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[#Phonepunk#]

From Software has done several variations on this style of level design. It is a classic fantasy area, an underground subterranean dungeon, with rickety wooden planks and poisonous ghouls with giant insects.

Which is your favorite?

Valley of Defilement, from the original Demon's Souls. the large sprawling dungeon features wooden plank areas as well as poisonous swamps down at the bottom. the bosses are mountains of leeches and the walls are crawling with insects. the place really lives up to it's name.

Blighttown, from Dark Souls. This is a punishingly designed area, with the most tricky walking paths, and the most danger of falling to your death. Poisonous guards right from Demon's as well as big fat guys with clubs. The leeches are back but they are big and slow and you can farm them for upgrade shards. The level design really emphasizes the verticality and the sprawling swamp at the bottom is much more fun to play in. But it is a level that has punished many.

The Gutter from Dark Souls 2. kind of minimalist with the reliance on wooden platforms, but the use of lighting is really nice, and the lighting of torches to help you see and remember where you have been may make this one more fun to explore. Lot more jump scares in this too.

What do you think? I'm going with Valley of Defilement just for the name alone but i also think it benefits from the linear level design.

 

[J-Roderton]

Only played Blighttown and Gutter. Both are trash.


Gutter is my vote.

 

[Thugnificient]

Tomb of the Giants.

 

[kretos]

you mean the worst, it's Blighttown

 

[Northeastmonk]

The Gutter was so dark until you found your way around. It has that feeling of not knowing where to go and there’s multiple paths. Those statues that spew poison at you will always catch me off guard. I enjoyed the Gutter. If you just stare off into the Gutter you feel as if there’s some huge, scary boss on the opposite side. In reality there is only a maze that goes up, around, and onward. I’m always glad I hit that bonfire about midway through.

Blighttown has some great areas to exit to. You have that tree and then after the boss. It isn’t exactly thrilling to be down there, but it’s good because it’s familiar and the boss looks cool. You can also go up that windmill and enter the valley of the drakes. It was good as an interconnect level.

Valley of Defilement was great once you got the hang of things. I remember walking along and falling off a weird platform. The bosses were good. I’d say Valley of Defilement is my pick. There’s probably some bias based off the Remake being announced. The graphics in the Gutter and Blighttown look better.

 

[Mr Hyde]

Valley of Defilement, because it has the best boss in the series with the best OST accompanying it. True revelation that encounter was. Can't wait to see Bluepoints take on it.

 

[Cycom]

Blighttown. Great area. I always have a bow, so it wasn’t ever too punishing.

 

[MasterCornholio]

Lag Town was my least favorite out of the three.

 

[laynelane]

It's Valley of Defilement for me. The dark, oppressive environment of the second area really stands out and the final boss too. The Maiden of Astraea really made me question my actions and hers too.

 

[synchronicity]

They're all great to me. (along with all the rest of the games of course) I know that many hate those areas, but I love the oppressive atmosphere.

 

[V4skunk]

They are all cancerous. Especially Valley of defilement with the meat cleaver in the swamp.
Blight town was the least cancerous.

 

[DunDunDunpachi]

Blighttown, definitely. It felt like it was built on top of some forgotten underbelly of a city (which it kinda is).

 

[Codes 208]

The catacombs from ds3 honestly

 

[Holgren]

Depths should also be counted here. I prefer Depths/Blighttown mainly because the enemies were more disgusting and bosses are much more cooler and difficult than the ones in Valley of Defilement. Leechmonger was lame and Dirty Colossus was super easy. The Maiden Astraea concept "fight" is interesting the first time but in subsequent playthroughs it loses its flavor and a lack of proper fight to end the level is disappointing. On the other hand, Gaping Dragon has an awesome design and Queelag was just a great challenging boss fight. The level design of both was super similar to be honest, but in Blighttown you can actually see the swamp and you have a better field of view in general, so it gets my vote (I have played only the Remastered version so I didn't suffer the framedrops issues)

Haven't played Dark Souls 2.

 

[Belmonte]

If you are talking about subterranean only, I go with the Catacombs from DS3 also. But, if you are talking about poisonous/ gross subterranean levels, I choose Blighttown, even with the frame issues. Many cool secrets (the coolest in the game has Blighttown as starting point), dangerous architecture, feels very organic, and chaotic like it should, well thought enemy placement and very good end boss.

 

[ethomaz]

The Demon’s Souls that start up and you go dropping until the river of poison.

 

[The Fartist]

Man, I wish I had the patience for these games so I can have an opinion.

 

[Handel]

Blighttown like most late game areas in Dark Souls is pretty badly designed. I have played through a faur chunk of DS2 but don't remember this Gutter area. Demon's Souls I am waiting for the remake to play, but have heard people praise Valley of Defilement before. Voted it on potential as it's competition isn't tough.

