The Dungeon Crawler thread.

Wow. I am amazed my old thread is still going. I guess I hit upon a popular genre.

I should fire up Stonekeep or Lands of Lore 2.
 
Hey guys, is the Ultima series any good?
I am guessing you are talking about the original ones... I think you need to be in the mood and set your mind back to the 80s to play them because the 40-year gap hasn't been kind with the game graphics and [lack of] sounds. It's one of the grandfathers of the Western RPGs (the others being Wizardry and Rogue) so you can give them a try for a couple of hours. The game itself is phenomenal (again, with that mindset) and the ending is quite surprising for a fantasy game.

Oh, I recently bought this remake.
I played the Switch version and yes, it was a buggy, it had several crashes, however the game saves relatively often (in some sections it saves every time you walk) so you don't lose as much progress (or in other words, you can't cheat your way out of some combats).
 
Played Labyrinth of Refrain: Coven of Dusk for like 30 or so hours before I dropped it. Game's cool but the dungeon layout is too simple, the combat too easy and some of it's systems are not very well explained imo. Would have loved to have the option to review previously seen tutorials.

Excited to try Shining The Holy Ark next, game looks super charming.

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Shin megami tensei 1-2, Strange Journey.
Its hard as hell, but glad to be able to manage it. Especially Strange Journey, pseudo scifi supernatural rpg which playing into apocalypse theme. The music and the story is brilliant. And the main character is american, although the design looks like generic yakuza member face person : )) 13/10 stars game for me.

Etrian odyssey 3DS, Mary Skelter 1, and 7th Dragoon DS. These game like timeskip and makes me feels like real explorers. I know its anime style games. But hey i am asian...

Also for the harder style is dark spire and wizardry. But i never finished to these two.
Nice. I was looking for the fellow human of culture who would mention the early SMT's.

I would like to add SMT if...
It's a what if sequel to 1 and is the earliest user of a persona mechanic, although the rest of the game is exactly SMT. You kinda have to die to get stronger, after you beat a bunch of enemies you fill up a gauge and will be awarded a better "guardian" who will teach you better skills but also switches your resistances and your stats a bit.
It's funky but very interesting.

The best part is a secret new game plus addition with a whole new story and level with in my opinion some of the best music in the genre. However this music is only available on the ps1 version which is in Japanese..
So you'd have to git gud with katakana as well as the game as it does not mess around. You will actually be crawling through dungeons. Giggedy!
Lunacid should be checked out by everyone who enjoys a good, old skool dungeon crawler. No hand holding, amazing music and atmosphere. Very Kings Field-ish, but without the clunky controls. One of the best indies from 2023.


Ewww pronouns.
 
Haha! I never noticed. Game is a old-skool dungeon crawler like Kings Field.. I just pressed Enter and started the game. Couldn't care less about games like these having pronouns or not, really.
It's not like Dragon Age Veilguard.
I downloaded it as the king's field description got me highly interested. And then I saw it. Not even a minute refund.
It might still be a good game sure, but I'll have none of that thank you. Hope you enjoyed it.

Dang I almost forgot about veilguard...
 
It's not like Dragon Age Veilguard.
Dev added them just to "make people mad". Some kind of people I'd rather not give my money to.




edit: I beliebe devs should be able to add whatever the fuck they want to their games. But doing it just to spite others? Not cool, makes me think the dev is more interested in sending a message than the game they're working on.
 
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The next dungeon crawler that I am looking forward to is Mystic Land: The Search for Maphaldo. Despite the name, the game looks very cool.

Archaelund is a mix of dungeon crawler and crpg, reminiscent of the Realms of Arkania series. The Early Access has been really fun. First person exploration, isometric, turn-based combat.
 
Another vote for Etrian Odyssey, but you've got to be ready to stomach the lolitastic art direction and character design.

But the music is made by yuzo koshiro.
 
Another vote for Etrian Odyssey, but you've got to be ready to stomach the lolitastic art direction and character design.

But the music is made by yuzo koshiro.
Patiently waiting for Atlus to put those HD remasters on a deep sale. 40€ the piece seems like a bit too much. :goog_relieved:

Which one would you recommend as the first Etrian to play? I would go with 1 but I heard it's one of the hardest, worse balanced in the series.
 
