Why, hello. You all must be the new adventurers in town.
I suppose you're here about the laby-

What's that? A poll? Oh dear. I suppose that's acceptable as well.

Just follow the rules below...


Voting will be open for the next two weeks, ending on July 6th, 2013 at 11:59PM EST. Feel free to edit your votes until then, but use your original post instead of duplicating the list on a new post. After the voting phase, I'll tally everyone's picks and create an OP with summaries of the top games.


1. Each member can vote for up to 5 games + 5 honorable mentions. If you include 5 games or less on your list, I will count them all as regular votes. If you have more than 5 games on your list but do not specify which ones are honorable mentions, I will assume the first 5 are regular votes and the ones after that are honorable mentions. If you want to list more than 10 games (some users did in the RPG thread), put them under a second heading called "Unranked Honorable Mentions".

2. Votes are semi-weighted. This is done to avoid ties in the final list. All regular votes are worth 2 points and all honorable mentions are worth 1 point. Following rule #1, this means you can have up to 5 games that each receive 2 points and 2 honorable mentions that each receive 1 point. Hopefully this will help to break up the number of ties.

3. Most RPGs have dungeons. Some just have hallways. But this is specifically for first person dungeon crawler RPGs. I'm pretty sure we've had a strict RPG poll in the past, so this one is for the sort where you and a party take on a massive labyrinth, explored from a first person perspective.

Examples:

• Phantasy Star
• Shining In The Darkness
• Wizardry (any)
• Etrian Odyssey
• Legend of Grimrock
• The Dark Spire
• Persona 1

etc.

If you have an RPG that is very similar to this but isn't explicitly an FPDC, make a solid case and I'll consider making it eligible.

4. Back up your choices! No one is interested in reading a post that simply lists 5 games with no explanations.

Screens and music encouraged!

I highly encourage voters to include a few choice songs within their lists, ideally with links to youtube recordings or what not, i.e. Luna Light Bar (Wizardry: Tale of the Forsaken Land).

5. Use full titles for the games you are voting for. Tallying votes is a tedious process that is made more difficult when people vote for STHA instead of Shining The Holy Ark or whatever.

6. Votes for remakes, ports, and expansions of a game will be counted together with the original. Do not vote for the same game twice, even if you believe that the remake substantially changed the feel of the game (e.g. the PSP port of Elminage).

That said, feel free to vote for a specific version of a game (and explain why that is the best version). When I create the final list I will list all of the platforms that each game is available on and make note of substantial remakes/expansions in the game's summary.

If the games in a series are wildly different, then you should vote for the game that you're most fond of, such as Wizardry 8 instead of 6.

Here is a ballot template you can use:

1) Dungeon Crawler 1 - Explanation
Track Example (Game)

2) Dungeon Crawler 2 - Explanation
Track Example (Game)

3) Dungeon Crawler 3 - Explanation
Track Example (Game)

4) Dungeon Crawler 4 - Explanation
Track Example (Game)

5) Dungeon Crawler 5 - Explanation
Track Example (Game)


Honorable Mentions

1) Dungeon Crawler 1 - Explanation
Track Example (Game)

2) Dungeon Crawler 2 - Explanation
Track Example (Game)

-------------------------------------------------------------

Feel free to modify the format if you want to include pictures or whatever.

Happy voting! I'll post mine soon.

Hope I did it right I am a total fangirl of those games so...


1) Etrian Odyssey III

This series is pretty much what a dungeon crawler should be, in my opinion. Touch enemies, exploration, and mapdrawing. It's a perfect formula that is pure fun, the skill system is great, as are the classes that, unlike most dungeon crawlers, really ARE different. And status effects actually WORK!
Etrian Odyssey III is my favorite in the series so far. In addition to the dungeon, it adds a sea-based exploration minigame, which unlocks a TON of bosses, and the dungeon design is superb, with individual quirks for each Stratum (A series of floors connected with a single theme and finished by a boss). The classes are varied, and this game introduces subclasses for even more fun.
Plus, music is great, as is the design.
Track Example: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UEsgRhIhHf8

2) Etrian Odyssey II

like EO2. It's slightly harder, with more floors, but they aren't as varied. It's still great, still has a variety of classes and does pretty much everything right. The music is great, the monster design varied - it's a ton of fun.
Track Example: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bRpQgOVWT5s

3) Ultima Underworld II

The venerable grandmother of truly 3D Dungeon crawlers. Immersive, expansive, and unlike most dungeon crawlers, it also has NPC interactions and different outcomes (Flying fortress in UWII, anyone?)
Sadly, it also has platforming - CLUNKY. Still, a great game. I consider 2 to be superior to I in every way.

