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).