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[Sephimoth]

I am interested in what JRPG fans enjoy about dungeons the most.

I've played a lot of JRPGs over the years, but I can't really say I've 'enjoyed' a dungeon, usually I just get through them. There are ones I've been laser-focused on though, for example some of the final dungeons in FF6/7/8 where I'm under-leveled and just trying not to get destroyed, so maybe survival is my pick. And I've played other games where the dungeons are just... boring or unmemorable- maybe if there was some challenge it'd be different.

What are some examples that do dungeons right (for you) vs wrong? Any that you've finished and thought "now that was a great dungeon!" ?

 

[BlakeofT]

Lufia 2 comes to mind. Great puzzles and you can see the enemies moving around. Two of my favorite things.

 

[Labadal]

Dungeons in the Wild ARMS series were mostly fun.

 

[IAmRei]

I love final dungeon of ffvi, and also ffix, especially ffix for the theme.

 

[DonkeyPunchJr]

My favorite dungeons are ones that are visually interesting and appear as if they have a long history to them. A couple favorites..


Star Ocean 2 Hoffman ruins

Final Fantasy XII Barheim Passage

 

[cireza]

Maze-like that requires several expeditions and preparing for them. You need to feel the tension of risking to walk a few steps further at the price of having the next random encounter destroying your entire team.

Phantasy Star I/II/III/IV did this to perfection. Shining the Holy Ark is worth noting, especially as there are very clever level-design moments in this game. Dungeon-RPGs are usually good at this. Dungeons & Dragons games on MD and MEGA-CD are also very good at this. Shiren series is obviously another good pick.

Any dungeon that has zero tension and feels like a walk in the park fails as a dungeon. But that's the same with shops where you can simply buy everything and upgrade everyone : fails as a shop.

Puzzles sucks. If I want puzzles, I will play the Talos Principle or Catherine or the Witness... any game that will respect my intelligence. Puzzles in RPGs are most of the time dumb and used for padding. It was unbearable in Golden Sun on DS for example.

 

[DGrayson]

As long as the pace of random battles are not too intense I like all kinds.

 

[Fbh]

The only ones I don't like are the ones where you just walk from one combat encounter to the next.
Recently I really enjoyed the dungeons in Sea of Stars. I wouldn't call them "puzzle" heavy (as I've seen some people describe them) because it's not like you spend 20 minutes on some annoying laser puzzle, but they all have some unique mechanic or gimmick to keep them interesting, with battles thrown in at a good pace.

 

[ThatStupidLion]

i feel like modern dungeons are shit.

give me that old school phantasy star maze style just trying to be strong enough to survive the path of figuring out the end point while discovering useful loot if you take your time to fully explore.

bad dungeon design - PERSONA series

 

[Days like these...]

Phantasy Star II

 

[Isa]

Perhaps something like Vagrant Story, where the primary setting was like the whole dungeon, I guess MegaDungeon in tabletop terms but instead of a random eclectic mess it was so well organized and thematically consistent. On one hand I love a proper dungeon, ala tabletop stuff and Jrpg/Anime tropes of meeting my friends in a tavern and going exploring but on the other I find the one's that've stuck with me the most over the years didn't really flaunt that element of game design and just felt more natural like Parasite Eve say. Being so invested in the story, world and characters made it seem so real that I didn't really get that disconnect, which I also don't mind.

I'll never forget my first time going through Shining in the Darkness(replayed it recently this year as well lol) and experiencing my first actual dungeon crawler. Man the sprites, characters and art throughout is superb. Also the dungeon's first person view in Phantasy Star was also so impressive to me. Shining in the Holy Ark also felt great and was a proper evolution to the original game in my opinion. I'd say those really captured that whitebox/becmi, ad&d feel of my youth of resource management in dungeon delving.

 

[LakeOf9]

I guess a mix of them all? Can't think of a JRPG with better dungeons than Persona 5 Royal, and the dungeons in that are sort of a mix of most of the options in the OP

 

[killatopak]

Red line represents path to progress.

