Temple Room Rankings Thread

[The Red Jaguars]

I wanted to try out another type of ranking thread because I enjoy doing these. This time, I want to do it for the temple rooms of the temple. The premise of this topic is same as the "Individual Rankings Thread" and "Episode Ranking Thread". Basically, I will rate a certain room with different categories and give them a score for each category. After I am done ranking each of the categories, I will average them up for an overall score. The final score will determine the final ranking of the room. One thing I don't expect is everyone to agree with these rankings. It is just a fun way to find which rooms are better than others. It is completely opinion based when we get down to it.  

Here are the categories I want to rank each room by:

Name: How well does the room name fit with the objective and appearance?
Appearance: Does the appearance or theme of the room fit well with the objective and room name?
Objective and Difficulty: Was the objective too easy or difficult? Did it give contestants problems or was it flawed in anyway?
Memorable Factor: How memorable was the room in its time on the show?
Overall Score: This will be the final score with the other rounds averaged above. This is also the "conclusion" part of the room rankings.

Completed Rooms

Temple Room	Image	Score
Heart Room		2.3

Incomplete Rooms Rooms:
The Crypt
The Room of the Three Gargoyles
The Room of the Royal Gongs
The Wall Climb
The Pit of Despair - Rope Swing
The Wheel Room/The Troubled Bridge
The Rock Quarry/The Troubled Bridge
The Pit of the Pendulum
The Observatory - Stone Column
The Observatory - Sundial
The Observatory - Celestial Lights
The King's Storeroom - Season 3
The King's Storeroom - Season 2
The Room of the Ancient Warriors
The Treasury of the Golden Orbs
The Treasure Room
The Room of the Golden Idols
The Shrine of the Silver Monkey
The Room of the Secret Password
The Viper's Nest
The Lightning Ball Room
The Pirate's Cove
The Torch Room (The Room of Three Torches)
The Pharaoh’s Secret Passage
The Quicksand Bog
The Mine Shaft
The Well
The Dungeon
The Tomb of the Ancient Kings
The Dark Forest
The Treacherous Swamp
The Treacherous Holes of Python
The Bamboo Forest
The Spider's Lair
The Jester's Court  - Season 2
The Jester’s Court - Season 3
The Room of the Harmonic Convergence
The Throne Room - Season 1
The Throne Room - Season 2
The Tomb of the Ancient Kings
The Laser Light Room
The Chamber of the Sacred Markers
The Heart Room
Medusa's Lair
The Room of the Mandarin Hand
The Room of Fallen Columns
The Cave of Size
The Ledges


I am going to post my first room ranking later tonight. Feel free to comment and give feedback. Also, feel free to do your own rankings too.

[Purple Parrots Fan]

Great idea. I bet the Heart Room will rank among the worst, and the Shrine among the best. But, we'll have to wait and see of course.

[The Red Jaguars]

What a coincidence, because the Heart Room is the first room I was going to rank.  Well, here is my first temple room review. It is similar to the "Legends Episode" ranking format. Only difference though is that it is not as long and extensive. I added a couple of pictures though to make a little more interesting to read. Nothing else to say about this room except that it was a lame waste of space.

Heart Room

ROOM NAME: 4/10

While this room was nothing but empty space, the room name wasn't too horrible. I mean the name was actually pretty fitting since it was the "center of the temple". The red coloring in the room also complements the room name quite well, admittedly. This room name could actually be worse than usual, but it wasn't too bad.

APPEARANCE: 2/10

This room was literally... an empty waste of space. Seriously, there was nothing in this room at all to make it unique. I know it was the "center of the temple", but you could at least put something interesting inside of it? The only reason this big waste of space does not get a '1" was because the red wallpaper looked okay. Other than that though, there is literally nothing in this room...

OBJECTIVE AND DIFFICULTY: 1/10

Do I even have to give this room a positive score? Seriously, all the player had to do was press a button to get to their next room. There was no objective of any kind to challenge the player. Despite this room being ridiculously straightforward, it STILL managed to stump some contestants. It was mostly because they didn't know that they could try a door in any direction. But still, this room was piss easy and it felt like it was there just so there could be an extra room in the temple. This is probably the easiest and most uninspiring room on the whole show. Anyone that got lost in this room should feel ashamed.

MEMORABLE FACTOR: 2/10

There was nothing memorable about this room at all. Mostly because no one pays attention to this room during temple runs because there is nothing that stands out about it. The only moments that stand out were the contestants who got lost in this room. There was Tia from "The Golden Cricket Cage of Khan" who could not make it past this room and Kim from "John Henry's Lost Hammer" who had a mercy guard take her Pendant of Life abruptly. Other than that, no one even cares about this room. I bet most Legends fans remembered that this room appeared on the first production day of Season 2?

OVERALL SCORE: 2.3

The Heart Room is one of the worst rooms to ever appear on the show. All it was just a waste of space that never deserved to see the light of day. There is nothing positive you can say about this room. I bet it took the producers many sleepless nights to come up with this room name too. This room stayed way too long in Season 1 and should've been replaced by the Room of Fallen Columns after the first production day. What is even more baffling was the genius wh brought this waste of space back to Season 2. Final verdict? This room was lame and a total waste of space.

