First Town

It tends to look something like this.

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 as many people. Particularly in older RPGs, the First Town is prone to being a sleepy pastoral village with cute background music and lots of trees and flowers.

If the hero lives there, this town is a lot more dangerous.

Often fulfils a similar role to the Hub Level in Platformers.

Examples of First Town include:

• Midgar in Final Fantasy VII. Also notable for also being the largest city, in both literal and gameplay terms.
  • Final Fantasy VII could be seen to play with this a little, as it also has Nibelheim which fits the classic form of the trope much better (it's the sleepy hometown of The Hero), but is only seen in flashbacks, and thus has fully lived up to its Doomed Hometown status before the start of the game. What is left of Nibelheim is inhabited by actors placed there by Shinra.
• In Final Fantasy VIII, Balamb Garden is simultaneously the first town, the Doomed Hometown, two dungeons, a sidequest initiator, and your Global Airship for the first half of the game.
• Rabanastre in Final Fantasy XII. Not the largest town in the game (though when you get there, you only get to travel through part of the town). However, you get to know Rabanastre quite well inside and out, including the sewer system and lower-class area.
• Narshe in Final Fantasy VI. Its proximity to the mines and the cliff where the frozen Esper is found make it a key location throughout the game.
• Traverse Town in Kingdom Hearts (with Destiny Islands as the Doomed Hometown).
• Twilight Town in Kingdom Hearts II.
• 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 Earthbound. 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 Pallet Town, New Bark Town, Littleroot Town, Twinleaf Town, and Nuvema Town.
  
  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.
  • 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. Oh, and it actually has a Pokemon Center.
• The planet Taris in the videogame Knights of the Old Republic is essentially a 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 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.
• Ordon Village in The Legend of Zelda Twilight Princess.
  • Clock Town in The Legend of Zelda Majoras Mask.
  • Skyloft in The Legend of Zelda Skyward Sword. It also acts as a sort of Hub Level, because it is right in the center of the map and can be teleported back to anytime you need.
• Scuttle Town in Shantae is the same size as other towns, but during the game's opening, it's not only a hub, but a level.
• Animal Crossing and Harvest Moon games take place almost entirely in the first town.
• If you can count Animal Crossing, then My Sims is another example. The town proper is where you start, and where you spend a lot of time, given that your workshop is there, and the only way to the other sections (the forest and the desert).
• Toad Town in Paper Mario. Sure, you don't get to explore it much the first time you're there, as you automatically go right to the castle, but after you return, it's pretty much the hub to all other locations.
  • Rogueport in Paper Mario the Thousand Year Door.
  • Flipside and Flopside in Super Paper Mario.
  • Super Mario Galaxy has the return of Toad Town (although it's not explicitly called that) as its very first area that you explore.
• Megaton in Fallout 3 - not the first settlement, but the first major one after you Get on the Boat. In a twist, you can nuke the place twenty minutes into the game, taking many major quest NPCs with it, in which case its "central hub" status is delegated to Rivet City and/or Tenpenny Tower.
• Goodsprings in Fallout: New Vegas. The town is based off a real town with the same name.
• Athlum is this in The Last Remnant and it's also the base of operations as the ruler of Athlum, David is one of the main characters, as well as his four generals.
• This happens in about half the Infinity Engine games. In Planescape: Torment, Sigil is not just the First Town but also where you find the portal to the Very Definitely Final Dungeon, despite traipsing all over the planes since starting, and is easily the largest area in the game. Icewind Dale II features the walled city of Targos, which you defend from an attack, and then venture from, and then return to; it makes up at least the first third of the game. Baldurs Gate II has Athkatla, a big city that for as much as half the game will serve as your base of operations.
  • More specifically in Sigil the Hive serves as the First Town, while in Baldur's Gate the town of Beregost is likely to be this: It has some of the best stores early on, and more quests than any other early area until you get to the titular metropolis. Alternatively, Candlekeep also qualifies.
• Played with in My World My Way. The big castle the princess lives in is actually named "First Town", but you don't get to do any sort of interaction there (other than traveling between lands and the occasional cutscene wherein the princess doesn't get her way). The actual First Town that fits the trope is called "Grass Town".
• 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 cutscenes 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 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 Saga Frontier, the first town often depends on 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 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, 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).