Rad-Ass Dungeons

[MilesBeyond]

I always used to hate dungeons. Dungeon-crawling was by far my least favourite part of any RPG. But for some reason in the last few weeks a switch has been flipped and now I can't get enough of them.

So what are your favourite dungeons from different RPGs, and why? If it's an RPG where most of the game takes place in a dungeon, then list your favourite level or section.

 

[Lonely Vazdru]

Off the top of my head :

The monastery in Wizardy 8, for being a great tutorial dungeon.
The moathouse in Temple of Elemental Evil, for bring a great low level dungeon.
Durlag's tower in Baldur's Gate, for being a very good medium level dungeon.
Watcher's keep in Baldur's Gate 2 for being a pretty good high level dungeon.
Mantella's crux in Daggerfall for being a great WTF dungeon.
Castle Darkmoor in Might and Magic 6, because I made it through.
Sewers in Dark Sun : Shattered Lands, for making me fear slimes.
Sierra army depot in Fallout 2, for being tough as fuck the first time I went there. Also for the loot, lulz and lore.
The jail in Jagged Alliance 2, for being a great tactical map.
The ice museum and frost giant caves in Icewind Dale, for being so fucking beautiful and so fucking D&D.

 

[you know what time it is]

I can't even reach 20% completion in GTA5 these days, nevermind the huge backlog i have in steam and now i want to replay all of these old gems. Thanks i guess, asshole.

Spoiler

 

[Night Goat]

Arkngthand, from Morrowind. The thing you're there for is near the entrance but hard to see, so most players will explore the whole dungeon and still not find it. Excellent trolling on Bethesda's part.

 

[I'm Big Into Anal]

im trying to forget the many hours played in underrail [so i can play the full release sometime this year*] and the whole game is pretty much a dungeon.

yes, another shameless underrail plug dont judge me

Spoiler

* =

 

[V_K]

Basically any dungeon from Wizards&Warriros, but particularly Temple of the Serpent Cult, Shurugeon Castle and Boogre Caves.

 

[cepheiden]

I don't remember a single game getting dungeons right. No matter how nice they tried to connect their shitty little rooms, in the end they were always just a series of shitty little rooms you have to walk through. Mostly because the inhabitants of each dungeon would never work together to stop you, but rather all just happen to be in their on rooms, waiting for you to take them out. Sure some games had some scripted events, where they had some more enemies coming, but that was already it.

Probably the most retarded example of that is Icewind Dale, in that dragons something, where there is the 2nd floor full of giant enemy groups. Even though it's a fucking open cave and the next enemy group is just 10 meters away, there would be at most one engaging you at any time. Never thought that dungeons could get much more full of shit than they did in MMORPGs, but in icewind dale they somehow pulled it off. All those D&D games in general have extremely shitty dungeons. What happens in a room, stays in a room and nothing more than a few lame and most of all non threatening scripted events break this system. You trigger an alarm and the game spawns 2 completely harmless average enemy guards to "stop" you. Great Idea! Or when you make enemies with a faction in their headquarters and now they all want to kill you... too bad they can't open doors by themselves and just wait behind their doors in small groups to get decimated by you.

Basically the only game that did dungeons right was a FPS, Far Cry. You make trouble in the mercenary camp (dungeon), they ring the alarm bell and the whole fucking camp is all over you, they would even bring in helicopters and other guys arrive on jeeps to get you.
Maybe also Thief, where enemies within the "dungeon" would actively search for you if they notice something, but that was limited.

 

[Snorkack]

P&P managed to overcome the archaic dungeon design popular in the 80's where a dungeon was a chain of static encounters with the sole purpose to provide a challenge to the players. But people began asking questions: Why would Dark Elves and Goblins co-exist in a cave without slaughtering each other? Why would an abandoned castle filled with treasures just sit around and no ruler nearby has sent an army yet to seize it for himself? How comes there is a bloody fight in some room, fireballs are flying around, people scream, but the guards next door just can't be bothered to check what's going on and instead sit around, play cards and wait to get slaughtered themselves? Why the heck would you install deadly traps in a place where your own brethren would be at risk to trigger them by accident?
This paradigm shift towards dungeons as an organic, dynamic location with rhyme and reason hasn't found its way into computer rpgs yet, unfortunately. The best thing I can think of are the Realms of Arcania games, where some dungeons (the dwarven mine in shadows over riva, for example) really felt like coherent places. The dwarven mine also wasn't afraid to fuck over the player. If you ventured past a certain point and weren't in possesion of a certain spell, you were screwed. It didn't bother to tell you that before. This felt absolutely appropriate, especially because it wasn't required to get there at some point.