[Purple Parrots Fan]

Wow, only a 2.3? Not even the worst episodes in the episode rankings thread ranked that bad. But the Heart Room totally deserves that score though, easily the worst, most pointless room ever next to the Treasure Room. I did like the wallpaper in that room though, if it's on nice thing I can say about that room.

Overall, great room review. Any idea which room you're going to rank next?

[The Red Jaguars]

Yeah, the Heart Room has nothing redeeming about it. The wallpaper was sort of neat, but that is all I have to say. Nothing is probably going to top the Heart Room either. The only competition will be the Dungeon, Well, and Treasure Room. The fact they brought back the Heart Room in Season 2 was ridiculous. You mean you couldn't use the Room of Fallen Columns for one layout? As broken as Medusa's Lair was, I will take that room any day over the Heart Room. 

I think I am going to rank the Crypt next too. 

[Red Jaguars Fan]

I'm probably gonna join in on this.

[Purple Parrots Fan]

Yeah, I want to do some room rankings too. I want to rank the Treasure Room especially. Just to see how bad it will rank.

[The Silver Monkey]

The fact they brought back the Heart Room in Season 2 was ridiculous. You mean you couldn't use the Room of Fallen Columns for one layout?

I'm still convinced they only used the Heart Room in S2 L1 because the Medusa head prop was a late shipment.

Same thing with Medusa's Lair being used in S2 L4. I'm also convinced that the Mandarin Hand was a late shipment (and there's evidence for this one: it's missing in the opening of the S2 L5 episodes).

[The Red Jaguars]

I think you're right about Medusa's Lair being a late shipment. In one of the temple runs (Golden Stallion?), Olmec calls the Heart Room "Medusa's Lair" during the temple run down. Although it would've been nice to keep the Room of the Fallen Columns if Medusa's Lair wasn't ready. I am sure they had those lame foam columns somewhere in the props department.

Also, I can see the Treasure Room ranking lower than the Heart Room. That room was utterly useless and literally only worked once. -_- At least the Heart Room wasn't pretending to be something special.

[The Red Jaguars]

Time for another room ranking, and this time it is the Crypt like I promised. Overall, this was a very memorable room that pretty much was a staple part of the top entrance of the temple. If Legends came back for a Season 4, I would love to see this room renewed again. 

Crypt

Credit goes to Ed from "The King's Storeroom" for this image!

ROOM NAME: 9/10

The producers did a very nice job in naming this room. I honestly couldn't find a more fitting name for this room either. After all, a crypt usually contains coffins with skeletons inside of them. My only problem with the room name is that it sounds a little bland. The name "Crypt" alone seems a little bland and could probably use some descriptive word in front of it. But I applaud the producers for NOT naming this room like the Season 1 entrance rooms. If this room was in Season 1, it would probably be named "The Room of the Three Skeletons" or something lame like that. Overall, I think the name of this room was a good choice and fitting.

APPEARANCE: 9/10

The producers nailed the design for this room and it looked very creepy like it should be. Unlike the Dungeon, the skeletons actually have disturbing details to them like mummy wrapping and cobwebs covering their bodies. The skeletons must've been creepy because even some of the kids flinched when they tried completing the room objective! In addition to the creepy skeletons, the creepy voices when a contestant pulled a book was also a nice touch. The "Let Go" and "Get out of Here!" lines were very memorable and I can still hear them in my head right now. Plus, the little details in Season 3 like the spiders and fog made this room a very eerie atmosphere. All in all, the producers nailed the theme for this room ad I really have no complaints about it.

OBJECTIVE AND DIFFICULTY: 7/10

Just like all of the other entrance rooms on the show, the Crypt had an objective that was relatively easy. All the players had to do was pull a book from one of the three skeletons. The correct book would've either opened a door to the Pit of Despair or to the Ledges below. Despite the easy objective, it was actually fitting for an entrance room. After all, an entrance room should be simple and not waste a lot of time for the contestant. Another nice feature about this room was the fact that the contestants had to try all books to ensure that they unlocked all the doors. On some occasions, some players would simply just pull one book and go for the first open door.

MEMORABLE FACTOR: 8/10

The Crypt was one of the most memorable rooms on the show. The one-liners from the skeletons make this room stick out above most rooms. In addition, this room had a lot of memorable moments. Some of the memorable moments include the contestants getting freaked out by the skeletons voices and the temple guard encounters. Some examples of memorable temple guard encounters include Hallie's guard in the "Useless Map" run that almost took her out of the temple and Jessie's guard in "Silk Sash" that broke the door in the back and was trying to look for the pendant that Jessie threw at him on the ground. 

OVERALL SCORE: 8.25

The Crypt was one of the best rooms to be featured on the show.  The creepy atmosphere of this room and the skeletons make it stick out above most of the rooms on the show. The name of the room was also very fitting also. The producers made a wise decision to bring it back again in Season 3 for another appearance. If Legends ever returned for a fourth season, then I would they would bring back this room.

