TreasonWall
05-25-2013, 08:22 PM
I think the thread title establishes the rules clearly enough, so let me start I suppose.
Chaos Shrine (PS1): Your usual FF1 resource-draining labyrinth, except bigger-sized. The fairly brutal boss fights that jump at you out of nowhere are a nice touch, and set a tradition for the series I am certainly glad happened. Very good over all.
Castle Pandemonium(PS1): The Jade Passage's "behind the black" (wide open rooms just to force you to guess the right direction) and useless empty room antics are every bit as aggravating as most FF2 dungeons. Also, think what you will of that damaging waterfall. Pandemonium fares noticeably better, with a more thoughtful use of fake walls than before, and meaty optional boss fights for the best treasures (another great tradition of FF final areas). An okay job for the standards of this game I guess.
Crystal Tower(Famicom): Now FF3 has many marathon levels, but even so this is just going overboard. Except I don't care, more game content and more stressful tension is always good. The Ancient's Labyrinth is actually not that much of a maze and serves as a nifty cave type dungeon. The Forbidden Land Eureka is great, with optional boss fights for legendary weapons, and truckloads of excellent rewards which I will keep secret if you make it all the way to the end. The Crystal Tower itself is fairly grueling, with nasty random encounters and long-winded paths. I did what I always do with this one: loot every treasure chest possible, go all the way back down to save and then back up to fight Xande. No more possibilities to save or rest from there on, which is completely ridiculous but also entirely in the spirit of FF3. Xande is a satisfying boss if not really that nasty. The Dark World is downright brutal, as all the monsters are nasty, the fake wall labyrinths can get confusing as all hell, the four "optional" boss fights (they're only optional if you're a masochist of the highest order) are excruciatingly hard, and you can also take the risk to fight clones of Xande for more Ribbons. The final couple of floors also have neat little invisible path puzzles. Also the music is superb. Overall: exhausting but excellent.
Lunar Subterrane: combines ideas seen in the previous games such as fake walls and optional bosses guarding treasures into a more streamlined experience. Also the Lunar Core area is filled with nothing but boss monsters, which is awesome. Overall: Pales in comparison to FF3, but is clearly more reasonable and is really more than good enough.
Interdimensional Rift: The bizarre nature and look of this place is rather compelling, and it literally features dozens of boss fights (the most in the whole series no doubt). Challenging and overall pretty good.
Kefka's Tower: It may not be much to look at, but it looks good enough. Making you control up to twelve party members simultaneously, having all of them fight monsters, bosses and solve puzzles to get through, is one of the best ideas I've ever seen in a video game. The boss gauntlet of this one is also uncommonly generous, though less so than FF5. Easily one of my favorites.
Northern Crater: A major letdown I have to say. The pocket save point thing doesn't have that much of a point, and the party splitting antics in this one do little but rip-off FF6 for no apparent reason and force you to backtrack to see the entire place. Two saving graces here: the incredible art direction and the complex jumping/diving puzzles.
Ultimecia's Castle: Great stuff. The ability loss thing and making you tackle the "optional" (not really optional) boss gauntlet semi-Mega Man style is unusually inspired for the genre as far as I know. The party-splitting thing is much better thought out than in FF7, making you control all six party member to solve somewhat stumping puzzles. Also, this place is pretty darn big. Though I'll admit I have no idea how annoying or not the random monsters are seeing as I turned them all off.
Memoria: Excellent art design, very beautiful and very creepy. Other than that, lazy like nothing else. You literally just walk from point A to point B, fighting random monsters and looking for hidden treasures, sometimes being interrupted by mind-screwy cut-scenes or surprise boss fights paying homage to the Chaos Shrine (those are quite nasty to be fair). Particularly jarring as most dungeons in FF9 are much more elaborate than this, full of puzzles and optional treasures. By the same token, the Crystal World is clearly inspired by the Lunar Core, but showcases much less creativity in the monsters department. I think even the Northern Crater had more level design work put into it than Memoria. Passable.
Sin: Is this a bad joke? In no way is this level worthy of the rest of the game. The Sea of Sorrow is pretty much a featureless void, ending with a blatantly implausible, if well-designed boss fight. The City of Dying Dreams has a little more to it but not that much, and is rather short. As for "???", just what is even going on here!? The mini-game is impractical to play as the game isn't made for this kind of stuff, but worse, it makes absolutely no sense and has nothing to do with anything. A piss-poor job for a game of this stature.
Sky Fortress Bahamut: After two successive excruciatingly long treks through Giruvegan and the Ridonara Cataract, this next area is incredibly small. A fact which I was warned about in advance, so take that into account. However, having made a point to collect all three bulkhead treasure chests and kill at least one of each enemy type in the elevator room, I can certify to you people that this dungeon is actually pretty damn brutal. I'm really not sure what to think here. Like many things in FF12, it feels very different, which is usually a good thing. That said, the fact that this place is so much smaller than what it looks like from the outside is rather disappointing.
