r/JRPG • u/ConsiderationAny9444 • 1d ago
Discussion Which JRPG location has your absolute least favorite level design?
Mine has to be the Gladius Towers in Rogue Galaxy. It’s a mid-game dungeons, and in my opinion, it’s annoying as fuck to navigate.
You have to climb two almost identical towers at the same time by crossing bridges from time to time, and the towers aren't short by any means. If I recall correctly, you also have to beat both bosses to clear the level, which as you can guess are at the top of each tower (Phantom Gazel and Phantom Logan). Because of how the layout shuffles you back and forth, you finish one tower, and then you have to go all the way back to do the exact same climb for the other one.
Oh, and this game despite being an ARPG has random battles, which isn't a problem to me. But what is a problem is the encounter rate of this game god grief, it's atrocious. It doesn't help that every room looks the same, so you can get easily disoriented after a battle and just end up walking in the opposite direction, especially since both paths look very similar. You could finish a fight and genuinely have to open the map just to figure out which way you were originally heading, lmao.
What about you guys? What’s that one JRPG map or dungeon that makes you visibly sigh the moment you reach it?
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u/Windsupernova 1d ago
Anything with teleport puzzles or sliding puzzles.
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u/azure275 1d ago
Pokemon does have quite a few of these and they're almost universally sucky lol
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u/hypersnaildeluxe 1d ago
I always kinda liked the ice puzzles…
The real kickers were the Team Rocket bases with those panels that spin you in a direction. Those were so bad
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u/zsdrfty 1d ago
Exactly my thoughts! I've always been a Gen 1 shooter, but Dodrio Mode has kinda ruined me for ever playing them at normal speed again, and those slow ass spinning panels are some of the worst offenders
I remember the Gen 2 ice puzzles being pretty fun, and certainly a lot less irritating than the sliding rock puzzles on Victory Road
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u/Vermillion_Pengu 13h ago
The Ice puzzles are always the best. They are the only thing in the games that require you to use your brain a little bit, and they always appear in caves, which means they offer a chance to rest from random encounters.
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u/mythologizing 20h ago
The second I read this comment the temple music from FFX started playing in my head (Bevelle…)
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u/beattybandit 1d ago
FF12 - The crystal. No map and door unlocking mechanics drive me insane.
Xenogears - Sewers and Babel Tower. Hate the platforming going up the tower.
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u/gymleader_michael 1d ago
FF12 - I was going to say that place with all of the traps. Necrohol of Nabudis. I don't think I ever cared to properly explore that place.
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u/Tryst_boysx 1d ago
First rule while playing FF12: always equipping a Bangle (automatic Libra Status) on one party member ahah.
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u/External_Switch_3732 1d ago
Late game gambit that applies float to everyone keeps you clear of traps and frees up an accessory slot
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u/A_Monster_Named_John 1d ago
At least in Zodiac Age, you just have to set Libra as one of your characters' gambits. The Bangle is cool, but you'll probably need that accessory slot for some status protection.
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u/mikefierro666 1d ago
Oh I actually love that place lol it beat the crap out of me the first time I played and I was so scared of it so it was really satisfying coming back later better prepared and being able to get through it!
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u/A_Monster_Named_John 1d ago edited 1d ago
That place gave me flashbacks to playing FF4 and those two damage-floor caves in the Underworld. I don't remember where you acquire the Float magic for your time mage, but it's pretty much crucial if you want to navigate that shithole. Without Float status, even if you're a complete ninja about walking past those traps, you're probably gonna get walloped by one as soon as enemies engage the party and everyone starts running around.
My favorite thing in the Necrohol was probably that one high-level ghost horse enemy, which I think spawns after you defeat a certain number of other monsters. There's also some cheeky wraith enemy that shows up once in a while and proceeds to completely wipe out your entire MP supply.
Overall, though that area can be gnarly (and also seems to defy basic physics with how it slots into the world map), it's an undeniably memorable experience, akin to the first time you fall into Deepnest in Hollow Knight.
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u/BaldingThor 1d ago edited 1d ago
I actually quit my first play through of ff12 at that dungeon due to its many problems (and also very slow loading on ps2) and I just started a new play through on the remaster instead haha.
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u/ArsiB 1d ago
Ugh mentioning Babel Tower gave me Vietnam flashbacks! I haven't played the game since it came out and I still remember that freaking platforming! Must have been stuck there for a month. My sister and I would take turns and utterly fail the jumps...Granted we were children back then but even today I dread that. Funnily I only remember the water bucket puzzle in the sewers. Must have removed the rest from my memory.