[Purple Parrots Fan]

The Crypt was a pretty awesome room, especially the "Let go!" and "Get out of here!" yells that the skeletons would say. I much preferred this room to the Gargoyle and Royal Gong rooms that Season 1 had. At least the Crypt had a harder objective than push some tongue or gong. I also would've loved to see this room again, had there been a Season 4.

Overall, you nailed the final score. I have a feeling the Shrine will beat the Crypt's final score.

[NikoMetsPlus]

This was a great idea. I was really excited to see the room reviews. It's too bad to see that there hasn't been a room review in a while now, will there be? Would hate to see this die. I could write a review if no one is able to do one, I'm a professional baseball blogger, so I've written a review or two...

Anyway, great Forum.

[The Red Jaguars]

Thanks! I really need to revisit this thread again. I always enjoy writing reviews about old game shows and video games. I had fun with the old Legends Episodes Rankings. And I encourage anyone to write their own reviews too.  

[NikoMetsPlus]

I'm going to give this a shot. I'm probably going to screw up the fonts, pictures or something like that, but let me give this a try. Ok, so it looks like Stone Marker made a list in the beginning of this thread, starting with the Heart Room, The Crypt, and then the next scheduled one was the Room of the Three Gargoyles, so I'm going to try that today:

The Room of the Three Gargoyles

Credit to Ed's "The King's Storeroom" for the snapshot

Room Name: 4/10

If I was given a tour of this room, and tasked to name it, i would name this room the "Room of Three Gargoyles", Why? Because that is exactly what it was. A well lit entrance room with three Gargoyles. It would have been interesting if they talked about their tongues in the name, or if they did something like "The Gargoyles Lair", but no. The reason it doesn't have a worse score is because room names can only be great or average. There was nothing phony about the name, and it was decent name for a Season 1 room, just nothing amazing.

Appearance: 3/10

There wasn't a single "scary" room in Season 1, and the designs of the rooms were never great in Season 1 either. This room was truly made for it's Season 2/3 successor, but with the Gargoyles, it just looked like a waste of good real estate.

Objective & Difficulty: 2/10

This room was basically hit an actuator, only difference is that the actuators were tongues, which isn't a bad thing, but it wasn't displayed well at all. The Crypt was scary, and sort of set the tone for the run, this was not the case with the "Gargoyle Room". If you spent more than 5 seconds in this room, you were a poor runner. The thing is that entrance rooms are more memorable for the exit from the temple. And in early Season 1, with the Wall Climb, everyone was exiting from the Cave of Size. Plus, if I was a temple runner, I would never choose the Gargoyles Room, why run up there, complete an objective, only to jump back down into the Pit? I'd much rather run straight into the much closer Cave, and go right through the lower ledge. Smart players did that. Once the Troubled Bridge came into play, then there was an incentive to use The Gargoyles Room, problem was, The Gong Room replaced the Gargoyles Room not to long after the Troubled Bridge came into play.

Memorable Factor: 1/10

I know, that is really low. But tell me one memorable moment in the Room of the Three Gargoyles. The most memorable moment I recall are the Gargoyles not opening the door in the Blackbeard run. And that was a bad moment for the Gargoyles Room. Overall, nothing memorable from this room, only that it was the first room Olmec ever described for us. I would factor that in, but I feel like that says nothing about the room itself. Thus, it gets a 1/10.

 

Overall Score: 2.5

Seems a tad bit low, given a entrance room is designed to be easy. The fact that entering this room was a bad decision for the first four layouts, and thus was not entered frequently, sort of ruined this rooms "resume". I think the score is justified though, I don't think the "Gong Room" will do any better, but we will see.

[The Red Jaguars]

Wow, looks great! It looks pretty identical to the format I was using.

As for the Room of Three Gargoyles, it was a pretty good entrance room for Season 1. Although pretty bland and easy when you compare to later rooms that appeared in the temple. As for the name, I think it is on spot for the most part even though it is a bit too obvious. Room of the Three Gargoyles? It should've been something a little more creative like you mentioned. The appearance of the room was also bland. There was no extra scenery aside from the gargoyle heads. I do have to give the producers credit though for using different animals as the gargoyle heads. At least they didn't use the same head for each gargoyle. But it should've been like the Crypt where there should've been extra scenery. I would've given the objective a 3 at least, but you're right it is just another easy Season 1 room. The gargoyle tongues are just basically actuators disguised as tongues. Way too easy like most of the Season 1 rooms. And you are absolutely right about there being nothing memorable about this room at all. I don't remember a single memorable moment at all.

Overall, the Gargoyle Room was an okay entrance room that was too flawed. I don't believe an entrance room should be difficult in anyway, but at the same time it should at least have some creativity. The Crypt nailed it on how an entrance room should look like in the temple. And you're right, this room was sort of pointless to enter in S1L1-L4 because it made it harder to get into the Pit. Which is why only 2-3 teams only chose this entrance room in Season 1. I do think that this room is better than the Room of the Royal Gongs though. Good review.