This supposed 14 level megadungeon

[Humodour]

14 levels is too damn long.

 

Really, you plucked a number out of the air based simply on how many people donated to your game? That's a stupid design decision! I'm going to get sick of playing level after level of dungeon. You aren't making Diablo or Torchlight!

 

Even Dragon's Eye was nowhere near 14 levels - and it managed to stay fun and fresh because of it.

 

Please, please, do something to break up the monotony of such a concept! Maybe have the second half of the dungeon only accessible by the second half of the game or something - I don't know... do something to fix what seems a really silly decision!

 

P.S. I will admit I liked the concept art for the megadungeon, so clearly you guys do plan to mix it up a bit, but I'm still highly sceptical.

 

EDIT: To clarify: Obsidian makes deep, intellectual, thoughtful RPGs, often with great combat elements. They do not make hack and slash action RPG Diablo clones. We have great games for that already, such as Borderlands 2 and Torchlight 2.

Edited October 18, 2012 by Krezack

[Medwynd]

I disagree, really nothing more to say about it.

[rjshae]

Troll bait...

[bobobo878]

15 levels. Didn't you read Kickstarter? There are 15 levels.

[Chunkyman]

... So don't go there.

 

To my understanding, the dungeon is optional. Plus, you likely won't be forced to go all the way to the bottom before you can leave. Just go as deep as you like and leave when you get bored.

[Melhelix]

Od Nua is supposed to be completely optional (last I heard), and simply a test of skill, ability, and endurance if your party chooses to brave the depths. You wont be forced to tackle the dungeon of doom, it'll just be there, out there, waiting, taunting you with fifteen levels of delicious loot and jaw-dropping scenery*.

 

But you can certainly pass it by and simply stick to the plot, or craft the perfect sword, or whatever else strikes your fancy. That's the beauty of it!

 

 

*Based on the single PE screenshot provided so far.

[Bli1942]

The levels wont necessarily be all combat I guess. There could be several levels where you just pick up a few quests for the lower levels then move on, taking only 10-15 minutes to explore.

 

15 levels doesn't necessarily mean 15 levels of huge 2 hour long combat sessions on every level, right?

Edited October 18, 2012 by Bli1942

[Kennyrules]

I find your lack of faith disturbing.

[mr.Ermac]

Basically this dungeon is as big as the whole of Diablo 1. Would be interesting how they'll manage to implement this. Obviously its a lot of levels and it would be hard to keep each level interesting. I am worried that at most there will be quite a few trash mobs to just fill up the space, but I hope I'm proven wrong.

[arekone]

Any chance of getting to see the whole graphic for the dungeon? KS is still stuck at 13 levels, checking out the dungeon progress was a fun part of my daily update routine!

[Forber]

If you take up what we can expect 16 levels. Oh, there will have to wander around =)

[Skie Nightfall]

Still is a silly way to decide how many levels it's going to have. The amount of backers needed for the next level should have slowly increased instead of staying constant.

[Aedelric]

The whole point of the mega dungeon is to be long, it would not be much of a mega dungeon if we could complete it after three levels now would it?

 

I will say, fifteen levels is essentially a game unto itself, the first Diablo was that deep was it not? I can not wait to see how it looks, hope it has the giant statue, fifteen levels should let us get down to the feet.

[DocDoomII]

If by any chance we get to 40k likes on facebook in a brief time, we'll get another level and that would make 16, just like Diablo.

[anek]

Basically this dungeon is as big as the whole of Diablo 1. Would be interesting how they'll manage to implement this. Obviously its a lot of levels and it would be hard to keep each level interesting.

 

What makes you think each level is as big as in Diablo?

 

Obsidian can make their 14 level dungeon as small or big as they want, by trading horizontal expansion for vertical expansion.

 

Have some faith in them, they know how to construct a cool dungeon.

[Piccolo]

Noone is forcing you to visit the mega dungeon, just as nobody is forcing the people who don't enjoy lots of dialogue to spend most of their time interacting with NPCs. Stop trying to ruin the dungeon for people who actually love dungeon crawling. Would you like it if someone who hated lots dialogue asked for it to be drastically cut?

