Final Fantasy World Maps
Final Fantasy World Maps
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Which Final Fantasy Has The Biggest World Map?
Calculating and comparing the size of video game worlds can be quite a tricky endeavor. Games often take liberties in making their world traversable for the sake of gameplay — realism in this aspect would make a game dreadfully boring. Imagine walking the full length of Skyrim in real life when Skyrim is supposed to be a full country.
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With the grand variety of games that Final Fantasy has, it’s even trickier to try and compare them. How does one put up the 2D worlds of the SNES games against the open-world environments of Final Fantasy 15? And what of the games with multiple worlds to visit? Any answer will be controversial, really.
11/11 Final Fantasy 5
Final Fantasy 5 is a bit of an odd case. Over the course of the game, Bartz and co. will travel to two quite different worlds with different geographies. Towards the end of the game, those two worlds will merge together in the state that they began in thousands of years in the past.
Despite having three separate ‘world maps’ the actual world seems quite limited in size. Settlements are small, the only notable geographical standouts are some desert areas with no tundra or barren wastelands to explore.
10/11 Final Fantasy 9
While some may argue that the existence of another entire planet inside Gaia gives Final Fantasy 9 a grander scale than other games, the planet is decidedly small.
What we have to go on is the world map.
It features four continents — yes, even the tiny Outer Continent counts. Each has very distinct environments, but apart from the Mist Continent, everywhere is just a little bit barren.
9/11 Final Fantasy 7
The first few entries here will be games with ‘normal’ seeming worlds analogous to our own earth. Notably, these are the PS1 entries. They have multiple continents with intercontinental travel, a range of biomes, and a traversable world map that gives us some sense of scale.
Final Fantasy 7 seems the smallest of these three worlds with a pretty compact world map, it does however support very large cities (especially the monstrous Midgar) and intercontinental travel with ships and airships.
8/11 Final Fantasy 8
The world of Final Fantasy 8 seems like it might be the biggest of the PS1 era. It’s large enough to support multiple very large cities, intercontinental railways, and three very big continents.
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One thing may give players pause, however, and that is the Horizon Bridge. Even in a world with magic and Centran technology an engineering project of that scale would be a colossal undertaking. Imagine a bridge connecting Europe and North America.
7/11 Final Fantasy 6
Just like Final Fantasy 5, Final Fantasy 6 has the party exploring more than one world — only in this one, it’s two versions of the same world. Halfway through the game, the nefarious yet magical Kefka wreaks havoc across the entire globe and sends the world into a state of ruin.
While the world remains somewhat recognizable, it’s a whole new world map with new locations to explore, so it’s definitely one of the bigger ‘game worlds’!
6/11 Final Fantasy 4
Like Final Fantasy 5, this game features three distinct world maps that the player will explore. Unlike Final Fantasy 5, these maps don’t end up merging — players will explore the planet’s surface, and underworld of lava and darkness, and the moon.
While the latter is largely free of life and seems an extended final dungeon, it certainly adds to the scope of the game.
What’s notable about Final Fantasy 4’s world is the sheer number of settlements, towns, and castles that the player can visit. With so many different kingdoms, it’s not a surprise that four of the playable characters are either royalty at the beginning of the game or end up becoming royalty at the end.
5/11 Final Fantasy 15
With a famously open world of over 700 square miles, Final Fantasy 15 is a big contender for one of the largest explorable game worlds ever and often ends up on such lists. While much of it can only be flown over or viewed in the distance or in maps, it’s certainly gigantic.
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Comparing this to other games is tricky, however, as players seem to really only explore one part of Final Fantasy 15’s world. While it has snowfields these are a magical, not geographical, feature, but it does have some huge cities that only a larger world would be able to sustain.
4/11 Final Fantasy 11
Final Fantasy 11 gameplay
As an MMORPG with multiple expansions, Final Fantasy 11 certainly has an advantage in comparisons of world size — it just got bigger with every new release!