 

[Xenon]

I'll never forget my first time going through Shining in the Darkness(replayed it recently this year as well lol) and experiencing my first actual dungeon crawler. Man the sprites, characters and art throughout is superb. Also the dungeon's first person view in Phantasy Star was also so impressive to me. Shining in the Holy Ark also felt great and was a proper evolution to the original game in my opinion. I'd say those really captured that whitebox/becmi, ad&d feel of my youth of resource management in dungeon delving.

I was browsing the Genesis collection and started this on a whim. I had owned the game on cartridge but never finished it. It was the victim of all the glaring flaws of older japanese rpgs , cliche plot, linear progression, lack of item descriptions, and one of the most aggressive random encounters mechanisms that seems to trigger every 2 to 3 steps. But here I am 5 hours later enjoying the hell out of it.

I think I finally seeing the game for what it actually is, truly one of the most Is condensed dungeon crawling experiences out there. Why do I need to walk through a big maze making twenty steps to generate an encounter in 16bit generated maps? Why do I need to walk around towns looking for tidbits of story. I was getting all the stuff I liked out of it some strategy, mysteries to uncover, character progression, and even a good sense of exploration. But it's like every ounce of fat was trimmed out of it. I think before I would map out the dungeon. But now I realize that actually just remembering things and using map spells are enough to get you through the game. Actually it seems like it's part of the game. Subtle things like this and using shopkeepers to find out who can use what items are the little touches that I totally missed back then and appreciate now. I'm definitely glad I've rediscovered this gem. Shining in the darkness is definitely worth a look if you're a fan of dungeon crawlers.

 

[Arsic]

Theme ones in persona are tip top.

 

[artsi]

Persona 3
Persona 4
Persona 5 Metaverse

I don't want to see a puzzle in a dungeon, get that Persona 5 palace out of my sight.

 

[a multicultural team of v]

I am getting absolutely sick of so many dungeons now being boring platforms connected by hallways, and they are like floating in some sort of weird alternate reality space that doesn't resemble anything else in the game. They are just so cheap and lame, and unfortunately the fact that so many games have fights appear on the same map as navigation makes this so prevalent - you can't have organic looking dungeons because there would be no room to fight.

 

[semiconscious]

old school zelda dungeons > other dungeons...

tho i do enjoy these, too:

Red line represents path to progress.

 

[RagnarokIV]

End Game hidden ones like Omega Ruins

 

[Wunray]

Puzzles yo, give me puzzles.

 

[Danjin44]

Strange Journey.

 

[TheInfamousKira]

I'm nuts, but I love expansive, multi tiered fucking fortresses or catacombs. Stuff that feels like you're going on a quest, either up or down. It gives you a nice, broad overall goal and measurement of progress toward goal. I fucking love shit like the Pharos in FFXII, the Iutycyr Tower (or wtf ever it's name is) from FFX-2, God bless me, I even think the dungeons and sense of scope and mazey goodness inside are FFXV's greatest quality.

Thoughts are the same for every Zelda game I've played, too (Skyward Sword was the last I got around to) Ganon's Tower? Cavern of Ordeals? Tower of the Gods? The Ancient Cistern? Tower of Hera? Eagle Tower? Hyrule Castle? Fuck me, my dudes and dudettes. Great shit. Naughty Dog TLOU "telling a story behind the sticks," or whatever quirky thing Druckman said, but done early. Fucking towers, dude. Fucking hellish caverns of the underground, my guys.

 

[SantaC]

Dungeons got worse with modern jrpgs

Pinnacle was 90s + early 2000 dungeons.

These days there are no dangers of dying.

 

[March Climber]

Randomized encounters? FFX trial dungeon style. Not too many back-to-back battles and the dungeons don't last too long but provide a slight amount of challenge and extra reward.

Avoidable encounters but turn based combat? Parasite Eve 2-style of Resident Evil-esque puzzles and reward.

Real-time combat? Link to the Past-style

 

[F31 Leopard]

Don't have a favorite but the most annoying dungeon I ever played was the 3rd Stratum from the Demon Castle in SMTV. That part was utter bullshit. Beat that "puzzle" by accident.

 

[phant0m]

Any dungeon that feels like an accomplishment/progress and not a chore. Also don't make me backtrack w/ random encounters.