Favourite/Least favourite dungeon?

[darknessfood]

I really love castle darkmoor...

i like all dungeons but the worst i think its the temple of snake. How its posible that a gold dragon entered to that tiny place ?

Well, he grew up there. A medusa thought it would be cool to hatch a egg there, so she talked to some dragons and exposed some of her bodyparts in trade for an egg (this at the cost of a dragon marriage). Se took it to the temple of the snake and hatched it there. Then fed the dragon some of her sister medusa who didn't pay the rent and thus ,for punnishment, they were eaten by the dragon making it strong and big...

I think that really happen't!!!

[CoffeeGnome]

Overall I also thought that MM6 dungeon's were fairly dull... perhaps I also have a total lack of patience too. Patience to bear with something which is dull is not really my idea of a game, especially when my time is somewhat limited and the appeal and magic of early game MM6 wears off.

I do not know how old you are but that is the way that RPGs were back then. Bard's tale, AD&D gold boxes, older MM games, etc. All of them had over-clumbersome dungeons because gamers thought that the electronic versions were too easy compared to the book versions. MM6 dungeons are the way they are mostly because of the time in which they came out.

[HodgePodge]

… i like all dungeons but the worst i think its the temple of snake. How its posible that a gold dragon entered to that tiny place ?

Well, he grew up there. A medusa thought it would be cool to hatch a egg there, so she talked to some dragons and exposed some of her bodyparts in trade for an egg (this at the cost of a dragon marriage). Se took it to the temple of the snake and hatched it there. Then fed the dragon some of her sister medusa who didn't pay the rent and thus, for punnishment, they were eaten by the dragon making it strong and big...

I think that really happen't!!!

Cool, very cool story. Too bad she didn't feed the dragon Q; all those hit points & one of the toughest battles in the game and you only get +6 experience points for defeating him.

[Sir William S Titan]

Favorite: May not be my favorite, but the Tomb of VARN would be one.

Least: A lot from MM8 come to mind. Mostly the ones that had parts of MM7 dungeons used in them.

[AndyNZ]

I've only played MM VI and the first half of MM VII so far...
When I first encountered the giant spiders and cobras in the Abandoned Temple (in New Sorpigal) I wasn't prepared for them and it freaked me out because the game was so immersive - I felt like I was really there!
Later I got much better at the game and could get through it easily. I now have strong memories of that dungeon and I like it's design.
(The spiders in MM VII didn't look nearly as good IMO.)

The main thing I remember about VARN it that it was BIG!

The worst dungeon for me would be "Gharik's Forge" (on the island off New Sorpigal) - I don't like my items getting broken all the time.

[Secret_Holder]

Least: A lot from MM8 come to mind. Mostly the ones that had parts of MM7 dungeons used in them.

I have to agree here, and this is what makes me think that MM8 is essentially a very bad game. Way too much recycling.

[Larec]

I've only gone through 3,4,5,6 and 7. With that in mind, my top five LEAST favorite dungeons in ascending order:

5: Dragon Cave (M&M4)

The cave itself isn't so bad...as long as you enter via the "Count Du Money" warp. Why? Because if you enter the "standard way" through the normal overworld entrance you get your gold drained away by tax collecting pots. This always annoyed me...until I found out that you could warp in from the mirror, kill the dragon king, and the pots would no longer be active. Annoying, but avoidable if you're clever.

4: The Maze From Hell (M&M3)

This is one of those old school mazes where you basically rest your party for 8 hours after and before each fight. It's sick. Weapons breaking after every round, almost impossible without a map. Try playing this in 93 without the net or a good FAQ. Ugghhh...

3: Tomb of Varn (M&M6)

Bad bad BAD design. Most areas were only passable with clever manipulation of the game's polygonal sloping bugs + featherfall. I spent a good week trying to get around. Not to mention the genies would slap me with hundreds of spells from impossibly long distances. It's one of the few moments where an RPG has scarred me so badly that I have nightmares about it. I LOVE Mandate of Heaven, but good lord...Varn in all of it's radioactiveness was just too much.

2: The Pit (M&M7)

The only time I wasn't invisible while going through this area with my light side party was when I had an end game crew in the low 70s and came back with level 16 GM Blaster and wasted everything for petty revenge. This whole area was made to be a "man separator" Basically, it separates the men from the boys. I've seen people give up at that point. I soldiered on.

