First Town: Difference between revisions

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{{trope}}
Relatively central location for most of the start of an RPG. This can be a city or, less specifically, a small island or continent. Once the characters [[Get on the Boat]], other areas may seem unusually less extensive regardless of their implied size, and the party may not spend as much time in any other location as the first, or [[Talk to Everyone|talk to as many people]]. Particularly in older [[RPG|RPGs]]s, the '''First Town''' is prone to being a [[Ghibli Hills|sleepy pastoral village with cute background music and lots of trees and flowers]].
 
If the hero lives there, this town is [[Doomed Hometown|a lot more dangerous]].
 
Often fulfils a similar role to the [[Hub Level]] in [[Platformer|Platformers]]s.
{{examples}}
* Midgar in ''[[Final Fantasy VII]]''. Also notable for also being the ''largest'' city, in both literal and gameplay terms.
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* Werites Beacon in ''[[Tales of Legendia]]'', which in fact serves as the sole city, and most important location, on the Legacy itself. The player can return directly to Werites Beacon from nearly any point on the Legacy by using 'ducts' located throughout the island/ship.
* Mother's Day/Podunk in ''[[MOTHER 1]]''.
* The aptly named Onett in ''[[EarthboundEarthBound]]''. The name is even lampshaded: the first four cities are called Onett, Twoson, Threed and Fourside. A sign in Twoson even says "we got that name because we weren't first".
* ''[[Mother 3]]'''s Tazmily is an interesting example as it is essentially the ''only'' town in the game, save for a location in the final chapter of the game.
* Caldor Isle in ''[[Lunar: The Silver Star]]'' is the first continent, and Alex and Luna's hometown of Burg is the first town. Being that [[Lunar]] plays tropes straight, Burg comes complete with rustic charm and cute background music.
* ''[[Pokémon]]'' has [[Pokémon Red and Blue|Pallet Town]], [[Pokémon Gold and Silver|New Bark Town]], [[Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire|Littleroot Town]], [[Pokémon Diamond and Pearl|Twinleaf Town]], and [[Pokémon Black and White|Nuvema Town]].<br /><br />The general design for the ''Pokémon'' variant of the First Town is Hero's home, Rival's home, Pokémon Lab, and Professor's home (sometimes the same as the Rival's). Typically, the other towns will have at least five buildings. Also, for some reason, the First Towns each have a resident fat guy who raves about [[Technology Marches On|technology]].
:The general design for the ''Pokémon'' variant of the First Town is Hero's home, Rival's home, Pokémon Lab, and Professor's home (sometimes the same as the Rival's). Typically, the other towns will have at least five buildings. Also, for some reason, the First Towns each have a resident fat guy who raves about [[Technology Marches On|technology]].
** ''[[Pokémon Black 2 and White 2]]'' are set to subvert this: for the first time ever, the starting town will actually be a ''city'', and quite a large one at that. [[Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking|Oh, and it actually has a Pokemon Center.]]
* The planet Taris in the videogame ''[[Knights of the Old Republic (video game)|Knights of the Old Republic]]'' is essentially a [[Planetville|big version]] of this trope.
* The Citadel in ''[[Mass Effect]]'' is used as a First Town right after the initial mission to Eden Prime. It remains relevant throughout the game, right up to {{spoiler|the final battle to stop Sovereign from using it to wipe out all life in the galaxy}}.
* Vale in the first ''[[Golden Sun]]'' game.
* ''[[Wizardry]] 7: Crusaders of the Dark Savant'' features several First Towns, depending on whether the player starts a new game or imports from the previous game, including Nyctalinth, Ukpyr, and Dionyceus. However, New City arguably fits this trope best, as it contains more stationary friendly NPC's than the rest of the world combined.
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* Averted in ''[[Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura]]''. Shrouded Hills is the first settlement you come across, but it's tiny compared to virtually every other town in the game.
* In ''[[The Witcher]]'' the "First Town" is a village on the outskirts of the character's destination city; it's cursed, corrupt, fraught with more danger than the city, and it's left in ruins by the player character. The sleepy pastoral village comes later halfway through the game.
* The village of Tenuto in ''[[Eternal Sonata]]''. Talk about sleepy pastoral villages! The narrator in one of the opening [[Cutscene|cutscenescutscene]]s informs us that it's also called "The Village of Flowers". Although gameplay doesn't start there, it ''does'' start on the path to Tenuto. You leave it fairly early and don't return for a while, though.
* Mimiga Village in ''[[Cave Story]]''.
* Jirinaar in ''[[Albion]]'' is pretty much your starting town in Albion, if we ignore the prologue. It's also the most iconic place in the game, due to its unique architecture and friendly locals.
* ''[[Fable (video game)|Fable I]]'' has the Hero's Guild, ''[[Fable II]]'' has Bowerstone and ''[[Fable III]]'' foregoes this trope and instead chooses to have the Sanctuary serve this purpose, though it's actually meant to be the pause screen.
* In certain games in the ''[[SaGa]]'' series, such as ''[[Romancing SaGa]]'' and ''[[SagaSaGa Frontier]]'', the first town often depends on [[And Now for Someone Completely Different|which hero or heroine you choose to play as]].
* In ''[[World of Warcraft]]'', there's the First Town for each race (some quests, class trainers, an inn, etc.) and then there's the [[Capital City]] for each race, which is meant to be the hub.
* The First Town in ''[[Diablo (series)|Diablo]]'' was in fact the only town in the game. ''[[Diablo II]]'' had a more conventional starting town, with many other towns later after you [[Get on the Boat]].
* Ehdo in ''Faria''.
* Lampshaded in ''[[Kid Icarus: Uprising|Kid Icarus Uprising]]'', where the first town you visit is actually called "That First Town."
* The ''[[Ys]]'' series has Minea (''Ys I'' and ''Ys IV: The Dawn of Ys''), Lance Village (''Ys II''), Redmont (''Ys III''/''The Oath in Felghana''), Promarock (''Ys IV: Mask of the Sun''), Xandria Port (''Ys V''), Rehdan Village (''Ys VI''), Altago City (''Ys Seven'').
* Firstep Village in ''[[Something|Something Else]]''. It is the first level in the game, which lets the player get familiar with the game if they never played a Mario game before.
 
{{reflist}}
[[Category:Index of Exact Trope Titles]]
[[Category:Video Game Settings]]
[[Category:First Town{{PAGENAME}}]]