Favorite/Least Favorite Dungeons

[SavageWizzrobe]

Top 10 Favourites (no particular order):
-Stone Tower Temple (MM)
-Great Bay Temple (MM)
-Sandship (SS)
-Ancient Cistern (SS)
-Forest Temple (OoT)
-Spirit Temple (OoT)
-Earth Temple (WW)
-Tower of the Gods (WW)
-Arbiter's Grounds (TP)
-Snowpeak Ruins (TP)

Top 10 Least Favourites (no particular order):
-Lanayru Mining Facility (SS)
-Forbidden Woods (WW)
-Lakebed Temple (TP)
-City in the Sky (TP)
-Snowhead Temple (MM)
-Water Temple (OoT)
-Tower of Hera (ALttP)
-Misery Mire (ALttP)
-Turtle Rock (ALttP)
-Ganon's Tower (ALttP)

 

[MrLink21]

This is from the games I have completed

Favorite:
Ocarina of Time: Split between the Forest, Water or Shadow Temple can't choose haha
Majora's Mask: Stone Tower Temple
Oracle of Seasons: Unicorn's Cave
Twilight Princess: City in the Sky
Phantom Hourglass: Temple of Ice
Spirit Tracks: Sand Temple
Skyward Sword: Ancient Cistern
A Link Between Worlds: Desert Palace or Turtle Rock

Least Favorite:
Ocarina of Time: Dodongo's Cavern
Majora's Mask: Great Bay Temple
Oracle of Seasons: Snake's Ruins
Twilight Princess: Forest Temple
Phantom Hourglass: Temple of Courage
Spirit Tracks: Forest Temple
Skyward Sword: Sandship
A Link Between Worlds: Thieves' Hideout

 

[Mr. Ister]

Not sure about my order of these, but some thoughts from games I've played. I find myself favoring atmosphere and gameplay the most, complemented by music. I may do a least favorite list tomorrow.

Best
Palace of Darkness (ALTTP) - First dungeon to greet you into the Dark World, that great dungeon theme, and the overall atmosphere gearing you up for the much less light-hearted Dark World dungeons. Helmasaur was a pretty challenging boss too.
Face Shrine (LA) - Even better if you include the Southern Shrine, which introduced the most existentially eerie sequence of this game culminating in a big hint that the game, and Link's existence as a whole, was not real. The music really makes this section too. The main dungeon is one of the more difficult but also more fun dungeons in this game. Honorable mention to Catfish's Maw.
Spirit Temple (OoT) - The atmosphere here is incredible, as you feel totally immersed in the remote environment to even reach the dungeon, and then as you explore the cavernous depths of the dungeon itself. It's hard not to picture yourself as young Link, see a passageway only accessible as adult Link, and imagine how the dungeon would have aged during the seven year absence as you explore the second half. The Iron Knuckle represents one of the best swordplay fights of the game, and the echoing music makes the dungeon seem like a relic through which you must deftly navigate prior to your final battle.
Stone Tower Temple (MM) - Most things have already been said, but what a creative mechanic to cap off a complex and rewarding journey. The boss battle is a clunker, but that doesn't matter much by the time you get there.
Temple of Time (TP) - I've seen differing opinions on this one, but I fall firmly in the "love it" camp. Sort of Spirit Temple-esque, it presents you with a set of puzzles, then switches the gameplay mechanic halfway through, making you rethink your entire approach and somehow force you to innovate a new route doen a seemingly old path. Love the atmosphere.
Sandship (SS) - I love dungeons that seem like believable locations. This dungeon was a true-to-form den of puzzles, but also a totally believable pirate ship complete with a swordfight on a plank. Great use of the brilliant timeshift stone mechanic. Boss fight was sort of a clunker, but as with all others on my list, atmosphere took it a long way. Honorable mention to Ancient Cistern.

 

[Mr. Ister]

I'll finally make my quick Worst list. Hard to call very many dungeons bad though. Most of these are hard without being fun enough to offset the difficulty level.

