Koorong in SaGa Frontier is pretty awesome because it reminds me of a future city with background alleys, too. Also, just about the entire SaGa Frontier II game because hand-drawn backgrounds are quite awesome.

ICO and Shadow of the Colossus definitely
the castle in ICO is hauntingly beautiful, especially in the throne room and the empty courtyards
just about any place with water and great architectural structures in Shadow of the Colossus was breathtaking
Oh and also the spring in FFX in the macalania woods with its overwhelming sense of phantasmagoria and surrealism.

God of War.
Athens, the cliff where you can go left or right.
Y'all know what I'm talkin' about.

Damn.

Okay, in case you don't know what I'm talking about, you're fighting your way to/through Athens, and you come up to a cliff with a steep dropoff and paths leading left and right. As you look over the cliff, you see the Athenian army fighting a (mostly futile) battle with Ares, who's about as tall as the mountain itself. I gained a whole new level of respect for action/adventure games when I saw that.

Also, some of the animated cityscape backgrounds in Xenosaga 3 were very impressive. They really made the environment come to life, far more than in either of the other two entries in the series.

"Space Quest XII" in Space Quest IV (time travel is fun, isn't it? :p). Dark red sky, ruined buildings and rubble all around, the gigantic dome in the background, eerie music, lightning flashes every now and again, and the only things around other than yourself are a screaming cyborg and a Droid-O-Death.

Now THAT'S a powerful atmosphere.

Yoshi's Story. Some of the most surreal scenery of all time, and it perfectly fits in with the rest of that acid trip of a game.

HL2. All the stages/maps were simply awesome. Especially when the music comes in, it really felt like you were in the game.

Maybe not necessarily immersive, but a real WTF moment for me has to be in Super Castlevania IV. Where you're in the green spinning room and skeletons burst out of the walls in the background and land in front of you. I still remember sitting in the family room with my brothers when that part came up. It was so amazing because no one knew what the SNES could really do up until that point. Awsome!

I'm not sure if this was mentioned yet, I believe the picture speaks for itself:

Cute, but actually more like this

The first time I really noticed backgrounds in a game was in Marathon 2. I had no idea how the engine worked, so I thought that the massive alien skyscraper rising out of the distant clouds was actually rendered and that I could get to it if I knew how.

Along those same lines, the Nar Shaddaa backgound in Dark Forces was really terrific; it really gave the feeling of a city endlessly spiraling downwards.

Starcraft's briefing backgrounds and status screens were very evocative; wide shots of planets with ships in low orbit, shots of claustrophobic Terran technology, and my personal favorite, a mammoth Carrier hovering over a tiny Protoss settlement.

More recently, I've been very impressed with some of Squeenix's backgrounds. Besaid Island in FFX has a terrific sky, complete with a distant, flowing bank of storm clouds. The KH series has been particularly impressive in this regard: the starry background of Traverse Town (which is surprisingly detailed), the stunning sunset in Twilight Town, and the distant purple mountains, wreathed with fog, in Hollow Bastion.

By the bye, does anyone know anything about ripping/capturing backgrounds from game engines without resorting to screenshot taking? I'm always on the lookout for more to use as desktop wallpaper.

A backdrop is primarily used to establish moon and setting, and these are some examples of places which really give you a sense of awe or wonder:







I realize cityscapes aren't the only kind of backdrop, but for now, those are some examples of what I find to be really great scenes.

Not really a background, but more of a location: I'd have to say Ravenholm in HalfLife 2. I know a lot of people hate that place, but I have to say I relly felt involved in the game when I got there. Never knowing when something was gonna pop out of the shadows.

Granado Espada has some friggin' awesome visuals as well. Even at the lowest settings on graphics, its left me breathless on more than a few occasions.

Balamb Garden in Final Fantasy VIII really appealed to me. Especially when Quistis takes you to the secret area in the training center and there the Garden in the distance. There were many times I wish Balamb Garden existed in real life. It was just so awesome.

I also loved the battle in during the time compression (also in FFVIII), where the background seems to be melting while you're fighting the sorceress clones. Even though the graphics weren't the best, I still thought that part was really neat.

One of my favorites is FF9's Lindblum. From the moment you enter it via airship, you can see how big it is. While the actual game doesn't have the same scale as shown in the FMV (is it ever?), the city still felt pretty big. What I really like was how it felt like there were multiple levels; the highest level provided a really nice view of the city from a high vantage point as well. It has tons of personality and its regent is awesome.

http://www.ffodyssey.com/wallpapers/...m_1024x768.jpg

That's what I was going to list: Super Castlevania IV. Back in the day the sheer graphical power, combined with the immersive artistry of the backdrops, was just breathtaking and has stayed with me ever since. Other examples would be Earthworm Jim, Blood Omen, Barbarian II, IK+, the whole Silent Hill series (except the fourth entry)... Oh, what am I listing these for anyway? It's about personal taste and having been in that corner of time and space after all.

Dark Nation, do you know of a higher resolution image of the castle anywhere in the net?

Zorro

Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion
The first time you get out of jail and see the sunrise/sunset over the water...
Beautiful...

I'm now playing Riven - The sequel to Myst, and wow, it's impressing me more than I thought. You can see the islands from different points of view and while transporting between them, the interiors are pretty elaborated, also.

Oh~
No one mentioned Tekken 5's Moonlit Wilderness. Even without the music, immediately the first word that came to mind was "epic". Your characters just fight in the moonlight amidst the grass and puffy plants with a distant structure in the background iirc. Very beautiful.


I have to say the entire world of Okami is like a giant background. It's as if the whole world is a canvas literally, and you bring beauty to it. Thus said, the cel-shading works very effectively. Anytime the atmosphere bursts with activity, such as the growth of plants and the restoration of light (and even the darkness zones) you are left in awe at what is going on all around you. Atmosphere and background are one here.

I wish I did. Best bet right now is to either play the game on an emulator and screencap at that point (Which you can easily get to with Memorycard Saves), or to take a picture by blowing it up the traditional way.

Well, that's a little too much work for a mere picture, but thanks anyway :)

Zorro

I've always liked the backgrounds in 'Resident Evil 3'. The backgrounds did a great job of showing the death and destruction of Racoon City: destroyed buildings, crashed vehicles, busted up barricades, dead people (who are NOT walking around), things on fire, etc.

xman25

Odd that I never posted here before. I've played many a game with cool backgrounds, but the first game that actually made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside is FFXII. I felt like I was really going through the same locations as the party as I played, and the one location that really struck it home for me was the Phon Coast. Like damn, that place is so gorgeous. It'd be the perfect vacationing spot if it weren't for all the monsters running around.

http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b8...1003426062.jpg
This pic doesn't really do it justice, unfortunately. You need to see a much farther out view of the coast to understand what I'm getting at.

I also concur with FFVIII.

I don't have a picture, but talking FFXII, I was most impressed by the Sandsea when I first got there. Seeing the endless ocean of sand and walkways was an awe inspiring moment that makes you believe in the reality of the fantasy. That's what playing RPGs has always been about for me.

Edit: The Kastolatian Sea map and scenario in Ogre Battle is one of my favorite backgrounds as well. That was another moment where I felt impressed by the magnitude of everything as you fought off the mermaid hordes in a large ocean of islands.

http://www.houseofwacks.org/ogre/Wal...tage9Main.html