I can't be the only one who gets pumped about this. Tell me what your favorite map is in any video game. Your favorite piece of lore. Your favorite NPC. What items do you think are hella cool? Which game has the best worldbuilding, the best lore, the best NPCs? To start off, I really enjoy the lore of the Elder Scrolls series, and the character and map designs in the Legend of Zelda.
Best ones comes from Bioware for me. Tho I barely play any non-Bioware games. Among their titles I think Mass Effect Universe is the one I love most. Let me say it first, sci-fi still ain't one of my favorite genres. Till Mass Effect series I always found genre so unnatural, emotionless. It is, for me of course, better than fabled Star Wars universe. My favorite part of lore was human biotic training talks you have with Kaidan in first game. I love nearly whole NPCs in game for non crew mates I think my favorite was Admiral Anderson, Diana, Nef's Mother(Morinth Last victim), Illusive Man, Commander Bailey and many many more characters you have one or non direct talk at all. My favorite map is Collector Base and Collector ship. They have similar lay outs but coupled with their missions those maps have great impact on player (that means me ) Dragon Age comes close second. Tho second game and that awful animated movie killed the franchise for me.
Bioshock Infinite has got to be my favorite. I like the way it conveys the floating city of Columbia. It was great that everything was scientifically possible, and the way you became attached to the people and city, ultimately watching it all fall to ruin. Best NPC has got to be GLaDOS from valves portal 2, best item being the portal gun too
I really like the lore and world-building of Final Fantasy XIII. It's a shame they didn't delve into the whole thing until the sequels.
Elder Scrolls fan of ~10 years here, and there's no slowing down. They have by far the best creative minds when it comes to making new worlds. Morrowind? Fuggedaboutit! I've not seen a more alien, yet relatable game world before or since. The sense of discovery gained by trekking through the wastes, ruins, and shining cities of Vvardenfell are topped only by the Tribunal expansion, which has the player digging up a magnificent hall of a lost civilization and eventually, the mechanized home of an eccentric living god. Oblivion threw a lot of that wonder away (and TESO looks like an unmitigated train wreck) but overall, The Elder Scrolls are the top dogs of fantasy with few rivals.
There were interesting components to that instalment, fal'Cie, l'Cie and whatnot were very interesting, but overall I found the visual design of the universe and the implementation of the mythology boring. The cocoon idea was nice at first, but the game ended up looking very generic. I only played the first one though. Perhaps I'm biased, but 12 on the other hand had a unique take on many classic races, and the architecture and landscape design was vibrant despite sharing some elements. Not that i'm here to argue which one is better, just sharing my own take on 13. Interested to see how 15 turns out to be.
Everything from the Bioshock series. (Except maybe Bioshock 2, liked the game, but I don't consider it canon).
Seconding Bioshock and the Elder Scrolls series here as well. I also really liked how Deus Ex: Human Revolution set everything up (No, I haven't played the original two yet. Planning on it though).