The Variant Dungeon Formula - only aesthetics and enemies will change

[Eisi]

How would you have changed things out of curiosity?

Just not hamstrung myself with such a strict formula when there's no reason to.

I would have first created the lore for the place and then designed layout and bosses accordingly. Meaning that some paths would cross, sometimes we would be alone, sometimes we would be accompanied by a team to send to different places to maybe trigger certain switches opening paths, which on multiple playthroughs could lead to significant differences, sometimes we would have a hallway first and then only two paths to choose from, sometimes one of those would split again, sometimes we would first fight a boss, the way in which we defeat them would trigger different paths, sometimes there would be a central ring from which several different pathways split that would open or close others, sometimes you would choose one path and you could fall off it onto another path, sometimes you would get swallowed by a giant fish if you linger too long with the boat on the lake, letting the rest of the dungeon play out inside the belly of the fish, sometimes you would have to sit in front of a shrine to pray, falling into a dreamlike trance that either lets you enter the past, or a dreamworld or shift through walls, sometimes I would have hidden pathways inside a building that you would only see from one pathway, but just learn through this visual queue and then access from another pathway, sometimes I would let you fall into a trap, where if you fall down left you would become paralyzed by the spikes on the ground, leading you to get kidnapped by a group of bandits to a different location where once you wake up you have to fight your way out, while if you fall down on the right, you will evade the spikes and be able to continue exploring the underground space there, stuff like that.

You might say, well that's meaningless, at the end of the day it's just another dungeon. But I think with such a clear formula, we feel it more. With so strict a formula, a place can do so much less to make it feel distinct and real.

[Mikey_R]

Just not hamstrung myself with such a strict formula when there's no reason to.

The problem is, everything you have said is exactly what you have described in your first post, just laid out differently.

Having crossing paths, where I assume you can go from route 1 to route 2 rather than continuing on route 1, is just another choice you can make. Do I flip the switch right or left? Having a different party to command is the same. You tell them to do something, they do it, your path changes, switch left or right and this point continues.

Even something like a surprise trap where you get ambushed, it is still a choice. You get caught the first time, but next time, you don't, switch left or right.

The difference with what you want is you do not want the choices as obvious the first time you go through. You want that surprise factor as you go through the first time on a pathway, which then ceases to be a surprise the next time you take that path.

So really, all we are looking for is different themes for the dungeon. Which is what we are going to get. This is only the second variant dungeon after all, who knows what will come in the future.