Largest CRPG Dungeon?

[felipepepe]

This is a tricky question, as one could argue that the entirety of a Wizardry-like game is a single dungeon, but let's stipulate a limitation: what's the largest loading/transition free dungeon area?

I always thought it was Daggerfall, but I've been playing Pool of Radiance: Ruins of Myth Drannor (don't ask) and was impressed at the size of a single floor:

Of course, it's boring as hell, full of bullshit blockades that force you to spend like 10 minutes taking a detour and everything looks exactly the same.... but still, pretty damn big.

 

[Snorkack]

Idk if it qualifies for the biggest dungeon but Demise:Ascension's floors were pretty huge... 100x100 tiles per dungeon floor or sth?

 

[Donaroriak]

Underrail

 

[Dorateen]

To me, I thought that was a defining feature of Ruins of Myth Drannor. The dungeons floors were absolutely cavernous, and multi-levels deep. And still littered with points of interest as well as interconnectivity with the outside game world.

felipepepe Are you playing it as a matter of research, or because you lost a wager?

 

[Snorkack]

Underrail

Underrail has many qualities. But large, transition-free areas are definitely not amongst them.

 

[felipepepe]

felipepepe Are you playing it as a matter of research, or because you lost a wager?

Research.

I was surprised to find out that those endless brown mazes are just the first part of the game. After like 5 ungodly boring & repetitive levels, you arrive at Myth Drannor and the levels are mostly unique outdoor areas with a decent Infinity Engine-like look. The first half of the game is its worst part. Which doesn't mean that the second one is GOOD, but the interesting areas & wider variety of monsters and spells make it at least bearable.

 

[made]

The Derp Roads are without beginning or end.

 

[V_K]

Research.

I was surprised to find out that those endless brown mazes are just the first part of the game. After like 5 ungodly boring & repetitive levels, you arrive at Myth Drannor and the levels are mostly unique outdoor areas with a decent Infinity Engine-like look. The first half of the game is its worst part. Which doesn't mean that the second one is GOOD, but the interesting areas & wider variety of monsters and spells make it at least bearable.

IIRC it's not the second part of the game, you're only there to find entrances to more dungeons.

 

[CryptRat]

It must be hard to find your invisible characters in such a large area.

 

[felipepepe]

IIRC it's not the second part of the game, you're only there to find entrances to more dungeons.

You start at Stillwater, a small outdoor area with one merchant and a healer. From there you must enter the underground maze and cross 4 huge, boring and repetitive areas before reaching the next outdoor area. Once there, the game opens quite a bit, and there's various areas you can go.

It must be hard to find your invisible characters in such a large area.

Yes, especially since you cannot see clearly the walls * bullshit blockades in the maze. Some paths that look ok in the map are actually blocked by a block or stone or whatever and you have to find another route. I would have ragequitted in less than an hour inside those mazes if not for the speed hack.

 

[V_K]

You start at Stillwater, a small outdoor area with one merchant and a healer. From there you must enter the underground maze and cross 4 huge, boring and repetitive areas before reaching the next outdoor area. Once there, the game opens quite a bit, and there's various areas you can go.

I might be misremembering, it was a loooong time ago, but I remember most of those overground places ending in some locked doors or impossible enemies, with only one initially open exit leading towards another huge-ass dungeon. I never completed that second one, so maybe it does open up after that.

 

[Donaroriak]

Underrail

Underrail has many qualities. But large, transition-free areas are definitely not amongst them.

Reading comprehension fail

 

[Dorateen]

I would think the Eastern and Western Crevasses from Secret of the Silver Blades would qualify.

 

[V_K]

I believe Avernums 4-6 are transition free. Or at least 4, don't remember exactly about the other two.

 

[Invictus]

Daggerfall dungeons ( like the one bellow Sentinel where you go find the Lich) are not only massive but downright claustrophobic, cant think of a bigger dungeon, although a couple from The Summoning would qualify too; that was such an awesome game it is so sad it has been mostly forgotten

 

[Shin]

Nothing comes close. Random dungeons in DF are the size of modern-day game worlds. Even tho PoR's dungeon size is rather impressive it's fairly hard to get lost on a 2D plane. Daggerfall with its fake 3D graphics does a terrible, awful, godforsaken job of telling you where the fuck you are.

 

[octavius]

Wizardry 5 had some pretty big levels, probably the largest levels in the blobber sub-genre.

 

[DavidBVal]

Really, anyone doubting it is Dagerfall just needs to install the game and see for himself.

 

[felipepepe]

Wizardry 5 had some pretty big levels, probably the largest levels in the blobber sub-genre.

I think Generation Xth had one bigger than any Wiz V map:

One of my favorite dungeons as well - there are four entrances and you must slowly explore all of them to unlock gates and get keys to finally reach the stairs at the middle.

 

[octavius]

Yes, definitely bigger.
Too bad the anime artwork makes the game unplayable to me.

 

[Lonely Vazdru]

As far as navigating huge levels with shit automap goes, "Thunderscape : World of Aden" ranked pretty high. I couldn't find any image fully illustrating it but here's the best I got :

 

[DemonKing]

Ruins of Myth Drannor may not have had the biggest dungeons but they sure felt like they were the biggest...

 

[eric__s]

Daggerfall dungeons ( like the one bellow Sentinel where you go find the Lich) are not only massive but downright claustrophobic, cant think of a bigger dungeon, although a couple from The Summoning would qualify too; that was such an awesome game it is so sad it has been mostly forgotten

I was only able to beat that dungeon by clipping through the wall and looking through the invisible ceiling for the lich.

 

[Xathrodox86]

VTM Bloodlines had an atrocious sewer level, that felt like it would never end. And I still killed everything inside.

 

[typical user]

Skyrim. Every two steps there is dungeon and you spend 80% of your quests in caves or similar fighting 80% of it's inhabitants: draugr, bandits and falmer.

But seriously I remember some sort of cave in Skyrim which was divided to 3 sections. Or Blackreach, that one also requires going through one dungeon out of three and is dungeon itself, vast with sublevels and mobs to trash.