Quote Originally Posted by Loony BoB View Post
But how can anyone honestly say that these dungeons are worse than the copy/paste mine/cave dungeons found in all 2D RPGs? :S Most of them have nothing but perhaps lava or switches or something, and that's it... 2D hallways all over the place for the rest of it. Perhaps it's unfair because they're 2D and comparing to 3D gives them an immediate and instant disadvantage, but you can't say that a cripple isn't slower than an athlete just because they're a cripple.
See this is an issue of value dissonance, I'm not terribly bothered by the limitations of the systems making them look the same, as long as I have something to do within them. This is where I don't like the 3D design cause I often felt the dungeons are just there for atmosphere and usually hold no game purpose so once you get over how pretty it is, it's just a pretty straightforward romp through the dungeon fighting enemies. I feel the best dungeons are ones that give me something to do and keep my interest up. I am playing a game after all and I feel that if you focus on atmosphere and visual appeal too much you sort of limit yourself in making the dungeon a gameplay experience. FFX is a perfect example of this, with the basic dungeons largely being visually interesting but generally straightforward and organic looking, great for atmosphere but leaves little place for gameplay beyond combat and maybe the odd mini-game (that usually feels out of place) whereas you get to the actual Temples which have some visual flair but are largely designed for puzzles so their architecture makes no sense and with the exception of an occasional room for eye candy they are largely boring reused 3D models for walls used to help keep the dungeons purpose of being a puzzle manageable without distraction. Bizarre fantasy architecture and avant garde camera angles are only going to make a block puzzle into a nightmare to play through, so often dungeons are separated from being pretty and being fun.

Overall, I prefer fun and interesting gameplay experiences in my dungeon over fancy camera angles and avant garde art style because dungeons are suppose to be a core gameplay element and I feel the design should reflect that first, doesn't mean I'm against atmosphere, but I feel one element holds more weight and value over the other.