 

[#Phonepunk#]

The catacombs from ds3 honestly

yeah i tried including something from DS3 but the Catacombs seemed more like the, uh, Catacombs from Dark Souls.

i do gotta say i really love the creepiness of the Black Gulch, the area that follows The Gutter in Dark Souls 2. u kind of have to follow the wooden plank area with a poison swamp area and instead of a swamp this has those spitting poison statues.

Man, I wish I had the patience for these games so I can have an opinion.

you are right in that patience is all it takes. every death is a new lesson. you get better with time.

if at first you don't succeed, try and try again. you can do it!

 

[The Fartist]

yeah i tried including something from DS3 but the Catacombs seemed more like the, uh, Catacombs from Dark Souls.

i do gotta say i really love the creepiness of the Black Gulch, the area that follows The Gutter in Dark Souls 2. u kind of have to follow the wooden plank area with a poison swamp area and instead of a swamp this has those spitting poison statues.

you are right in that patience is all it takes. every death is a new lesson. you get better with time.

if at first you don't succeed, try and try again. you can do it!

Thanks man, I needed to hear that, LOL.

 

[kraspkibble]

Fuck Blighttown.

 

[ClanOfNone]

The toxic dart guys in Blighttown were a nightmare on my first run. If those things respawned I'd probably never have gotten through the area.

I liked the Gutter, it wasn't a great area, but the darkness and weird music gave it a certain charm.

 

[MisterBrimstone]

Blighttown definitely the best. The only real enemy there was the framerate.

The place was huge and had many secrets, even a secret full portion of the game inside a tree!

Also it has access to the waifu Queelag queen of titties.

Is there even a contest?

 

[Airbus Jr]

VoD

Cant wait to revisit this place

 

[D.Final]

I'd say Blighttown, just for the level design

 

[Deleted member 17706]

Who the hell voted for The Gutter?

I think Blighttown is great as long as you're playing a version with a stable frame rate.

 

[cireza]

The Gutter. Loved the level-design in this stage.

 

[mekes]

Black gulch. Why is it not included?

 

[Vindicator]

Experienced Blighttown first, exploring the area while hearing those Molemen was tense.

 

[WindomURL]

Overall, VoD. Oppression levels through the roof. But the gutter was awesome with the gamma down and forcing myself to torch my way through it, lighting all the other torches along the way, each one a beacon of hope.

 

[johntown]

None really but I voted for Valley of Defilement. It is the original and the rest are just cheap copies.

 

[Explosive Zombie]

Gutter

 

[Kerotan Frog]

I actually love Blighttown, especially with the Dark Souls Remastered 60fps lock. I appreciated it for its place within the world. I didn't care for the Gutter as much..

I honestly can't remember Valley of Defilement. Haven't played Demons in like 7 or 8 years.

 

[Daneel Elijah]

Valley of Defilement . Because of Maiden Astrea of course. And the fact that unlike all others subterranean levels that came after and have been made simply for diversity the Valley of Defilement had a purpose in its ugliness .

But Blightown is amazing from a gameplay perspective : a long section of the game that make you go down and down until Quelaag. And later you can go even deeper ! If From software was still doing boss with a gimmick like the Dragon god a Balrog like situation would have been perfect . I didn't like the DS3 version . Too long and too easy to loose yourself in it .

 

[Chiggs]

Valley of Defilement 5-2 is such an epic slog that it takes my breath away. It’s creepy, oppressive and demands caution because of those Giant Depraved Ones.

Blighttown like most late game areas in Dark Souls is pretty badly designed. I have played through a faur chunk of DS2 but don't remember this Gutter area. Demon's Souls I am waiting for the remake to play, but have heard people praise Valley of Defilement before. Voted it on potential as it's competition isn't tough.

Late game? We talking about the same area here?

 

[DogofWar]

Dammit, I am still not allowed to vote in polls. But glad to see Valley of Defilement is winning.
5-2 is the most oppresive level in any game ever. In a good way. Blighttown is a bit annoying at times but my favorite place to invade in in Dark Souls. The Gutter is also a great place to invade in Dark 2. probably even better than Blighttown.

 

[Cliff Underside]

Since when is Valley of Defilement subterranean? doesn't it take place mostly out in the open? it's even constantly raining if I remember correctly. Now Stonefang mine, that's mostly underground, except for the entrance. Blighttown is not subterranean either, most of it is built on a big scaffolding system attached to the Undead Burg's massive walls. The Depths, Demon Ruins, Lost Izalith, The Catacombs, Tomb of Giants, New Londo, all those levels are below ground, so why pick Blighttown?

That said, if I have to choose from the poll, I do like Blighttown the most.

 

[sublimit]

In terms of challenge Blighttown was a walk in the park when compared to Valley of Defilement especially in pure black world tendency.
In terms of level design,lore and atmosphere VoD also wins easily.

The Gutter was fun but level design was inferior to both Blighttown and (obviously)VoD