Level Up!

[Dragon]

This was an old topic brought up a long time ago, but, do you like the concept of "leveling up"? Does it teach you things, beyond the aspects on how to actually play the game?

Because, some people have been wondering that, as you level up, your knowledge and experience also kind of "levels up" with the game, as the character in question goes stronger. However, with my experience, some games with a level up system require me to grind so much just to meet with the game's standard expectations, and.. sometimes I'm just a little iffy about that.

 

[sulley]

I love leveling up in games, especially when it feelslike my character I have been with since level 1 is a god among the rest of the game.

 

[T!M]

I do very much so. It's a ... it makes you see your character grow. You see and feel him becoming stronger. From level 1 to level 100, you see the progression before your very eyes.

In classic games you can beat the last boss from the beginning of the game. Now a days... well... let's use this for a mainstream example.

Cloud starts out at Level 6 in Final Fantasy 7. Do you think, if you magically teleported to the Safer Sephiroth battle you would stand a ghost of a chance? Nope. Because you're just. Not. Strong enough. And that's the feeling you get, you have a reason to achieve higher levels because of your ultimate goal.

I love of level up games so. Damn. Much.

 

[TY]

Well, i do like them indeed.

Starting off with the Borderlands series. You have to level up to get better loot, kill certain enemies without getting your butt handed over every time and advancing through the story. Also you get a skill point each time you level up, which makes your character even stronger. Also the loot is level based.

 

[acatfrommars]

I like the concept of leveling up. I believe that with new levels, it provide the gamer new experience an they can learn from their mistakes in lower levels. I believe that the higher level is of a character indicates how much time a player has put in with the character. Personally also, I think that some games would become too difficult if their wasn't an aspect of leveling up available.

 

[Tlachtli]

I've always liked the Monster Hunter series specifically because there isn't any sort of leveling-up system. There is gear progression of course, but even then your gear isn't the defining characteristic of how 'good' your character is; if you took someone new to the series and gave them endgame gear, they'd likely still get stomped by the first few monsters they faced.

Skill in Monster Hunter isn't about grinding levels, it's about studying behavior patterns and knowing (or for the first few times you fight a new monster, inferring) weaknesses based on things like where a monster lives, what noticeable physical features it has, or what (if any) elements it can control. When you get better at Monster Hunter it isn't because you spent 5 hours grinding on low-level mobs to get experience, it's because you actually became more adept at playing the game itself.

 

[pompayyy]

Do you think, if you magically teleported to the Safer Sephiroth battle you would stand a ghost of a chance?

Dat abridged series reference.......


Anyways, I absolutely love leveling up. I personally think Final Fantasy VI got spot on with this. When you level up, not only do you get a stat increase, you can also get other little bonuses. Obviously there's magic, but the character specific ones are where it's at. Look at Sabin's "Blitz" moves. The combination needed to perform the later attacks get harder and harder, perfectly complimenting the game's difficulty increase. And the payoff is phenomenally great.

 

[Leuram]

Personally I love leveling. For the most part.

I am a huge graphics buff - you can still get me to play a great game with crap-phics if the story or execution is phenomenal, but, you know, I like shiny.... Point being, leveling up is usually associated with a graphic/animation or series of graphics/animations and it always results in a fist pump moment. I feel like, personally, seeing my character briefly illuminated/excited and the knowledge that I have a little more power invests me further into my character and keeps me in the game. Plus, games that make you grind it out a bit, where I feel like I actually did get better and/or deserved to get stronger, really seals the deal for me. In linear, non-open games (Final Fantasy series, Legend of Dragoon (better than FF btw), Fire Emblem, etc), I l-o-v-e working towards levels and attaining new power. It also encourages less skilled players to keep going - didn't find the secret gear? Boss dominating your favorite character? Unable to execute combos? No big, grind out a couple levels and win by stat domination.

However...'for the most part'. Leveling can be a huge detriment to a game. Fallout New Vegas is one of my all-time favorite PC games. I have over 200 hours played, I have seen all of the endings, etc. But I firmly believe the level up system, in tandem with the weapon progression, is broken. The game is crazy fun at the start - you have minimal weapons, you have no stat points, and if you crank the difficulty up you have to kite, execute arms/legs to survive, and think about where you are running unless you want to get blown to pieces repeatedly. Stat progression through leveling keeps you viable, and the new weapons are fun as they appear. However, once you start getting a lot of stats up AND you start finding some of the higher power weapons, the game becomes silly. If you play through the DLC and hit the DLC level cap, the base world monsters can be killed with one stroke from a butter knife. This issue is not excluse to FNV, this is (in my opinion) Bethesda's largest flaw, as it is the same with Skyrim. Master difficulty with fully enchanted weapons and armor is not even remotely challenging.

TL;DR : For leveling to be fun and rewarding in an open world game, the game must progress with you, or at the very least, have a location somewhere that is consistently challenging, no matter how buff your character is.

Completely agree with Tlachtli that some games are awesome because they lack the traditional leveling experience. LoZ is another game that has taught us that minimal gear progression can still yield an excessively entertaining and challenging experience.