The flaw in Dungeon Crawlers they keep making

[L0ki]

I love the idea of dungeon crawlers and crawler lite games but i have to be honest when i say most of them i don't play because they keep doing the same thing over and bloody over again.

Why are there gender/race/class locked characters and there are only 3 or 4 of them.

I cant count the number of times in the past, and now as diablo wagon is rolling around the corner, i saw a dungeon crawler thought it looked good only to find the character options are: male warrior female rouge, older male mage -.-

What if i want to play a female mage or warrior?
What if i want more then the generic three classes like say a blood mage or summoner?

Am i the only one here who want to see create a character, or an array of character to choose from that are not only cookie cutter classes?

 

[Saris Kai]

It is due to lazy art direction combined with it being easier to market with quickly identifiable characters.

 

[L0ki]

Sorry i haven't responded life busy

Quickly identifiable characters is a note worthy thing to do for a game especially smaller scale projects like a small studio, however gammers understand more than the warrior the rouge and the wizard as the norm and we still rarely bring more to a Dungeon Crawler.

Even Stating that the "stone soup" (nice correlation) has 12 races and 16 that's WAY more possibilities then you see. most go buy all human and 3 classes gender locked.

In truth i feel its less laziness (it is still a major factor) but the fact the developers are scared of breaking the mold. People expect those three classes and people are afraid to change form the expectation and be hated. Its better to be a forgettable game that sold than one that became infamous for being poor that no one bought.

 

[kane.malakos]

They're standard fantasy tropes. They also tend to provide a good contrast of play styles. However, dungeon crawlers don't always follow this. Look at the Diablo series. They've had necromancers, barbarians, witch doctors, demon hunters and plenty of other inventiveness.

 

[evilneko]

Pfft, that's nothing.

You know what the REAL flaw in them is?

They're not fucking CRAWLS. Seriously. These are not crawlers, they're runners! You run through the dungeon, hurrying to the next treasure chest or (mini)boss, barely pausing to click an annoying pest of a monster.

There's no challenge. No atmosphere. No fear. Just click click click it's time for the phat leeewwwwtz.

Bah! Humbug!

 

[ElectroJosh]

Its already been stated why they are like this (and it is anoying) which is why I think Blizzard took the right approach in Diablo 3 - making 5 classes which can be either male or female.

 

[Veylon]

There's no challenge. No atmosphere. No fear. Just click click click it's time for the phat leeewwwwtz.

Bah! Humbug!

I second this. Diablo is barely related to the classic crawls. A good chunk of what made the "crawl" an adventure was the fear of going too deep and being unable to escape. The atmosphere was rife with tension as fear and greed warred on the subject of continuing on or turning back as attrition wore down the party.

In Diablo you can toss a town portal scroll in the middle of a boss fight, take a rest, go shopping, and then hop right back then as though nothing happened. Having a panic button to escape is fine by me, but you shouldn't be able to unescape right back where you were. It takes away all the risk. Back in the old days, a TPK would mean you'd have to train up a new party just to survive long enough to rescue the old party's bodies (and stuff).

 

[SL33TBL1ND]

If you're talking indie dungeon crawlers, then the obvious answer is money. I can't think of any recent games that have done this, though.

 

[MrHero17]

Well, Dungeons of Dredmore has a skill system instead of classes.

 

[NickCaligo42]

You seen what characters look like in those games? They're fuckin' tiny. If you could customize them, it wouldn't be worth it because you couldn't see the shit you were doing to them. And on top of that, you wouldn't be able to tell who in the party is a mage and who in the party is a fighter since everyone would be a mish-mash of random items and character features. "Easy to recognize" is more than just a matter of marketability or artistic laziness, it's actually a matter of usability.

 

[evilneko]

There's no challenge. No atmosphere. No fear. Just click click click it's time for the phat leeewwwwtz.

Bah! Humbug!

I second this. Diablo is barely related to the classic crawls. A good chunk of what made the "crawl" an adventure was the fear of going too deep and being unable to escape. The atmosphere was rife with tension as fear and greed warred on the subject of continuing on or turning back as attrition wore down the party.

In Diablo you can toss a town portal scroll in the middle of a boss fight, take a rest, go shopping, and then hop right back then as though nothing happened. Having a panic button to escape is fine by me, but you shouldn't be able to unescape right back where you were. It takes away all the risk. Back in the old days, a TPK would mean you'd have to train up a new party just to survive long enough to rescue the old party's bodies (and stuff).

Actually I was thinking more about D2. Diablo Classic had pacing, atmosphere, and the potential to royally screw yourself over....town portals or not. Also the monsters generally presented actual threats, rather than just an annoyance--and since you were no faster than they were (excluding certain ones) escape wasn't as simple as turning tail.

 

[go-10]

the problem is random dungeon generator, it takes away from level design. I rather get a well design level with traps, puzzles, and secrets that are meant to increase in difficulty and challenge than randomly get large cave systems of ice, fire, forest, etc.