Worst
Turtle Rock (ALTTP) - Whoa baby. Only on this list because of how unforgiving it is, though it is still more fun than most of the other dungeons on my list. Dat platform room w/the switch tho...Honorable mention to Ice Palace, which isn't quite as difficult.
Shadow Temple (OOT) - Seems a little thin after you get over the creepy factor. That descending hallway leading to the guillotine gap jumps can be very frustrating as it sends you all the way back to the top of the hallway if you fall off.
Great Bay Temple (MM) - Very hard, just not that much fun, and the swimming mechanic is raw enough to feel like you're not always in full control of where you're going.
Earth and Wind Temples (WW) - I don't know how such a good game contains such mundane and tedious dungeons. Having to constantly play the song to control Medli, maneuver her, switch back, move, switch back, etc. got very tedious. The Earth Temple could have been as good as the Spirit Temple or Temple of Time, but ends up falling flat. The Wind Temple wasn't all bad either, but just tedious and not fun.
City in the Sky (TP) - Long. Grueling. Truly a grind of a dungeon. Flat, bland scenery.
Skyview Temple (SS) - Extremely bland. Lacking any defining characteristic except for blue sparkly mushrooms, I guess. After an hour of solid exposition to start the game, this dungeon caps a very slow and uninviting first 3-5 hours of this game.

 

[Kylo Ken]

Best:

OoT Forest Temple
OoT Shadow Temple
Stone Tower Temple
Ancient Cistern
Snowpeak Ruins

Worst:
TP Fire Temple
ALTTP Dark Forest/Thieves' Hideout
SS Fire Temple
ALTTP Turtle Rock
Any WW dungeon other than Forsaken Fortress.

 

[CynicalSquid]

My favorite dungeon is the Forest Temple from Ocarina of Time. That dungeon just has so much nostalgia and I love the atmosphere of that dungeon. The boss and the mini bosses were extremely interesting and unique aspects of the dungeon and helped bring out the eerie and almost foreign atmosphere of the dungeon. The puzzles were also really fun.

My least favorite dungeon is the Tower of Hera from both A Link to the Past and A Link Between World. In A Link Between Worlds, It just felt way too easy to me. The dungeon was kind of linear and the dungeon itself was fairly similar. The infamous boss of that dungeon, Moldorm, was also stupidly easy. It was nothing compared to the A Link to the Past one. I hate that one for the complete opposite reason. It was stupidly hard. It was so easy to fall off, especially during the Moldorm battle. Forcing you to do it again and again until you died or finally mastered the room you were in or the battle with Moldorm (Which dropped you into a room which was also easy to fall from which made it even more frustrating).

 

[CrimsonCavalier]

Then don't even get me started on the boss... ugh. On a good run, I'll only fall 5 or 6 times while battling the boss. On my worst run, I fell thirty-two freaking times. ugh. Hate this dungeon.

You = preacher, me = choir.

I've gotten VERY lucky and beaten it in one go, but more often than not, I'm falling off, because it makes these stupid random turns. I don't think I've ever fallen 32 times, but I know I've reached double-digits before.


But as for me, the Water Temple in Ocarina of Time will ALWAYS be my least favorite dungeon.

I don't have a favorite.

 

[Demon Hat]

My favorite Temple is the Stone temple in Majoras Mask.

 

[Mange]

I'm not able to make a rank list, so I just tell you the dungeons I found most awesome:

- Stone Tower Temple (MM)
- Snowhead Temple (MM)
- Great Bay Temple (MM)
- Water Temple (OoT)
- Forest Temple (OoT)
- Spirit Temple (OoT)
- Turtle Rock (ALTTP)
- Turtle Rock (ALBW)
- Lorule Castle (ALBW)
- City in the Sky / Kumula (TP)
- Goron Mines (TP)
- Desert Palace (TP)
- Swamp Palace (ALTTP)
- Skull Woods (ALBW)
- Wind Temple (TWW)
- Earth Temple (TWW)
- Earth Temple (SS)
- Skyview Temple (SS)