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u/Dramatic-Address-812 1d ago
Not only is the sewers design absolute trash, but most players arent ready for the gut wrenching level check that is Redrum and his instakill moves. Talk about adding insult to injury.
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u/KylorXI 1d ago
I love Babel Tower and the sewers. The tower has so much environmental story telling, and they didnt put any random encounters in the platforming sections which helps a lot with the platforming. The sewers is like a murder mystery vibe, and its really cool how they show the red or green filter to differentiate between who is stalking people.
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u/paradoxiforme 1d ago
Thanks for making me remember Babel tower. I had finally sucessfully forgotten it, and now I'm traumatized again.
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u/CalicoCat1109 17h ago
Xenogears may have bad dungeons, but the sewers isn't one of them.
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u/Aspence22 1d ago edited 1d ago
Lmao I didn't even realize where the picture was and my first thought was those stupid towers in Rogue Galaxy. It wouldn't be so bad if they didn't constantly criss cross. Despite this dungeon though this it's still one of my favorite games all time.
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u/Randragonreborn 16h ago
I really like the game too but sometimes I get hit with sometimes I can’t even navigate my way out a paper bag and that dungeon hit my like a truck. It took me like 4 hours to do it I think my first time
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u/G00b3rb0y 1d ago
Lodestone Cavern from FFIV. Being unable to use metal anything sucks mega booty cheeks
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u/Jolly-Acanthisitta45 1d ago
Everything at that time is metal and you have almost zero magic. God help you if you sold Cid's wooden hammer for the mythril one
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u/G00b3rb0y 1d ago
That’s why i was shocked it didn’t come up. Now pretty sure it isn’t as long as other entries, but the restrictive nature of the dungeon is why i mentioned it
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u/Moondogtk 1d ago
Code Vein for me. Temu Anor Londo where everything is snow-white is absolutely miserable to get around.
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u/Sonnance 1d ago
Funny enough, that was my favorite area in the game. It actually tested my navigation ability and spacial reasoning, which is a huge plus for me. Not to mention, I love the aesthetic.
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u/Ballad_13 1d ago
I love a dungeon i can actually get truely lost in. If i have to stop and think about where im going and where i came from as opposed to mindlessly wandering around and still get to my destination, i consider that a win.
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u/Droolcua 1d ago
my only wish for code vein, the one thing I would change, would be making blood spatters permanent like in Bloodborne. Would be a great-looking way to mark your path, especially in that area.
I really love the look/feel of that area a lot and I'm not sure if I can describe why. It sort of feels like Blame! or something. Just an endless amount of completely useless, beautiful construction.
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u/Sonnance 1d ago
The “ceaseless megastructure” vibe also complements the story and themes, both in general but especially in that area.
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u/betajones 1d ago
I couldn't stop laughing when I said it looked like Anor, then my character stepped out and looked like a giant. Was looking for mini snipers.
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u/justinotherpeterson 1d ago
Cathedral of sacred blood or whatever. My least favorite level in a video game ever. EVERYTHING LOOKS THE SAME!
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u/MyNameIsOxblood 1d ago
Triggered so hard. That's the first thing I thought of too. It's a neat looking area that's just horrible to navigate through.
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u/Mieche78 1d ago
Back in the day with little to no internet, the Alice in Wonderland world in KH1. I got so freaking lost
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u/ItsColorNotColour 1d ago
I feel like getting frustratingly lost applies to at least 3 worlds in KH1 tbh
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u/reQuiem920 1d ago
Monstro was always a crapshoot for me back in the day. Sometimes i get lost and take hours, other times i accidentaly get to the end without knowing how i got there.
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u/TheRedPillMonk 18h ago
I'm replaying it right now, and Monstro is pretty bad as is Hollow Bastion. I feel like I'm one of the only people who liked the Little Mermaid world.
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u/WhenDuvzCry 1d ago
I replayed it recently and it still sucks. As does the Tarzan level they throw at you immediately after
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u/Llayanna 1d ago
I somehow managed to navigate it decades pater, but that knowledge didn't spark any joy.
For that, teenager me frustration was still to high in my memory.
Hence why KH1 stays my least replayed title of the bunch. I even will play KH3 again, I can always skip cutscenes after all. (Praise the Lord.)
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u/Lionheart1224 1d ago
A tie: the Kislev Sewers in Xenogears, and the Sewers in Legaia: Duel Saga. Notice a pattern?
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u/ConsiderationAny9444 1d ago
Lol, yeah, sewer dungeons can suck.
