Levels/areas you know like the back of your hand

[One Pigeon]

Hi everyone I was having a busy day at work so I thought I'd spend some time in the toilet cubicle playing games on my android phone, and then for some reason I started thinking of the Thief 2 level "Shipping and Receiving" (I don't get the link either. I work for a company that processes film rushes so no connection there).
I could picture the whole thing in my head and the various routes I could take through that whole warehouse district and what were the best ways to ghost it. But most of all I remembered the amazing freedom of choice and all the little things to discover that made Thief II: TMA one of my favourite games ever.

Then this made me think:

a)I played that game way too much.

and

b)What levels or areas of games do you lovely RPS forum goers know inside and out?
What is it about these parts of the game that made you come back to them again and again (and again) so you know them better than your own home?

I have a few more but I'll probably save them till later in the thread.

OP

[CMaster]

Liberty Island (the real once is a lot smaller than the game one)

Neocron City (pretty much all of it, even the Outzone which is the scary thing, as well as big chunks of the rooftops)

No Mercy Hospital (and attached areas)

[soldant]

Doom E1M1... right the way through to Doom 2 MAP32.

I know them because I've played them to Hell and back.

[Zephro]

Neocron City (pretty much all of it, even the Outzone which is the scary thing, as well as big chunks of the rooftops)


God I got way too good at navigating that place trying to sell spare parts and make money. Never survived the outzone for long though. One of the last MMOs I enjoyed.

[DaftPunk]

Carentan from COD games (Multiplayer map).



Also Liberty City in GTA4,i know it better then my own real city here in Slovenia..xD

[coldvvvave]

Chessboard.

I don't think I encountered many levels worth remembering.

Anyway, my memory is terrible, I don't remember anything as "a back of my hand".

[Hillbert]

The Complex level in N64 Goldeneye. So much multiplayer...

[westyfield]

No Mercy Hospital (and attached areas)

Yeah, most of the No Mercy campaign (definitely the first few stages, gets a bit hazy around the sewers).

The interior of the Normandy from Mass Effect 1.
A load of maps from various Battlefield games (BF2, PR, 2142).
Various levels, both multiplayer and singleplayer, from 007 Nightfire and 007 Everything or Nothing (both on the PS2).

[Oshada]

Los Santos from GTA San Andreas. I once bet my cousin I could get from Ganton to Vinewood with my eyes closed... almost did it, hah.

[CMaster]

Isn't there a blog somewhere about game locations sketched from memory? Maybe we should contribute to that from here? Although no way I'm drawing all of NC out. There's one of the DoD:S mas I know really well too, although I can't remember the name - central courtyard, overlooked by a clocktower and a bunch of bombed out houses.

I could probably find my way around ns_bast or ns_eclipse, probably ns_nothing as well if dropped back in to them, although in isolation I can't remember much of the layout.

[coldvvvave]

There's one of the DoD:S mas I know really well too, although I can't remember the name - central courtyard, overlooked by a clocktower and a bunch of bombed out houses.
Sounds like dod_Avalanche to me.

[One Pigeon]

I knew multiplayer maps would come up quite heavily in this, particularly due to the vital nature of level memorization in competitive online gaming.

One of my others would be the first level of Deus Ex, Liberty Island. Simply from restarting that game so many times just for the hell of it.

I'll let you in on a secret; I never actually completed it. I got to the final level just as you get presented with the three fairly clear choices for the endings and then just kind of gave up. Twice.

I'm a fool

[burningpet]

I master the great landscapes of morrowind. throw me with just a towel in any random location, and ill find my way back to sweet home balmora without needing the map or the road signs.

[frenz0rz]

Every single Left 4 Dead 1 and 2 map, due 500 combined hours played.

Obligatory Liberty Island too, as well as the Normandy.

[NathanH]

There are quite a few bits of BG2 I could probably do a decent job of reconstructing from memory. Apart from the Spellhold dungeon; I always get the encounters there mixed up.