That are all, I can remember now. ^^

 

[Hylian.Smitty]

Mine is a 3 way tie between Ancient Cistern (SS), Lanayru Mining Facility (SS), and The Shadow Temple (OoT)
AC honestly probably has the advantage because it's so cool with the eastern influenced top with bright sunlight and gold, but then you get to the basement and there's skulls and zombies everywhere. Plus a kick-ass boss fight.
LMF had the best music. The time crystal was cool too I guess but that music.
The ST is up there too because for some reason i just like creepy temples and this one is really creepy. Random messages pop up about "Hyrule's bloody history" and there are skulls and invisible grim reapers and a big cool ship. The boss fight was really easy though and kind of a let down in my opinion.

 

[the8thark]

My favourite dungeons are:

Palace 5 (Zelda 2) - Lots of XP to farm in there and the place is really fun and not mazelike at all. One of my favourites.
Spirit Temple (Ocarina) - The music, atmosphere boss and everything about this place just oozed awesome to me. I loved it.
Ice Cavern (Ocarina) - Same reasons as above really, just loved the feeling while I was in it to be honest.
Level-7 (1st Quest) (Zelda 1) - As a kid I always liked this one a lot. I think cause it was not as frustratingly hard as Level-6 was. And it was large and fun to explore.
Sandship (SS) - This didn't even feel like a dungeon. It just felt like a run though a small ship. A refreshing idea and I really enjoyed it.

 

[P-Zelda]

I strongly dislike the Lakebed Temple in Twilight Princess, and the City in the Sky. I liked the Arbiter's Grounds in Twilight Princess and Ancient Cistern in SS.

Honorable mentions that relate to the dungeons are the monkey Kiki helping you open the entrance to the Dark Palace in A Link to the Past, the secret to revealing Blind in A Link to the Past and Lord Jabu-Jabu's belly with Princess Ruto in OoT.

 

[Spiritual Mask Salesman]

My favorite is The Great Bay Temple in MM because I liked the overall theme and the way the Ice arrow was implemented into that dungeon (which was a step up from it's lackluster uses in OoT).

My least favorite dungeon would probably be the Ancient Cistern in Skyward Sword, I felt like it was lacking, like it had space but not enough things to interact with. To top it off the Whip is in my opinion the worst item in SS, and since it's obtained in the Ancient Cistern that was what killed the dungeon for me. Plus it wasn't even a difficult or challenging dungeon in my eyes.

 

[RegalBryant]

My favorite is the Fire Temple from Ocarina of Time or the Great Cistern.

My least favorites are the Forest Temple from OoT, the Arbiter's Grounds, and the Lakebed Temple.

 

[Troublesome Pixie]

Favorite: Probably Lanayru Mining Facility. Not so much for the dungeon itself so much as the concept. That and it is eerily close to a dungeon idea I posted around a while ago. I honestly worried people would think I ripped it off after finally playing Skyward Sword. I didn't... it actually mostly came from Nier. Anyway, I love the general concept of the Timestones, and they're great both for puzzles and story possibilities. As far as overall dungeon design, I'd probably go with the bottom of the Kakariko well in Ocarina. It's a bit short, but otherwise just wonderfully atmospheric and creepy. The Shadow Temple has it's moments, but it never felt quite as thick as the well did. I also have to give an honorable mention to the Great Bay Temple, as it's basically the Water Temple done right, with actual swimming. As a big fan of water levels, I'm glad to see one executed really well.

Least Favorite: Turtle Rock. Those moving platforms with the fire rod are the bane of my existence. I had horrible aim back then (jury's out now; I'm due on a LTTP playthrough one of these days), but I can't count how many times I ended up having to leave from running out of magic. Also I doubt much needs to be said about the palace in Phantom Hourglass. I heard the hype but didn't mind some backtracking and redoing dungeons, it was fine. Then I found out it was a timed stealth mission. Yippee.