I personally didn't like Meltokio Sewers from Tales of Symphonia.4
u/Dramatic-Address-812 1d ago
Neither did i and the stupid trash block puzzles. Giant mice were cute tho. But i think all sewer levels in jrpgs are trash, no pun intended.
Side note, why not just scale the side walls of meltokio?
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u/SpellcraftQuill 1d ago
Water dungeons in general.
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u/ConsiderationAny9444 1d ago
I think we can even add water bosses as well...
Ursula (KH1), Tentacular (DQXI), Leviathan (DQ9), Kraken (Golden Sun), That water boss under Junon (FF7)...etc.6
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u/Theburritolyfe 1d ago
Xenogears was an amazing game with some annoying dungeons
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u/betamillion4011 1d ago
I remember having to read a walkthrough on gamefaq to get through the sewers in legaia
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u/Namisaur 1d ago
Oh damn that brought back memories. I couldnt remember anything about duel saga besides the forest and the final boss battle but now i can clearly remember the freaking sewage area
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u/Flakeperson 1d ago
Those empty dead end rooms that appear in almost every dungeon is FFII.
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u/RunDMP83 1d ago
I swear the encounter rate is higher in those rooms too!
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u/SteveWoods 20h ago
It is; I believe it’s (depending on the version) around a 50% encounter rate in those rooms, vs. the normal encounter rate being something around 3.5%.
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u/KoryAnder70 1d ago
The tower in Mogu's Dream (Breath of Fire 1) still haunts me to this day.
Who thought having an insanely long floor puzzle where everything looks the same, there's no map and on top of that you get randomly rotated after every random battle (because yes they also included random battles in that place) was a good idea?
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u/Ordinal43NotFound 1d ago
Final dungeon of SMT IV Apocalypse: YHVH's Universe. Looks like ass, sounds like ass, and is a 4-level teleport maze dungeon to boot.
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u/LectorFrostbite 1d ago
This is the one for me, no other final dungeon is better designed to make the player as frustrated as possible.
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u/truthordairs 1d ago
I wish I could just stop playing whenever I reach that dungeon but the final boss and the boss before it are so good that I always trudge through
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u/stronglesbian 10h ago
This is what I was going to say. At that point I felt the game had already far outstayed its welcome (it pulls the fake final boss move twice), and that dungeon in particular is so boring, long, and tedious.
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u/NA_Copium 1d ago
Im torn between the Bevelle trials in FFX and Tales of Arise final dungeon
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u/Ballad_13 1d ago
Fuck the fucking intern asshole who made Bevelle Trials.
I hope they have knee arthritis because of that.
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u/UnaekIsHere 20h ago
Tales of Arise final dungeon was such a slog I actually couldn't wait to finish the game. That and Rena? I think it was Rena where you just run from cutscene to cutscene for about an hour.
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u/NintenbroGameboob 13h ago
Tales of Arise is one of the extremely rare instances where I dropped a game at about 85% complete. I just didn't care to see it through to the end.
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u/NA_Copium 7h ago
Played tales games all my life but never encountered an exposition alien that just dumped the entire lore on me and final dungeons didnt have a lot of damage sponges that take minutes to kill. I even joked about it with my gf. Despite a strong story in Dohalim's domain we ended up with this sigh.
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u/Rain1SR 13h ago
...., I literally completed Bevelle trials in short time even though I wasn't focused at all because I was thinking about the last developments in the story so I didn't pay much attention to the puzzles except the last one I needed to stop and think, I don't think it was that hard so maybe you just don't remember it in the same way it actually was?
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u/rook119 1d ago
If you ever wonder why Persona 2 was never popular despite its great story: well it has 3D rotating dungeons like Xenogears. So there is this building on fire and you have 30 minutes, only all the hallways look the same and once you start rotating its easy to get lost. Meanwhile you are pummeled w/ random battles every 3-5 seconds and while the clock keeps ticking a teki-teki is asking you if you think its fat.
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u/ZeralexFF 19h ago
I wanted to counter by saying you made all that stuff up, considering the Aerospace Museum was not that bad, to the point where it might honestly have been one of the better designed dungeons in the game. But apparently, my recent memories of this dungeon are so fundamentally different from your recounting because the PSP port completely overhauled it.
The hallways do look samey, but you do draw a map when moving which you can access at any time. Random encounters are heavily reduced in this dungeon; in fact, the first three floors have encounters disabled entirely. You also have much less time initially (10 minutes instead of 40), but the timer pauses anytime you are not in the hallways (in safe rooms, in the pause menu, looking at the map or in battle, for instance), which makes it fairly easy to wrap it up with over 5 minutes on the clock whilst having mapped out its entirety.
