Board 8 > Anagram rates and ranks fictional settings

(+) Yeah! (+)

Rules:

1. Post a fictional setting (ex: Azeroth, Galaxy Far Far Away, etc)
2. The setting can be on Earth, but it has to have some kind of unreal element (ex: Harry Potter, Star Trek)
3. If I don't know the setting, I'll pull up its wiki page or whatever and research it a bit (ex: Bionicle)

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Your island in Animal Crossing New Horizons (if you don't have the game just think of "your" as nonspecific)

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Hope's Peak Academy

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Roshar
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Zemuria (Trails series)
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pyresword posted...

Zemuria (Trails series)

I had Liberl written out before changing my mind. thanks for picking up my slack
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Rapture (Bioshock)

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The Expanse

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Septerra Core

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Actually Interesting Setting Tier
Rapture

Pretty Cool Guy Tier
Roshar
Zemuria
Septerra Core
Animal Crossing

Not That Interesting Tier
Hopes Peak Academy
The Expanse

Actually Interesting Setting Tier

Rapture: Extreme libertarianism/anarcho-capitalism underwater, eh? 400 kilometers west of Iceland? Seems random. This is obviously a riff on Ayn Rands objectivism and John Galts whatever his stupid country is named. I like the element of irreligion added into this. It makes complete sense. I really hope the game references how the capitalist country during the Cold War was religious and the communist one was atheist. I LOVE the idea of paying for oxygen, and super elitist jackasses judging everyone poorer than themselves. I also like the origin of a guy running from communism building a super-capitalist society, thats a solid Ayn Rand reference. I guess my main problem with this is that the citys downfall comes from wacky chemicals and not the inherent logical problems that would inevitably lead to a societal collapse, but I appreciate the need for gameplay. I actually find the pre-Bioshock history of the city to be way more interesting than the setting as a place to go fight monsters in.

Pretty Cool Guy Tier

Roshar: Goddamn you, I couldve easily done a write-up of Scadriel. Mistborn is the only thing by this guy Ive read. Oh well. This continent is huge and ravaged by highstorms that have slurry that hardens into rock. That sounds pretty horrible. Every 500 days theres a month-long storm, ugh, and the place is covered in sentient energy? This looks like it gets more traditional high fantasy kingdoms and cultures than Scadriel. The money is spherical gemstones with one flattened side to prevent rolling? That might be the most impractical form of money short of teef in Warhammer 40K.

Zemuria: This is kind of a weird-looking continent with lots of cool islands, I appreciate that. 1200 years ago it had a super advanced civilization. Fiction is lousy with ancient fallen super civilizations, youd think they wouldnt fall so often if they were so advanced. Of note is that the wiki list of kingdoms listed Liberl Kingdom first, which I read as Liberal Kingdom. Ill take that over the Conservative Kingdom. Ah, its a continent in the midst of industrialization, but still has tons of airships, eh? The second I saw that the main factions are a Kingdom and an Empire, I knew the empire would be trying to conquer the kingdom and you have to stop them or whatever. I do like the symbol of the empire, though. A horse that looks frightened.
https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/kiseki/images/a/a6/Erebonia_Crest.png/revision/latest?cb=20180723091622
I was actually surprised to learn that Liberl had a problem with madness and cruelty thanks to an overreliance on a spooky magic swirl. Thats kind of interesting. I was ****ing shocked that the queen was an old woman and not a twelve-year-old girl or something. The setting seems pretty decent, but only like a 25% variation of the standard JRPG setting we all have in our mind.

Septerra Core: I could find only one page on the internet about this setting. So there are seven layers of continents that are connected by one big spine, and each has a different climate and society? Kind of an interesting concept. I like the city built out of junk thrown away by the society on the layer above it, thats kind of neat.

Animal Crossing: Ive never played Animal Crossing. Each game takes place in a small town or island owned by Tom Nook, and he runs a capitalist hellscape with a saccharine flavor, right? And all of the inhabitants are animals. Okay, so that raises this question: do the animals only marry within their own kind, which is why you have a discrete dog, bird, mole, etc, or do are they able to marry each other, and if thats the case, why is the current generation singular species? This setting seems poorly thought-out.

Not That Interesting Tier

Hopes Peak Academy: I knew this would be a high school without googling it, just because all anime is in high school. Thats not true, but I cant think of a single anime thats set in a college. So this school is hundreds of years old and specializes in teaching kids who are hyper-specialized in one skill that theyre the best in the world at? I wonder how you plan that out. Like if theres a kid who wants to be the best dog walker in the world, do they have to create a dog walking class and buy a bunch of unruly dogs? They also have a normal school attached that lets normal people attend in exchange for a high tuition. This is another high school where you live on campus, huh? Is that like a real thing in Japan? Because that happened in Persona 3, too. Anyway, seems like an unpleasant place to go to school.

