Favorite level or area in a game?

DArtagnan said:

You can include anything you like

Now that you mention Unreal, I suddenly remembered the first time I saw the Sunspire level in the original.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uDoBhXI1T8s

Definitely one of the most impressive things I'd ever seen, at that point. My Voodoo 2 card was being put to excellent use!

Click to expand...

Hmm I still still need to play the original. Worth the time?

I could list so many of parts of games here that it would be unjust to those I exclude to even list any as particular examples. I agree with the first responder that Kuldahar has a very special place in memory, along with many other areas in the game.

Another problem with listing examples is that a lot of my examples would also come from games where I didn't even enjoy the whole game and even quit quite early in some cases. Even bad games can have great and memorable levels. For example, though it wasn't a bad game, it was just bad for me and my gaming style, The Longest Journey had this amazing effect of atmosphere when you first entered the bar and I realised you could change the game's music using the in-game Juke box.

Likewise, Path of Exile wasn't really the game for me, but I loved farming the lower levels of the Vaal Pyramid, and I have no real idea why, I couldn't put it into words. I don't even like farming!

Similarly, I never completed Armed and Dangerous, I got busted by a turret level, but there were so many sheer awesome levels before that. I have this really cruddy strategy game called Grand Ages Rome I bought on the cheap many a moon back, but I've never actually played past the first five minutes of the actual real game because the game offers a completely pure-building option exclusive of combat, which I played continuously for many a day.

And you see, they just roll out so fast, this could be the biggest wall of word doom ever if I don't stop now, before I even finish the cruddy games and get onto good games, let alone great games.

Just remembered another one from EQ... Sitting around the dock chatting watching the sun go down whilst waiting for the boat from the eastern continent, the one with the elves and dwarves on it.


-kaos

Ahhh and that sparked another for me from EQ one......right outside the entrance to Burning Woods, there is a little divet in the cliff there, climb up and watch the sun set over Karnor's Castle. Simply amazing then, and still is to this day!

For some reason, the hangar level in System Shock made a huge impression on me when I first played it. It's the 5th level, IIRC.

It was one of the first 3D games to have huge indoor spaces - and the docking area just blew me away with its size back in 1994.

Unreal did similar things later on.

Thrasher said:

Hmm I still still need to play the original. Worth the time?

Click to expand...

Uncertain. As a shooter, I found it to be somewhat underwhelming even upon release - but I was never much of a singleplayer shooter fan.

Game has a lot of large empty areas - and it was never as tight as Quake or Doom. It was more of a technical marvel.

I think the engine holds up very well considering its age - and if you're interested in the history of gaming and such, it's not a bad way to spend your time, I guess.

From memory, it's also quite a large game.

This reminds me of Unreal 2, by the way.

Unreal 2 was relatively poorly received, but I loved it. One of the better shooters, I found. Mostly because of some pretty amazing levels and atmosphere - though I'm not sure they look very good today. It was much shorter than the first game, but it had some interesting alien weapons - and some neat lighting effects.

Could be worth a shot, too.

The problem is, there are probably a load of good levels that don't rely on a visual element that I've just forgotten about because of how long it's been since I played them. For example, I remember thinking "wow, now that was awesome" after a few levels in TIE Fighter, but I have no idea what they were now.

One level I do remember as being my main reason for starting a game is the Hoth snowspeeder level in Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire. The rest of the game was a bit meh, but that one, man oh man, was it fun!

Some of the levels in the old arcade game, Golden Axe, were pretty amazing. I'll never forget walking along and realising I'm walking onto a giant eagle. In the arcade sequel, there was a creepy mushroom forest level, where twigs would transform into tree-monsters. Fun times!

+1 for trying Unreal. I got tired of the poor shooter elements on my recent playthrough, but it's worth playing for as long as you can just to look at it.

Another one I just remembered is the Research Lab level in Xenomorph. Xenomorph is an old Dungeon Master clone with a serious System Shock vibe.

The level in question had doors and walls made of transparent glass, which meant you could see your enemies moving in the distance, but you didn't really know how far away they were - as you could be looking through several layers at once.

Very effective.

Loved that game, by the way.

DArtagnan said:

Uncertain. As a shooter, I found it to be somewhat underwhelming even upon release - but I was never much of a singleplayer shooter fan.

Game has a lot of large empty areas - and it was never as tight as Quake or Doom. It was more of a technical marvel.

I think the engine holds up very well considering its age - and if you're interested in the history of gaming and such, it's not a bad way to spend your time, I guess.

Click to expand...

It's funny - I definitely agreed that upon release I found Quake much better than Unreal ... but playing through the id games and Unreal last year I actually found that I enjoyed Unreal more and that Quake (I & II) felt more dated. Could have been my mood ...

txa1265 said:

It's funny - I definitely agreed that upon release I found Quake much better than Unreal … but playing through the id games and Unreal last year I actually found that I enjoyed Unreal more and that Quake (I & II) felt more dated. Could have been my mood …

Click to expand...