Another vote for Etrian Odyssey, but you've got to be ready to stomach the lolitastic art direction and character design.

But the music is made by yuzo koshiro.
Fun fact: The character designer of Etrian Odyssey is/used to be a hentai artist. But fuck it. Etrian Odyssey is dope. And I would go even so far as to say some of Koshiro's best music can be heard in the Etrian Odyssey games.

Man, I really hope a new game is still in production at Atlus...
 
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Nice. I was looking for the fellow human of culture who would mention the early SMT's.

I would like to add SMT if...
It's a what if sequel to 1 and is the earliest user of a persona mechanic, although the rest of the game is exactly SMT. You kinda have to die to get stronger, after you beat a bunch of enemies you fill up a gauge and will be awarded a better "guardian" who will teach you better skills but also switches your resistances and your stats a bit.
It's funky but very interesting.

The best part is a secret new game plus addition with a whole new story and level with in my opinion some of the best music in the genre. However this music is only available on the ps1 version which is in Japanese..
So you'd have to git gud with katakana as well as the game as it does not mess around. You will actually be crawling through dungeons. Giggedy!

Ewww pronouns.
ah, yes, SMT IF, i only played it in snes emulator. haven't touch the PSX, maybe someday when some fan translation is done. PSX version of SMT graphic is kinda my kind as well. but yeah only the first one is translated.
 
Just added this to my "collection":


now, the question is will i play it...


Oh, nice! I had it since my DS days, I never really put that much effort into it, though. But loved playing with wireframe, same with the new Wizardry, if only to break the monotonous textures.

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This year I want to finish 12 dungeon crawlers at the very least, just a few days ago I finished Kowloon High School Chronicle, it's old but never seen it before, in fact when I couldn't beat the last bosses I checked around and didn't find any guide in English, only Japanese ones. Eventually went back to a previous save and grinded (ground? grounded?) 10 extra levels and a better armour and breezed through them. Main difference is that it is half visual novel where your answers can befriend playable characters but the dungeons themselves are already mapped as soon as you enter the room, you just need to beat the enemies and solve the puzzles to advance. I also really liked Demon Gaze Extra as well. In both of these games I played an extra 20 or 30 hours because I didn't follow any guide, just the way I like playing crawlers. Now taking a break before trying Strangers of Sword City and Saviors of Sapphire Wings, maybe even play another Wizardry: The Five Ordeals scenery before.

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Played Labyrinth of Refrain: Coven of Dusk for like 30 or so hours before I dropped it. Game's cool but the dungeon layout is too simple, the combat too easy and some of it's systems are not very well explained imo. Would have loved to have the option to review previously seen tutorials.

Labyrinth of Galleria is much more polished and you can review previous tutorials, that was one of their improvements. And it's not a sequel per se, new characters and story so you can check it out without needing to finish Refrain. And yes, Refrain was limited regarding review. Another thing that makes Refrain/Galleria easy is the ability to destroy literally every wall so you can make your own shortcuts. Combat is usually fine but bosses are hard unless you follow a walkthrough and make an optimum party, in which case everything goes much easier.
 
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Started Shining the Holy Ark a few hours ago. Loving the game so far, simple exploration and combat but with a very charming style. Simple fun, just what I wanted.

Finding the pixies is going to be a pain lol, but at least I already have one of each type so I guess I'm covered.

Worst thing of the game is how the framerate can tank at times, specially bothersome during battles but I can see myself becoming used to it. Best thing so far is the music, loving the battle theme so much:



Just added this to my "collection":


now, the question is will i play it...

Damn, tried this on my NDS back when it came out and the game filtered me hard, I wasn't ready for it. I should give it another go, the art seemed quite cool at least.


King's Field IV
Played this a few months ago and I loved it! Game's easier than I was expecting, specially if you take your time to explore and find cool secrets. But damn man, the atmosphere in this game is something else! Makes me wish for From Software to let the fast action formula rest for a bit and go to slower dungeon crawls.

