Printable View
Simple question how do you like to develop your party in RPGs? Do you prefer having deep customization where you can build every person as you see fit? Do you not want to bother and are okay with each character having a pre-made role in the gameplay? Perhaps something like a hybrid of both?
In addition, name your favorite party customization systems.
I prefer something in the middle, I don't like having to manage everything including base stats and such (not to mention that makes the characters so homogeneous), but no customization at all goes too far.
A system I really like is the Quartz system in Legend of Heroes: Trails games:
Attachment 75767
This one in particular is a slightly older version of the system they use in Trails of Cold Steel, basically you have a master quartz that gives a big stat boost or special effect, then smaller quartz that on top of giving smaller boosts/effects, also give you points in certain elements (see the two lines near the bottom). How many points you have on any one line decides which spells that character can cast, so for example having 4 water points gives you some heals and minor water spells, having 12 water points gives you a massive water spell. But only if they're on the same line, so if you have 6 water on one line and 6 water on the other line, you don't get the big 12 point spell.
It's nice and simple, and with the right setup you can still alter a character's power/role in battle fairly drastically. It's also like a puzzle to figure out how you're going to spread your quartz across your party.
Sadly in Cold Steel they got rid of the points thing and quartz just give spells individually.
I like the hybrid option. It's no secret I love games with classes/jobs/vocations/whatever. Final Fantasy V is one of my favorites. Everything, but Freelancer and Mime just has one customization slot. And that's all you need. Do you minmax by giving a caster +MP skill? Do you balance by giving a squishy class +HP skill? Do you something silly and give !Jump to a Time Mage?
Dragon Quest VII is another one of my favorites. You keep all the skills you learn from the basic vocations. And mastering those gets you advanced vocations, which teach you master vocations. And there are three master vocations and works out. You have the Hero Vocation for the Hero. You have the Druid Vocation for Maribel. And you have the Champion Vocation for Aishe. And you can become monsters and everything they learn you keep. But I just gave Ruff all the monster vocations.
I am ultimately fine with both, so I can definitely see the merits of a hybrid system. My first and second favorite Final Fantasy games are Final Fantasy VII and Final Fantasy VIII respectfully, and both of those ultimately have characters who are not very unique in battle - aside from their Limit Breaks, everyone can learn the same things, but I also love and take inspiration from Final Fantasy VI and Final Fantasy X, and the characters are allowed to be more unique in those games.
I hope no one minds me mentioning it, but I still plan on creating my own RPG one day, and a hybrid system is ultimately what I am going for - I plan on having materia-ish items which you can learn your techniques from, but while there will be many that can be learned by all characters (the "magic" techniques are the prime example of this), there will be some that will teach a unique ability to specific characters, and at least some characters will have their own methods for learning new skills as well. Basically, I plan on it being a combination of the above examples' battle system with hopefully my own touch to it.
As much as I can sometimes find playing with customization fun, my favorite progression system is still the classic system of FFIV and many other traditional JRPGs of its era. Specifically, that each character has a set class, rather than malleable jobs and acquire skills at level up rather than by some other means. One of the reasons I like this is it puts more on level growth than just stats which makes level grinding more fun. Another is it's too easy to get carbon copy type characters when you can make them anyway you want, so I prefer at least some rigid structure to each character. Something in between would probably also be pretty nice to me where characters have some choice of class/job but those choices are limited and vary among characters. The closest example I can think of is Seiken Densetsu 3, but that's not a good example to me, because I don't like that game. Another example I like is Breath of Fire 3 and 4 where there are level based skills but also customization of both skill and stat growth through the master system. FFIX is a pretty good example too. It doesn't tie skill growth to levels, but at least many of the skills and equipment are unique to characters. The sphere grid system of FFX starts out alright in a way that almost has set, but somewhat flexible classes, but kind of goes offrails near the end when the grid opens up more.
I prefer each character having a set role like in FF IV or IX; when everyone can do everything like in FF II or the original FF XII it just becomes super boring. I also don't really like being given choices about what stats to level up and would prefer if the game did it for me as I'm always afraid I'll end up butchering the character somehow. (It bothers me that Pokemon get different stats depending on what enemies they defeat; I don't have time to be dealing with that to make a perfect competitive army.) FF X was a nice compromise as everyone starts out class locked, and unless you are specifically trying to max them out or do every endgame sidequest it's unlikely they'll be too far outside their sphere grid by the time you beat the game (except Kimahri, his sphere grid is too tiny). F V was also kind of nice in the compromise zone as you could only combine 2 classes at most up until you got mimes and freelancers, which kind of ruined it for me. I feel like the compromise route appeals to a wider audience, but I personally prefer Tales game style characters where it's more "you are this class, and that's it."
To answer my own question, I have two systems I tend to love. Job classes are the ones I usually mention. If the game has a robust job class mechanic, I tend to like the customization options pretty well. FFV, FFXII:TZA, FFTactics franchise, Tactics Ogre/Ogre Battle, and Dragon Quest are all great series for these types of things. It's very rare that I find a game with a class system that I don't wind up liking. I can only think of maybe three games where I have issues with the class systems.
My other favorite, and the one I prefer for more character driven pieces are hybrid systems where the party has a set class but there is an ability to customize and change them. This can range from light affairs like FFVI and IX where the customization options are lighter and don't dramatically change the characters to games like Suikoden III/V and Breath of Fire III/IV where the cast can actually be dramatically changed with enough effort or even made even more specialized if you choose so. Though I do find it's hard to find these types of systems, or at least ones that get it right.