RPGs are known for their numbers.
The numbers that go up when you win a battle.
The number of dialogue choices available in any given conversation.
But part of what makes anRPGsuccessful is impossible to quantify.
It’s something simple, but also indefinable.
How does the game feel to play in the downtime between big events?
What does it feel like to inhabit the game’s world?
Are there characters that are worth talking to?
And is the place where they live interesting?
Sea of Stars is a great RPG.
I said so in my reviewhere.
Ialsosaid that one of its only real problems is that its towns just aren’t very good.
I grew up onPokemon.
Playing Sea of Stars has me thinking about what exactly it is that makes a good RPG town?
Is it just that you might talk to everybody?
Is there more to it?
It depends on the kind of RPG were talking about.
In fact, I would love to see more developers outright steal this presentation.
Even in a city as sprawling as Saint Denis, everyone is able to talk to you.
That makes the world feel real, but it also isn’t possible for most studios.
At the moment, I’m playingBaldur’s Gate 3.
Your early adventuring can take you to a few different settlements.
There’s the Druid Grove, the Blighted Village, and the Goblin Camp.
One child merchant might distract you while another steals your gold and hides it away.
You might attempt to guide an Owlbear through a racetrack in exchange for its freedom.
You might walk in on an ogre banging a bugbear in a barn.
Ultimately, a game can accomplish a similar feeling with a much smaller budget.
An old man sitting in his house in Pokemon might not do anything but say one line.
But if the line is memorable, then it helps to paint in that corner of the world.
Or, the developers could place a useful item in the trash can in the corner of the room.
Or the character could be running around the house because theyre late for work.
Wherever you go, it feels like theres stuff however small going on.
In the end, thats all I really want from an RPG town.
Or, it might be that a Druid is locked up in the dungeons below a goblin encampment.
NEXT:How Baldur’s Gate 3 Makes You Feel Like Your Decisions Really Matter