With its expansive areas, diverse environments, and all the ways that players can use to travel between areas, Final Fantasy 11 is definitely big. And it feels big too — players will certainly remember the first times they wandered beyond their starting cities to find new settlements in which to quest and how long it took them to get there.
3/11 Final Fantasy 13
Players will explore two separate ‘worlds’ over the course of Final Fantasy 13 — the world of Cocoon and the world of Gran Pulse. The former appears to be some sort of idyllic Dyson Sphere structure that supports a huge population, thriving with technological advancement.
The latter is only explored a little and the parts that are shown are gigantic sprawls of lush grassland and rocky mountains.
In an interview with Final Fantasy 13’s director, Motomu Toriyama suggested that Cocoon is about the size of North America and Gran Pulse is the size of the earth, giving players a fairly accurate estimation of the sheer size of the game’s world map. It’s big.
2/11 The Ivalice Alliance
Thanks to multiple games taking place in the same world over different eras, we both have an idea and have no idea just how big the worlds of Final Fantasy 12, Final Fantasy Tactics, and Final Fantasy Tactics Advance 2 are.
Each game may feature common names for certain locations but each has a vastly different world map which leads gamers to conclude that the world must be very large indeed. This is especially true when considering how big Final Fantasy 12 is, with its three continents and sheer diversity of environments to explore.
1/11 Final Fantasy 14
Final Fantasy 14 is another MMORPG that benefits from still having regular development updates and an upcoming expansion which will make its already sizeable world even bigger.
At the beginning of its life, players could only explore the continent of Eorzea and while it seemed quite big there was no doubt that its scale was nothing compared to the likes of games where players explored entire worlds.
These days, however, players venture off to other continents and even other worlds — and with so many other nations namedropped in recent events, it looks like the game is only going to get larger. Especially if we eventually get access to more worlds.
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top books of all time
Let’s move to distant magical places, not at all similar to our reality. The best fantasy books are the works of recognized masters: Tolkien, Pratchett, Zelazny, Ursula le Guin. Our list also includes sensational novels by Andrzej Sapkowski, George Martin and other contemporary authors.
It is difficult to part with beloved magical worlds.
Fortunately, most fantasy works are entire series of novels. In this collection, we have included the first parts of the cycles to help you navigate them. Watch the video review on our YouTube channel.
The Witcher, Andrzej Sapkowski
Andrzej Sapkowski is the most famous Polish writer. His novels about the adventures of the witcher have been translated into 16 languages and diverge in large numbers. Based on his works, two TV series were shot and a series of popular computer games was created.
Sapkowski’s books form a cycle called The Witcher’s Saga. It contains eight novels. The first seven were written in 80–90’s and included in The Witcher collection. Sapkowski wrote his last book about a magical mercenary in 2013. He also has several short stories set in the same universe.
The world of the witcher is known as Neverland, or the Continent.
It is built according to all the canons of fantasy. Humans, elves, dwarves and other sentient races coexist with monsters. The uniqueness of this universe is in the East Slavic atmosphere. The author thought through the history in detail and realistically showed the complex political relations between his states.
The books tell about the fate of one of the last witchers. His name is Geralt of Rivia. This is a magical mutant trained to hunt monsters. He travels around the countries of the Continent doing dirty work for money. Cynical and reclusive, he gradually gains several friends and even an adopted daughter, Ciri. It is with her that the main plot of the cycle is connected.
Despite the traditional scenery for the genre, The Witcher cannot be called a classic fantasy. Sapkowski’s texts are called postmodernist. The psychology of the characters is more in line with modern people. Life is not divided into black and white, there are no good and bad in it.
The writer very naturally describes xenophobia, cruelty, violence and war. The books touch upon issues of ecology, racial discrimination, and the price of progress that are relevant to us.
Game of Thrones, George Martin
The grandiose fantasy novel «Game of Thrones» by American author George Martin is known to everyone. One of the most high-budget and popular series of the 21st century was filmed on it. The film adaptation increased the already large fan community of the Seven Kingdoms several times over.