4) Might and Magic - World of Xeen

A great game. So huge, everything is quirky, the quests range from silly to wut, and there's just so much to do. I like them better than their modern counterparts for sure.
Stroke of Genius: World of Xeen is actually Might and Magic IV and V combined. That's right - both games combine together into this behemoth of a dungeoncrawl.

5) Thunderscape

The only reason Thunderscape is relegated to place 5 is that the combat is a complete joke.
But the dungeon crawling is great. MASSIVE dungeons await, including riddles, hidden tombs, and a nice atmosphere (if you read the texts). I am really fond of the game, despite the bad graphics and weak combat.
Track Example: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GK6-8KXrZ1U


Honorable Mentions:
Etrian Odyssey I: Like III and II, a great game. However, the class balance is really out of whack - pick a medic with the proper skills and the game is easy. Do not, and it's very hard.
Track Ex: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CPgpBa8tRmw

Etrian odyssey IV: Like III and II. Slightly harder than I (with medic), good game with tons of variety and even an overworld map between the dungeon crawling. The classes didn't charm me as much, though, and I prefer the longer dungeons of EO2.
Track Ex: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5KsUqgU9BC4

Might and Magic VI: it's a bit like World of Xeen. The classes have more variety, but it feels as if there is somewhat less to explore than the massive world of Xeen.
Track Ex: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zghhaNkIXT0

Subscribed before I finished reading the title. Not hugely experienced in the FPDC genre so I'll be mostly lurking for suggestions, will add my own meager votes in due course.

I wish I had played more of these :/ I have all the Etrian Odessy games but yet to play one Heck I think closest I've come to anything like a FPS dungeon crawler would be Sword of Hope 2 on the Game Boy.

Also maybe Fallout 3 & New Vegas but I don't consider them Dungeon Crawlers.

If only I had more time I would be able to play Soul Summoners, Etrian Odessy 4 and Unchained Blades on 3DS :/

Etrian Odyssey 1
Etrian Odyssey 2
Etrian Odyssey 3
Etrian Odyssey 4
Legend of Grimrock

Mauricio_Magus said:

Etrian Odyssey 1
Etrian Odyssey 2
Etrian Odyssey 3
Etrian Odyssey 4
Legend of Grimrock

Click to expand...

This is my list :lol

My Top 5:



1. King's Field: Ancient City



2. Shadow Tower Abyss

3. Eternal Ring

4. Wizardry: Tale of the Forsaken Land

5. [To be determined]

Will update with music selections, pictures, and my final pick!

1. Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey

2. Etrian Odyssey IV

3. Persona 1

4. Betrayal at Krondor

5. Stonekeep

Honorable Mention - Shin Megami Tensei: Soul Hackers

1.) Avatar (PLATO system)
One of the granddaddies of the genre and one of the inspirations for the original Wizardy games. I started playing this game while in college in the early 80's and have been playing it off in on in various iterations since then. I'm currently playing the zavatar version on the Cyber1 system.

Being multiplayer adds a whole new perspective to the game. As an example yesterday morning one of the players had his whole party wiped out by and uber stud encounter on the lowest level of the dungeon. Being a server side game there is no going back to a previous save in this situation. You either need to build some new characters to rescue yourself (which would take weeks) or have someone else recue you. My chars aren't currently high enough level to have had a chance at a rescue but during the day a couple of other players attempted the rescue and also got wiped out resulting in a pile of 11 deaders under the same encounter. Finally later in the evening a couple of players with some high level chars joined forces and were successful at taking it down and rescuing everyone else.



2.) Wizardry series
My initial draw to this series was due to the fact that they were single player adaptations of the Plato games that I knew and loved. When away from school I had to get my fix somehow and Wizardry was the closest thing at the time.

If I had to pick a favorite in the series it would probably be Wizardy IV Return of Werdna. This game stood out in that it reversed the formula so that rather than start out with a party of adventurers trying to take out the bad guy you were the bad guy trying to take out all of the parties of do-gooding adventurers. It was also brutally difficult, especially in the days before you had easy access to walkthrough's via the net.

The Wizardry games were also great in that they typically allowed you to import your party from the previous game which provides continuity and an attachment to your chars. In fact I'm embarrassed to say that despite having owned a boxed copy of Wiz 8 since it was new I've never gotten around to playing it because I keep going back to Wiz6 and Wiz 7 to create my ultimate party to carry though to 8 and just haven't gotten there yet.

