World Maps in JRPGs

Like many others out there, I always loved the traditional overworld maps we used to get in a lot of classic JRPGs. While maybe a little overlooked or forgotten these days, these were some of my favorite parts about the genre really. Over the years, the overworld map has evolved into various other styles, some good and some bad. This video takes a look at these numerous types of maps and analyzes the good/bad in each, along with mentioning our personal favorite takes on the world map. We hope you enjoy it and get a little nostalgia out of it.
Leave a comment below about your favorite type of map and if we missed some of your personal favorite examples. There were many other games I wanted to talk about and show footage of but we didn’t wanna make the video 30 minutes long lol. Also, please consider liking and subscribing if you haven’t already, as a really small channel it means the world to us and helps us grow! Links to our Patreon and Instagram are also below.
Patreon: / gamingbroductions
Instagram: / gamingbroductions
Intro/Outro Music: Richie Branson
Until next time everyone!
#VideoGameMaps #RPGWorldMaps #OverworldMaps

[@StudyofSwords]

Considering how much marketing the 90's consoles put into world maps, it's surprising how few video's on the subject there are. Very nice.

[@GamingBroductions]

We thought so too which is why we wanted to do a video over the subject. Thanks for watching!

[@krum1985]

I prefer the traditional overworld map. There is just something cool about seeing the world that way, getting to know how the world looks. I remember being quite disappointed that there was no world map in final fantasy X. To me at the time it really felt like the game would have been better with a world map, instead we got a list of destinations once you unlocked the airship.

[@DeadBoneJones]

I would describe the appeal of traditional overworlds as "mechanical impressionism." A lot of the time in a really big open world, most of it is just going to be empty space. Sometimes the scale in itself is majestic, but in Xenoblade for example, no matter how impressive Guar Plains is the first time you're going to be spending a lot of time just trekking back and forth through the grass hitting the same trash mobs. Because overworlds are condensed, they ironically feel bigger. You get an abstracted, emotional depiction of trekking over a massive distance, without the actual time and repetition needed to do that, and the levels you go into from the map are the condensed highlights of the downs and areas you actually need to explore. Everything feels bigger because you get more actual memorable stuff. You just don't remember the empty space in an open world beyond the stuff you sometimes do in it.

[@joelman1989]

Damn. This was such an insightful intelligent comment. Never thought of it this way but it makes so much sense. You just blew my mind for real. Smart dude…

[@goncaloferreira6429]

i agree, ni no kuni had perhaps the best( and last?) world map. it was traditional but used the best the technology of the time could offer. It is proof that not having world maps in jrpgs is just a choice.

[@samperkins3023]

I love that Legend of Mana lets you build out the world. They could’ve hinted more in-game about what the consequences of placing towns and dungeons in ideal locations had in store, but it was a treat for the imagination

[@StewNWT]

I hated that. One of the dumbest design decisions ever

[@grapes9h5]

The comprise in DQXI (HD) with the world map used just for ship traversal I think worked really well.

[@megamike15]

i never liked how people said we only had these maps due to hardware limitations. if anything jrpgs started feeling smaller once they got removed i can say the same about towns in the hd generation of jrpgs. it would not be until dq 11 where i felt this issue was fixed.

[@jonathansoko1085]

It doesnt matter if you like it or not dude, tis a fact and a reality whether you like it or not

[@ballroomscott]

I completely agree!

[@Wiseman108]

Personally I think towns in JRPGs are getting too big and convoluted, I prefer the smaller/cozier towns of the PS1 era games.

[@rod9527]

We Lost cities, towns, Unique dungeons, Unique areas, múltiple continents in pursue of the Open (lifeless) world

[@Wiseman108]

Legend of Dragoon technically had an overworld map, it was just travel was dot to dot style.

[@thesmoky1]

Quality content, seeing these maps really take me back

[@GamingBroductions]

Thanks, glad to hear you enjoy it. Nostalgia was the goal for this one

[@SecretHQReviews]

Great video man. MY favorite RPG series is easily Lunar. I also love the overworld map more than any other game.

