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Joined 2 years ago
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Cake day: June 12th, 2023

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  • I just built the NES/CRT set. It was about 2600 pieces - not very big compared to a lot of the serious sets I’m sure. But the only real one I’ve done.

    Definitely would do it again! It was very relaxing to take a few minutes out of each day and go through a bag of legos and instructions. I was kinda sad when it finished - the end product is cool, but the fun was really in putting it together and slowly watching it turn into a thing. I mean, I’d enjoy doing it again, but I don’t expect or plan to for any reason.









  • Yep, that is indeed what I was thinking of (though I don’t have a link handy either).

    Didn’t mean to imply that’s where experience levels were invented. The clarification is appreciated though.

    And even thought I was alluding to that DQ comment, I’m sure it wasn’t the first game to adapt experience levels, and across the board making things easier wasn’t always the impetus.


  • Don’t know about CRPGs in particular, one way or the other. But in general I agree with you op.

    If you level up, and it means your stats go up and all your enemies level up and stay at the same balance with you, it’s pointless. It still affords a moment of happiness ‘cool I levelled up’, but in a much less satisfying way.

    The point of level up early in RPG video games was, to my knowledge, so that any one with time and patience could beat a game regardless of skill. The idea of level scaling is almost the exact opposite, to remove the advantage of levelling. They cancel out and both player level and enemy level should be removed if that’s happening.

    That’s assuming a 1:1 unversal scaling though, which is rarely the case. In the details it can be tuned to something worthwhile - which enemies scale, how much they scale, etc.

    Still, my thought is when games want level scaling, they should consider why. If you want players not to overpower enemies via stats, maybe get rid of the stats (or don’t change them on lvl up). Levels can still augment your player with new spells, unique abilities, or more options. Or maybe more carefully consider the placement of enemies and what their default level and stats are set at. Or maybe consider a lower level cap, or a lower range of stat values.

    The possibilities are wide open, but level scaling done poorly can make level ups feel like a punishment.



  • Yep, that’s the right train of thought.

    I used to also dislike them, due to their limitations vs cash. But eventually realized that I liked having the excuse to go out of town to a fancy restaurant, or splurge on games I might otherwise decide I don’t need right now.

    Strictly speaking, cash is better, yes. But gift cards can influence people to do things that might make them happier than typical rational or habitual decisions.