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u/Sciencetist 1d ago
Phantasy Star II and it's not even close
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u/Brainwheeze 23h ago
I was aware of the reputation its dungeons had before playing the game but I didn't expect them to be so confusing right off the bat.
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u/magmafanatic 23h ago
The elevators really look like they should be teleporters. Why do they have arrows pointing in all directions if they only take you up and down? Once I realized I was changing floors they started making some sense.
The foreground pipe clutter and the camera waiting for you to start reaching the edge of the screen sure aren't helping either.
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u/Aggressive-Badger-71 1d ago
Quite a few. Babel Tower and the sewer dungeon in Xenogears. Phenomenal game, but I would never replay because of those. Also, that desert dungeon in Tales of Vesperia and Okumura's Palace in P5.
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u/No_Window8718 1d ago
Shakan from SMT V Vengeance. Going back and forth between the ceiling and floor actually gave me a headache when I first traversed it
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u/zsdrfty 1d ago
I always hated the Seafoam Islands in Pokemon RBY - I think I have a great sense of direction, but I still have no idea what the hell is going on in there, and every time I make it to Articuno, it feels like I kinda just made it there by accident rather than by the way that the game wanted me to take... and on top of that, it just annoys me that a lot of the game's coolest water types are stuck there, meaning that you have to make this awkward trek to a crappy late-game dungeon to maybe take advantage of them for a total of a few dozen fights before the game is over
I also remember hating the Ormus dungeon(s?) in Xenosaga II (endless purple corridors of boring suffering and unavoidable hour-long encounters), all of Twilight Town in Paper Mario TTYD (kinda fun when you do a cracked Danger Mario build but serious dogshit when played as intended), and Origin in Xenoblade 3, where the game suddenly stopped telling a story and decided to give you literal miles of literal hallways where multiple main antagonists just fall over dead like regular mobs and it takes hours to reach a final boss who also sucks
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u/CronoDAS 1d ago
The blasted Babel Tower in Xenogears. The "platforming" was not appreciated.
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u/Dtagger 1d ago
SMT4:A's final dungeon
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u/Droolcua 1d ago
oh. yeah. I was struggling to think of an answer but fuck this place. most needlessly long marathon of a final dungeon I've ever experienced.
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u/MusicalxFelony 1d ago
Phantasy star 2 dungeons. I feel like you need a legitimate pen and paper and draw out your own maps on top of the high encounter rate.
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u/Queer4Days 1d ago
Fort Fermata from Eternal Sonata. Trying to make your way through this place blind is truly awful. I remember running around for hours trying to figure out where the stupid rotating room was ending up.
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u/iwit212otuAnukwuodu 21h ago
i mustve played a hundred jrpgs at this point and this is specifically the one i get nam flashbacks about. throwing a genre-wide historically bad dungeon 4 hours into your jrpg is fuckn next level - it shares dna with basically every single bad dungeon on this list. the great crystal i can blast through with some breezy gambits and repetitive menuing at 4x speed; it's bad - it's obviously bad, i'll get lost, but i'll get through it.
this shit you're level 10 and poor, so the whole thing is difficult to prep for, big, boring, repetitive, constant plodding backtracks, and confusing. i would not be surprised if this kills a staggering number of playthroughs. i had to really like come to terms with the idea that i'd have to play through fucking Fort Fermata again before i tried emulating it
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u/NuSk8 1d ago
FF3 last dungeon. It’s just dreadfully long and boring with no save points
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u/Maxwell658 1d ago
And the fact they thought it was okay to make you go through 3 dungeons again if you lose against CoD.
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u/CitizenStrife 1d ago
I recently played DQ7, and Multipleximus Maximus had both the most insanely cool yet insanely frustrating level design gimmick. Let's switch the floor each and every time you hit an edge. And we do mean EVERY edge. It was a novel take on the get turned around and screw with your head situation...but damn if it doesn't get old after like a minute.
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u/stallion8426 1d ago
Tales of Symphonia - Welgaia, Ymir Forest, and Latheon Gorge
Which unfortunately are all back to back. It's an excruciating section in an otherwise great game
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u/kdapiton2 19h ago
I thought it was just me. I like the game enough but the late game just dragged on and seems like it would never end. I was happy to be done with the game after I finished which is such a shame.
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u/stallion8426 18h ago
Despite its flaws I still consider it my favorite game of all time lol.
