The Best Setting for RPG's

As I continued on my journey in Ni no Kuni, I began to wonder what engrossed my attention to this particular game. It's not like the story was all that unique to the genre. It has your basic rpg hero plot. You go around the world with your posse to make the world a better place by defeating whatever evil entity is making it terrible. When it comes to combat, the magic and familiar system is nothing unique as a concept since I have seen it in the Tales games and yet, I knew there was something that drew me to this game. It was something that I had not seen in many video games as of late. What was it that drew me to this game and other role-playing games?

Real Pastoral Setting

It's always the setting of the game. Look at the best role-playing games to date. They are set in a pastoral world that you would see with stories such as The Chronicles of Narnia and The Lord of the Rings. It makes perfect sense. For some reason, that type of fantasy setting always gives you a mystical feel. That's why they are perfect settings for writing some of the greatest stories in both literature and video games. When I play a game like Valkyria Chronicles, my eyes light up and my imagination runs wild. When I play something too industrial, too city-like,  I feel that my taste need to be more matured and perfectly logical to enjoy. It makes sense if you compare it to a Shakespeare play. Just like in Shakespeare's A Midsummer's Night Dream, one of the themes that the author is trying to illustrate is that the outside of the city is the place where magic can happen while the city is where logic and reason can only occur.
 
Weather it be a Legend of Zelda, Shining Force I/II, or even a Final Fantasy game, I am always traveling in a pastoral setting. Maybe it's the bright green grass and the clear blue skies that make me feel adventures and the fauna that the surroundings produce. Maybe it's knowing that I will be traveling long distances not knowing exactly where I am going. Heck, maybe it's knowing that magic exists and there is logic to it in these unique worlds. Whatever it is, the best setting for the role-playing experience is the pastoral setting. You can never go wrong with it.