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Dullsville

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Mike "JuMeSyn" Moehnke
FAN EDITORIALIST

Some RPG designers like to use a little something outmoded. In and of itself, using outmoded concepts is not to be condemned in the world of RPG design when the results commensurate thereby are not to be decried. To be most definitely decried is one notion in particular, one which produces naught but dreary tediousness. The assignment of dungeon layout to the game itself, in the form of random programming mechanics, does verily and forever need to be removed as a mandatory element of game design.

For whatever reason the Dreamcast was host to plentiful examples of precisely why the randomly-generated dungeon mechanic is a poor one. Evolution exemplifies this; the game was nothing exceptional but managed to become very dreary indeed during its very short quest thanks to the dull dungeon design. Evolution 2 technically did not have random dungeons as a mandatory element, yet somehow its dungeons felt random even without being so (though that is a divergent topic). Time Stalkers compounded random dungeon design's fallacy by coupling it with resetting character levels to 1 upon exit of a dungeon. Admittedly these titles are not the cream of the Dreamcast's library, and a large chunk of the reasoning lies in their flawed construction.

Lufia 2: Rise of the Sinistrals is a fine title, and might be heralded as an example of how to correctly utilize random dungeon generation. The Ancient Cave is quite the challenge to march through, and I gave it up after a duo of attempts. The Ancient Cave, however, is optional. Lufia 2's proper dungeons are constructed with great attention to detail and a wicked eye for devious puzzles. The Ancient Cave exists to pose a challenge for those so inclined, and is quite dull to traverse even with its challenge factored in.

The possibility exists for a halcyon game to be produced that will be heralded for years to come as a masterpiece, and that it will incorporate random dungeon generation in a heretofore unimagined way that shatters all the negative conceptions forever. I feel reasonably secure in speculating that this is somewhat less likely than ALF and Batman having a successful TV duo, however.