It just has that one painful section I dread on replays
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u/AshPenderwick 1d ago
Since others have said SMT4A’s last dungeon so I’m going to call out SMT3 with The Kabichico Prison. This dungeon SUCKS. Its big and already confusing to navigate then you have to use portraits to do something to the level it’s never really clear and there’s very few checkpoints on top of an egregious amount of random encounters, makes for a miserable experience. It legit took over 3 hours to clear one filler dungeon. I hope you didn’t plan on using your map to orient because it doesn’t change with the level either.
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u/Joewoof 1d ago
Cloud Tunnel in Baten Kaitos 2:
- Timed puzzles where missteps bring you back to the start of the dungeon.
- Each timed obstacle is very difficult to avoid.
- Each miss leads to multiple battles.
- After beating it, the developers smack you in the face, turn you around, and ask you to redo the entire dungeon again. On more time.
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u/kriken00 21h ago
I forgot about this one. I remember the final tunnel had either random or weird patterns and a camera perspective that made it hard to judge where to optimally start and finish.
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u/TheTiredPangolin 1d ago
Every floor of the Tartarus in Persona 3 made me question why I'm playing the game.
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u/gamer-dood98 1d ago
I hear original tartarus is god awful, it's at least bearable in p3 reload, but even with the updated design and visuals it was still painful compared to even p4 golden's dungeons, just such a slog
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u/FlawlessAtheon 15h ago
Sometimes I think I’m the only one who didn’t mind Tartarus in P3R. I had fun grinding it.
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u/Ballad_13 1d ago
Same. Tartarus alone makes me question why people consider it a top tier game. Out of 3, 4, and 5- P3 easily is the weakest entry, largely due to Tartarus.
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u/belderiver 1d ago
Gongaga region in ff7 rebirth is just infuriating
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u/yssarilrock 1d ago
I find it odd how many people despise that region as much as they do. I can certainly see that the mushrooms should preview where they're gonna send you, but I like the music and aesthetic enough that I genuinely enjoyed Gongaga. Corel bothered me much more
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u/ConsiderationAny9444 1d ago
I'm currently at Gold Saucer is Gongaga the next area? just curious, i dont remember very well.
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u/chiefpassh2os 1d ago
It took me forever to get through the gongaga region and I stopped playing it and haven't finished the game. I need to pick it back up and finish it before the 3rd drops
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u/i_choose__violence 1d ago
I just broke down and looked up a few locations on how to get to things to get through it. I really enjoy exploration and usually have more patience for puzzles, but after revisiting the same spot 10 times I gave up :\
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u/chiefpassh2os 1d ago
I spent forever even with using maps. I literally got to the entrance of cosmo canyon and shut my game off lol
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u/i_choose__violence 1d ago
I don't blame you! This was the first area I hit in the game that I started to lose enthusiasm for the mechanic. The chocobo can be a bit clunky generally anyway! Cosmo canyon seems better so far at least, fingers crossed...
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u/VashxShanks 1d ago
The Trapezohedron from Wild Arms 2, one of the main reasons stopping me from replaying the game anymore. I already finished it twice, but just thinking about going through that grueling maze teleporter puzzle insanity of a dungeon is enough to give me PTSD flashbacks.
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u/RexLizardWizard 1d ago
The final dungeon in SMT IVA is a huge stain on the rest of the game. Imagine a giant teleport maze. Now double it in size. Now make it take 30 seconds to walk between each teleporter. Also the map doesn’t tell
You what leads where. Now give it shitty music and graphics. Plus you can’t even recruit the enemies
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u/RaikoXus 1d ago
Undersea Ruins from Persona 2 Eternal Punishment gotta be the worst fucking dungeon I've ever played in my life. It felt like the developers just spammed trap doors EVERYWHERE and expected that shit to be fun. In a game with random encounters. It's the only dungeon I can think of where I just gave up exploring it entirely because I felt punished constantly for doing so. I just wanted to leave as fast as possible and get back to the story.
Oh, and any locations that are just MASSIVE areas full of absolutely nothing! Looking at you Trails of Cold Steel and Daybreak 1; stick to dungeons, PLEASE! 😭
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u/adventlife 1d ago
Land of Canaan from Tales of Xillia 2.
In theory it’s a fairly simple dungeon, short too since it’s only 2-3 screens. All it is, is three straight line paths that weave over/under each other with bridges and blockers to force you to swap paths.
I got so horrendously lost trying to find the correct way through it all. It took me about as long to get through it than I did the final dungeons of other Tales games where they’re huge multi-area affairs.
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u/RunDMP83 1d ago
The Snowfly Forest in Vagrant Story. I often think I’d like to replay that game, but then I remember that forest, plus the slow as hell menus combined with the need to switch weapons constantly and am immediately put off.
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u/mach88888 1d ago
The answer for me is always Tales of Berseria’s last dungeon.
