Grampy_Bone
i didn't understand it either back in the day, and not only that back in the day (i.e. LESS THAN 3 YEARS AGO...); almost my entire gaming life I always thought dungeon crawlers were not "real RPGs", and additionally I also didn't understand the appeal of a game where the most prominent aspects of appeal were (what I assumed in ignorance to be) non-stop "grinding" while being forced to map by hand.
i didn't get it then.
Now I won't say it is something universally appealling and I have argued about this previously and my conclusion then and now as well is the following:
- (In dungeon crawling context) Mapping by hand
is a fun experience that will reward the player by transforming their initial forays into the unknown into both a CRPG gaming experience
and into actively discovering how the floor they are mapping is designed, architected and how and why it is was implemented and why it is the floor number it is instead of being another floor:
a) Mapping "by hand" (I include using software into this as well, since it doesn't really matter if its paper or a spreadsheet) is proven to immensely promote the spatial awareness of the player and, in the same way that writing something down while listening to it will promote better memory capture and in the same way that when studying a text-book writing your own "version" of what you're reading in the material will also highly enhance memory receptiveness.
(i.e. when you map a dungeon "by hand" you will
always remember the maze layout; and to this day ask any hard core Wiz/crawler fan about mapping and 9/10 times the phrase "...eventually I could do the dungeon blindfolded!" will come into play).
b) It's "fun". It's fun because it leaves behind a physical artifact that is born completely out of the game playing experience you had with the game and the maps themsevles, specifically hand-drawn ones, become mementos you will want to keep and (again) ask any crawler fanatic about their maps and you will soon be linked to a photos of their meticulous (or sometimes incredibly sloppy but beautiful in its madness) maps from the crawlers they played.
However I think the "by hand" mapping should
neve,r ever be implemented in any crawler with the intention of forcing the player to map
the entire game. Yes, classic Wiz (the DOS/Apple II versions) were like this and many other crawlers of the time as well, but modern crawler developers learned something very important:
- Mapping can get old and real fucking fast can it get old.
a) A good "modern" crawler should ideally heavily motivate the player to map the initial dungeon(s) or areas, maybe by hand or in the case of 3DS by using the stylus on the thing's second screen (ingenius idea, btw).
b) But in order to avoid the extremely taxing and honestly eventually TEDIOUS task of mapping every single fucking little thing: the crawler should eventually (around floors 2 or 3) begin to provide access to the player for alternative ways to "auto-map" their dungeon crawling experience be it through:
1a) The provision of items that function as insta-maps which display everything explored up to that point by the player (or all of it, whatever, but that's for easy mode).
2b) A healthy amount of early access to spells, or spell-like objects/items, or (this example is from Wiz Gaiden 4): have a switch hidden somewhere that if the player manages to find it and hits it then boom, instantly the floor the player is on will/should reveal itself completely and fill in the game's auto-map, or if the game doesn't have one then something that amounts to that.
3c) Simple solution then: all methods combined.
- Elminage: Gothic sells you from the start "Magic Maps" which are 1 time use items which when used bring up the map screen displaying covered ground and leaving the rest of the floor in shadow with faint lines/shapes somewhat visible so you know roughly how much is "left" to go.
- E:G, like classic Wizardry (and so many other clones) also provides an additional option with the spell "DUMAPIC" or its equivalent which will function exactly the same as that "magic map" item I described. The point, though, is that this type of spell is always placed in a spell "tier" (spell schools feature tiers numbered usually 1-10 or so, with spells in tiers of a higher number being more powerful); the map spell should always be a beginning tier, 1 or 2 for example, but should make sure that the tier it is in features SUPER USEFUL SPELLS which cure, heal, antidote or sleep enemies/crowd control, etc: the POINT being to make it so that the player
has to weigh the pros and cons of whether or not he should spend MP on casting the mapping spell or whether he should instead tough it out, perhaps map by hand maybe instead, and save those MP in case he needs to use the healing/restorative/crowd controlling spell(s) that are also in the same "tier".
Additionally even one could even throw in the Wiz Gaiden 4 (and all later Gaiden games)' "innovation" of each floor always having secret switch (usually hard to get to!) which will eliminate all mapping needs when found and used by the player.
IMO the perfect way is all 4 methods. However the single biggest reason to map by hand is the most simple one and the first one I mentioned: when you do it that way you will memorize the maze layouts so well that you will never need later on to waste ANYTHING be it map items, map spells or find any dumb switch to traverse those areas that you have mapped by hand... why? because you both remember the layouts very well and don't need any reminder anymore due to the fact that you mapped it by hand and additionally it means you have the floor layout in "hard copy", so to speak, accessible at any time by you, the player / human being.
There is a Codex thread dedicated exclusively to show off the maps done by hand by crawler fans and it's an GREAT thread. Some people here really made each hand-drawn map a fucking piece of art.
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EDIT: Obviously as the player's party grows in level and power their access to resources like map-spells or access to map-items will increase, meaning that while it maybe have been fun to hand-map the first dungeon or the first two dungeons, by dungeon 3 (usually) the party will have more than enough resources to never need draw anything by hand again as they will be able to "afford" as many map "castings" or map items as they could possibly need or want to use.
The notion that Wizardry and its ilk somehow "forces" the players to map every single dungeon forever and without reprieve is true
only in the case of scenarios 1-6, and obviously, only in the case of the DOS/Apple II/NEC PC-98 releases.
Actually if I remember right there was a re-release of Wiz 6 about 8 months after the DOS release of the game which added "mouse support" (something completely unnecessary in a tile-based RPG where movement and dungeon/area/game play is designed
is aligned to a grid) and additionally they also added in auto-mapping to the DOS version but this may possibly not even be true as it's simply something I remember reading whiile googling Bradley interviews in order to fuel my hate.