The Expanse: I watched one season of this show and gave up. Im not a huge fan of semi-dystopic serious settings, sorry.

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I considered Scadriel but considering how the world was completely reshaped halfway through the series I thought it was impractical to nominate
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Raccoon City (Resident Evil)

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Aurbis (The Elder Scrolls)

Aperture Science

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Elysium (Disco Elysium)

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I don't think the world of One Piece actually has a name so I'll just say One Piece.

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Orthogonal universe (Clockwork Rocket trilogy)

Anagram posted...

but I cant think of a single anime thats set in a college.

Um, just off the top of my head there's Genshiken, Moyashimon, Tatami Galaxy, Otherworld Picnic (well they're college students at least), Honey and Clover, Oh My Goddess, Grand Blue, Steins;Gate 0 (if Okabe wasn't already in college in the original I forget) etc..
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You LOVE the idea of people paying for oxygen and elite jackasses lording it over those less fortunate, but don't think fondly of the expanse which has both of those things. Classic Anagram...

Anyway, let's see what other settings I can think of that haven't been talked to death already...

Xanth

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How about a setting that's been talkes to death about already

Spira
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Mr Crispy posted...

Steins;Gate 0 (if Okabe wasn't already in college in the original I forget)

Okabe, Daru, and Kurisu were in college/university in the original, yeah. Mayuri, Luka, and Faris were in High School. Though the original certainly wasn't set in a college! Honestly S;G 0 isn't either really although it's at least a place they go occasionally. >_>

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foundation_series

The setting of Asimov's Foundation and Robots series. It's basically the entire universe, but obviously his specific fictional universe.

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SovietOmega posted...

You LOVE the idea of people paying for oxygen and elite jackasses lording it over those less fortunate, but don't think fondly of the expanse which has both of those things. Classic Anagram...

I like the idea in the context of an Ayn Randian nightmare, I should say.

Mr Crispy posted...

Um, just off the top of my head there's Genshiken, Moyashimon, Tatami Galaxy, Otherworld Picnic (well they're college students at least), Honey and Clover, Oh My Goddess, Grand Blue, Steins;Gate 0 (if Okabe wasn't already in college in the original I forget) etc..

I've seen none of those, and have only heard of two. I'm very much not an anime guy.

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Hallownest (Hollow Knight)

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Bionis / Mechonis (don't know if there is a collective name for the whole setting) - Xenoblade Chronicles

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Gotham City

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Ivalice
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Nosgoth

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Dream Land (Kirby)

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British Empire Tier
Foundation Universe

French Empire Tier
Aurbis
Spira

Spanish Empire Tier
Ivalice
Rapture
One Piece Universe
Xanth
Orthogonal Universe
Half-Life Universe

German Empire Tier
Bionis and Mechanis
Nosgoth
Roshar
Zemuria
Septerra Core Universe
Animal Crossing Universe

Portuguese Empire Tier
Hopes Peak Academy
The Expanse Universe
Raccoon City

Italian Empire Tier
Dream Land

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Raccoon City: Correct me if Im wrong, but I always thought Raccoon City was just supposed to be New York City, right? The Wiki says its in the Midwest, which shocks me. Im surprised by the level of detail in the background, which says it was just a town that Umbrella moved into and invested in, which led to tourism and stuff. It even has a recession in the background! I respect that detail, but really, Raccoon City is just generic late 90s American city, it has no particular personality beyond that. Theres nothing here that really grips me as interesting in its own right, is what Im saying.

Aurbis: No joke, I didnt know the TES world had a name, I just knew Tamriel. Itd take too long to talk about all of the cool things in this universe because its too expansive, so Ill just focus on the weird fourth wall stuff. Does Vivic know hes in a video game? I dunnnnooooooo. Ive read so many stupid screencaps from 4chan about people analyzing Morrowind in way too much detail. I like the background of weird dwarf-built giant robots that would rewrite reality or whatever, its kind of hard to understand, but I absolutely love Dagoth Ur. Everything he says is a meme. Heres my favorite Dagoth Ur rap (there are multiple).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S4TKd9mPzvE

Half-Life Universe: So, this is basically two games: Portal and Half-Life. Half-Life first: I like the concept of a basically omnipotent super organization called the Combine taking over other dimensions, and Earth is just the tiniest of tiny sideshows, which means you can fight against them because they barely care. I dont know anything about Half-Life: Alyx, though, which may change things. As for Portal, Aperture Science is just so wonderfully silly. The basically infinite testing labs, Glados tragic backstory, Cave Johnson doing anything, its all great. Theres so much personality to the broken-down forgotten sections of the labs you get into in Portal 2.