[airtekh]

I'm a huge fan of TF2, so server favourites like Badwater Basin, 2fort and Dustbowl are firmly imprinted in my memory. 2fort in particular I can remember from way back playing Team Fortress Classic; and I'm confident I could navigate the map blindfolded.


I could probably find my way around ns_bast or ns_eclipse, probably ns_nothing as well if dropped back in to them, although in isolation I can't remember much of the layout.

Ahh Natural Selection! I could probably remember most of the ns maps too.

The one I remember most though is ns_veil, mainly because the map was virtually symmetrical and easier to memorize; but it was also because the servers I frequented played the map extensively.

[Dare_Wreck]

Isn't there a blog somewhere about game locations sketched from memory? Maybe we should contribute to that from here?

Yeah, it's http://mapstalgia.tumblr.com/. When I read the title of this thread, I thought the OP was actually referring to that site. It's been mentioned in an RPS post in the past.

[westyfield]

Isn't there a blog somewhere about game locations sketched from memory? Maybe we should contribute to that from here? Although no way I'm drawing all of NC out. There's one of the DoD:S mas I know really well too, although I can't remember the name - central courtyard, overlooked by a clocktower and a bunch of bombed out houses.

http://mapstalgia.tumblr.com/

I drew a couple of maps for that (SSV Normandy SR1 and BF2142's Minsk), might do a few more sometime.

Edit: Oh, beaten by one minute. The shame.

[One Pigeon]

Yeah, it's http://mapstalgia.tumblr.com/. When I read the title of this thread, I thought the OP was actually referring to that site. It's been mentioned in an RPS post in the past.

Nope, I've never seen that site before but it's pretty interesting.

[Berzee]

This also reminds me of that old RPS post about the guy who used the Ultima Underworld 2 castle as a storehouse for memories.
For me, the best example would probably be less of a dungeon and more the overworld of Asheron's Call (and my ability to know exactly what bearing at which to leave the town of Shoushi or Holtburg to arrive safely in Hebian-to or Glenden Wood) and all of its portal circle routes that would take you around the world. Never had I had so many arbitrary locations of swirling purple miasmas instinctively memorized at once! (But I couldn't give you directions to them for the life of me...only my e-feet know the way).

[Voon]

One never really forget the levels/areas in the game they spent 100+ hours into it. Even when they took a break from it for a month or two. No matter how many times I uninstalled and reinstalled STALKER: SoC, I almost never forget about the areas I travelled into. Wild Territory and the Agroprom tunnels are definately easy for me to remember, as well as Cordon and The Bar. Once I realized that ninja-running, escaping from the Mercs sniping from that abandoned construction site in WT was ridiculously effective, I never forget how to go through that place unscatched so I could dash off to Yantar to sell my crap.

[Smashbox]

The Complex level in N64 Goldeneye. So much multiplayer...

That's the first thing that popped into my head, too. Probably the first imaginary 3D space to become PERMANENTLY lodged in my brain.

[DigitalSignalX]

http://img32.imageshack.us/img32/9691/dedustsandcastle.jpg

[Jams O'Donnell]

TFC's Warpath and Dustbowl, from playing on a TFC server ~10 years ago that just had those two maps in constant rotation.
Counter Strike's cs_assault, from altogether too many failed attempts to get in through the bloody roof.

[BathroomCitizen]

Crossfire from Half-Life 1 DM. Easily one of the funniest maps that I ever played in a videogame!

[BobsLawnService]

Q2DM1

'nuff said.

[Mbaya]

For me, the best example would probably be less of a dungeon and more the overworld of Asheron's Call.

Nice to meet another adventurer from Dereth, I'm very much in the same boat as you, most notably for me Eastham and Forth Tethena. In no other game have I become so familiar with the world, without the assistance of maps/guides - just via exploring, following others and hearsay.

Especially back in the day when you'd have mule spots...running to the third large rock after running north-east from Arwic to safely drop goods for an alt.

