I've only ever played DS1 and Hollow Knight, but I think I get where you come from on world design. A common theme in your picks are well designed hub areas and distinct regions playing off each other. Firelink Shrine goes to the Catacombs, Church, New Londo, Undead Burg, Valley of the Drakes, Blighttown, and the Kiln; each region being connected to the other as well with shortcuts and each path leads to very important areas for progression. Hollow Knight doesn't have a true hub area because you have the stag stations. Where it picks up is the region design and mapping with the whole map forming a sort of gradient with related adjacent areas; City of Tears is central seat of Hallownest with the lake above and sewers below, White Palace and Abyss deeper still, and Greenpath, Fungal Wastes, Queen's Gardens, and Fog Canyon are all in the same area and theming, and so on. This leads into good worldbuilding which can elevate a game or story. Music is also really important in conveying the atmosphere, I'd dare say it is THE most important aspect as even without graphics a good track can paint a picture in your mind. I mean Hollow Knight wouldn't be what it is without the music, but I digress.

If this reads as disjumbled then it is because I misread your post the first time.

Hollow Knight is reddit.
Yes, I have played the game.
No, I will not elaborate.

>>137864
Hm, yes. But have you considered that you're certifiably gay and therefore anything you say is wrong?

Do you mean stuff like atmosphere and ambiance? If so, I agree that it's something that's really good when it's done well. It's one of the biggest strengths of the SMT games that really make you feel like you're in another world.
It takes a lot of talent to do something like that I think, for people to simply accept a new set of world rules and have it feel natural.

>>137867
Meant more than that. >>137841 was pretty much hit the nail on the head with the assumption of what I meant. Of course, atmosphere and ambiance play a critical role (also where music comes into play big time) but they can't really affect the core gameplay itself. The interconnectedness of the world however is probably one of the most important factors in truly unlocking an infinite replayability key that allows for infinite enjoyment of any of these games, at least for me. It gives an extremely rewarding feeling for exploration that I can feel excited in mapping out for each new playthrough I start up. Especially when you can exploit things like the master key in Dark Souls or bomb/wall jumping in Super Metroid to accomplish entirely different routes for playing.

When it comes to conversation it makes any playthrough fun to talk about because you can always discuss what route you took and what way it differs from others. Then in turn it also makes theorizing different ways to get to different areas/upgrades/bosses early fun as well. Think the last new game I played to have this feeling was Elden Ring when I was on my magic playthrough and skipping over to Raya Lucaria from the start to unlock the classes potential, and then taking the trap chest over in Limgrave to the Caelid mines so I can be next to where the one really good staff is and get that early. Or in any of the dozens of Hollow Knight playthroughs I did trying to get 100% steel soul/speedrun achievement trying to figure out what path was best for maximizing my chances of success.

But uh, I guess with what I'm talking about more established what do people think about DS2 vs DS3?