Track this topic | Email this topic | Print this topic

It's been about a week since [URL=the 'Favorite Snowy Areas' topic last week,]http://www.cavesofnarshe.com/forums/ipb/index.php?showtopic=16176[/URL] so I think it's about time to introduce another one: Deserts!

Once again, the goal is to suggest which games do the best job of embodying that area type's atmosphere, in visuals, enemies, music, or whatever other factors you may find relevant. How well does the game make the particular environmental type feel both authentic and effective?

Here are a few of mine; what are your favorites?

FFXII - Dalmasca Eastersand

FFXII has a number of desert areas, and picking amongst them is really difficult. As is finding decent images, apparently. This is a screenshot of the Eastersand, though I could just have easily used one from the Westersand. Both areas combine plenty of sand and sun with rock formations, decent music and the occasional sandstorm. Simply walking down the streets of Rabanastre feels quite like a desert oasis as well; the transition when exiting/entering it from the Wester/Eastsand is impressively authentic.

LoZ: Ocarina of Time - Gerudo Valley:

This list wouldn't be complete without the Gerudo Valley. That incredible music alone warrants a place in this thread, even if there was nothing else to go by. Another highlight is the NPC clothing - it really looks the part of a desert warrior race. The design of the Gerudo Fortress draws from the Pueblo peoples of the American southwest.

Nier - Desert:

Nier is a game that gets very little recognition from anyone - in part justly, as it feels rather under-realized - but I quite enjoyed it. One of the highlights is the game's desert area, which is a Sahara-like expanse in which one can actually get kinda lost. The city of Facade fits in quite well with its semi-pyramid-inspired architecture. The people living there provide both an authentic desert-people appearance while doing so in fashion that is unique, something that deserves recognition given how common desert races are in videogames. The music, particularly in the area's dungeon, Temple of the Shifting Sands, is quite good: it mixes the OST's sound style with tribal drums.

This post has been edited by Neal on 4th February 2013 17:31

--------------------

Currently Playing : Final Fantasy V
Most Recently Beat : Elder Scrolls: Skyrim
Favorite Game : Final Fantasy X

The newest CoNcast is up! Have a listen!

For some reason, the very first such area I think of is the desert areas in the Golden Sun series (at least the first two games). I think one is the Sulhalla Desert and the other is the Kolima Desert? I remember them mostly because they had very nice music to go along with them. Also, I remember having to rain on tornados to fight lizards. Yeah.

Edit: Youtube suggests the second one is the Lamakin Desert. I forgot that name.

Anyhow, he's a link to the music:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C0J0O4qUHR0

This post has been edited by Glenn Magus Harvey on 3rd February 2013 16:45

--------------------

Check the "What games are you playing at the moment?" thread for updates on what I've been playing.

You can find me on the Fediverse! I use Mastodon, where I am @[email protected] ( https://sakurajima.moe/@glennmagusharvey )

This post has been edited by Neal on 4th February 2013 17:31

--------------------

Arts

Farts

Twarts

ahh Agro, must you slow down so much on the sand..

--------------------

www.youtube.com/blinje
The victor sacrificed the vanquished to the heavens

Quote (Glenn Magus Harvey @ 3rd February 2013 12:44)

For some reason, the very first such area I think of is the desert areas in the Golden Sun series (at least the first two games). I think one is the Sulhalla Desert and the other is the Kolima Desert? I remember them mostly because they had very nice music to go along with them. Also, I remember having to rain on tornados to fight lizards. Yeah.

GMH: Screenshots?

NP: Is that from Shadow of the Colossus?

--------------------

Currently Playing : Final Fantasy V
Most Recently Beat : Elder Scrolls: Skyrim
Favorite Game : Final Fantasy X

The newest CoNcast is up! Have a listen!

When posting in these topics, PLEASE rehost your images on an actual imagehosting server (imgur is a good choice) rather than taking them directly from somebody else's sites. It's image leeching, and we don't allow people to do it with our images, so we don't want to do it to others.

--------------------

Hey, put the cellphone down for a while
In the night there is something wild
Can you hear it breathing?
And hey, put the laptop down for a while
In the night there is something wild
I feel it, it's leaving me

DP: Yes it is

Neal: damnit I wasn't aware, sorry =/

--------------------

www.youtube.com/blinje
The victor sacrificed the vanquished to the heavens

Sure, screenshots. Read this post with this music going.

The first game, Golden Sun features two desert areas.

The Lamakan Desert is best known for its "heat gauge". If you keep on walking around in its face-meltingly hot temperatures, you will take massive damage. But thankfully, there are also rings of stones that conceal cooling springs that you can find by using the Reveal psynergy.

Screenshots:
overworld:
heat gauge and stone ring:
one of the things that can jump out of those stone rings:
SPOILER: the boss

The Sulhalla Desert is best known for its tornadoes. Casting "Douse" on the tornadoes causes Storm Lizards to appear and fight you. It also contains a recurring boss.

Screenshots:
ruins in the desert:
tornadoes:
a storm lizard:
SPOILER: a secret!

The second game, Golden Sun: the Lost Age, which is a continuation of the first game's plot, contains just one desert (it has far more sailing around everywhere than the first game does, though). I don't remember the Yampi Desert being all that special, though it does have a cave in the area.

Screenshots:
overworld:
outdoor enemies:
cave in the desert:
SPOILER: boss

Images are courtesy of Golden Sun Wikia.

One of the curious things I just now realized is that the three deserts actually have different colors of sand.

This post has been edited by Glenn Magus Harvey on 4th February 2013 19:02

--------------------

Check the "What games are you playing at the moment?" thread for updates on what I've been playing.

You can find me on the Fediverse! I use Mastodon, where I am @[email protected] ( https://sakurajima.moe/@glennmagusharvey )

FF XII and Shadow of the Colossus were great choices. I'd have put them here if they weren't already up. Again, I'm sticking to games I've played in the last two or three years.

Uncharted 3 - The Rub' al Khali



I hate to bring up Uncharted again, but the Rub' al Khali stage in Uncharted 3 has some of the prettiest deserts of all time. OF ALL TIME.

Journey - The first 1/3 of the game



I hate to bring up Journey again, but the first third of Journey has some of the prettiest deserts of all time. OF ALL TIME.

Red Dead Redemption - around 3/4 of the game



Red Dead Redemption is one of my favorite open world games ever, and oh man its deserts were beautiful. Full of details and pathways and hidden secrets, with a massive area to explore. All of Nuevo Paradiso is desert, and so is all of New Austin except for the hills around Hennigan's Stead and the swamps near Thieves' Landing. That's well over half the map. And it's all great.

This post has been edited by laszlow on 5th February 2013 03:08

--------------------

this is a blog mostly about comics and videogames
END SPOILER