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The best dungeon in the Zelda series?

Counting the pre-dungeon areas, which in Skyward Sword I think is pretty reasonable, the Sand Sea was an absolutely stunning piece of work; an interesting concept milked and stretched and played with to the point that every single use of the time stones was new and surprising. Then you add on the minecarts and the pirate's hideout, and it's far and away the best area in any Zelda for my money.

I do love Forest Temple and Arbiter's Grounds, though. Forest Temple, in particular, is a masterful bit of atmosphere.
 
Skyward Sword was mostly a disappointment for me, but the entire lanayru area was incredible. The mining facility has got to be my favorite dungeon in the series, and just the area leading up to it was great, along with the sandsea. Why the Zelda team crapped out in the faron woods and eldin volcano area is beyond me, seeing as how creative they were in the lanayru province.
 
Nintendo-4Life said:
Get out. Now.

You are entitled to your opinion, but you are still wrong. :P, seriously though I thought the controls were fantastic in SS
Click to expand...

Seriously. The motion controls in SS are the best thing to happen to combat mechanics since lock-on. I can't believe LucasArts hasn't announced a jedi/lightsaber based rip off yet, I wouldn't mind in the least.
 
Oh god I hate this thread, now I need a new Zelda immediately. I was very happy with the dungeons in Twilight Princess and Skyward Sword. I really liked that whole concept of manipulating time with the ball in Skyward Sword. I like when Nintendo goes nuts. They need to be as daring with the overall game/world as they can be with the dungeons.
 
Hands down:

Zelda:Ocarina of Time: Forest Temple



Runner up:

Zelda: ALTTP: Turtle Dungeon (I think it's the 7th dungeon)
Zelda: Majora's Mask: Stone Tower Temple
 
Ancient_Cistern_Artwork.png

800px-Golden_Statue.png


oh yeahh, glad people agree too. :)
 
Exterminieren said:
Counting the pre-dungeon areas, which in Skyward Sword I think is pretty reasonable, the Sand Sea was an absolutely stunning piece of work; an interesting concept milked and stretched and played with to the point that every single use of the time stones was new and surprising. Then you add on the minecarts and the pirate's hideout, and it's far and away the best area in any Zelda for my money.

I do love Forest Temple and Arbiter's Grounds, though. Forest Temple, in particular, is a masterful bit of atmosphere.
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With no hesitation I would say that the whole sand sea section was actually better than the following Sandship dungeon, skipper's retreat has such good music.

BlackJace said:
Good choice Nocturnowl, Arbiter's Ground was nice.
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You have an interesting choice yourself, not one of my favourites by any stretch but the Palace of Twilight was certainly different from the norm not just in design but execution, the way Zant himself is so heavily featured with the Zant head enemies and the holograms that guard the energy spheres gave that extra edge of egotism to the proceedings that match his mind warped character.
And then there was the mad boss battle itself, it was a good show case for Zant's madness.

Avixph said:
Why has no-one mentioned any dungeons from the DS Zelda games?
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Spirit Tracks Sand Temple was pretty cool actually, almost entirely because of the mileage they got out of the sand rod.
 
Exterminieren said:
Counting the pre-dungeon areas, which in Skyward Sword I think is pretty reasonable, the Sand Sea was an absolutely stunning piece of work; an interesting concept milked and stretched and played with to the point that every single use of the time stones was new and surprising. Then you add on the minecarts and the pirate's hideout, and it's far and away the best area in any Zelda for my money.
Click to expand...

Yup! In my opinion Skyward Sword has the highest highs and lowest lows of the modern Zeldas. A lot of brilliance and a lot of stuff I didn't like. <3 Sandsea
 
mmm.... very hard to decide....
City in the Sky or Ancient Cistern i guess...
SnowPeak Ruins is very cool too... but what about Forsaken Fortress?

nope.. can't decide.
 
apana said:
Oh god I hate this thread, now I need a new Zelda immediately. I was very happy with the dungeons in Twilight Princess and Skyward Sword. I really liked that whole concept of manipulating time with the ball in Skyward Sword. I like when Nintendo goes nuts. They need to be as daring with the overall game/world as they can be with the dungeons.
Click to expand...

tumblr_m3omfiP2zD1rsvybjo1_500.gif

sandsea_big.jpg

tumblr_m30h4lgJk11rsgg83o1_1280.jpg

I dunno, they were pretty damned creative with SS.But thats for another discussion
 
OP nailed it for me. Re: Zelda dungeons, I'm am atmosphere guy first, then puzzles a close 2nd. Forest Temple, Snowpeak Ruins and Shadow Temple for atmosphere. But I only finished the first dungeon in SS, so I can't comment on those yet.

I want future Zeldas to have more macabre themed dungeons, a'la Shadow Temple and Arbiter Grounds. The Zelda universe makes that stuff creepy and interesting, even though it's very stylized and non-realistic, if that makes any sense.
 