3.) Might and Magic series
Essentially too the Wizardry formula and added in overland adventuring in addition to dungeon delving. If I had to pick a favorite I would go with Might and Magic III Isles of Terra. !&II were a bit grindy but III seemed to strike the right balance between difficulty and fun. Lots of great puzzles and infused with Jon Van Caneghem's sense of humor and unique blend of Sci-Fi and Fantasy. The Xeen games were also very good but a little on the easy side for my tastes.

4.) The Bard's Tale 1 Tales of the Unknown
Another fun game in the Wizardry vein but this time with glorious color graphics on my Apple IIe. One of my favorite things about Bard's tale and games of this era iin general s that starting out is a real challenge, you actually feel like a weak novice adventure who keeps getting slaughtered by even the lowest level monsters. When you finally make level 2 it's a reason for celebration. Contrast that to today's game where you are practically handed a level up by completing a simplistic tutorial with no real challenge.

5.) Etrian Odyssey series
Finally some real challenge brought to modern day games. I really enjoyed the first 2 games and played them through to 100% completion or close. EO3 didn't click with me as well, not sure if it was due to the ocean parts or I just couldn't find a party combination that I liked. I don't have a 3DS yet so I haven't played EO4

Honorable mentions:

Oubliette (PLATO system)
Another multiplayer dungeon crawler from the PLATO system. More than any other this is the game that Robert Woodhead and Andrew Greenberg copied for the original Wizardry. A very difficult game that had the concepts of possible perm-death on a raise and polymorph chests that would chance your race permanently for better or worse.

This game popularized the concept of rolling and re-rolling your character hoping the rng gods would smile on you. I'm pretty sure I spent more time in the character creation lesson than the actual game itself. When the 1st smart terminals for the Plato system came out one of the first uses they were put to was some enterprising student wrote a screen scraper program to roll characters in Oubliette trying to roll that elusive ranger as a starting character. I wasn't unusual to walk by a bank of unattended terminals just rolling away all night.

AD&D Dungeon Hack
This is essentially a rouge-like with AD&D rules using the EOTB engine. Fantastic concept that fell a little short on execution imo, but still nothing else like it.

Mordor and Demise
Mordor was pretty much a single player adaptation of Avatar that ran on Windows. Very well done but the author never really acknowledged where his design originated from which didn't sit well with me. Demise attempted to add a multiplayer component but the game was pretty buggy and never well supported.

1. Wizardry: Tale of the Forsaken Land (PS2)
aka Busin Wizardry Alternative



Virtue of Modesty



This game is the quintessential dungeon crawler for me. Fantastic story, full of NPCs with personality and life, varied quests and environments, and some gut-wretching plot twists, along with a wonderfully moody ambient, OST backing it all up.

2. Devil Summoner: Soul Hackers (Saturn/PS1/3DS)

Spookies



Almost any SMT game could go here, since a lot of them involve first person dungeon crawling. It's Soul Hackers' mix of cyberpunk, the occult, and some good-old-fashioned devil summoning that make it my favorite.



3. Etrian Odyssey (DS)
aka: Yggdrasil Labyrinth



The Green, Green Woodlands

All the EO games are good. For me, the original still sets the standard. Some of the best music, easily the best story, and memorable environments I won't soon forget.
Beneath The Eyes of God, indeed.



4. The Dark Spire (DS)



1st & 2nd Floors



Where Etrian Odyssey holds your hand at first then tosses you into the gaping maw of the Yggdrasil Labyrinth, Success' dungeon crawler allows no false sense of security. You're expected to figure everything out by yourself from the get-go, or die in the process.

It's a brutal, unforgiving experience, but that isn't without its charms, and it has some great music, atmosphere, and even some solid NPCs keeping the player just invested enough to delve even deeper into the game.

5. Shin Megami Tensei (SNES/PSX/GBA/etc.)



Palace of the Four Heavenly Kings

To say SMT1 is dated would be an understatement. Random battles are everywhere. Dungeons are bland and almost never-ending. And yet this game still has one of the most unique, bleakest post-modern plots in any RPG ever, and that alone makes it worth braving the demon-infested realm of Tokyo for.



Honorable Mentions

1. Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey

2. The Legend of Grimrock

Like with the rpg voting there are still many games in the genre I need to play and/or finish, so I am only counting the ones I have.