Game of Thrones is the first book in the A Song of Ice and Fire series. Martin wanted to write a trilogy, but the series turned out to be more ambitious. It currently contains five volumes and two more are in the pipeline.
Fantast conceived A Song of Ice and Fire as an epic detailed fantasy in the vein of The Lord of the Rings.
His universe is realistic, and magic is given little attention here. This world is full of complex characters, grandiose events and intrigue. The writer was inspired by the real history of the Middle Ages.
The book «Game of Thrones» formed the basis of the first season of the series. This novel introduces readers to numerous characters and the backstory of major events. There are three main storylines. The first tells about the struggle for power on the continent of Westeros. The second is dedicated to the invasion of wild tribes and the magical race of the Others. The action of the third takes place on another continent, Essos, where the daughter of the deposed ruler of the Seven Kingdoms wanders.
Critics and fans alike recognize Game of Thrones as one of the greatest works of the genre. He received the Nebula and Locus awards, as well as a nomination for the World Fantasy Award.
The Wizard of Earthsea, Ursula Le Guin
The American writer Ursula Le Guin is known as the author of high-quality and serious science fiction of the 60s and 70s.
She also came up with a fictional magical reality — Earthsea, which was loved by both adults and teenagers. In terms of epicness, fascination and depth, it is not inferior to the fantasy of Tolkien, Martin and Pratchett.
Earthsea is the setting for several of Le Guin’s novels of the same name. The first part, titled The Wizard of Earthsea, was written in 1968. By 2001, the writer had created six more books.
Earthsea is a large archipelago where humans and mythical creatures coexist. Magic here is unusual and close to science. To learn magic, you need to master True Speech. This ancient language contains the true names of things and phenomena.
The main character is the powerful magician Ged. In his youth, he was unusually talented, but impatient and proud. At the school of magic, he arrogantly summons a terrible Shadow from the world of the dead and almost loses his life because of this.
He is frightened by the summoned ghost and hides from him for many years. Having matured, Ged decides to catch the Shadow and begins to wander the islands in search of her. Having overtaken the enemy, the magician learns the terrible truth.
A Wizard of Earthsea is one of the best fantasy books out there. It is written in elegant language, fascinating and rich in new ideas. This is a story about important things in the life of every person. It teaches you to admit your shortcomings, get rid of arrogance, not hide from problems and appreciate friendship.
Shooter Stephen King
The famous writer Stephen King calls the Dark Tower cycle the main work of his life. This series belongs to the dark fantasy genre. It traces elements of horror and mysticism, which the writer masterfully owns. Finally, it is also a literary western. Stephen King was inspired by The Good, the Bad and the Ugly.
The series is finished and consists of seven volumes. The first part is called «Shooter». King wrote this book for ten years: from 1970 to 1980. The first time the novel was published in a limited edition, it went unnoticed. The larger and more accessible reprint made the book a bestseller. In 2003, shortly before the end of work on the cycle, King edited and supplemented Strelka. So the collection turned out to be more logical and solid. We have included the second edition of the novel in our selection.
The Dark Tower series is dedicated to Roland Deschain’s journey through a post-apocalyptic world that exists in parallel with ours. Roland is the last surviving gunslinger, a distant descendant of King Arthur. His goal is to get to the Dark Tower in order to restore order to his world. Along the way, he visits other planets and times, finds friends. The novel «The Shooter» tells about the meeting of Roland with a boy.
Young Jake died in his world and mysteriously ended up in another. He joins Roland, but the shooter is ready to sacrifice a new friend for his goal.
The series is closely related to many of King’s other books. Fans of the writer will be interested in finding references to the novels «The Shining», «It», «Confrontation». King does not just mention characters or events from other books, but harmoniously links them together. Thanks to this, the Dark Tower universe seems alive, huge and detailed.