Elysium (Disco Elysium): Actually, I wont do this one, because I plan to play Disco Elysium and dont want to spoil anything by looking up the wiki. Sorry.

Hollownest: Like with Disco Elysium, I plan to play this game at some point, so I dont want spoilers. Sorry.

Orthogonal Universe: I hated to do this, but theres no like information on this book, so I had to resort to TVTropes. I like the idea of building a generation ship that will experience time faster so that you have more time to research a way to stop the apocalypse, thats a neat idea. So, the physics of this universe are altered so that your state of motion determines how a dimension interacts with you, thats a fascinating idea. Unfortunately, the actual planet is not gone into great detail in TVTropes, except the alien species living on it. I like how weird and alien they are, not just humans but like things that split into four pieces on birth and so on. Overall, this looks well thought-out, but I havent read anything in it, obviously.

Xanth: So, a fantasy world shaped like Florida, with a chasm in the center, filled with fantasy creatures and humans, and everyone is born with a unique magical ability? Most importantly, the magic of this universe is based on pun logic, so tulips will kiss you because two-lips, black people show up from Earth and become blue and red because colored people, etc. Im gonna level with you: Im a fan of terrible puns, but I have my limits. Aside from that, what Im reading seems like a pretty good fantasy series. Im not a huge fan of everyone has a different talent, Ive seen that a million times in the past, but Xanth is from like 1977, so Im sure its one of the first, so Ill allow it.

Spira: My second favorite Final Fantasy setting, Spira really does a great job of showing off the games themes of death and nothing changing. Everyone is just used to Sin. Like they scream and stuff, but only the Al Bhed and Tidus are like man, we should do stuff about this. Nothing is allowed to change, the church keeps things in constant stasis (I want to know the biggest JRPG where the church isnt evil), and a monster occasionally shows up and destroys your cities. Blitzball is a great piece of flavor, the villages you visit are boring but thats kind of the point, and I never dodged 100 lightning bolts, Im sorry but it was just too boring. Probably the coolest idea in the entire game is the Unsent and humans being made of pyreflies, thats just so ****ing brilliant. The vaguely Southeast Asian flavoring also gives the game a unique feeling, since every other JRPG ever is set in not!Europe or not!Japan. Spira is a great setting for the last good Final Fantasy.

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Foundation: Do you like 1500 pages of middle-aged scientists slowly discussing sociology and math? Then youll love Foundation. Foundation has one of the most brilliant ideas of any sci-fi: some guy invents a form of math that lets you predict the future of societies, but not individuals within them, so you can broadly predict stuff for thousands of years. Then he creates two organizations to manage it, the Foundation and the secret Second Foundation, which has psychic powers for reasons that are both explained and incredibly vague. Then theres another faction involved of space hippies with even better psychic powers. But really, Im going to spoil every Isaac Asimov book for you: someone was secretly manipulating everyone else in the book, and his plan is revealed in the last ten pages. That is every book. Oh, the Robots series is also fun, I like the idea of humans going into space with robots, building utopias, then being super racist against people who stayed on Earth, then the Earthlings going into space themselves without robots. I love the idea of robots deciding the humans are better off without them (mostly), so they become mythological creatures. I love the idea of a planet where the people believe so much in individuality that they divide into 1600 plots of land, everyone lives on their farms with their robots, and no one ever sees each other in person, only in holograms, and they develop bizarre phobias as a result. The other planets are kind of more boring, though. By the way, reading Foundation quickly makes you realize how much every other sci-fi series basically just stole everything from this and Dune.

Bionis and Mechanis: Mega spoilers for Xenoblade Chronicles. Giant robots, one of metal and one of biology, fighting in an infinite ocean, and humans and other creatures live on them in cities and villages, ignoring how gravity would play into this at all. At first, I thought this was a fun, dumb setting for a JRPG And then I found out that was sort of the point. Actually, its a fake universe created by an experiment on Earth gone wrong. But focusing just on Bionis and Mechanis, I like the High Entia, who are basically just elves who get their asses destroyed. Nopons are just your standard JRPG cutesy guys. Machina are fine. Not sure what to say about them. Overall, this is an okay setting, but not the best.

Gotham City: Everyone loves the gothic style of Gotham City. Its always gripped by 1930s mobsters, its always about to be destroyed by supervillains, and yet no one seems to ever move. A lot of Gothams appeal comes from being so old that a bunch of really specific locations were cranked out by writers and built up over time, and are now just the locations of comics. Arkham Asylum in particular. I mean, really, what do you even say about Gotham? Instead, lets talk about how stupid it is that Gotham and Metropolis are literally next to each other in Batman vs Superman. So dumb.

