Castle Paradox

[Newbie_Power]

[Rya.Reisender]

Oh I actually read it as if you'd support a system like in Lunar 2 because you said it's a "better idea". But didn't realize you mean "it's still bad, though".

Well guess we all agree that monster level shouldn't depend on player level (or at least the mobs shouldn't get stronger as fast as the players are).

[Moogle1]

There are situations where it's appropriate. In 7th Saga, you're occasionally forced to fight one of the rival apprentices. It makes sense that they're at your level, since they've been adventuring at the same rate as you. Other enemies stay at a constant level.

7th Saga's brutal difficulty is one of the best things about the game. It actually got a more difficult release in US than in JP, though this was unintentional.
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Slime Salad :: Independent Game Design

[Newbie_Power]

[Rya.Reisender]

Well it doesn't really need be all about leveling, although I prefer that. Even if it's about equipment, it's still related to leveling because you need the money for the equips.

A good leveling table would be where you gain a level every 4-6 battles. If it starts getting more than 10 battles to gain a level it's getting boring.

In general it should be like this:

1. Player rushes through the game -> Difficult battles
2. Player explores everything and never runs from battles -> Normal battles
3. Player levels up frequently and earns money until he can buy the best equips available -> Easy battles



I don't support systems like "Item Making" because they ruin the gameplay a lot and either force you to use a "Item Making guide" in order to even have a slight chance to continue or try for hours until you fully figured out the system.
If any of those special systems are in the game, they should at least be very simple.

[Ronin Catholic]

My favorite item making system so far was that in Dragon Quest 8.

Now, to get back on topic, here's what I think:

Your game should either be really easy, where one-hit-kills against enemies are common, and healing/reviving is easy.

OR they should be tough, forcing the player to think carefully about all his resources. I actually thought, once, of making a game where you begin with 99 full-heals, but can never, ever, gain any more through the game.

In either case, the bosses should be noticably harder than the random encounters.
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"I didn't start the flame war;
I don't know what you thought here
'Twas that way when I got here"

"I didn't start the flame war;
I can't understand a word you're saying
nor the game you're playing~"

[Newbie_Power]

[Rya.Reisender]

I don't like the 99 potions at the beginning idea at all. It's one of those examples that would ruin gameplay for me simple because that would mean if you run out of potions you'll have to start over the whole game, what's the point in forcing the player to do that?

[Newbie_Power]

[Rya.Reisender]

It's not really how RPGs work, seeing that many fail at reaching a good game balance.

I'd say the boss difficulty really should lie on a single (or maybe 2) level. Like Boss A is hard with level 10, normal with level 11 and easy to beat with level 12. This way everyone can beat him without getting too bored from grinding. This is assuming it takes 10 or more battles to gain a level, though. If you level up faster (my suggestion is still every 4 battles), then maybe a range for levels is better. Even better would be a difference between well equipped and bad equipped, too, though. Like if a bad player reaches a boss he can't beat, he has the chance to go back to the town for now and from the money he earned in the dungeon he can buy way better equips which a good player who directly defeated the boss didn't need.

Edit: Obligatory mention that I don't like RPGs where you always have enough money to buy all the equips available at the moment you reach the shop.

[Newbie_Power]

[Rya.Reisender]

Well I think your view is more extreme. If I'm stuck at a boss and know I just need 10 more battles to be strong enough to beat him that's good. But if I had to do 30-50 battles as you say, then I'd probably just quit the game altogether.

[Newbie_Power]

If getting from level 10-11 has great benefits, then it will be a 15-18 battle affair. 11-12 will be 22-30. 12-13 will reach up into the 40's likely, and it is between 12 and 13 that you are already more than strong enough to defeat the boss, and you shouldn't need that extra level.

So no, it's barely extreme at all, unless you are a dumbass.
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TheGiz> Am I the only one who likes to imagine that Elijah Wood's character in Back to the Future 2, the kid at the Wild Gunman machine in the Cafe 80's, is some future descendant of the AVGN?

[Rya.Reisender]

I think you have no idea how much 15-18 battles are. ^^'
A whole dungeon shouldn't even have that many battles forced on the player.

To explain it better, let's say each battle takes 2 minutes, that's already 30-36 minutes of your free time wasted just to gain a single level!

[Newbie_Power]