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The best dungeon in the Zelda series?

I actually hated the forest temple. Something about it rubs me the wrong way. I played it after Twilight Princess though, so that might have something to do with it.

There is no doubt in my mind, though, that City in the Sky is the best Zelda dungeon. The aesthetics, the concept, the puzzles, just about everything came together in that one to make it incredible.

Of course, it also introduced the best item ever.
 
Crumpet Trumpet said:
Y'all are making me want to replay Skyward Sword, its dungeons were so great. Too bad I'd have to put up with, well...everything else.
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I just started a second run through...and all the complaints I had in the past, which mimicked the complaints of GAF as a whole, weren't nearly as bad on the second playthrough. It really is an incredible game, and I have a feeling its going to be regarded as top tier Zelda in a couple of years.
 
This kind of thread makes me wish for the next Zelda to have a collection of classic dungeons as a game+ of sorts. Kinda like what Mario Kart does.
 
jmls1121 said:
I just started a second run through...and all the complaints I had in the past, which mimicked the complaints of GAF as a whole, weren't nearly as bad on the second playthrough. It really is an incredible game, and I have a feeling its going to be regarded as top tier Zelda in a couple of years.
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Thank god for that. I've been saying it all along, the complaints have been blown waaay out of proportion.

I guarantee you, SS WILL be regarded as one of the best games of the series if not all time, it shook up so many things that I still wonder why it doesn't get any credit for it.
 
Ugh, the people "fawning" over SS makes me think the series may never be saved... At least I have my N64 Zeldas and TP. (Not mentioning 2D Zeldas because everyone knows those are god-status)

On topic though, OP nailed it for me. Forest Temple is one of my favorite video game moments ever.
 
"Best" is pretty vague. Most memorable? Best puzzles? Combat? Atmosphere?

Deku Tree holds a special place just for blowing my mind.
 
CorvoSol said:
LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, THE TRUE KING:

The Legend of Zelda II: The Great Temple:


Do you want to be lost forever in the hardest dungeon in the series? LOOK NO FURTHER! And before anybody QUESTIONS that claim, I ask you: what dungeon could POSSIBLY be harder than the one that lies at the end of the valley of horrible painful death? Get through the fire and flying eyeballs and horrors and you STILL have to face this baby.

And she has secret passages, instant death pits, monsters like, everywhere, and TWO FINAL BOSSES waiting to WRECK YOUR SOUL at the bottom. You have exactly 3 tries to beat it before you have to start it over (if you failed to make it to the place in 3 tries God help you), you have an incredibly limited magic pool, even at max level, one to two healing spells, nevermind the fire, thunder, shield and jump spells you will NEED to beat it.

Assuming you make it all the way to the bottom you have to fight two bosses in rapid succession. One requires you use ALL your magic at the beginning of the fight just to be allowed to hurt it. The other is you except actually good at this game.

The dungeon has a kick ass theme song.

It is the ONLY SAVE POINT IN THE GAME. Which is only as long as you don't shut the thing off.

If you beat it, you don't get any lame-ass essence of nature or piece of shadow or crystal. YOU GET THE MOTHER FLIPPING TRIFORCE OF COURAGE. SUCK ON THAT WW'S TRIFORCE QUEST. Oh, and did I mention? You actually get to kiss Zelda when you finish it, Link!

Yeah, what other dungeons reward you accordingly?

In conclusion, BEST DUNGEON EVA!
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I was skimming through the thread ready to post this since noone was bringing it up, good to see someone beat me to it.

You are most enlightened.
 
Seriously guys, stop talking about SS. I don't want to buy a T.V. for my room (so soon, at least) in order to finish it. D:
 
Linkhero1 said:
This is probably the creepiest Zelda game I've played with Majora's Mask coming in second. The atmosphere always gave me an ominous feeling.
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I think LA is brilliant, my favorite Zelda game. There's so much sadness in it. Another thing I didn't notice until pointed out is that after you learn the truth about the island, (before Level 6), all three dungeons afterward are basically remixes of the shrine theme.

(Just like the first four dungeons are all remixes of the cave theme. I love how thought-out the music in Link's Awakening is.)
 
ocarina of time - spirit temple by far. everything is just great in that dungeon, and getting to do each half as a kid and adult? bad fucking ass.

majoras mask - definitely stone tower temple because it was so different. boss was pretty epic as well.

twilight princess - snowpeak ruins for sure. such a unique dungeon in all respects.

skyward sword - ancient cistern like everyone said. great dungeon, great atmosphere, great boss.

majoras mask, alttp, links awakening, and a few others i need to replay, as i dont particularly remember which dungeons were my favorite (been more than a decade!).
 
GMN said:
because that would suck
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I agree, half the fun of the LoZ games are about the themes that ties the plot together.
Skyward Sword and Wind Waker are amazing in encompassing great plot themes and sidequests! Wind waker even teaches you morals!