Ivalice: Ivalice is kind of a bizarre story. It got more interesting over time, but the quality of games took a nosedive. FFT is great, but as far as Ivalice is concerned, its a generic JRPG setting with a powerful evil church, medieval Europe, etc. FFTA adds nonhuman races, then does nothing with them. Then FFXII shows up, really fleshes out the human kingdoms and stuff, and the game is poop. And youre free to disagree with that, but I think everyone agrees that its stupid that your only party members are humans and bunny humans. Anyway, Im not the BIGGEST fan of ancient gods reawakening and getting up to shenanigans, so theres a limited amount of appeal in this to me, but I do like how FFXII at least tries to feel like a realistic world. Theres one moment in the game when an admiral makes a powerplay, is completely out of his league, and his fleet is destroyed. The narrator (who people say is supposed to be Welsh, but he just sounds Indian to me) says the twelfth fleet was destroyed, and I was like, man, thats a good way to imply realism, in that it implies the existence of a larger semi-modern military structure. Too bad about the rest of the game.

Nosgoth: The Legacy of Kain universe? Jesus Christ, talk about a game series Ive never touched before. Was this just an attempt to choose the most obscure thing possible? Okay, well, the vampire Kain conquers the world and sends humans fleeing to the edges. He then bounces, leaving his five lieutenants in charge of clans that fight each other. Meanwhile, the humans build technology to fight the vampires, who unite against them, triggering a war comprised of twenty minutes of gameplay to see who can get thirty kills first. I like the idea of vampires conquering the world, then mismanaging everything and screwing everything up, to the point where the world is effectively doomed.

One Piece Universe: Ive never watched One Piece because I almost never touch anime, but I know the basic premise of the world. There are a ton of islands, each with their own gimmicks (like candy island or whatever), pirates run around not stealing anything, and theres a mystical treasure called One Piece that the series is ostensibly about finding, but that never actually gets found. Most of all, you eat a magical fruit and get a unique magical power. I respect how the creator started working on this as a kid, continued into adulthood, and never got bored (unlike, say, Akira Toriyama), and just keeps pumping out more imaginative islands. Ill be honest, this type of wacky childish anime stuff with dark cruel backstories for the characters isnt EXACTLY my jam, but I appreciate the craft, especially the level of detail into some of these panels. Im looking up examples of islands now, and the island with the crazy woman who turns you into candy or trees or whatever and its all saccharine is kind of funny, Ill rate that as my favorite.

Dream Land: Im going to sidestep talking about Dream Land by just saying that wacky childish universes arent exactly my thing. I prefer a little meatier worldbuilding and storytelling. Instead, Ill complain about people who insist Kirby is the most powerful character in fiction and ruin discussions about the strongest SSB character. I realize Kirby fights crazy dark monsters or whatever, but hes clearly not intended to have infinite power or whatever that one line about him claimed.

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Dragon Breaks and CHIM are just the tip of the Iceberg for TES's weird fucking lore
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Anagram posted...

(I want to know the biggest JRPG where the church isnt evil)

The Legend of Heroes where some people think the last arc is going to be the Church fighting against the Organization
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Gravity Falls

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Middle Earth

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Scadrial.

Was gonna do Roshar.

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Anagram posted...

(I want to know the biggest JRPG where the church isnt evil)

Dragon Quest?

Babylon 5

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Reg posted...

Dragon Quest?

is the church in dq ever plot relevant though? It seems to be mostly a glorified save point/resurrection shop.

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Hades

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Castle Oblivion (Kingdom Hearts)

Superjail (Superjail)

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Nice to see the Orthogonal series get some love. Pretty much everything I've read by Greg Egan has been solid. This particular universe was fun in that he took an equation, turned a - into a +, and then extrapolated the resulting consequences in terms of how light and matter functioned and made a trilogy out of it.

Hmm...let's go with a classic this time....Flatland

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Space Jam

Eberron

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Galaxy (The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy)

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NFUN posted...

Dragon Breaks and CHIM are just the tip of the Iceberg for TES's weird fucking lore

CHIM seems like the most important strange thing, though.

NFUN posted...

The Legend of Heroes where some people think the last arc is going to be the Church fighting against the Organization

Legend of Heroes was not quite the biggest series I was thinking of.

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Johnbobb posted...

Hades

What version of Hades is this supposed to be?

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I can't really recall anywhere of Raccoon being mentioned as inspired by New York. Could be something I'm forgetting.

But anyway I really love the design of Raccoon City. All its little building and businesses and alleys just teem with personality for me.

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Snake5555555555 posted...

I can't really recall anywhere of Raccoon being mentioned as inspired by New York. Could be something I'm forgetting.

But anyway I really love the design of Raccoon City. All its little building and businesses and alleys just teem with personality for me.

Are you talking about the new or old version?

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