The city of Doma is looking quite familiar.....

[Kurogaea]

You cant make this up lol

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OvdQUhHMy48

Yoshi loves one of my favorite games :O

[Shougun]

I've never played that game but it looks fun lol, although the clipping through the wall triggered me a little XD

When I first saw the Doma (Edit: was thinking of Kugane, derp hehe) area I thought of the city in Spirited Away:

And like Spirited Away, and some areas in Shirogane, reminded/inspired of Jiufen

(That's located in Taiwan, the Tokyo eats may mislead you thinking it's in Japan, just the name of the blog watermarked into the picture)

[Callinon]

It's a pretty classic look for "medieval Japanese city"

[Kurogaea]

You cant make this up lol

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OvdQUhHMy48

Yoshi loves one of my favorite games :O

edit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jhqPY6cmReE

Because I hate the clipping too lol. Speedruns are cool but I hate glitches like that : p

[ToasterMan]

That's typically what Japanese medieval towns looked like. Really shouldn't be a surprised. People have wanted this aesthetic for awhile now.

[Kurogaea]

Not what I was referring to specifically lol. I love old Edo period China look in any game. It was the fact that both of these have an underwater Chinese civilization so my mind wen right to Sonic Colors Aquarium Park. Thought it'd be a funny comparison to share since it made me laugh talking about it with my buds.

[LineageRazor]

The whole underwater temple thing was probably not cribbed from Sonic the Hedgehog. Ryugu-jo, an underwater palace, is a prominent element of one of Japan's most famous fairy tales, the Tale of Urashima Tarou (to summarize, a guy rescues a turtle who turns out to be a sea princess and goes on an underwater adventure with her - only to learn upon his return to the surface that 300 years have passed). Underwater settings of this kind appear in lots of games and anime, for that reason.

[TouchandFeel]

The aesthetic being emulated is noticeably late Edo Period, the period during which the country was united under the Shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu and was considered to be the "golden age" of traditional Japanese culture, through early Meiji Period in which the Imperial Family was restored to central power and Japan opened itself up to Western influence, trade and ideas.

Most of what people think of when they think of "traditional" Japan, and what is displayed in media such as Anime or Japanese period movies is formed by this time-frame in Japanese history.

"Medieval" Japan was pre-Edo and was discernibly different.

Also, LineageRazor is correct and the underwater city/palace is most likely based off the underwater palace of the Dragon King of the Seas, Ryujin, from Japanese folklore.

[Iromi]

It's a pretty classic look for "medieval Japanese city"

This. It also looks like goemon mystical ninja lol.

It's like saying any game with a castle theme is taking it from robin hood or something xD