Games with That One Exceptional Level?

[Phage]

Well, each monster has its own role (Com/Rav/Med etc), and you can have 3 separate monsters in your "paradigm pack" that take up the third slot of your party. For example, if I had a Gremlin, a Pulsework Gladiator and a Green Chocobo, they would take up the role of Ravager, Sentinel and Medic respectively depending on the third slot of the paradigm. (It's a little difficult to explain)
Beyond that, you can capture as many monsters as you like, level them up using materials (similar to how you leveled up weapons), and even have your monsters consume one another to obtain special properties.

The combat as a whole is more fluid - the paradigm shifts occur nearly instantly, which is important against a few bosses (you'll need to switch to 3 sentinels withstand certain strong attacks). As for the story, that's completely subjective. You play as Serah and some new guy named Noel, and I frankly like them a lot less than the original cast. It almost feels like a more serious Kingdom Hearts game since you're traveling from location to location during different time periods. In fact, Noel looks a lot like an older more mature Sora, and Caius (the villain) looks like a badass older Riku.

I'm not actually finished with the game yet, I'm on the final episode however. So far only the level I mentioned particularly stood out as being great.

Can't say I'd pay $60 for the game, but I'm pretty damn satisfied for my $15 to rent it.

 

[Clockwork Knight]

and Caius (the villain) looks like a badass older Rikku.

Fixed, probably. It's a FF, after all.

 

[Phage]

INDEED CK, INDEED.

 

[UserNamer]

the grand cathedral level in the second encounter was pretty fucking great, especially the battle in the open area with the grass where it starts raining fire

 

[laclongquan]

Older Rikku? Intriguing~

Not up to firing it up, but intriguing...

Any naked tits monster in there?

 

[Absinthe]

Duke Nukem 3D was pretty good at non-linear levels and secret areas.

 

[good little toastboy]

Over time my husband will desire me less, sexually. But he will always enjoy my pies.

 

[laclongquan]

Now that I am thinking carefully about it, Silent Storm's Factory map is well design. As Allies, you attack the map after a big raid, so the sign of destruction is everywhere. You have quite a wide range of options how to attack. As Axis, you must defend it against the above raids. Pristine site, with few options. A great map for grenades defense.

 

[oscar]

The Cathedral in Paris was pretty awesome with lots of fun leaping from rooftops, Knights Templar stuff and a fun bossfight with Gunter (felt kind of bad killing him). The VersaLife building was also great. Nice descent from a boring office complex into a massive facility with messed up alien experiments and super soldiers marching around.

I liked Shrouded Hills in Arcanum a lot. Good introduction to the setting (merger of 19t and fantasy) and one of the few challenging fights in the game (but can be avoided with the right skills or circumvented).

 

[DraQ]

Duke Nukem 3D was pretty good at non-linear levels and secret areas.

Kodeksowy Karny Kutas for resurrecting the thread and saying little of substance.

Then again, it's a good thread, so it's good to see it active again.

 

[Sceptic]

Kodeksowy Karny Kutas for resurrecting the thread and saying little of substance.

Then again, it's a good thread, so it's good to see it active again.

Well what he said was pretty true.

Your hatred of DN3D notwithstanding.

 

[DraQ]

Well what he said was pretty true.

What I said was not quite false either.

 

[Erzherzog]

This is the kind of game I would have lost my mind over when I was a kid watching Svengoolie,

Chicagoan detected.

Anyways thanks to this thread I have purchased the first 3 Thief games. Necroing threads is not at all a crime.

Anyways, some of my favorites.

The Crypt in Return to Castle Wolfenstein, the one that you finally get to the zombies. From the opening cutscene, it manages to establish all that made that game wonderful. The Nazi occultism, protraying your average Third Reich soldier as just that, another simple human soldier. Great variation in enemies. I still remember the hallway where you see three Nazis desperately try to vanquish a fire breathing zombie. It was a video game level that actually managed to say something, to be cinematic in a manner unlike what comes to video game producers minds nowadays.

The Makin Atoll level in Medal of Honor: Pacific Assault. This game was one of those "squad based" bs games, and yet even on medium difficulty your squad manages to be helpful without beating the game for you. This level was the prime example, since all you get are a crappy bolt-action rifle and a really shitty smg, however that actually added to the fun. Enemies placed with care and thought. Has a few memorable scenes such as fending off the Japanese as you desperately try to fucking paddle back to the sub you came in on. Would have to replay to remember more. Extreme bonus points for actually being historically accurate.

Finally, the Panamanian Bank in SC. Everything that a typical "AAA" level stealth game is not. Multiple ways to sneak through to the point that there is no linear path or "best" way to accomplish goals. Tough level too. Dialogue takes some potshots at stealth game tropes that I found very....satisfying.

 

[Darth Roxor]

The Crypt in Return to Castle Wolfenstein.

Fuck yes Another good level with a similar theme is the return to the castle itself, when p much all hell breaks loose, the whole place is under siege and you keep fighting those remnants of the paratroopers and the elite guard, all wounded and bandaged, also trying to fend off the undead rising from everywhere. RTCW was such a great friggin game.

 

[Tehdagah]

Well what he said was pretty true.

What I said was not quite false either.

So you dislike DN3D?

Why?

 

[Mebber]

So many good levels are already mentioned, but:

Jedi Knight M15 - Falling Ship
Becomes less interesting in a replay (since you know by than which path to take as well as the map layout), but playing it for the first time is great. You've just made your choice which side of the force to join, the ship is going to crush onto the surface within a few minutes and isn't horizontal anymore, alarm sirens scream, explosions everywhere, there are still people shooting at you and you've got quite few possible pathes to take. And, of course, there's still a secret area to find in this mess.