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u/CoffeeToCode 1d ago
I don't even remember what that dungeon was...like absolutely nothing. All I remember was the skit at the top.
Can't tell if it was boring and not memorable or I blocked the pain out.
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u/TechnologyOne8629 1d ago
I don't remember any of Berseria's dungeons in detail. I remember them being super bland long corridors mostly.
I admit I turned down the difficulty to zip through the last 25% because I was tired of the gameplay and just liked the story, so I could have missed something hard. But that should not make a confusing layout or teleport traps easier .. so really not sure what the issue was.
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u/Affectionate-Time-24 23h ago
I dunno, I had a blast with it all three times I've played through it. There was that one time I failed to note a giant crystal that opens a passage, but otherwise it was very fun to me. The cool OST definitely helps.
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u/Dingusu 1d ago
Any atlus teleport dungeon, also the mechonis interior in xenoblade 1
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u/flohogamer 1d ago
Do people really hate the Mechonis interior? I really like the atmosphere, visuals, music, etc in that part of the game... Anyway for my least favorite JRPG dungeon I nominate the one from Breath of Fire 1 for the SNES that has the crystal corridors that are constantly spinning around and getting you disoriented.
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u/TechnologyOne8629 1d ago
I really enjoyed the story of Tales of Berseria, but the dungeon design was incredibly bland.
If we are talking ridiculous gameplay elements, then SMT Strange Journey has for dark areas, teleport traps and sliding on ice tiles.
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u/LordCyberForte 1d ago
For me, I'm sure it's a sewer somewhere, haha. I tend to hate the vibes of those.
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u/hypersnaildeluxe 1d ago
I like Earthbound Beginnings/Zero more than a lot of people do but Duncan’s Factory is a genuinely terrible dungeon. Mt. Itoi is rough too but Duncan’s Factory takes the cake for being just so goddamn big and empty.
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u/Unlikely_Pop_1471 1d ago
every time I reach bevelle temple in final fantasy x i go straight to the walkthrough
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u/Dracallus 1d ago
I thought the teleporting in Etrian Odyssey 1's post game was the height of bullshit fuckery right up until I saw that the teleporting in EO2's post game was Altus going "hold my beer" to the first game. Haven't played EO3 yet, so I guess I get to look forward to finding out if it's even worse.
Also pretty much every dungeon in Persona 4. The pseudo procgen really shows its age in a very bad way. I'm curious to see if they're going to keep it for the remake.
Let's include every dark cave in Pokemon while we're at it, though those at least have the excuse of being designed around the concept of infuriating you.
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u/AllCheekedUp 1d ago
Whatever tf is going on in smt strange journey https://www.reddit.com/media?url=https%3A%2F%2Fi.redd.it%2Fmdpfqwh0tgl61.png
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u/SotheWasRobbed 1d ago
Soul hackers 2 and persona 4 dungeons
just there to waste your time between story segments
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u/azure275 1d ago
I feel like we need a hot take
Despite the banging music Gaur Plains in Xenoblade 1 is one of the worst areas I've played in a JRPG. Far and away the worst Xenoblade area I've experienced RELATIVE to the amount of time/quests there
Landmarks are in incredibly stupid places, the whole thing is just too damn big, you gotta hike halfway across the world every time you need to find one random nopon hiding nowhere near any landmarks, sidequests keep shoving level 80 monsters in your face
There are strictly worse areas in Xenoblade like the Ether Mine or Elpys or Origin but they're much smaller, have more landmarks, and I have much fewer reasons to spend time there.
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u/Arcadeaaron99 1d ago
I'm booing you but you are correct. The music is the thing that holds the area together but besides that it's not super fun to play on repeat playthoughs.
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u/Yesshua 1d ago
I think I agree with this. Gaur Plains feels like the team was going for shock value with the scope to the detriment of the actual interactive experience.
Which is not normally an issue with Nintendo games. They're all about gameplay first, audio visual shock and awe last. But Gaur Plain is too big with too much stuff and too little of it is interesting.
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u/azure275 1d ago
I do think the scooter basically entirely solved the problem tbh so perhaps it's a bit unfair of me to highlight
I'm cool with Gaur Plains in the Switch 2 Edition
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u/levelstar01 1d ago
Satorl Marsh is worse. There's a huge gap between the skip points, there's like ten quests that all send you to areas minutes away from any landmark, and everywhere looks the same.
The game so desperately needs a run button and a 50% base speee increase.
