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Any blobbers that have outstanding level design?

VembDev

Barely Literate
Joined
Jun 28, 2020
Messages
1
Any examples of some really memorable level designs in grid based blobbers? Any specific maps in a game that you thought was exceptional?
 

newtmonkey

Arcane
Joined
Aug 22, 2013
Messages
1,725
Location
Goblin Lair
Wizardry: Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord
Level 3 - Your first real introduction the evil spinner squares, and the level seems like total bullshit until you figure out the trick... and then it becomes easy to navigate.

Wizardry V: Heart of the Maelstrom
Level 1 & 2 especially but pretty much the entire game -- The earlier levels are very satisfying to explore with plenty to find and interact with, but they only become larger as you explore later levels and find ways to access previously accessible areas. The levels each feel like actual places, and that's a tremendous accomplishment with CGA graphics and B&W wireframe walls.

Might and Magic Book One: The Secret of the Inner Sanctum
The overworld -- Impassable mountains and forest walls, along with high level encounters forcing you to revisit areas at higher levels, really make it feel like you are exploring a world, rather than a bunch of 16x16 grid maps. The maps are also jam packed full of interesting encounters, treasures, and more. No game I've played offers a better sense of exploration.

The Bard's Tale III: Thief of Fate
Tarmitia -- Hopping through time is great and figuring out how to navigate through the time zones to reach your goal is a fun little puzzle.
 

octavius

Arcane
Patron
Joined
Aug 4, 2007
Messages
19,183
Location
Bjørgvin
The whole of Chaos Strikes Back.

The Chaos in Dark Heart of Uukrul. Most difficult level to map ever.

The penultimate level (second most difficult level to map ever), The Ziggurat and The Mine Field in Wizardry IV.

Fanskar's Castle in Bard's Tale 2. Never have we had so much fun with Darkness!, Anti-Magic zones and Spinners. Third most difficult level to map, I guess.

So to me the most memorable ones turns out to be the ones that provide the best mapping challenges, not the best exploration or combat.
 

V_K

Arcane
Joined
Nov 3, 2013
Messages
7,714
Location
at a Nowhere near you
Wizards&Warriors - almost every dungeon in that game is top notch, with a good use of verticality and environmental interactions. My favorites are probably the vampire castle and the boogre cave where your party is turned into dumb brutes upon arrival and have to seek a way to undo the curse.

7 Mages
- every single map in the game features some sort of gimmick that makes puzzles and combats there unique. There's a pirate ship where your party is dispersed through different decks and you have to coordinate to solve puzzles and ultimately bring them together. A level that's set in the insides of a dead dragon. A level of floating islands that you move around on another (much smaller) dragon. A mountain pass where the enemies and wind currents can push you off the ledge to certain death.

Wizardry 7
- the Funhouse. Nuff said.

Also, not quite a blobber, but Anvil of Dawn has some nice and very atmospheric maps.
 

Strange Fellow

Peculiar
Patron
Joined
Jun 21, 2018
Messages
4,013
Steve gets a Kidney but I don't even get a tag.
Seconding Dark Heart of Uukrul and the Chaos in particular. All the puzzle maps in that game are brilliant, but the Chaos is by far the trickiest, and a worthy finale.
 

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