I always thought it was a weird concept to let protagonists go into regular AI homes and break their pots for rupees hahaha.

 
Linkhero1 said:
Maybe in the first few hours of TP, but the bs in SS carried on up to the last few hours of the game.
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Those first few hours left an indelible mark for me. Haven't played through TP since it came out 6 years ago. I'd be hard pressed to argue that TP's filler was better than SS's tho. It certainly provided a sense of place in SS that it didn't in TP.
 
Nintendo-4Life said:
Thank god for that. I've been saying it all along, the complaints have been blown waaay out of proportion.

I guarantee you, SS WILL be regarded as one of the best games of the series if not all time, it shook up so many things that I still wonder why it doesn't get any credit for it.
Click to expand...

This is something I noticed too. Once I had gotten away from SS for a year, my thought of what a 3D Zelda is supposed to be reverted to the common stereotypes, which is basically the formula started with OOT.

I was AMAZED at how they really altered the fundamentals of Zelda with SS. There are a ton of new ideas and gameplay theories in SS.
 
Linkhero1 said:
Maybe in the first few hours of TP, but the bs in SS carried on up to the last few hours of the game.
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Everything leading up to and including the Temple of Time in TP was tedious and boring. The dungeon did not live up to the hype and the sacred grove bullshit was horrible. It was bad enough that it was tedious, but they made you do the sacred grove TWICE!

The leadup to City in the Sky wasn't great either; having to find the owl statues.

And I'd say TP holds the honor of worst final Zelda dungeon.

TP has some of the best dungeons in the series, but it also has some of the worst/most disappointing. TP felt more tedious than SS.
 
shadyspace said:
Those first few hours left an indelible mark for me. Haven't played through TP since it came out 6 years ago. I'd be hard pressed to argue that TP's filler was better than SS's tho. It certainly provided a sense of place in SS that it didn't in TP.
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RagnarokX said:
Everything leading up to and including the Temple of Time in TP was tedious and boring. The dungeon did not live up to the hype and the sacred grove bullshit was horrible. It was bad enough that it was tedious, but they made you do the sacred grove TWICE!

The leadup to City in the Sky wasn't great either; having to find the owl statues.

And I'd say TP holds the honor of worst final Zelda dungeon.

TP has some of the best dungeons in the series, but it also has some of the worst/most disappointing.
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I haven't played Twilight Princess in six years but I remember enjoying the game as a whole a lot more than Skyward Sword, which is probably my least favorite console Zelda title. I guess I'm just getting bored with Zelda or something. I'd argue that the lead up to each dungeon or temple in Skyward Sword was tedious and boring, especially the silent realm stuff.
 
shadyspace said:
Those first few hours left an indelible mark for me. Haven't played through TP since it came out 6 years ago. I'd be hard pressed to argue that TP's filler was better than SS's tho. It certainly provided a sense of place in SS that it didn't in TP.
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Because a lot of this "filler" content in SS actually changes landscapes, rules, or adds legitimate content towards the game. there are in actuality very few times where I would say that the content was not needed (mainly the escort mission and
the third fight with imprisoned
). In other words, those parts served a purpose in SS, whether people liked it or not is another matter.

In TP, though, the outside parts were really not the highlight of the game. And once they got rid of that I felt like the game lost a bit of cohesion since they switched up aesthetics so fast with barely any interludes.
 
That's what I'm getting at. Skyward sword would have been lesser for lack of its out of dungeon content but twilight princess probably would have came out the better for it.
 
I can't remember the name but the one you have to use the flute to access in Kakariko village I believe, in a Link to the Past, is my favorite.
 
jb1234 said:
I think LA is brilliant, my favorite Zelda game. There's so much sadness in it. Another thing I didn't notice until pointed out is that after you learn the truth about the island, (before Level 6), all three dungeons afterward are basically remixes of the shrine theme.

(Just like the first four dungeons are all remixes of the cave theme. I love how thought-out the music in Link's Awakening is.)
Click to expand...

My favorite part of the game is when I reached Tal Tal Heights. The music kept on getting better and better.

shadyspace said:
That's what I'm getting at. Skyward sword would have been lesser for lack of its out of dungeon content but twilight princess probably would have came out the better for it.
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I agree with this.
 
Crewnh said:
They served a purpose to pad the game out, yes. Which is what filler is.
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Such an informative post, thank you!

Anyway, outside of the ones I mentioned (and the
second venture into Skyview temple
forgot about that.) All of the "filler" added something to the game.
 
shadyspace said:
You can pad out a game with interesting content or you can do what they did with twilight princess.
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I disliked a majority of the filler in both games. I found the majority of the between the dungeon tasks to be boring. The only reason I prefer TP to SS, aside from the controls, was the fact I enjoyed the dungeons in TP a hell of a lot more. One thing both had in common was the disappointing final boss fight.
 
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