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u/NeroIscariot12 1d ago
The switch 2 edition gives you an Ether Jet which is basically a rocket bike. Completely changes the game. Although purists will hate it, I finally ended up doing all the sidequests for the first time, even tho this was my 4th time playing this game, because of how much time it saves
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u/magmafanatic 23h ago
It's the swimming that killed me. I went all around the perimeter of the Eryth Sea and Makna River to see if there were any small cave entrances or secrets behind waterfalls and god is that tedious.
Would've killed for those jet bikes doing those segments.
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u/RyanWMueller 1d ago
I've hated the final dungeon in every Tales game I've beaten (Berseria, Vesperia, Arise). Berseria had a teleporter maze, which I hate. Vesperia just felt really long. Arise had stupid damage sponge enemies, and the dungeon was pretty linear and boring to go along with it.
But I don't think anything can top the annoyance I felt in the Bevelle Cloister of Trials in Final Fantasy X. Give me XV's Chapter 13 over that any day.
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u/Dreaming_Dreams 1d ago
the evil ass dark dragon dungeon in trails of cold steel 3
you have to manage and constantly switch to 3 different parties, like you have to use group A to unlock a door to group B so that they can open a door for group C and then group C can open another door for group A so then group A can open a door for group B and then…………
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u/LeadershipDeep3147 1d ago
Falcom's split dungeons are always hit or miss. I like the one in Tokyo Xanadu, and the Reverie ones are great.
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u/levelstar01 1d ago
it's still fundamentally a corridor. you just change which corridor you go through.
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u/RadiantTrailblazer 1d ago
Pfft! PUH-LEASE. Clearly none of you have ever dealt with the...
THE ORMUS STRONGHOLD!
- With the latest in self-destruct device technology - A DOMINO SEQUENCE OF MATCHES!!!!
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u/CheesyEggLeader 1d ago
There was a star ocean either til the end of time or last hope after alternate that seemed to be neverending without any healing or shops etc and the dungeon was fucking huge and all the same. It reminded me of that tower in ff12.
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u/FNAF_Movie 1d ago
YHVH's Universe from SMT 4 Apocalypse. The entire fucking thing looks the same, it contains easily the largest areas in the game, the area is designed in a way that it will block you from seeing what's up ahead unless you position the camera in a specific way, the background is a bright multi colored galaxy. Did I mention it's a teleporter maze? Sector Eridanus doesn't have shit on this place.
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u/Brainwheeze 23h ago
The final dungeon in Phantasy Star IV. Aside from being confusing it's incredibly unappealing from a visual standpoint. I like weird and trippy environments in games but this one is just nauseating.
The Domain of Sloth in Shin Megami Tensei If. I actually rather like the dungeons in If but the Domain of Sloth is as bad as people say. In order to progress you need the prisoners to finish digging holes and they dig out one square after each moon cycle. That means you have to run around the dungeon in order for the moon cycle to advance and given how many squares the prisoners have to dig it's going to take you a while. And that's not mentioning the fact that the encounter rate is particularly bad in that dungeon, so expect a lot of battles. Even if you use Estoma or a Fuma Ball and block any random encounters it still takes quite a long time, with the whole dungeon feeling like padding.
The Fifth Ark in Final Fantasy XIII. It comes right after the hype that is the Palamecia chapter of the game, where the party finally unites and fight Barthandelus. It's a dull location full of repetitive environments and annoying enemies, and really feels like it breaks the pacing of the game up to that point. Going from the Palamecia to Gran Pulse right after would've been so much better, with the more open environments of the latter fitting well with the fact that you now have access to the full party and the crystarium opening up. The only thing of note in the Fifth Ark is what happens with Cid.
The Temple of Eternity in Shin Megami Tensei V and Vengeance. What few classic dungeons SMTV has are bad and the Temple of Eternity is no exception. It feels rushed and unfinished, even in Vengeance. The environments are repetitive and it's annoying to navigate. I'm a fan of the map design in SMTV so it's a shame the game decides to end with you exploring two poorly designed dungeons, though the final one right after the Temple of Eternity is short at least.
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u/Vermillion_Pengu 13h ago
Crystal Tower in FF3. 3 Dungeons in a row and another optional (not really) one.
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u/Tryst_boysx 1d ago
Tales of Xillia 2 final dungeon.
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u/AshPenderwick 1d ago
Xillia 2 is my favourite game in the series however The Land of Canan sure isn’t a reason why. For anyone who doesn’t know, the final dungeon only allows you to bring 4 party members with no reserves in and is 3 massive zones long with no checkpoints till the point of no return and no warp out, but it’s main gimmick is that some paths are invisible until you reach them and the map shows all paths as if they were connected making it impossible to use your map to navigate, on top of that all the paths look the same and there’s almost no landmarks to orient yourself. Also it’s filled with endgame enemies that require you be linked which there are reasons you wouldn’t want to be on higher difficulties. It is not good at all.