1: Dungeon of Lost Souls (M&M5)

Number one most hated dungeon. Why? I'm not good at puzzles, and I'm also not fond of huge fights with huge minotaurs that break weapons and age you a year every time they hit you. That dungeon is normally a two/three tripper for me. You need to be at least level 40/50 to survive and they place the minotaurs in such a way that by level 3, you get 3-4 on you at once. Ohhh...and that darn level 4 puzzle had me stumped for a week the first time I met it. I wanted to kick myself when I realized how simple the answer was.

[CoffeeGnome]

I've only gone through 3,4,5,6 and 7. With that in mind, my top five LEAST favorite dungeons in ascending order:

5: Dragon Cave (M&M4)

The cave itself isn't so bad...as long as you enter via the "Count Du Money" warp. Why? Because if you enter the "standard way" through the normal overworld entrance you get your gold drained away by tax collecting pots. This always annoyed me...until I found out that you could warp in from the mirror, kill the dragon king, and the pots would no longer be active. Annoying, but avoidable if you're clever.

4: The Maze From Hell (M&M3)

This is one of those old school mazes where you basically rest your party for 8 hours after and before each fight. It's sick. Weapons breaking after every round, almost impossible without a map. Try playing this in 93 without the net or a good FAQ. Ugghhh...

3: Tomb of Varn (M&M6)

Bad bad BAD design. Most areas were only passable with clever manipulation of the game's polygonal sloping bugs + featherfall. I spent a good week trying to get around. Not to mention the genies would slap me with hundreds of spells from impossibly long distances. It's one of the few moments where an RPG has scarred me so badly that I have nightmares about it. I LOVE Mandate of Heaven, but good lord...Varn in all of it's radioactiveness was just too much.

2: The Pit (M&M7)

The only time I wasn't invisible while going through this area with my light side party was when I had an end game crew in the low 70s and came back with level 16 GM Blaster and wasted everything for petty revenge. This whole area was made to be a "man separator" Basically, it separates the men from the boys. I've seen people give up at that point. I soldiered on.

1: Dungeon of Lost Souls (M&M5)

Number one most hated dungeon. Why? I'm not good at puzzles, and I'm also not fond of huge fights with huge minotaurs that break weapons and age you a year every time they hit you. That dungeon is normally a two/three tripper for me. You need to be at least level 40/50 to survive and they place the minotaurs in such a way that by level 3, you get 3-4 on you at once. Ohhh...and that darn level 4 puzzle had me stumped for a week the first time I met it. I wanted to kick myself when I realized how simple the answer was.

Thanks for the insight, I have only played MM6, 7, 8 & 9. I will have to check out 4 & 5 because some of the dungeons you hate I actually love. You have different tastes than I but still now I am intrigued to check out these other games.

[UndeadHalfOrc]

3: Tomb of Varn (M&M6)

Bad bad BAD design. Most areas were only passable with clever manipulation of the game's polygonal sloping bugs + featherfall. I spent a good week trying to get around. Not to mention the genies would slap me with hundreds of spells from impossibly long distances. It's one of the few moments where an RPG has scarred me so badly that I have nightmares about it. I LOVE Mandate of Heaven, but good lord...Varn in all of it's radioactiveness was just too much.

While I agree that the genie mobs were ridiculous, I never had to exploit any bugs and managed to explore the whole thing completely and gotten every treasure. You just have to take your time.

2: The Pit (M&M7)

The only time I wasn't invisible while going through this area with my light side party was when I had an end game crew in the low 70s and came back with level 16 GM Blaster and wasted everything for petty revenge. This whole area was made to be a "man separator" Basically, it separates the men from the boys. I've seen people give up at that point. I soldiered on.

Most people who have trouble with this one either play in turn based mode (bad idea vs Dragon Breaths that you can't manually dodge) or don't use the Destroy Undead spell enough.

At level 35ish, two characters who are both using Destroy Undead can easily make short work of every single enemy in there except Necromancers. Destroy Undead is absolutely ridiculously powerful, instant, and cheap to cast. Essential vs Liches. As for the goth chicks , they can be rushed with melee attacks, or killed with Light Bolt when they retreat in the lava pool (the most annoying thing).

[dcinroc]

My favorites: I only mention 7-9 cuz my recollections of the earlier games are hazy at best.

MM7: Barrow Downs, Haunted Mansion, everything in the Pit (nice challenge, lots of optional killing), Castle Harmondale/Harmondale (good intro challenge), Temple of the Moon.

