefro

▲ Legend ▲
Member
Jun 5, 2018
1,355
Louisiana
Dragon Roost Island.
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I love all of Wind Waker's world, but DRI is one of my favorite game locations ever.
 
Carassius Auratus

Carassius Auratus

Member
Nov 1, 2017
2,337
Frontier Village from Xenoblade. Trying to find the NPC you're looking for was impossible, but the music and setting made it bearable.
 
Dodongo

Dodongo

Member
Oct 25, 2017
7,462
When you were playing the GCN Animal Crossing during winter, and sometimes villagers would make igloos.

latest
 
Jer

Jer

Member
Oct 27, 2017
2,197
I'm sure it's mostly nostalgia because it was the first RPG I played all the way through, but FF1 has some charming little towns. Elfheim and Gaia are both great, so green and pleasant!
 
chiraledge

chiraledge

Member
Oct 25, 2017
265
Persona 4 and 5 are great for this.

Maybe weird answer but the first Bionicle game MNOG is one of my favorite relaxing settings.
 
SCB360

SCB360

Banned
Oct 30, 2017
1,639
Firelink & Majula from Dark Souls, mainly cause they're safe

Ori and the Blind forest is all like that as well
 
Mr. Poolman

Mr. Poolman

The Fallen
Oct 27, 2017
6,988
Some of my favorites.

Assassin's creed 2's Monteriggioni.
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Dark Souls 2's Majula:
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Mass Effect's Normandy
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Skyfireblaze

Skyfireblaze

Member
Oct 25, 2017
11,257
Awesome idea for a thread! :D I could mention a ton of places in games here but to mention the most recent example, Hateno Village from Breath of the Wild:

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I went 99% blind into BotW and didn't even have the minimap enabled, I just navigated through NPC dialog and landmarks and when the game sent me into the vague direction of Hateno I spotted the town from a nearby tower not thinking much. Then the music started to play as I entered it and I don't know why I literally teared up for a second because everything about Hateno just made me feel at home. As I explored the town I fell more and more in love with it and for the next few days I played the game I found myself having a hard time even leaving the town.

Imagine how I felt when I found out that:

I could actually buy a house and live in Hateno, I was overjoyed and honestly wished for a while the game would simply turn into Rune Factory or Harvest Moon without me having to worry about the big, bad Ganon, I just wanted to keep living in Hateno.

Other than that Inaba from Persona 4 definitely gets a shoutout too along with nearly every game that is set in small Japanese towns, bonus-points if it's near the ocean.
 
Nazo

Nazo

Member
Oct 25, 2017
2,830
Traverse Town in Kingdom Hearts 1. It is the place I think of when I think of cozy game levels.

The music helps tremendously with its cozy atmosphere.

 
VileZero

VileZero

The Fallen
Oct 27, 2017
438
Maryland/DC
Kokiri Forest in OOT
Forest of Illusion in Super Mario World

When I was a kid, we lived surrounded by a lot of woods. These settings remind me of going out and exploring them.
 
Raven117

Raven117

Attempted to circumvent ban with alt account
Banned
Oct 25, 2017
3,112
Your attic apartment in Persona 5 with the Behind the Mask (rainy) music playing is sublime. That juxtaposed with the crazy Tokyo stuff and music really sets it apart. So so well done.

End of Time Chrono Trigger did this as well.

The Tower in Destiny felt awesome if you were trying to beat some raid for the first time and it was taking hours.
 
Hey Please

Hey Please

Avenger
Oct 31, 2017
22,824
Not America
1. Citadel Mass from Effect 1 - The soundtrack and overall ambiance felt amazing for space sci-fi fan like me
2. (Not exactly bustling with trade but) Small town in Nepal nestled within the mountain ranges in Uncharted 2
3. Parts of Persona 3 and 4 (can't recall details). Yet to play P5.
4. Hunter's Dream from Bloodborne
5. Destiny 2's 2nd Hub world.


Mani said:
Uncharted 4:
I wanna live here.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

Might want to spoiler tag that. Also, I agree with that choice.
 
Zephy

Zephy

Member
Oct 27, 2017
6,167
Kojirospath said:
I really liked Traverse Town in the first Kingdom Hearts. Music really helped too.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

Probably my pick as well. It's sad it didn't come back in the sequels.

I also love the towns in Chrono Cross.

Within the context of the game, New LA felt very cosy and safe in Xenoblade Chronicles X.

Overall, japanese games tend to fit those criteria much better than western ones, which usually favor darker and grittier settings.
 
RAWRferal

RAWRferal

Member
Oct 27, 2017
1,360
London, UK
Anyone else misinterpret the title?

I was going to say "a toggle option for chromatic aberration".

...this makes way more sense lol.
 
FaceHugger

FaceHugger

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
13,949
USA
Zelda: Breath of the Wild. Paragliding into Hateno Village in the afternoon rain, while my balcony door and every window was open in my house as an actual spring storm poured outside. I can't remember ever feeling more relaxed and content while playing a game.
 
The Almighty Tria

The Almighty Tria

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
6,411
star-ocean-2-second-story-rena-reflection.jpg


Arlia in Star Ocean 2. Dat music and just a nice overall feel to it, especially with the forest out back. Sure, it's a generic JRPG starting town, but there's something about it that stands out that I can't really explain.
 
Spaghetti

Spaghetti

Member
Dec 2, 2017
2,740
demul07a_160818_scree4pk21.png


Shenmue's Dobuita (plus the suburban neighbourhoods of Sakuragaoka and Yamanose) feel like this. It has seedier parts, but it was always a great representation of an average home town; which was really helped by the protagonist knowing pretty much everyone in the area. Cosy, not too flashy, but kind of an undercurrent that the place is sort of on the slide economically. If you grew up in a place like that you can find a sense of familiarity and nostalgia despite being set in 1980s Japan.
 
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