The Gunslinger was on the New York Times bestseller list for a long time and was nominated for Locus. Subsequently, other novels in the cycle received this award. The Dark Tower is not like George Martin’s dark fantasy or the epic novel The Lord of the Rings. King’s works are primarily dedicated to people and talk about social problems.
Echo Maze Max Frei
Echo’s Labyrinths is a series of Russian-language fantasy stories.
It was written by co-authors Svetlana Martynchik and Igor Stepin under the pseudonym Max Fry. This name was not chosen by chance: this is the name of the main character of the books, on whose behalf the story is being told.
Several series have been written about Max Fry, including Echo Chronicles, Echo Dreams, Ragnarok, as well as a number of individual stories. In total, co-authors have about 60 works.
You should start reading from the Echo Labyrinths cycle to find out the background of the main events and get to know the main characters. The series includes eight books, each in turn consists of several stories. The first five parts of the cycle are combined into the collection “Labyrinths of Echo. Volume 1″.
A young man named Max from our world one day meets a character from his dream. He turns out to be the head of the magical police in a parallel universe.
He invites Max to move to Exo and become a detective. The hero agrees. In his new position, he begins investigations in which monsters, evil spirits and sorcerers are involved.
«Labyrinths of Echo» is written in a wonderful language. The co-authors have a light and pleasant style, and this is a rarity among Russian-language fantasy. Another important advantage of the series is humor. Books belong to the mennipei genre, which harmoniously combines serious and funny elements. Most readers love Echo for the atmosphere — not just magical, but cozy, kind and safe.
The Lord of the Rings, John Ronald Reuel Tolkien
The Lord of the Rings by John Tolkien is a classic of epic fantasy, the canon of the genre. The novel was written in 1948. In it, Tolkien continued the story told in The Hobbit, or There and Back Again. Immediately after its publication, The Lord of the Rings did not cause a stir among readers and critics.
The book was called childish and conservative.
Ten years after it was first published, The Lord of the Rings suddenly became a bestseller in the US. The hippies were delighted with the book. The novel began to be adapted for cinema, theater, and audio plays. A huge number of imitations appeared in the form of books and comics. Most of the later fantasy writers were inspired in one way or another by Tolkien’s writings.
The Lord of the Rings was written as a single book. When published, it was divided into three parts: The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers, and The Return of the King.
Tolkien created one of the largest and most harmonious fictional universes — Middle-earth. He prepared several detailed maps of this world, populated it with different races and magical creatures, thought out the flora. He even developed several new languages.
Tolkien managed to create an Anglo-Saxon epic, which had no analogues in English culture.
The novel «The Lord of the Rings» tells about the dangerous journey of the hobbit Frodo and his friends to the enemy country of Mordor. Thanks to the efforts of the magician Gandalf, Frodo inherits the Ring of Omnipotence from Uncle Bilbo, which must be destroyed in the mouth of a volcano in Mordor. The artifact longs to be taken by Sauron, the dark lord, the enemy of the free peoples of Middle-earth and the creator of the Ring. Meanwhile, Sauron’s troops are attacking neighboring countries.
The Lord of the Rings is a fairy tale in which good and evil exist, and the former wins, although it goes through many trials with difficult choices. This book strengthens faith in courage, friendship, love, loyalty and sacrifice.
The Nine Princes of Amber, Roger Zelazny
The famous American science fiction writer Roger Zelazny wrote about 20 novels. Half of them belong to the fantasy genre and are part of the Chronicles of Amber series. This cycle brought the writer the prestigious Locus magazine award.
«Chronicles of Amber» is united by the setting, the through plot and the main characters. They are divided into two subcycles, each containing five books and several short stories. In the first, the protagonist is Prince Corwin, heir to King Amber Oberon. The second sub-cycle tells about the adventures of his son Merlin. It is better to read the series in chronological order, starting with the book The Nine Princes of Amber.