Labyrinth of Galleria is much more polished and you can review previous tutorials, that was one of their improvements. And it's not a sequel per se, new characters and story so you can check it out without needing to finish Refrain. And yes, Refrain was limited regarding review. Another thing that makes Refrain/Galleria easy is the ability to destroy literally every wall so you can make your own shortcuts. Combat is usually fine but bosses are hard unless you follow a walkthrough and make an optimum party, in which case everything goes much easier.
I have that one in the wishlist, will probably get it next time it goes on sale. Glad to know it fixes and improves on the previous game! As much as I've complained about it there were some things I did like about Coven of Dusk, like the art, story telling and music. I might go back to it some day.
 
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Patiently waiting for Atlus to put those HD remasters on a deep sale. 40€ the piece seems like a bit too much. :goog_relieved:

Which one would you recommend as the first Etrian to play? I would go with 1 but I heard it's one of the hardest, worse balanced in the series.

Go for the third. It's also the only one with multiple endings so there's that.

Although to be fair they all have OP classes 🤭

Also it's a tradition to name two characters as fight and heal according to their role.
 
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ah, yes, SMT IF, i only played it in snes emulator. haven't touch the PSX, maybe someday when some fan translation is done. PSX version of SMT graphic is kinda my kind as well. but yeah only the first one is translated.
Yes the ps1 versions are definitely better. Smoother exploring, better sound. IF only..
I recently was looking at some From Software games. King's Field IV and Evergrace.

Shadow Tower is another one that has a fan translation for it's sequel:
More cultured humans! Shadow tower is the best in atmosphere IMHO. Playing that was beautiful. Only footsteps echoing forever..

King's field 4 is also fantastic, but kinda linear. However the graphics and atmosphere are top notch.

The problem with these games is that if you explore well enough, you kinda become unstoppable. The Beginnings are rough, afterward you'll probably be swimming in potions (shadow tower). They need some kinda difficulty hack.
 
The next dungeon crawler that I am looking forward to is Mystic Land: The Search for Maphaldo. Despite the name, the game looks very cool.
This one looks really interesting. My favorites in this genre are still from the Amiga days (like Eye of the Beholder 2 or Lands of Lore)

The ones I have enjoyed more recently were

Operencia The stolen Sun - really enjoyed this even it it felt a bit casual sometimes

Bards Tale IV - has really unique music and enjoyed it overall. A bit too many puzzles though (that can be skipped..)

The Fall of the Dungeon Guardians is another one I have in my backlog
 
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This one looks really interesting. My favorites in this genre are still from the Amiga days (like Eye of the Beholder 2 or Lands of Lore)

The ones I have enjoyed more recently were

Operencia The stolen Sun - really enjoyed this even it it felt a bit casual sometimes

Bards Tale IV - has really unique music and enjoyed it overall. A bit too many puzzles though (that can be skipped..)

The Fall of the Dungeon Guardians is another one I have in my backlog
will look into these gems now, thanks!
 
This is a great necro-thread!

Just want to toss another game into the hat. Wizardry : Tale of the Forsaken Land for the PlayStation 2 is another excellent, often-overlooked dungeon crawler. Very fun and the level grind is glorious.

 
Crimson Shroud on the 3DS is a strange, quirky little gem of a game. Well worth tracking down, though that may be hard now the E-Shop is a thing of the past. Sort of a Dungeon Crawler by way of a table top RPG simulator?

I managed to snap it up for a couple of £££ back during the E-Shops final days.



Reddit thread with some more info (the game's creative staff had a great pedigree)

 
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Crimson Shroud on the 3DS is a strange, quirky little gem of a game. Well worth tracking down, though that may be hard now the E-Shop is a thing of the past. Sort of a Dungeon Crawler by way of a table top RPG simulator?

I managed to snap it up for a couple of £££ back during the E-Shops final days.



Reddit thread with some more info (the game's creative staff had a great pedigree)



Loved this game, got it back around the time it came out due to Matsuno's involvement. It really deserves a follow up or at least to be ported to more platforms, it's a shame how many things have been lost to the 3DS eshop shutting down.
 
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