Well, that's all from me. Now it's your turn!
Chaos Shrine (PS1): Your usual FF1 resource-draining labyrinth, except bigger-sized. The fairly brutal boss fights that jump at you out of nowhere are a nice touch, and set a tradition for the series I am certainly glad happened. Very good over all.
Castle Pandemonium(PS1): The Jade Passage's "behind the black" (wide open rooms just to force you to guess the right direction) and useless empty room antics are every bit as aggravating as most FF2 dungeons. Also, think what you will of that damaging waterfall. Pandemonium fares noticeably better, with a more thoughtful use of fake walls than before, and meaty optional boss fights for the best treasures (another great tradition of FF final areas). An okay job for the standards of this game I guess.
Crystal Tower(Famicom): Now FF3 has many marathon levels, but even so this is just going overboard. Except I don't care, more game content and more stressful tension is always good. The Ancient's Labyrinth is actually not that much of a maze and serves as a nifty cave type dungeon. The Forbidden Land Eureka is great, with optional boss fights for legendary weapons, and truckloads of excellent rewards which I will keep secret if you make it all the way to the end. The Crystal Tower itself is fairly grueling, with nasty random encounters and long-winded paths. I did what I always do with this one: loot every treasure chest possible, go all the way back down to save and then back up to fight Xande. No more possibilities to save or rest from there on, which is completely ridiculous but also entirely in the spirit of FF3. Xande is a satisfying boss if not really that nasty. The Dark World is downright brutal, as all the monsters are nasty, the fake wall labyrinths can get confusing as all hell, the four "optional" boss fights (they're only optional if you're a masochist of the highest order) are excruciatingly hard, and you can also take the risk to fight clones of Xande for more Ribbons. The final couple of floors also have neat little invisible path puzzles. Also the music is superb. Overall: exhausting but excellent.
Lunar Subterrane: combines ideas seen in the previous games such as fake walls and optional bosses guarding treasures into a more streamlined experience. Also the Lunar Core area is filled with nothing but boss monsters, which is awesome. Overall: Pales in comparison to FF3, but is clearly more reasonable and is really more than good enough.
Interdimensional Rift: The bizarre nature and look of this place is rather compelling, and it literally features dozens of boss fights (the most in the whole series no doubt). Challenging and overall pretty good.
Kefka's Tower: It may not be much to look at, but it looks good enough. Making you control up to twelve party members simultaneously, having all of them fight monsters, bosses and solve puzzles to get through, is one of the best ideas I've ever seen in a video game. The boss gauntlet of this one is also uncommonly generous, though less so than FF5. Easily one of my favorites.
Northern Crater: A major letdown I have to say. The pocket save point thing doesn't have that much of a point, and the party splitting antics in this one do little but rip-off FF6 for no apparent reason and force you to backtrack to see the entire place. Two saving graces here: the incredible art direction and the complex jumping/diving puzzles.
Ultimecia's Castle: Great stuff. The ability loss thing and making you tackle the "optional" (not really optional) boss gauntlet semi-Mega Man style is unusually inspired for the genre as far as I know. The party-splitting thing is much better thought out than in FF7, making you control all six party member to solve somewhat stumping puzzles. Also, this place is pretty darn big. Though I'll admit I have no idea how annoying or not the random monsters are seeing as I turned them all off.
Memoria: Excellent art design, very beautiful and very creepy. Other than that, lazy like nothing else. You literally just walk from point A to point B, fighting random monsters and looking for hidden treasures, sometimes being interrupted by mind-screwy cut-scenes or surprise boss fights paying homage to the Chaos Shrine (those are quite nasty to be fair). Particularly jarring as most dungeons in FF9 are much more elaborate than this, full of puzzles and optional treasures. By the same token, the Crystal World is clearly inspired by the Lunar Core, but showcases much less creativity in the monsters department. I think even the Northern Crater had more level design work put into it than Memoria. Passable.
Sin: Is this a bad joke? In no way is this level worthy of the rest of the game. The Sea of Sorrow is pretty much a featureless void, ending with a blatantly implausible, if well-designed boss fight. The City of Dying Dreams has a little more to it but not that much, and is rather short. As for "???", just what is even going on here!? The mini-game is impractical to play as the game isn't made for this kind of stuff, but worse, it makes absolutely no sense and has nothing to do with anything. A piss-poor job for a game of this stature.
Sky Fortress Bahamut: After two successive excruciatingly long treks through Giruvegan and the Ridonara Cataract, this next area is incredibly small. A fact which I was warned about in advance, so take that into account. However, having made a point to collect all three bulkhead treasure chests and kill at least one of each enemy type in the elevator room, I can certify to you people that this dungeon is actually pretty damn brutal. I'm really not sure what to think here. Like many things in FF12, it feels very different, which is usually a good thing. That said, the fact that this place is so much smaller than what it looks like from the outside is rather disappointing.
Well, that's all from me. Now it's your turn!