MM8: Planes of Air/Water, Minotaur Labyrinth, Dragon Hunter's castle, Necromancer's Guild.

MM9: Vorhoeffen's Ruins, Dook's Castle, Yanmir's Fortress, The Lich Lab, and The Wizard's Lab. In fact, I liked many of the dungeons in MM9...it's too bad that the look of th game destroyed my ability to fully enjoy it (how can I play a ROLE playing game without even knowing what my damn character looks like...PAPER DOLLS dammit!....but I digress)

Least Liked:

MM7: Tunnels to Eofel...lots of exp...not much fun (Oh, look! Another %&@$ Ancient Behemoth), Temple of BAA (tedious and not very challenging, unless u opt to mess with the demons), Temple of the Sun (are these guys wimps, or what?), Lord Markham Manor (unnecessarily difficult)

MM8: all the cheese Temples (pointless, easy, and mercifully brief), The Vampire Crypt (too short and not spooky), The Temple of the Sun (why are the Light side guys always such pansies?), any place that as Pink Pirates, such as The (quite occupied and active) Abandon Pirate Keep. In fact, MM8 probably has the least compelling dungeons/adventures of the 3 games I am discussing.

MM9: outside of the "1000 Hours of Wasted Game Time" challenge, it is tough to recall any real dogs. Ta'Sar Academy was mediocre, but not that bad or time consuming. The Mountain Passes were rather tedious.

So, all in all, I'd say that 9 had the best dungeons and adventures, while 8 had the worst. 7 was in between, few were really great, and there were some stinkers, but I enjoy 7 more because of the look and feel, not just of the world, but of the characters themselves plus it is better balanced than 8.

[Larec]

At level 35ish, two characters who are both using Destroy Undead can easily make short work of every single enemy in there except Necromancers. Destroy Undead is absolutely ridiculously powerful, instant, and cheap to cast. Essential vs Liches. As for the goth chicks , they can be rushed with melee attacks, or killed with Light Bolt when they retreat in the lava pool (the most annoying thing).

My problem with The Pit was basically the one shot auto-kill ability the female vampires had. I would go there and have 2 or 3 of my people killed in one shot (even in the late 50s, level-wise).

I never found any spell to protect against that. Even with 1K HP + Day of protection, one shot would wipe me out.

[UndeadHalfOrc]

Female vampires? You got it wrong - there are MALE VAMPIRES (the strongest can drain all your mana) and FEMALE NECROMANCERS (the strongest can cast Dragon Breath). Necros are not undead themselves and as such immune to Destroy Undead. They have no instant kill spell. They can cast Dragon Breath, Shrapmetal and Pain Reflection (which is strongly advised you Dispel before whacking them).

There are no protection, or defense of any kind, against Dark spells. You need to dodge these blasts

[darknessfood]

MM9: Vorhoeffen's Ruins, Dook's Castle, Yanmir's Fortress, The Lich Lab, and The Wizard's Lab. In fact, I liked many of the dungeons in MM9...it's too bad that the look of th game destroyed my ability to fully enjoy it (how can I play a ROLE playing game without even knowing what my damn character looks like...PAPER DOLLS dammit!....but I digress)

MM9: outside of the "1000 Hours of Wasted Game Time" challenge, it is tough to recall any real dogs. Ta'Sar Academy was mediocre, but not that bad or time consuming. The Mountain Passes were rather tedious.

So, all in all, I'd say that 9 had the best dungeons and adventures, while 8 had the worst. 7 was in between, few were really great, and there were some stinkers, but I enjoy 7 more because of the look and feel, not just of the world, but of the characters themselves plus it is better balanced than 8.

So, you actualy like MM9 ore then 8 and 7

[Larec]

Female vampires? You got it wrong - there are MALE VAMPIRES (the strongest can drain all your mana) and FEMALE NECROMANCERS (the strongest can cast Dragon Breath). Necros are not undead themselves and as such immune to Destroy Undead. They have no instant kill spell. They can cast Dragon Breath, Shrapmetal and Pain Reflection (which is strongly advised you Dispel before whacking them).

There are no protection, or defense of any kind, against Dark spells. You need to dodge these blasts

They still look like vampires to me. No offense, but you really take the game too seriously guy. I mean, really.

You even memorized what spells they cast. That's just...sad.