 

At the end of the day, this is supposed to be a "best of" IE game. That means it'll have a fairly healthy mix of story/dialogue, combat/dungeon crawling, and exploration.

 

Also, as others have rightly said in other threads like this, i'm sure there will be a lot of interesting lore connected to the dungeon, as well as exploration value. There's really no reason for it to simply be a hack n slash affair.

 

Still is a silly way to decide how many levels it's going to have.

It's really not actually. I'm certain the developers thought long and hard before announcing the mega dungeon idea. They knew the range of levels we'd end up at. If they honestly thought we'd end up with too many or too few levels, they would not have gone ahead with the idea or would have set different targets. They were always in control. Adding a new level per 2.5k backers was just a fun way to involve the community.

Edited October 18, 2012 by Piccolo

[HereticSaint]

They already said each floor of the mega dungeon would be lore driven. If they can't reach that point I'm sure they'll cut back, or at the very least add good lore every few levels.

 

Best of all, if it's a train wreck you can completely avoid it!

[cyberarmy]

Its called MEGA for a reason.

 

Oh and its optional, you dont have to go there and finish.

[Azure79]

I have faith the dungeon will be interesting and engaging enough to keep my interest and make me curious as to whats down in that final level. Maybe they can make a few levels with no combat at all, but something you have to solve with just your non-combat skills.

[Damkyan]

I've always be a sucker for additional content. But in a good way. When it is optional, that is the best choice because all the gamers are not like me and don't want to run in every corner of the world to have a team with appropriated levels. But if I like a game, I can spend so much time in random or secret dungeons or anything else that can make me build a team of Demigods...

[Majek]

15 levels. Didn't you read Kickstarter? There are 15 levels.

You obviously missed the fact that OE got it wrong when they posted that update and wrote 14 at first.

[Monte Carlo]

14 levels is too damn long.

 

Really, you plucked a number out of the air based simply on how many people donated to your game? That's a stupid design decision! I'm going to get sick of playing level after level of dungeon. You aren't making Diablo or Torchlight!

 

 

Krezzie, love, I don't remember seeing you here much during the KS and now you pop up whining. At least you're consistent.

[mikemcdonald]

Just because there are a ton of levels doesn't mean it's going to be samey and boring. This game is going to be lovingly and deliberately crafted, not randomly generated like a Diablo clone.

 

For an example of how different environments can be, check out the Underdark in Baldur's Gate II. One minute you're in a dark cavern, the next in an Illithid lair, then next at the bottom of the ocean. Have some faith OP. Srsly.

[ComMcNeil]

I sympathize with OP on that one, had thoughs about this myself

 

I imagined the Mega Dungeon would be like the Watchers Keep in BG2:ToB. It had 5 levels with an own theme on each level, which were quite expansive, yielded nice rewards and took some time to explore.

 

Personally, I think the design descision behind this dungeon was similar than the watchers keep, and I also think Obsidian did not really hope for more than 5-6 levels of this. (at first) But now the dungeon is 15 levels deep and I would find it pretty lame if they just cut the individual size of each level in order to have more of them - but I also dont think that is what they had in mind. So I guess they would LIKE to make a really big dungeon, but I am just not sure they can do it and keep in interesting for 15 levels.

 

On the other hand - Baldurs gate 2 was also developed in about 18 months (if I can trust the Wikipedia on this), so I GUESS its possible to create that stuff in a reasonable amount of time, if enough people are involved...and you should be able to involve enough people with 4 million dollars...

 

Still, I am worried about the fact that they want to deliver upon their promises, but it becomes quantity above quality, which would be a real shame... (goes for the whole project, not just the megadungeon)

[Sensuki]

I'm not really a fan of the segmented iteration idea they had going (ie 3 levels at a time before you needed a key to the next lot found in another location of the world), I'd love to marathon the dungeon.