[@GamingBroductions]

Thanks man. The Lunar series is one of my favorites as well. The first two games are definite classics

[@flyingdutchman8093]

I alway enjoy these videos, so much nostalgia

[@GamingBroductions]

Haha nostalgia is definitely the goal with these. We’re glad to hear you enjoy them!

[@kalitor]

This is a fun video! I think it showed up in my feed because I just posted a video on my channel @scholarsauce that showed that classic JRPG world maps like the ones in this video aren't actually spheres, but are each a torus instead. It's a mathematical take on the world maps that might make a fun juxtaposition to the more nostalgic, aesthetic, and story/gameplay driven take in this video.

[@andrewwood2556]

I think my 3 favourite maps are: Suikoden II, Final Fantasy VI, and Phantasy Star IV.

[@15kalas15]

always really loved overworld maps particularly tales of symphonia and both baten kaitos games

[@lnsflare1]

Tales of Hearts R on the it's was actually the last Tales games to have an overworld map.

[@BiohazardEXTREME]

I really miss world map overworlds. I vastly prefer them to having a large scale overworld (which inevitably is restricted to a smaller area, instead of the entire planet), or just warping from location to location. Not only was it cool getting a peek at what a given particular world is like, but it really made you feel like an explorer as well as an adventurer. Finding forgotten continents, islands, ruins, etc. was always so cool. I felt like Final Fantasy 8 did this particularly well. Places like Shumi Village, Cetra Ruins, and the Deep Sea Research Center weren't just somewhere to get cool stuff, they added so much to the lore and world building of the game.

[@Mayeur000Donz]

I can't tell if it's nostalgia, but I'm particularly drawn to the 3D Overworlds of the PS1 years. Maps defnitely got prettier afterwards, but with fewer details in the PS1 graphics my attention enjoys the geometry more. Not to mention, everything being blockier had kind of a sandcastle appeal; it's more fun to me when it takes on such non-natural shapes, sort of like a toy playset.

[@GamingBroductions]

That's a really interesting thought. At the time 3D was what the future of gaming was shaping up to be and it was exciting to get lost in a 3D world, especially on a world map. Looking at it now the blockier PS1 maps almost have a Minecraft type of look ha.

[@jonathansoko1085]

Its 100% nostalgia dude. Lets get real for one minute, most of the games you consider to be the best games ever from your childhood (this applies to me as well of course) are not that great if we break them down and really go into them mechanically. But thats okay, as long as you are aware that your nostalgia clouds reality. I prefer the old school jrpg formula myself, but im aware its not superior in any ways at all whatsoever, im all nostalgia fueld there and im okay with that and i wont pretend that things are better than they are, like most do on here. Im playing through chrono trigger on android right now, and let me tell you, its age shows and if this released today it would probably have got slammed. Anyways i digress, stil llike it but i prefer to look at this stuff with my reality glasses on

[@nuclearbeeberman]

great Video, wouldn't mind another one that shows even more world maps

[@juzweytnc]

Damn. I miss those era esp when world map illustration is available in game manuals. Yes. Games back then have manual book included which includes world map and some character illustration and description without extra fee.

[@S_Hyde]

I do miss world maps... Specially in Tales Of games,

[@GamingBroductions]

Yeah love having a solid world map, which one is your favorite?

[@stefanoberli5920]

Not being able to actually travel between locations ruins the worldbuilding and makes it feel like a game with stages. I first felt that way about FFT as it was the first rgp I played that had a point n click world map. This was a few months after been blown away by FF7s world map, so that didnt help. Yeah world maps were a big thing back then!

[@Taikaru]

Oh that Xenogears music nostalgia! Such a great game/series; needs a continuation. World maps are the best for the reasons you mentioned, and the lack of them in modern games is a big disappointment. I liked FF7 Remake, but am very concerned from previews that they're eliminating the world map. Hope I'm wrong.

[@moffxanatos6376]

With Non Euclidean games like Anti-Chamber, Superliminial, or even quasi ones like Portal, it should be entirely possible to make seamless overworld/map transitions in modern, otherwise open world games, even to houses that are bigger on the inside as is often the case in older JRPGs, and towns that grow in size as you enter them, representing the illusion of distant objects getting larger as you get closer, but actually using that as a means of map transition so as you get closer or further away from a town or dungeon, it ACTUALLY shrinks and grows.