The novel is set in the unique fictional world of Amber. Most fantastic universes somehow repeat each other and differ only in details. Zelazny came up with something completely original. The space of the cycle is striking in its scale. The writer did not limit himself to one place and time, but created a philosophical concept about the structure of the entire universe.
There are an unlimited number of parallel planets in his books, including Earth. All of them, to varying degrees, repeat the two original ones — Amber and Chaos.
The protagonist of the book, Corwin, lives in the first, most stable Shadow of Amber. It belongs to the royal family. Only its members can move between parallel worlds. When King Oberon of Amber disappears, his many sons begin to fight for the throne. As a result of the civil strife, Corwin loses his memory. But this does not prevent him from taking part in intrigues.
The Chronicles of Amber is the most paradoxical and varied fantasy. Zelazny’s books take readers away from reality. Each part of the cycle plunges deeper into secrets, reveals unexpected information and poses new mysteries.
Betrothed by the Cold, Kristel Dabo
The first novel in the tetralogy of the French writer Christelle Dabo.
This series will appeal to fans of the Potter. She made the same success in the fantasy world as the saga of the surviving boy. The internet is full of fan art based on Dabo’s novels. The world circulation of the first volume alone exceeded 500,000 copies.
According to the plot, 21 fragments of civilization are floating in the Universe — these are huge ark airships. Each ark lives according to its own laws. They are inhabited by people with superpowers. Someone can restore objects by touch, someone can create illusory objects, others can inflict pain with the power of thought.
The main character is a young Ophelia. The girl knows how to read the history of objects, feels the emotions of the people who touched them. She can also walk through mirrors. One day, Ophelia learns that she will have to leave her native airship, go to the distant Polis and get married there. Someone clearly wants to send the girl with the most unusual gift away.
But why? The heroine is waiting for a meeting with the Spirit of the Ark, an incredible Holiday of the Hours, and most importantly, she will have to fight for her life, love and freedom.
Watch! Watch!” Terry Pratchett
Terry Pratchett is a British writer best known for his Discworld series. In the 1990s he was the best-selling author in the UK. Pratchett began work on the series in the 80s and continued until his death in 2015. During this time, in his universe, he created about 40 novels, several stories and even a cookbook.
The works can be divided into four sub-cycles: Rincewind, Lancre Witches, Death and Guard. They differ not only in main characters and plots, but also in themes and genres. For example, the Watch sub-cycle is a social satire that is unlike the cynical adventures of Rincewind and the fairy tales of Death.
The first book of the same name was included in the list of the 200 best novels by the BBC.
«Guard! Guard! introduces readers to the main city of the Discworld Ankh-Morpork and the main characters of the series — city guards. The young dwarf Carrot goes to work in the Night Watch. He does not know that the organization is in decline. Carrot’s enthusiasm and ability lead to an improvement in the situation. At the same time, the dwarf is incredibly straightforward, he follows orders literally and does not understand any humor. This creates a lot of funny situations in the novel.
Pratchett’s books are inexplicably both high fantasy and a parody of it. The author created logical, lively, harmonious and unique stories. With the help of this surrealism, he studies the problems of modernity. Interesting philosophical ideas can be traced in his texts.
Remains of Steel, Richard Morgan
British writer Richard Morgan is best known as the author of Altered Carbon.
This is a sci-fi bestseller of 2002. The book was successfully filmed by Netflix, which added to Morgan’s popularity.
After several books in the science fiction genre, the writer created a trilogy called «A country worthy of its heroes.» Less attention was paid to her — and completely undeservedly. Morgan managed to make a relevant, dynamic and deep story out of traditional fantasy.
Recently, the trilogy received a better translation into Russian.
The first part is called «Steel Remains». In it, according to all the canons, Morgan describes the invented Middle Ages. It has an empire, dynasties, barbarians, magic, dragons. It is a dark and violent place where intolerance flourishes.
But instead of the classic types, Morgan places flawed characters in his story. The noble knight turns out to be a caustic homosexual with PTSD.
