Dungeons, dragons and Pokémon?! oh my! Everyone loves a good level design, which obviously varies from person to person. A dungeon level design can be interpreted many ways. There are so many variations of maps, open worlds, dungeons, etc. I don't nitpick too much about maps and dungeons for each one is different, as long as I can get from point A to point B (sometimes point C or D), it's fine!
The community theme by Lost_in_Translation this week is about Dungeon Designs.
The challenge:
"What I'd like people to write about this week, is about dungeon/level themes and design. You could write about your favorite themed type of dungeons (I know everyone loves the Water Dungeon in Ocarina of Time, right?!?!), or how dungeon designs aren't diverse enough, or even the type of dungeon themes and designs you'd like to see more of in a video game. I'd like people to include specific examples from games, and explain why these type of dungeons/themes work, don't work."
I feel like I have neglected writing about Pokémon...so now I am going to write about Pokémon. Each cave and forest incorporated into the game (from the beginning of the series) is basically a unique dungeon. Dungeon's don't have to be the stereotypical underground, you need a torch to travel through, level. Although sometimes in Pokémon you do need to use "Flash" in order to see where you're going! Let me divulge into why I love Pokémon level designs!
Each region of Pokémon is based off a location in Japan. The level design of the Pokémon map is quite linear and really is one large dungeon with smaller one's within it. You start out at part A and eventually get to part Z which unlocks the entire region. Story progression makes it so a player can't jump ahead of the game and see the rest of the design without solving the puzzle (ie.caves and forests) or defeating the boss (ie. gym leaders). Each generation creates a new forest and new caves to be solved, along with the enemies hideout to navigate.
Get ready for Alpha Sapphire and Omega Ruby (and Delta Emerald?!)
So why are Pokémon maps so successful? I probably would say that the designs aren't over complicated making them easy to navigate. Also, like many level designs, creatures who roam around are area locked. Making each location on the map special. Overall, the region itself is not that large, but when zooming into the cities and caves, it becomes much larger. Each region is different from the one before and the one after.
Route 126 leading to Sootopolis City, Hoenn
Some locations were easier to navigate than others. For instance, each game had a starting forest to naviagate through. Certain paths were cut off due to the not being able to use HM01 Cut at such an early stage, thus encouraging the player to return to the same area to reach those points they originally could not. Discreetly, Pokémon caves and forest share the same formula of many dungeons. It has a start and end, but some have alternate routes, secrets paths, items to be collected, rare creatures, etc. The only thing is they don't all have boss battles, the boss battle occurs when one reaches the city after completing the dungeon. The gym leaders are the bosses of that area and their gym is it's own puzzle to solve. Like most dungeons, once the initial boss is cleared they will not reappear. So, when one challenges their rival or defeats a gym leader they cannot be re-challenged (although some games have the exception like HeartGold and SoulSilver who can re-challenge gym leaders at the Fighting Dojo.)
Victory Road (aka as Champion Road) is supposed to be the most challenging caves. It is the final stretch between you and the top notch Elite Four. The road is full of "high" level Pokémon and "ace" trainers. At the end of every victory road your rival will be there waiting to challenge you. In a way, that is the boss battle of the dungeon, for those that are not "Pokémon masters" this challenge would prove difficult. What I enjoy the most about Victory Road is the puzzle solving. Having to navigate and use your Pokémon's HM/TM moves like Strength, Surf, Waterfall, Rock Smash to solve the map is quite fun. I normally would get lost because sometimes you had to use "Flash" which none of my Pokémon would know, walking around in the dark was much more difficult. I didn't know where trainer's were, were ledgers or ladders were, in a way it made it more fun, it was like the child's game "stranger in the dark".
Victory Road, Hoenn.
So, in the end, Hoenn's Victory Road is my favorite dungeon. Yes, even beating out those Zelda and Skyrim dungeons. It is challenging and well designed. I felt this level design compared to the old and new Pokemon game stood out in complexity. I'm excited to see the remake/successor of this cave.
The Pokémon World is just one complex level design that somehow all fits together.
There is more than a ton of different regions accumulated over the games. The overall complexity about how all the different regions fit into one another is actually a mystery, people can only speculate how they all fit together. That's something I love about the Pokémon level design is that we have a specified region, but really don't know how it fits in with the rest of the world.
So tell me,
For those that have played any of the core series of Pokémon,
Which generation has your favorite Victory Road?