Amazing times.

[Berzee]

Nice to meet another adventurer from Dereth
Always! :D


Especially back in the day when you'd have mule spots...running to the third large rock after running north-east from Arwic to safely drop goods for an alt.

It was always up top the left-hand hill between Yaraq S. and the Auroch field, for me. ;) Not a very *safe* muling spot, but convenient and I never really owned anything worth worrying about until after the Housing update, anyway.

*knowing nod, vague feeling of superiority based on relatively obscure shared experiences*

[BrothaBear]

APB....all of it. No back alley i didn't know and Gas station I didn't visit. People that ran from me found this out the hard way.

[Icarus]

DM_Morpheus from the original Unreal Tournament, the low-gravity one with the towers.

[DWZippy]

Facility in Goldeneye 64. I knew it well, even if all I did was hide in the bathroom stalls and jump people.

There are many others too, I know the entirety of MGS1 and MGS2 like the back of my hand, and I can finish Crash bandicoot and spyro from memory. Basically, when I was a young lad and had no cash flow of my own, I played games a lot more thoroughly. I also know Karkand like the back of my hand from BF2, but the BF3 variant is in danger of eroding that.

[westyfield]

Oh man, just remembered the Star Wars Battlefront games. I've got almost all of the SWBF1 maps lodged permanently in my brain, and probably around half of the SWBF2 ones.

[Battle Programmer Spike]

Vvanderfell & Solstheim.
Stilwater.
Summoner's Rift? (lololol).
The Zone (S.T.A.L.K.E.R SoC)

and that's pretty much it.

[fiddlesticks]

Every official map in TF2 and about half of the non-official ones. No regrets.

[Drinking with Skeletons]

Zaton in Stalker: Call of Pripyat. For a game that had waypoints and multiple maps, it did a great job of making you learn your way around without being tedious.

[Tritagonist]

There's probably a lot more, but anyway: I recently re-installed Medal of Honor: Allied Assault and was shocked at how well I remembered pretty much all the maps. That really surprised me, I have to assume it made quite the impression back in the day!

[Nalano]

http://img32.imageshack.us/img32/9691/dedustsandcastle.jpg

DE_Dust! I was gonna say that, but you said it so much better than me.

[Sarlix]

http://img32.imageshack.us/img32/9691/dedustsandcastle.jpg


You beat me to it.

de_dust & de_dust2 for me. It scares me that I still remember inch-by-inch of those levels, and I haven't played CS in like 8 years.

Also, DOD: Avalanche

[Rauten]

Pretty much every map in the DC Phantasy Star Online.
Also, every nook and cranny and even some bugs and glitches in old Orgrimmar (pre-cataclysm WoW).

[Lightbulb]

You beat me to it.

de_dust & de_dust2 for me. It scares me that I still remember inch-by-inch of those levels, and I haven't played CS in like 8 years.

Also, DOD: Avalanche

This is mine to. Pretty sure I could still run around that map backwards :)

[One Pigeon]

Counter Strike's cs_assault, from altogether too many failed attempts to get in through the bloody roof.

That's funny because my abiding memory of that map was waiting just underneath the main ladder into the vents, waiting to shoot blindly into the bottom of it with my trusty AK after hearing any sound coming from inside.

[Memph]

Every L4D map, bar Cold Stream.
Q3DM6 I could still probably lap blindfolded, going backwards. Probably.
Sonic's Greenhill Zone Act 1.
The Ridge Racer track.
Most WoW dungeons :|

Aside from MP stuff, I tend not to play games to death anymore to remember every nook and cranny off the bat.

[Berzee]

I thought I'd spend some time in the toilet cubicle playing games on my android phone

I forgot to mention,
I never really wanted a smart phone until I read this post. Dangit, dangit, dangit.
(I have a company laptop but I *think* I would get suspicious looks if I always took my laptop bag into the bathroom?)