I don’t know why but lately I’ve been thinking about games I’ve really liked in the past where you would chill in a bar in between missions.
If my memory serves correctly (and it may not) it seems like Freelancer had this, along with some of Chris Robert’s other games. Starcraft 2 has this as well. Trying to think of RPG’s where this was a feature as well, but can’t remember off-hand. Can anyone think of any other games?
Well in Might & Magic games, you could chill out at bars and inns and it felt pretty great, although it didn’t feature any of the interaction found in a Wing Commander.
I always enjoy getting into some bar in an RPG. In Baldur’s Gate, the inns felt so lively. Even in old console JRPGs: in Sword of Vermillion, a mainly first person (and quite grim) RPG for the Megadrive, there was this crazy bar with tons and tons of NPCs that left me a quite awesome impression.
In recent years, 3030 Deathwar Redux (again!) features space stations hub a bit like those of… Starflight 2? or was it Buck Rogers? but much more lively. It serves as a more traditionnal open space game trade hub as well, so that might escape a bit the scope of your request.
There are the Monster Hunter games as well. They feature villages, not bars, but are nice change of pace after a mission. They feel like a comfortable pillow.
Yeah, Wing Commander is the one that comes to mind immediately, and all of the WC games do it as well. I guess it’s more the idea of a public space, and on a Confed carrier, yeah, it’s the cantina.
Vermintide sets you up in a pub/inn as your mission hub, but there’s the implication that it’s magically warded because the innkeeper has influential allies.
Oh, so the caveat with Vermintide is that it isn’t a bustling inn; the city has been evacuated, and you’re taking refuge there because it’s magically warded. Lots of ambience, but no patrons.
Sid Meier’s Pirates! lets you do crew-recruiting out of the bar, but it’s just another stop along with the market and governor’s mansion.
Red Dead Redemption 2 has a bunch of bars in different towns. Go have a beer, maybe some beef stew, get involved in a bar brawl if it takes your fancy then rent a room and sleep it off.
Dragon Age 2 had a bar you could visit also and I think you could at least order drinks there.