Freespace 2 M30 - Apocalypse
I just like the feel of it - you warp in without resupplying, your wingman probably already dead, right into an ongoing battle. It's usually possibe to save almost all ships of your escort, but this time it becomes impossible. The enemies are swarming all over the place harassing fleeing ships. The mission deserves its name, the atmosphere is really apocalyptic, maybe even more than in the FS1 final missions. You can see an entire fleet of virtually invincible enemy battleships gathering in the background, and the supernova ending is great.

Homeworld M10 - Supernova Station
It's not the most intensive mission regarding fighting or even atmosphere, but i loved how it required accurate navigation through the thin dust strings to avoid getting toasted.

 

[SCO]

That homeworld level made me rage because capturing the carriers - OCD about capturing the best ships - was so fucking hard. It took a pincer movement + repair ships + tedious maneuverings through the backway dust path

 

[Zero Credibility]

Unreal - The Sunspire.

Unreal had a lot of good levels actually, but the Sunspire was most memorable to me. A single huge tower, hundreds of meters in height and surrounded by lava, and the player needs to climb to the top. Lots of very smart enemies, multiple paths to the top, many dark places (it's nightime) with secret goodies and those fucking scary spiders. Very, very nice. I've never before seen an FPS level of this scale.

 

[DraQ]

So you dislike DN3D?

Why?

I don't actually dislike DN3D.
It's a good FPS.

However:

1. It's easily the weakest of Build trinity (DN3D, Blood, Shadow Warrior) and I don't particularly like Duke himself, even acknowledging his macho musclehead image being ironic.


2. It was one of the main factors contributing to the failure of Terra Nova: Strike Force Centauri and Azrael's Tear.

Unreal - The Sunspire.

Unreal had a lot of good levels actually, but the Sunspire was most memorable to me. A single huge tower, hundreds of meters in height and surrounded by lava, and the player needs to climb to the top. Lots of very smart enemies, multiple paths to the top, many dark places (it's nightime) with secret goodies and those fucking scary spiders. Very, very nice. I've never before seen an FPS level of this scale.

A bit of spergy, useless trivia:

I've just checked the Sunspire in the editor and it measures about 480m from the entry level and about 760m from the very bottom.

 

[J_C]

Nobody mentioned Freespace 2 yet? Specifially the 2 levels, where you fight alongside the Colossus, the biggest military vessel designed by man (and it is really fucking huge - that game has great sense of scale). The first mission is the ship's first big battle, when with our support the Colossus defeats the shivan huge ass ship. (Colossus officer: "all gauges are in the red zone, we give her everything we've got!") And the next mission, where it becomes clear that the shivans have lots of huge ass ships, and the Colossus goes down in glory.

Also Bloodlines - Ocean Star Hotel
Metal Gear Solid 2 - Raiden vs Solidus Snake. Sword battle to the death.
Icewind Dale 2 - Starting the game in Targos. Not the missions, although they were all right, but when you first see the beautiful 2D graphics produced by the Infinity engine, and you hear the soundtrack, it's jaw dropping.

 

[sser]

Ninja Gaiden 2: Chapter 11

Right, so from one end of the spectrum to another. As opposed to Thief, Ninja Gaiden 2 is not subtle. In fact, Ninja Gaiden 2 is probably the least subtle game ever made. Watch two minutes of Master Ninja on youtube and your eyes are likely to start twitching from overstimulation. This level was so memorable to me simply by virtue of how long and varied it is. And its probably my favorite action game ever made if only because of it. Sure it’s essentially completely linear. But its damn interesting, nonetheless. There are areas with highs and lows, cramped spots and open spots, vibrant and dull pallets, fast and slow and encounters… Course if you play on Mentor or Master Ninja that’s “slight variations of light-speed”, but you get the idea. In Chapter 11 you will fight your way through hordes of enemies populating: 1. an antiquated Japanese village 2. a bamboo forest 3.The side of a mountain 4. A small cave 5. A dojo now overgrown with roots and weeds and 6. a volcano, all with a minimum of loading screens and down-time. As if that weren’t enough, the level concludes with a duel between you and your rival Genshin amidst a violent eruption of lava. Talk about epic. This is the type of level that makes YOU feel cool by way of exploring ITS inherently cool design. Of course, this level was completely rage inducing on Master Ninja for me with its armies of rocket Ninjas filling the screen with explosions, forcing me to resort to jump+yyy eclipse scythe spam, but hey, I'm not the best at this game, and there are certainly players out there who can style on those guys properly.

I have a save specifically for that level. It's really right where the game hits its stride -- lots of weapons to use, varied terrain, swarms of enemies, far away checkpoints, brutal but fair difficulty...

The level was totally emasculated in the PS3 version, though. Here's a demonstration (also has some fun NG2 footage to boot):

 

[copx]

Castle Galava in Nox

 

[laclongquan]

Ocean Star Hotel is overrated. So many you praise it to high heaven, but it's overrated. Bloodlines has some fine levels, but I wouldnt say that as one.

 

[Jick Magger]

It's a fairly atmospheric part of the game the first time you go through it. Second time you go back, and from every subsequent replay onwards, it becomes that one area in the game where you can't die, nothing bad can happen to you, and have to do some awkward first person platforming and manoeuvring.

 

[Darth Roxor]

Castle Galava in Nox

Only when playing the warrior.