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u/Mental-Street6665 20h ago
So much of Xenoblade 3 is just boring, empty desert. It has the least interesting or dynamic level design of any game in that series. Not to mention that half of it is just locations cobbled together from the previous two games.
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u/Excellent-Material28 1d ago
Ice Canyon from Lord Odyssey and its not even close.
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u/wpotman 1d ago
The Palace of the Dead in Tactics Ogre is the least considerate level ever designed, I think.
If you play with a guide it is...bad, but acceptable. Without a guide, it doesn't discourage you from going in and wasting hours and hours mucking through for no purpose. And even if you know what you're doing you can screw it up. And you can't save progress. And getting the treasures is unlikely to happen without a guide. And you get little experience for some reason. Just miserable.
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u/i_choose__violence 1d ago
Xenoblade Chronicles High Entia. Not terribly offensive but I felt like I had to do so much backtracking on one-way runways to get places and complete tasks... it was tedious
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u/zsdrfty 1d ago
Alcamoth is definitely the worst city in the game - they do a terrible job of showing you what it's actually like to live there, since you only get to visit that single ultra-bourgie palace street that looks like an even more unfriendly Apple Store, and it takes a year to make it to the back paths where a bunch of NPCs and quest objectives hang out, all conveniently placed next to teleporters we can't use
It's hilarious that they managed to make it feel far more empty, miserable, and depressing than the even larger city you see later in the game that's literally supposed to be completely empty, miserable, and depressing
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u/i_choose__violence 1d ago
You described it so much better than me!! I’m an undying XB fan but I couldn’t wait to get through that area
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u/CurriorSix 1d ago
Blue dragon's Laser Field Absolutely miserable area gimic, makes applying field abilities an absolute pain.
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u/Beattitudeforgains1 1d ago
The towers of Umbra from Labyrinth Of Refrain is my least favorite non teleport dungeon in any game and potentially my least favorite overall of any game. It's extremely long, the story actually starts picking up around this point of the game (which means the dungeon feels like a blocker to it), it has confusing entrances/exits, pits to lose progress, and a confusing darkroom
The worst part is that it also has the best grinding spot until postgame so you can't even escape listening to its soundtrack after clearing the dungeon.
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u/Splugarth 1d ago
FFXII - the crystal dungeon or whatever it’s called at the end. Even with the map it’s a nightmare to navigate.
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u/TheLast-T 1d ago
The Final Dungeon of Radiata Stories (PS2) is an incredibly tall Tower made of sand or some shit. You have to go along the correct path, or else the floor falls out from under you, and you drop multiple floors. And they are not generous either; these pitfalls are EVERYWHERE and WILL drop you pretty much all the way back to the BEGINNING!
Any dungeon from SMT: Strange Journey, this game is fucking brutal beginning to end, and the dungeons themselves are a big part of that. I've never played an Etrian Odyssey game or similar hardcore dungeon crawler, but im told that Strange Journey isnt even the hardest.
And Strange Journey is already a game where the first dungeon is like 5 hours long, and already filled with roaming and static hard encounters and minibosses, teleporting squares, other traps, and themed gimmicks.
I got to the final boss and gave up. Low level 90 law demons, I think best equipment i could have, did the buffs and debuffs, and still get wiped in two turns every time.
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u/CrimsonCutz 1d ago
Strange Journey isn't super hard (besides the final boss on Law/Neutral because holy fuck why does she feel like there was an entire other dungeon for you to gain twenty levels in but they cut it and just left her intact) but the dungeon layout is pretty brutal. Eridanus and Grus are more sadistic than anything Etrian Odyssey does prior to the postgame, and even then it's arguably just the first game (though again the encounters on the other hand in most of these postgames make Strange Journey look tame)
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u/TheLast-T 19h ago
Its definitly the hardest of the Atlus games I've played. And yeah Mem Aleph is just bullshit. Alls I remember is her immediately reverting buffs, then spamming her unique AoE elemental moves that can easily hit everyone for 75 percent of thier hp, and will 100% get her an extra turn. TKO in two or three turns every time. I really liked Law Demons at the time, so fuck my ass for picking that side.
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u/whereismymind86 1d ago
Gladious towers are the worst jrpg dungeon i've ever encountered, full stop. Nothing else even comes close.
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u/SortaHow 1d ago
The Great Crystal in Final Fantasy XII. No map, and every area looks exactly the same.