There is nothing fantastical nor realistic about crates and barrels being placed everywhere.
Huh?
It's plenty realistic. Given that the invention of cardboard is not agiven in such settings, people need cheap, mass produced vessels to store things in.
Hence, crates and barrels.
In modern day life, we have cardboard boxes replace crates and barrels. But we have cardboard boxes literally everywhere. Anywhere there's products being sold, there's cardboard boxes as well as pallets (Along with some way of fastening things to said pallets like plastic ties or film wraps). The only thing stopping them from piling up everywhere is their ease of disposal.
Replace cardboard boxes with crates and barrels and you have what you find in games. Crates and barrels everywhere. With increased numbers around marketplaces, storerooms and docks.