I agree that Unreal is the better singleplayer experience, it's just not as tight as Quake or Quake 2.

It has a lot of "wasted" space. I guess that's the best way I can describe it.

DArtagnan said:

I agree that Unreal is the better singleplayer experience, it's just not as tight as Quake or Quake 2.

It has a lot of "wasted" space. I guess that's the best way I can describe it.

Click to expand...

I know you are right ... and in particular I think I was noticing the way that Unreal was so much better about actually making use of vertical space in certain areas, and how cool they still look.

But so much of it remains 'oh look at this cool level I designed' instead of a cohesive experience.

txa1265 said:

I know you are right … and in particular I think I was noticing the way that Unreal was so much better about actually making use of vertical space in certain areas, and how cool they still look.

But so much of it remains 'oh look at this cool level I designed' instead of a cohesive experience.

Click to expand...

Yeah, to me it was more about experiencing the level design and atmosphere. The actual shooting wasn't that good, and most of the weapons were pretty bad in terms of feel and practical application.

I never really liked Quake or Quake 2 in singleplayer - as I found the levels dreary and repetitive. But there's no denying the pace was exhilirating and the shooting fun in a very primal way.

I think Quake 1 holds up quite well against more modern shooters, especially in terms of atmosphere. I replayed it last year with a mod (I believe it was called Quake Reborn) that upgrades the textures and lighting but changes nothing else. It has the kind of dark, gothic atmosphere that I like and some cleverly hidden secrets.

Unreal 1 still looks decent, but I don't think it holds up as well in the gameplay department.

Oh, I loved Unreal so much! There was that one level where you did nothing but travel along a brook and marvel at the sky. So hauntingly beautiful!
I didn't like Unreal 2 all that much, however. All UTs and UCs were more memorable, at least for me, and I mean regarding characters and storyline .

Quake 1 was weird. And whacky. I absolutely loved the entry level where you could choose between dificulties . Quake 2, however ... I love that game so much! Solid graphics and level design, a solid B-flick material military SF story (did I mention that tat's my favorite genre?), grrrrrrrrrreat ambience. I loved the airstrike level: pretty dense atmosphere. But Q3A? Everything in that game was brown (with the exception of the characters)! Well, someone I know had a Q3A everglide mousepad, but he never used it. I still use my UT everglide - so much for that.

So apparently when I get home I'll be loading these games up again ...

DArtagnan said:

Uncertain. As a shooter, I found it to be somewhat underwhelming even upon release - but I was never much of a singleplayer shooter fan.

Game has a lot of large empty areas - and it was never as tight as Quake or Doom. It was more of a technical marvel.

I think the engine holds up very well considering its age - and if you're interested in the history of gaming and such, it's not a bad way to spend your time, I guess.

From memory, it's also quite a large game.

This reminds me of Unreal 2, by the way.

Unreal 2 was relatively poorly received, but I loved it. One of the better shooters, I found. Mostly because of some pretty amazing levels and atmosphere - though I'm not sure they look very good today. It was much shorter than the first game, but it had some interesting alien weapons - and some neat lighting effects.

Could be worth a shot, too.

Click to expand...

Ok, Thanks for that

Sounds like it may be worth a go.

I just installed Quake 2. Damn you all.

I guess one of my most favorite levels is Duke Nukem 3D e1m1, the theatre. Just great design.


But regarding RPGs there isn't actually a lot I could think about.
The jungle Region in Albion would definitely be one of them. Just had a distinctive and great atmosphere.


Sector 1 in Fallen Earth, which was Post Apocalypse just as I love it, also regarding quest design.



The more I think about it, the more it actually points do big quality changes in Level Design in games - or the lack thereof. If I think about games which I loved like Stonekeep or Lands of Lore, the levels basically mostly have a similar quality level. Not really anything I could pick out, which stands out more than the rest (in difference to Duke 3D where lots of the levels sucked, or Albion / Fallen Earth where the other regions were worse).

Also music plays a huge role for me. I could pick a couple of favorite level-soundtracks. But these don't really make the levels exceptionally good just because of them.
(E.g. this one from Guido Henkel for Lowangen in RoA2 - Lowangen).

Unreal was one of the games that leapt into my mind when I thought about this. Flawed, for sure, but it was the first FPS that really transported me. That, Half Life, and Baldur's Gate all came out when I was a teenager in 1998. They are etched in my memory in a special way.

To me the most fascinating thing about Unreal was the reflections on the floor - and that you were able to shoot the birds.
Oh, and the sound of rockets, when they flew past you!