1) Might and Magic VI - Not the first dungeon crawler (or M&M) I played but it probably had the most impact. I always go back to this game and do it all again. Got to love when the goofy-ass looking character portraits get Insanity.

2) Etrian Odyssey III - I think this is still my favorite overall EO. Like the other entries it has a fantastic soundtrack and can be pretty brutal early on. The expanded class system and dungeon design stand out to me in this entry. The sailing aspect was pretty neat but I ignored it most of my playthrough.

3) Wizardry: Tale of the Forsaken Land - Very atmospheric and had great used of sound effects.

4) SMT: Strange Journey - This game was fantastic, I loved the dungeon design(would of been perfect if I were able to use the touch screen to mark stuff like warps) One day I would like to do a L or C replay.

Wow Avatar sounds badass.

Voting is sadly just about dead for this one. But if anyone wants to help make sure the results actually mean something, now's the time!

Eye of the Beholder II: The Legend of Darkmoon - This was the best of the trilogy, but if you haven't played any of these games, I'm sorry to say you haven't played a dungeon crawler.

Dungeon Master - See above

Might and Magic: World of Xeen - World of Xeen is basically Clouds of Xeen and Darkside of Xeen combined. Mandatory playing as far as I'm concerned.

Lands of Lore Series - Also mandatory. Westwood studio's attempt at a dungeon crawler.

Here are my picks

1- Might & Magic IV

Moonlit Snow Journey

It Might not be the best Dungeon crawler out there, but I just love its soundtrack, enemies and universe.

2- Ultima Underworld II

Ice Caverns

One of the first dungeon crawlers I played and still has a huge impact on me. As someone mentioned above, its clunky platforming bothers me but for a game made in 1993 it was ahead of its time

3-Wizardry 8

Outdoor

After playing Wizardry – Labyrinth of lost souls, decided to get it on gog and what a great game it was. Sure, the combat was slower than it should be, UI more complex than it should be, still I had more fun than playing newer dungeon crawlers

4-King’s Field IV

City Ruins

Although I am still not a huge fan of its combat mechanics, Kings Field IV has everything a dungeon crawler should have, fierce enemies, traps, a great soundtrack and its hard.

5-Shin Megami Tensei: Soul Hackers

World map theme

I would go for strange journey, but the Soul Hackers universe just makes it a better game. Playing the 3DS version made me wonder why Atlus did not took the same route at least regarding the world map on SMTIV.


I’d add some pictures, but I don’t know which hosting service is permitted on gaf

1) Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey - Combining the best of modern SMT, old school first-person dungeon crawlers and Etrian Odyssey, Strange Journey is a sight to behold. The fact that it comes in a convenient portable form just makes it all better. The only real flaw with the game is its very limited musical selection (hence why there's really only 1 choice for a track example...)
Fear of God

2) Etrian Odyssey IV - Do I really need to explain why the Etrian Odyssey series is dominating the voting? It combines old school dungeon crawling with modern game design to craft a game that is both difficult and yet accessible. The quality game design sets it apart from its western indie rivals, as does its decisivesly non-Tolkien-esque artwork (though I'm sure we could all do without the loli dancers).
City of Radiant Ruin

3) Etrian Odyssey II - See Above
The First Campaign

4) Phantasy Star - Such a charming and unique game for its time. Though it almost feels odd including it in this thread.
Final Dungeon

5) Ultima Underworld II - One of the best dungeon crawlers of days yonder. Also most people's first dungeon crawler (unless they were just too young I suppose). The only reason it doesn't rank higher is because I haven't played it since the 90s and have no idea how its held up.
Ice Caverns


Honorable Mentions

1) Etrian Odyssey - Fun fact: Etrian Odyssey was my 2nd (and 1st consistent) avatar on NeoGAF!
The Capital

2) Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Summoner: Soul Hackers - I enjoyed this game though my memories of it are fuzzy. Withholding further opinion until I get around to playing the new 3DS version.
Naomi Battle Theme

3) Legend of Grimrock - So close yet so far. Its a praise worthy game from indie developers. I just wish the combat gameplay was stronger (especially compared to the 5 that made it to the main list!). Still its a worthy effort and I would love to see the developers build upon it in a sequel.
Main Theme

1) Might and Magic: World of Xeen, perfects the Might and Magic formula of exploration, discovery, puzzles, treasure hunting, using fountains to buff your characters into gods and of course Star Trek references

2) Wizardry IV, turns the classic Wizardry formula on its head by having you play as the bad guy to try to get the good guys. Supposedly the most difficult commercially released RPG ever

3) Ultima Underworld, takes the amazing Ultima world and gives it an amazing engine, great story, great immersion ,etc.

