Nutmeg
Arcane
So I've been playing Falcom's 1985 (!) Xanadu (or Dragon Slayer 2).
Depending on how you interpret it, the game is either just one huge dungeon, or a number of overworlds connecting a number of dungeons.
Here's one of the overworlds or levels (of many, I think there's 8)
Full of teleporters, one way tiles, doors requiring keys, and monsters (with limited respawns).
Here's one of the dungeons (about 4 per level) (different port hence the different tile set).
Obviously the game inspired the first Zelda, even though they play quite differently.
Anyway, I really like this game's kind of pattern or rules based dungeon design.
Dragon slayer 4 (Drasle Family or Legacy of the Wizard) continued this trend, but ditched the tiered design by removing the overhead sections.
As did Compile's Faxanadu and Dragon Slayer 5 (Sorcerian). At that point it's best to ignore the Dragon Slayer name when it comes to Falcom's works. While Drasle Family and Xanadu were clearly tile based, these games blurred the lines much more.
The MSX in general was home to many devious dungeons. Konami's Maze of Gallious:
And HAL's Lolo:
Back to Falcom, Ys I and II (1987, 1988) marked their return to overhead dungeons. While they weren't as devious as e.g. the ones in Xanadu, they were very very large and easy to get lost in. They worked great with the game's pace, as the natural thing to try to do was not to pause and map, but to try keep it all in your head.
And Brandish (1991) brought back the tiles, cleverly mixing overhead and first person dungeon crawling.
What are everyone else's must experience dungeons and dungeon crawls? First person classics very welcome. I know aweigh loves Elminage, and those games certainly do look promising. As do some of the Japanese Wizardry games bearing that name.
But also huge overhead or sidescrolling mazes and 3D worlds are welcome too. Just as long as there is joy and challenge to be had in navigating the dungeons themselves, I want to hear about it.
Depending on how you interpret it, the game is either just one huge dungeon, or a number of overworlds connecting a number of dungeons.
Here's one of the overworlds or levels (of many, I think there's 8)
Full of teleporters, one way tiles, doors requiring keys, and monsters (with limited respawns).
Here's one of the dungeons (about 4 per level) (different port hence the different tile set).
Obviously the game inspired the first Zelda, even though they play quite differently.
Anyway, I really like this game's kind of pattern or rules based dungeon design.
Dragon slayer 4 (Drasle Family or Legacy of the Wizard) continued this trend, but ditched the tiered design by removing the overhead sections.
As did Compile's Faxanadu and Dragon Slayer 5 (Sorcerian). At that point it's best to ignore the Dragon Slayer name when it comes to Falcom's works. While Drasle Family and Xanadu were clearly tile based, these games blurred the lines much more.
The MSX in general was home to many devious dungeons. Konami's Maze of Gallious:
And HAL's Lolo:
Back to Falcom, Ys I and II (1987, 1988) marked their return to overhead dungeons. While they weren't as devious as e.g. the ones in Xanadu, they were very very large and easy to get lost in. They worked great with the game's pace, as the natural thing to try to do was not to pause and map, but to try keep it all in your head.
And Brandish (1991) brought back the tiles, cleverly mixing overhead and first person dungeon crawling.
What are everyone else's must experience dungeons and dungeon crawls? First person classics very welcome. I know aweigh loves Elminage, and those games certainly do look promising. As do some of the Japanese Wizardry games bearing that name.
But also huge overhead or sidescrolling mazes and 3D worlds are welcome too. Just as long as there is joy and challenge to be had in navigating the dungeons themselves, I want to hear about it.
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