[@ballroomscott]

My personal preference is for fully open worlds or overworld maps over interconnected areas. Playing Dragon quest VIII and Final Fantasy XII around the same time really helped me form my opinion on this. But I had already started to feel that with the difference between FFIX and FFX.

[@benvids]

Great video. World Maps made JRPGs feel much grander in scope, as though you were exploring the an entire world. FF8 is a personal favourite. Final Fantasy XV was a good middle-ground between modern open worlds and classic World map traversal. Pokemon does a great job of making the journey feel like a big on-foot adventure.

[@deathcabdanh]

Love the channel

[@TylerEdlin84]

God that world map on suikoden 3 is enough not to replay it. Made it a slog

[@niko3g]

great video

[@GamingBroductions]

Thank you for watching!

[@CRedd9830]

Skies of Arcadia has by farrr my favorite world map.

[@GamingBroductions]

Being able to fly around on ship and discovering new locations is great. Why is it your favorite?

[@CappuccinO80]

What modern JRPGs have overworld maps? Bought Tales of Arise and it doesn't have one. Disappointed me to no end.

[@otismcfeely6401]

FF 7 was my first WM. Pokemon was a good regional exploration map

[@mimithedoll]

Love it

[@teamhammerbros8466]

i really disagree about Breath of Fire 4’s overworld being Confusing. It’s extremely simple. It’s like super mario’s overworld. I do agree the color scheme is a little lacking.

[@lilstrawhat]

I probably wasn't paying attention but what exactly was that game at 10:35

[@axle4060]

Wild Arms 2

[@SixersOctavian]

What’s the game shown at 0:14? Very cool looking

[@GamingBroductions]

That is Chrono Cross!

[@MikeMethot256]

Xenoblade chronicles X has an awesome world map I only wish it wasn't so empty and actually had a few towns to explore

[@GamingBroductions]

Yeah I know what you mean, the single town does make sense in the context of the story but in retrospect it would be really cool to have other towns you can come across with that exploration style since we’ve yet to get another game in the series with mech traversal

[@buttpaste]

what is the game at 0:14? 3:00? and 10:54?

[@GATXShinGundam]

Wow, what is the name of this game 2:52 ?

[@axle4060]

Wild Arms 2

[@GamingBroductions]

Correct!

[@arumyn3070]

WHAT IS THIS GAME? 0:14

[@GamingBroductions]

Chrono Cross! Though the whole game doesn’t have that same art style, it’s just a unique location

[@fairytalesdied]

Gh in Ghibli is same as gh in ghost, so it is not pronounced as ‘jee-blee’

[@unboundbeartic6428]

The Pokemon style is my favorite.

[@dustincarter7736]

Please make background music louder. I can still hear you talking a little bit l.

[@Yoyoitsyoji]

0:15 what game is this?

[@axle4060]

Chrono Cross

[@Yoyoitsyoji]

@@axle4060 thx!

[@morgankingsley8711]

Zelda is arguably my best example

[@oofingberg]

I hate world maps they pull me out of the game and make the game feel unconnected. I much prefer fully connected „regions“. I like how in newer games you can go from a village to a forest into a dungeon and then into a castle without ever changing the perspective of the camera. It makes it feel more connected in my opinion

[@Chakeeria]

Point'n'click world maps are such a letdown, im looking at you BF4 and Suikoden 3.

[@christalbott450]

{••••Hey.. God is literally the maker of all. His son Jesus died to forgive all and rose to life 3 days later. ••••} Breathe air.

[@cameronkemp9742]

DID YOU JUST SAY WEETHER???

[@StewNWT]

FFVIII had one of the most boring world maps ever created.

[@jonathansoko1085]

JRPG's do not ever need to have an openworld map. The only time its appropriate, is for throwback snes style'd jrpg's and il even say ps1 style jrpg's. If its a more modern take, it makes zero sense for the deisgn but a game not having one is a hilarious thing to get hung up on. Its clearly one of those nostalgia bombs for you, it reminds you of something warm you enjoyed so now you think it has to have it

[@Luso1221]

Even if it's unnecessary, you can't deny that a world map adds a lot of charm.