o.k there it goes my opinion...

dm map schloss.bsp in texture set and in game play the map is almost perfect

sp ac.bsp by vondur very balance level very solid contrucion and gameplay rockzzz 

The opening level of Unreal was stunningly beautiful for its time. Absolutely amazing use of ambient and musical sound aswell.

Lost Coast for HL2 is pretty damn pleasing on the peepers. Just a shame it's so short. They went a little overboard with the ole bloom effects, especially from the sun. Inside the chapel was just astoundingly lovely though.

All of Far Cry. If it weren't for the mutants I'd book a holiday there right away. 

I was blown away too many times to count. Bluff Eversmoking, Na Pali Haven, that massive tower leading to Na Pali haven, that monastery, the castle which featured in the intro sequence....so many levels (can't remmeber their names tho :{). 

Riven. And the other Myst games, but mainly Riven. 

unreal was awesome!
bluff eversmoking, isv kran, etc, etc

gotta remember more levels with time. 

Seconded! 

that one map in the Uru addon; "ahnonay" awesome looks, and the concept of it was really cool 

I still think this map is memorable for its pure, sunkissed shangrila type style; especially daring given that its for a game that is otherwise filled with blood, skulls and shadows. 

beyond good and evil (I'd live there!)
Outcast http://www.game-over.net/review/july99/outcast/Screen6.JPG
Rune( pretty atmospheric game on UT1 tech)
FaKK2 1st level


all are third person action/adventure, oddly

(u can see shots on gamespot or soome other review..) 

Yeah, Beyond Good and Evil had some nice areas, I liked the initial watch-tower-secret-base, I'd definatly live there, you can even go check out giant whales not far away... To bad the game didn't quite live up to what it was claiming to be though (but that's offtopic).

And again I agree with Speeds, Fakk2 had some great areas.

I can't believe there are 2 french games in your list Speeds. =) 

As well as Far Cry and the first level of Unreal. Palm trees and waterfalls. The music in Unreal was nice too, added to the atmosphere.

I also should mention the new Prince of Persia games. Beautiful level design, lovely locales. 

Agreeing with areas of Unreal, FAKK 2, and Prince of Persia. PoP really made me say, "dag, I so want to live here."

Which I guess is just another level of the user's attachment to the environment and, by association, the game. Instead of just "wow that looks cool" the player says "wow that looks cool I'm going to move there!"

Also, in the case of Unreal, I think it can serve a purpose in the setting of the game. i.e. the natural environment made me feel even moreso that the Nalis were living a peaceful and happy life, but they got stuck in the middle of a Skaarj take over and just wanted to go back to living in paradise without conflict. 

Rune has some great designs. Not only castles/builings but also some awesome caves/mountains with ruins and goblin huts there. 

I agree with the Unreal outdoor maps and the overgrown temples. Some user maps out there for UTSP also capture NaPali's beauty very well.

Unreal 2 had some nice areas such as the base on the beach (that tall tower), the various hilly and vegetated outdoor spots, the serene desert map where an attack takes place and the calm and gentle winter planet. Take out the enemies and there are some pretty settings.

The garden in System Shock 2. Graphically it was no big wow but the concept of a spaceship borne garden with that tinkling music as a serene getaway from the tech style sardine can that was the rest of the ship was a neat concept. I wonder if you had to book those rooms off of the center garden for some quiet time.

Diablo 2 - Act V: The chilly late fall fields at the base of the mountains with bunnies hopping along would be a nice hiking or biking place if it wasn't for all those things trying to kill you. Deep in the ice caves, the still green waters surrounded by ice walks are also nice to look at.

Prince of Persia 4: Agreed with above comments. Much beauty. I'd return but the icky controls keep me away more so then the environmental hazards. Breathtaking vistas await. Really impressive settings outside, inside, in-cave - nice. 

new Prince of Persia games. Yes. Too bad warrior within sucks.
Second level of Unreal
Enclave had some beautiful areas, that bit with the ruin on top of the stone pillar and some cute little houses with lots of rivers and forests around.
FAKK had some nice areas, can't remember them tho, should replay that game some day.
First two Oddworld games. Both too beautiful for words.
Anywhere along the canals and coast in HL2.
The floating city in Painkiller was really serene and relaxing, but not really pretty.


oh holy crap I wrote this four hours ago and then I played super metroid but forgot to click submit first 

Super Mario Sunshine: the beach level especially. PoP4 and BG&E as mentioned earlier. Some spots in WoW are pretty nice. Some of the islands in Zelda: Windwaker. 

Old Monastery. :o 

daikatana e3m1+

uru was great in general. so much FUCKING style i could just whine. the myst people know what they do, gfx wise.

unreal2 that map with spiders and beaitufl doors.

alice, nobody mentioned alice. all of it, every single map.

and (if you dont count boredom) the d3 maps will count, too. very polished, very beautiful. just that they're all the same - ugh.

painkiller had some neat stuff, too. 

are we really just saying which maps have good graphics? I thought we were talking about which maps had pretty locations that you'd want to visit in real life. I wouldn't want to be in doom3 in real life, would you? 

The latter, definitely. It's not about maps that look GOOD or IMPRESSIVE or AMAZINGLY DESIGNED. But about ones that looks, well, just plain lovely places to be.

Most people get it ;) 

I wonder if id has *ever* made a map which fits this description. probably not, morbid bastards :)

Though an Avanipaala Praasaada type map in Q3 would be great. 

AvP2: some of the maps from the Alien and Marine campaigns
Daikatana: some maps from the Dark Age Norway episode
Unreal: first 2 levels and Bluff Eversmoking