Even if I ignore these coherence/logical issues, the best dungeons I still fondly remember are not found in rpgs: They were from various Zelda titles up until Ocarina of Time, and Thief.

 

[Miner Arobar]

Of TES dungeons, Dwemer ruins, and then particularly the first one - the Dwemer ruin in Redguard. If I remember correctly and it's the one with the devilish scarab puzzle and the impossibly oversized Dwemer automaton you had to fight in the end.

(I haven't gotten far enough in Daggerfall to see many of the main quest dungeons. Daggerfall dungeons I have to be in a special kind of mood for. But I like on how you have to use your ears as well as your eyes. That giant you need to hunt down? You can hear it if you're getting close).

Otherwise, I'd like to put in a vote for Talorus in Ultima Underworld 2. The local inhabitants were interesting, and the whole thing was a wonderful departure from the ice world, goblin tower, etc. you'd been navigating before.

 

[Trip]

Yeah, I can't remember a good dungeon either, though I haven't really played many of the more action-y classics, something I should remedy. In the meantime, here are some essays on making dungeons cool, by a PnP guy:

http://thealexandrian.net/wordpress/13085/roleplaying-games/jaquaying-the-dungeon

 

[rado907]

Temple of Elemental Evil.

That game had a few starting areas to set you up, and then WHAM! the rest of the game is the Temple. And a fine Temple it was.

 

[Jasede]

Basically any dungeon from Wizards&Warriros, but particularly Temple of the Serpent Cult, Shurugeon Castle and Boogre Caves.

This game is -way- underrated. (But it's not excellent either.)

 

[Turisas]

The Glow in Fallout was very rad.

 

[catfood]

Tomb of VARN

 

[pippin]

The Glow in Fallout was very rad.

Damn it, you stole my shitpost!

 

[adddeed]

Legend of Grimrock. Well the whole game is one big dungeon anyway.

 

[JarlFrank]

Most, if not all of the dungeons in Might and Magic: World of Xeen

 

[JarlFrank]

Oh, also, THE MOTHERFUCKING BONEHOARD IN THIEF

Best dungeon ever made

 

[Baron Dupek]

The whole Stygian Abyss, if that count (Ultima Underworld.
And yes, W&W dungeons are neat.

 

[SCO]

Ultima Underworld 1 by far. I also quite liked the Arx Fatalis Catacombs.

 

[zwanzig_zwoelf]

Megami Ibunroku Persona - there are quite a few dungeons that could cause butthurt.
King's Field - nice dungeon design and various features to expand previously beaten levels.
Shadow Tower Abyss - simple, but still nice dungeons.

 

[Dorateen]

Yarash's Pyramid from Pool of Radiance
The Tower of Dracandros in Haptooth from Curse of the Azure Bonds
Fastillion's Lighthouse from Dark Queen of Krynn

 

[Clockwork Knight]

Water Temple from Zelda & the Ocarina of Time. I must've played through it three or four times and I still have no idea what the hell am I doing.

Arkngthand Balmora, from Morrowind. The thing house you're there for is near the entrance but hard to see, so most players will explore the whole dungeon town and still not find it. Excellent trolling on Bethesda's part.

 

[flushfire]

I liked the Skein in MOTB. That rambling/cackling in the background was as maddening IRL as it was described in game. One of the few areas in any game that made me feel like I really wanted to gtfo asap but it wasn't that easy, just like what I'd imagine a real dungeon would be.

Also most of the dungeons in BaK. The music was really good.

 

[octavius]

Chaos Strikes Back.