Noctilum was also my favorite. I tend to love dense jungle regions in games because of all the different plant life and the winding pathways. Makna Forest from the first game was a favorite of mine too. Noctilum was like Makna but on crack or whatever drug makes everything look like it's glowing. The bioluminescent trees really make it a beautiful place to explore.
I think what I like most about Noctilum though is how varied it is and how it takes you through several different experiences as you explore. When you first enter Noctilum, you're in a very dense jungle region. There are trees and rock walls all around you and it feels very dangerous. Giant insects and apes in the trees above waiting to ambush you and crocodiles and monsters posing as flowers in the swamps. It feels claustrophobic because you're so closed in and you can barely see beyond the trees.
Then you emerge from the jungle and reach an open cove area. Suddenly you feel like you're much more out in the open but you're still limited to moving along the cliff sides and in the water and it's still dangerous because there are not giant tortoises pretending to be boulders and also totally harmless alien wreckage that is just begging to be inspected closely.
Once you get through the cove area, Noctilum really opens up as you see this vast expanse of giant waterfalls, mountains and trees beyond you. You can spend a lot of time in that first jungle area, enough to feel like a continent in of itself. But then you get to here and realize there is so much more to explore. I spent so many hours here forgetting that there was even a main storyline. I came here to do a quest and then start the next story mission and probably didn't get back to it for the next 10-15 hours.