4) Eye of the Beholder, is it a Dungeon Master clone? Probably but I never played that, plus this one had the D&D license and VGA graphics.

5) Lands of Lore, the followup to the Eye of the Beholder series. Has great graphics, puzzles, story, a very fluid and fun engine. It gets hard as fuck by the end though.

Honorable mentions:
Wizardry 1, the one that started it all. Compared to everything that came after it's dry, uber-difficult, cheap, has shit graphics, etc. but it's the grand daddy of them all.
Might and Magic VI: Took the wonderful M&M formula and gave it 3d graphics
Might and Magic II: An oldie but a goodie. If you like the M&M formula bear through the cga graphics and early grind and discover this amazing gem of a game.
Ultima V: It's only partially a 3d dungeon crawler but it has an amazing world, great exploration and discovery and great puzzles.

1) Wizardry V: Heart of the Maelstrom

This is the Wizardry game that had it all - difficulty that never got ridiculously hard at any one point yet forced you to earn and look for everything, puzzles of all sorts without resorting to something like spinners, and random encounters that could instill fear without being too cheap (while still packing a large variety of monsters).

The SNES version contains a little bit of color (but you can turn it off) and some basic dungeon music which I liked as a whole and allowed for even more imagination. It also "allowed" anyone to use a "soft reset" that doesn't doom the party if everything went wrong and force you to find them all over again. The combat in this version is extremely fast (and you can choose the message speed) and crawling is also very expedient. The level design is also very enjoyable and totally unpredictable and will force you to have a balanced party. The player will never come close to needing to grind except at one point in the game.

It is the *current* benchmark to which I compare other dungeon crawlers - gameplay and everything else supporting that without getting in the way. Be warned that a good understanding of the stats in the game should be acquired before beginning.


2) Eye of the Beholder I

An extremely good real-time combat dungeon crawler. The puzzles start out not so bad but get much harder and the game is not that difficult but strikes a nice balance anyway. The game provides no map but making your own map isn't required. The SNES version contains some music (which is again nice) and might be more friendly or easier to use for the controls, but you won't have the ability to take your party into the sequel(s) that way compared to the DOS versions. The DOS version has faster combat and crawling though (and the SNES version isn't bad either). The levels are varied and have some nice designs.

One spell in the game is simply too good but you can save anywhere that it is safe to rest (unlike Wizardry V). A Thief is not required for anything in this game as long you don't stick a certain key in the wrong door. There are few random encounters.


3) Etrian Odyssey 3: The Drowned City

For a series of dungeon crawlers done the right way (and for a game made in this century), this is the pinnacle IMHO. You are required to draw your own map but drawing lines is only required once. The soundtrack is synthesized but goes well with the dungeons and is pleasing to listen to (actually the music in the first three games are pretty nice to listen to). The puzzles and level designs in the dungeons are not as hard or unforgiving as older crawlers but are still excellent. The story is simple but begs for multiple playthroughs (which will NOT reset your characters or levels or most items) and the enemies have a lot of abilities and combos to throw at you.

Party construction is very deep but allows for a few combinations that are simply busted. The random encounters can be woefully easy at certain times and the bosses don't provide enough challenge. Finally, dungeon traversal is on the slow side. The character designs may turn off some gamers entirely and the enemy design is a bit too lazy.



* Not part of honorable mentions *
I may add some footage later, but the games I have not played or played enough include all Bard's Tale and Might and Magic games, both Ultima Underworlds, the first two Lands of Lore (I will never play the third game), the newer Wizardry games and Wizardry 6-8, Elminage Original, CoH2 (I will never play CoH1), Shining in the Darkness, any of the SMT games, and the indie FPDCs.

I can only think of one that I've played, and it's

Shining the Holy Ark, Sega Saturn
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oxBj9ejNuE8

Fun gameplay, challenging without being too difficult, music was pretty good. It got a little tedious near the end, but that might just be because I'm not a dungeon crawler guy. I believe it's the sequel to another decent dungeon crawler, Shining in the Darkness, for Genesis.

So.... who won? :O

So Phantasy Star games are eligible? I understood it right?

Well, some of them are. I'll give it an extra week since almost no one voted.

1.Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey.

Edit: oh it's old.