Topic: Generic World Theme

Hey guys. This is an extremely obscure and random topic, but I've been debating in my head which generic environmental theme for like say a platforming game world or a section of a world in an RPG/Action Adventure is my favorite... This may not be the greatest example, but like for instance in Sonic Lost World:
Windy Valley- Grass
Desert Ruins- Desert
Tropical Coast- Water
Frozen Factory- Snow/Ice
Silent Forest- Forest/Ruins
Sky Road- Sky/Clouds
Lava Mountain- Lava

Obviously, there are some I missed. I'm just curious to what you guys' favorite generic world theme is. For me, in terms of platforming, I've always been a fan of lava levels as they provide a foreboding atmosphere and precise challenge. Desert set levels aren't that bad either.

Never really thought about it, but maybe Water worlds, at least in recent games I've played that have had such conventions.

Desert worlds/areas are by far the worst though (the ones in Mario Odyssey & Xenoblade 2 were pretty good, though).

i often hear people have a special relationship with that water temple from zelda OoT

i most like forest and lava as a setting. best atmosphere. desert can be cool too. well all can be cool, but mostly i like those the most

Thanks for the input y'all. Yeah, I almost forgot about the forest theme, that one is just lovely. An example I particularly like is the Forest Temple from OoT. This may contradict my interest in the Desert environments, I think I'm a bigger fan of the more claustrophobic closed off spaces, such as forests provide. Like Metroid style in a sense.

For me, anything but water worlds - it's such a wrench in platformers and adventure games to be forced to deal with what are usually slow and ungainly swimming controls when the land action is so much more dynamic.

Personally, I love a good forest/ruins level, although it's a shame that these are often used in earlier, easier sections.

@Krill Yeah, those are great points. I feel like I really want to like water environments, but the mechanics are never executed in a a way I enjoy (other than the Gravity suit from Metroid, which isn't different from traversing on land). The Forest theme really does deserve more attention as a later, more difficult level.

Excuse me, @Krull My phone's autocorrect is ridicoulous

@FireMario887
I Love Icy, Deep Sea and Tropical Island theme for my games, because i Love Blue color and Tropical places just like my country Indonesia.

Forest and water levels where you can climb or dive are usually pretty interesting. Of course there’s a fine line with forest levels, as they’re lame as hell if ‘forest’ means ‘generic deciduous starter level with as much character as those endless forest paths from the Pokemon anime’ to the devs.

Zelda has always been pretty great at not falling into that trap, which was why it was such a shame that there wasn’t a real forest temple in Skyward Sword.

If a dev is willing to create a dark underwater level thins can get really cool, as there’s really nothing like deep water in terms of imagery you can sit in the middle of and just soak in.

I was always a big fan of ice/snow worlds, not really sure why.

@6ch6ris6 I remember disliking the water temple on the N64, but fortunately they added a few things which helped the 3DS version a bit more manageable. However, I always enjoyed fighting Dark Link in the water temple.

As far as themed levels go, I always enjoy well build grass and forest levels. Especially large expanses of grass, which feel very relaxing to me. Unless of course a guardian is coming after you and there's no place to hide!

Here's my general perspective on water in video games- I think they add a necessary fluid (no pun intended) and moving aspect to the environment solely based on my opinion of the aesthetics. Plus, like someone mentioned, blue is also my favorite color and it's nice to see the water typically provide that blue color where it is usually absent. Now in terms of gameplay mechanics, playing underwater usually sucks, well when swimming is involved anyway, because said swimming typically revolves around slowing the character. However, I think water levels are at their strongest when they make use of currents and high-speed swimming mechanics for high speed thrills. I can think of a few levels from Sonic games that provide high speed water thrills, such as Aquariam Park from Colors, Hydrocity, and even that water slide level in Sonic Forces. I think Zelda did it right one time as well with the Ancient Cistern and arguably Twilight Princess with the Lakebed Temple as well. Just my thoughts though