Nintendo-4Life said:
I never understood the fascination with City in The Sky. Yeah it was pretty impressive and the item (and boss) were awesome. But the atmosphere was so drab. Like really drab. Its a good dungeon, but I really don't get why its the best.
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Odd, I find it to be one of the most atmospheric dungeons in the series. The music has this surreal, haunting quality which perfectly compliments the feeling of being in an abandoned settlement above the clouds. The interruptions by the boss as you're exploring the place are also really neat and make the final showdown all the more satisfying.
 
I'm not gonna lie, I liked the last dungeon in Skyward Sword. It seemed really awesome to switch up the rooms to
find the three Triforce pieces
 
the Sandship in SS might very well be my favourite dungeon in all Zeldas

to be more precise, from this part on

Pirate_Stronghold.png
 
Currygan said:
the Sandship in SS might very well be my favourite dungeon in all Zeldas

to be more precise, from this part on

Pirate_Stronghold.png
Click to expand...

That was not the Sandship, but a mini-dungeon before the Sandship.

It was a pretty awesome mini-dungeon, though. I like it more than most of the normal dungeons. lol

Gummb said:
Ancient_Cistern_Artwork.png
Click to expand...
For some reason, I don't remember the game's graphics ever looking that nice...

Billiechu said:
I have a pretty negative opinion of Skyward Sword but I loved pretty much every dungeon in that game.
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I loved SS, but it really did disappoint me (I wasn't a big fan of some of the out-of-dungeon activities, especially after the 3rd dungeon). Until looking at this thread, I completely forgot how amazing the dungeons were.

I think I'm gonna go and fire up Majora's Mask and Skyward Sword later...
 
That snow mansion thing is Twilight Princess was so very cool. Most innovative, challenging? May be not. Most memorable? God damn yes. In term of atmosphere, that one wins, hands down.
 
youngwerther said:
Are you talking about the Darknuts?
They are like the easiest enemies in the game.

*backflip*
*jump attack*
*backflip*
*jump attack*
Click to expand...

Well sure they're easy now, but they were totally intimidating when I was younger. I mean, their attacks take away four whole hearts!

(Though I admit it was a bit more fun fighting them when I was intimidated by them...)

Medalion said:
That's because that is a screen grab from the Dolphin emulated version that re-renders everything in a higher resolution with better post-processing effects
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I know, but still, Dolphin's magic is only as good as the source material.
 
Man, all the SS dungeon praise in this thread makes me want to go back and finish the game (only beat the first dungeon).
 
Uhh...................................................................................

Forest Temple or Inside Ganon's Castle

I haven't played Skyward Sword yet, though. Probably should refresh my memories with a few playthroughs of the Zelda games, but yeah Forest Temple and Ganon's Castle are awesome.

Spirit Temple and Shadow Temple are pretty interesting too.
 
Not really a dungeon, but the Hyrule Castle in the Wind Waker was awesome. Going through the first time, with everything in black and white and frozen in time... And then you get the Master Sword, everything turns to colour, and then you have to fight your way out back to the surface. Soooo good.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9PVaKU0bA1U
 
Seeing all of these pics of SS reminds me that it is one of the finest games of last year. Zelda games really do take you on an adventure... I want to play through it again, heh.
 
HArd to choose. Liked the forest dungeon in Wind Waker alot. And I enjoyed all of the dungeons in Skyward, probably liked that first one the most. Had cool music. My least favorite dungeon is the sky one in Twilight Princess that made me stop playing and never finish that game.
 
hatchx said:
I was quite fond of the Ancient Cistern in Skyward Sword (4th dungeon). It was beautiful, felt very well connected, very satisfying puzzles, great mid-boss and boss.

Was the highlight of the whole game for me, in fact.
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EloquentM said:
Ancient cistern. Brilliant dungeon design.
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Electivirus said:
Ancient Cistern, by a country mile.
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By far. Ancient Cistern was excellent. good puzzles, music, mini-boss, boss, item, thematic elements, and it actually references a short story. The boss is probably my favorite Zelda boss.

Runners up:
2. Arbiter's Grounds
3. Stone Tower Temple
4. Temple of Time
5. Snowpeak Ruins
 
Ancient Cistern as well. I'm not a fan of dungeons in general, but that one was lovely.

Honourable mention to The Minish Cap dungeon with the minecarts. I burst out into laughter when Link started yelling in terror when he rode one.
 
Stone Tower Temple, definitely.

Runners up are probably Forest Temple (OOT), Eagle's Tower, and the Sand Ship. But Stone Tower Temple is the best, hands down.
 
Avixph said:
Why has no-one mentioned any dungeons from the DS Zelda games?
Click to expand...
I remember really liking Spirit Tracks, but I literally can't remember anything about it. Seriously - I couldn't tell you the "theme" of any dungeon.

It would worry me, but then I remember every Skyward Sword dungeon.
 
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