[darknessfood]

@ Larec: It's NOT sad or ANYTHING. If you are a big fan of something, you like to know everything about it. That's his case. And how can he feel NOT offended when you are attacking him and calling the man sad and stuff like that...? Joust don't attack anyone here personaly for what they like...

[Bimbasto]

Playing only MM6,7 and 8.
My favorites:
MM6 - Castle Alamos. Nice to clean it up.
MM7 - Tunnels to Eofol. Necessary to have prepared party.
MM8 - Plane of Earth. For me was really challenge to find right tactics to finish this dungeon.

Do not like (not hate):
MM6 - Tomb of Varn (maybe because of radiation).
MM7 - School of Sorcerers, Walls of Mist and Pit. Uncomfortable feelings when loosing mana and effects of the spells. And , of course, Pain Reflection...Really bad. In one shot all the party could be wiped out.
MM8 - everything fine.

[eighteafive]

First post here (cannot believe it took me this long to discover this wonderful forum). I hope it isn't against the rules to bump a topic up that's been dormant for awhile now. I tried looking for forum rules and didn't see such.

MM3: Favor: Magic Cavern
Least: Dark Warriors' Keep (These paladins would knock the stuffing out of you!)

MM4: Favor: Cave of Illusion
Least: All the Dwarf Mines

MM5: Favor: Southern Sphinx (was dang hard, but I love Egyptian stuff so I was all in to this)
Least: Dungeon of Lost Souls (this place just sucked, hands down. Not to mention the money you lose to be happy)

MM6: Favor: The Monolith
Least: Darkmoor/Alamos. VARN is a love hate, but I know my way around it blind. I never figured out Alamos though. It was a maze of mazes.

MM7: Favor: Walls of Mist just for the unique factor that you can't harm anything.
Least: Watchtower 6, because those Queen of the Deads take no prisoners.

MM8: Favor: Plane of Air. This had just a magical feeling for me.
Least: The Plane/Palace of Fire. Just nope. Give me earth and rock blasts all day.

I fully admit to using invisibility, and I enjoy it. I will though go through and just decimate everything in the game.

[raekuul]

I haven't completed 1-5 or 9+ so I won't make judgments on (least) favorite dungeon for those.

Favorite MM6: Castle Kriegspire; between the lore, the drakes, and the plot I just keep looking for reasons to come here. Though VARN is a close second just due to the sheer scale (but VARN loses on account of Magic immunity, and I love me my debuff/ejector spells).
Favorite MM7: Tunnels to Eofol. Mostly because I love trying to push through to Eofol before delivering the Trumpet, which makes for an incredibly (stressful? heart-pounding? adventurous?) invisibility run.
Favorite MM8: Mad Necromancer's Lab. Even though it invariably kicks my ass (because I always forget to put my defensive spells up), this place is a goldmine of lore. It doesn't hurt that four different quests lead you here (Hours of Entertainment, Lich Jars, Ebonest, Blazen Stormlance).

Least Favorite MM6: Castle Alamos. Even though (thanks to Skill Emphasis) I know how to actually deal with the monsters here efficiently (Mind/Body magic on the Magyars, Earth Magic on the High Mages, Fire Magic on the Air Elementals) it's still... a gigantic nest of monsters, and the puzzle here left child me stumped for a year and a day (because why should a password be a word, yeah?). It doesn't help that Tree R is behind basically every last monster in the dungeon, so you're forced into Murder Everything if you want to finish the puzzle legitimately.
Least Favorite MM7: Dwarven Barrows. Mostly because they're a pain to navigate.
Least Favorite MM8: I hate basically everything after you get the Conflux Key, but... Escaton's Fortress. Everything that the designers did wrong in MM8 they did here - long hallways full of nothing but monsters, backtracking several times through now-empty corridors, you have to explore the entire thing to finish (MM6's The Hive has a similar problem if you clear it "legitimately" but you only have to double-back once in an optimal route, to get the locked room in SE Tunnel), and it's not even where you trigger the Final Cutscene.

[Erisian]

I hate the Walls Of Mist, but only because you have to do it without killing anything and they are firing everything they have at you.

[eighteafive]

Favorite MM7: Tunnels to Eofol. Mostly because I love trying to push through to Eofol before delivering the Trumpet, which makes for an incredibly (stressful? heart-pounding? adventurous?) invisibility run.

Ooh, that take some bravado! I think I will have to give that a try the next time I play 7. Talk about heart pounding, indeed!