Castle Paradox

Soule X · Joined: 13 Sep 2004 Posts: 131 Location: Indiana

*toot*toot*toot*toot*toot*
Really confused

Damn, Seph, don't wear out your horn!

RedMaverickZero · Posted: Thu Oct 14, 2004 11:46 am Post subject:

The best way to do the whole switch set up is using tags and animations. However... to make them all look really good, at least with switches anyways, you'd set a tag for the animation to play. With OHR you only get two per tileset, so that really limits the uses of that. Otherwise, Unc. I would use the hell out of that.
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Uncommon · Posted: Thu Oct 14, 2004 12:03 pm Post subject:

There are a lot of better ways to do that, Red. You don't necessarily need an animation for the switch, just an on position and an off position.

Shadowiii · **It's been real.** Joined: 14 Feb 2003 Posts: 2460

~~Or you could be like Pitch Black and not even have the switch move at all~~
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But enough talk, have at you!

Ssalamanderr · Posted: Fri Oct 15, 2004 5:44 pm Post subject:

The solution: Buttons.
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Ukelele no good!

TwinHamster · Posted: Tue Oct 19, 2004 3:17 pm Post subject:

Moogle1 · Posted: Wed Oct 20, 2004 4:02 am Post subject:

Final Fantasy 8 had a ridiculously great final dungeon. Replay it if you disagree or don't remember.
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Slime Salad :: Independent Game Design

RPGrealm5 · Posted: Thu Oct 21, 2004 1:43 pm Post subject:

I think final dungeons should test you on things you've learned throughout the game. Zelda: Ocarina of Time's final dungeon demonstrates this quite well by forcing you into different areas which have puzzles that were found in previous dungeons, so you have to remember what you did back then to pass through.
There should also be new stronger enemies than before, possibly the return of previous bosses in one form or another as seen in Mario RPG. There also has to be a variety of challenges that would make one think harder than before.

Overall, I agree with all of the above said opinions. A final dungeon has to be special, it has to have a theme that no other dungeon has had before it. Of course, good storytelling adds to the final tension as well.
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Gyu, Doh!

Fenrir-Lunaris · **WUT** Joined: 03 Feb 2003 Posts: 1747

Shadowiii · **It's been real.** Joined: 14 Feb 2003 Posts: 2460

6's is better.
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But enough talk, have at you!

Sephyroth · Posted: Thu Oct 21, 2004 3:22 pm Post subject:

JSH357 · Joined: 02 Feb 2003 Posts: 1705

I always liked the final dungeons in the Pokémon games. (Not Victory Road, but the Elite Four) You focus everything on the final battles instead of worrying about stupid puzzles, with no interruptions. It also lets you restart from a healing/item shop if you get crushed. Good setup for that type of game.

SlightlyPyro · Posted: Wed Nov 03, 2004 8:08 pm Post subject:

Oh God save us from the evil switch puzzles!! DO NOT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES EVEN CONSIDER PUTTING A SWITCH PUZZLE IN A GAME UNLESS YOU (like myself) ARE HORRIBLY SADISTIC OR HAVE SIMPLY LOST YOUR MARBLES. Switch puzzles are the 2nd greatest cause of murder because of RPG influence, the first being enemies that simply cannot be killed. (They kinda mess with your mind and make you want to ensure that you still have the ability to kill someone.)

I personally think that final dungeons filled with stupidly hard monsters and final dungeons filled with mind-boggling puzzles are mutually exclusive. Level 500 Silent Vortex Dragons mix with slamming spike wall trap-filled Sokoban mazes about as well as I do with a crowd of idiots. The idiotImeanplayer, if he survives the experience, will probably be mentally scarred for life. Furthermore, do not make dungeons with all the elements of the game in nice, neat little packaged sections. It's stupid, regardless of how you design it. If you go with a monster dungeon, mix their elements randomly, so the player doesn't know what to expect. This forces the player to take some risks, especially if you do something like FFH, where the ice armour and weapons are the best (well, till you get Opal, or whatever it's called...I need to finish that game), but fighting ice monsters with ice weapons is generally unadvisable to anyone but the suicidal people.

If you go with the puzzle ending, definitely make the last dungeon a maze that no one will forget, but everyone will forget how it went. This creates not only an element of replayability, but also makes it difficult for people who have already beaten the game to get someone else through it, forcing them to actually get off their lazy butts and think for themselves. (Yes, games can be a good source of intelligence boosting.) Elemental traps are always interesting to implement, and provide the same difficulties that random elemental enemies provide with a monster-fighting final dungeon. Just STAY AWAY FROM THE FREAKING SWITCH PUZZLES and generally stay away from the rock/ice chunk/piece of crap pushing mazes. If your inner being commands you to implement one of these irritating hardly-interesting-unless-done-correctly things, make sure it's short and sweet.

Finally, the final dungeon should match the rest of the game. If most of the game is monster-bashing, then the final dungeon ought to be a monster basher. But if most of the game is puzzle solving, then the last dungeon ought to be a giant maze.
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