Grimrock

So maybe it's just me but were any of you guys expecting 7 or 8 complete dungeon floors instead of all those puzzles we got in the final castle?

i wasn't expecting that at all

After all that effort to get to the castle to be faced with several massive levels I think would be unbalanced.
Several levels of puzzles with a few enemies seems right.

Yes, I was. I felt like this dungeon should have been pretty epic and nefarious but it really wasn't very interesting for me.

My feeling was that level design and story immersion started to fall by the wayside as the game progressed.

I really loved the open world, the graphics were beautiful, but many of the levels seemed to be just mazes with no real story or reason for being there. The Ruins of Desarune were probably the best example of a dungeon with no other purpose than to be a maze with puzzles in it. My preference for dungeons is for there to be some air of lore, mystery, and purpose to discover. Magical items were often hidden in strange, nameless places for seemingly no reason. The tomb was my favorite dungeon, probably followed by the pyramid.

If they do a third, I believe they would benefit from having more level designers bringing ideas to the table, similar to writing 20 songs for a 12 song album. Keep the best, drop the rest. Work on the story and lore element a bit more. Every dungeon should be there for a reason, and should be important.

It gave a real sense of verticallity. Mostly puzzles with an incredibly difficult fight at the top (at least the first time)

If it had been another Desarune ... No, I don't think I'd have enjoyed that. At that point, I wanted to get to the top and the puzzles encouraged that feeling.

coreystinson wrote:I really loved the open world, the graphics were beautiful, but many of the levels seemed to be just mazes with no real story or reason for being there. The Ruins of Desarune were probably the best example of a dungeon with no other purpose than to be a maze with puzzles in it. My preference for dungeons is for there to be some air of lore, mystery, and purpose to discover. Magical items were often hidden in strange, nameless places for seemingly no reason. The tomb was my favorite dungeon, probably followed by the pyramid.

I liked the castle for the same reason I loved the pyramid. Mostly empty halls, devious puzzles with an epic fight at the end.

Well, I did click * a lot* of books, looking for a secret. That was mildly disappointing.
The atmosphere was at a height, having reached the most luxurious looking environment yet (typical for boss level), and the soundtrack was appropriate.
I felt like I wanted to get on with it and see what was waiting for me upstairs, but thinking back, it was one of the shortest, less memorable areas, and perhaps it shouldn't have been so.
There was a certain awe-factor missing from the end-game scenario as it took place on top of an unremarkable roof. The luxury of the castle levels gone, the richness in colors and details having no final grand-display.

I saw the castle at the start and thought, "Oh crap it's going to be like going into Grimrock all over again" only to see it took about an hour to get through it all (the castle to the boss, that is) So, put simply, I was disappointed

I enjoyed the castle.... just disappointed with the (any) boss fight.

I never really thought about it like that when I played through. I absolutely hated the end boss though, but then I hated the end boss to the first game possibly even more.

Hmm, at that point in the game you wanted some tough puzzles and end game rather than more environments. If you've played the games that LOG plays tribute to it's a familiar pattern, that final tower of small levels of challenge.