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Thread: Character development systems

  1. #1
    Memento Mori Site Contributor Wolf Kanno's Avatar
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    Grin Character development systems

    You know, that stuff you do between killing baddies and talking to NPCs. When you go into an RPG, what kind of character development system do you hope to find?

    What are some of your favorite character building systems?

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    Radical Dreamer Fynn's Avatar
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    I like something that feels like you have substance and choice that doesn't just let you break the game by equipping everything. I like how in FFT and its spinoffs you can pretty much craft your own supersoldiers by mixing and matching skills that you yourself pick to teach them, and it's still rarely totally game-breaking unless you go totally out of your way to grind those near-impossible job combos. I liked FFIX where you really couldn't use all of your passive skills at the same time - that gave weight to your choice and you had to adjust to each situation, because there was no one optimal ability combination that would let you win the game. The Witcher 1 probably has my favorite progression system in the entire series due to the points you get to distribute at every level not only being plentiful, but also divided into three categories, one for each skill tier, so each level up actually felt really meaningful and rewarding.

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    Huh? Flower?! What the hell?! Administrator Psychotic's Avatar
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    Maybe this is only tangentially related to the topic, I hate HATE hate HATE hate it when you have a fixed number of characters with different skills, but only the ones in the party gain EXP. Therefore all these other party members are rendered pointless because it's bad enough having to grind the main party, much less others.

    There are some games where it's acceptable, Pokemon being an obvious example. I've just come off FFIV TAY and feel grumpy that so many of my characters were perma-benched in the last chapter, so maybe that's what has fueled my rage.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Psychotic View Post
    Maybe this is only tangentially related to the topic, I hate HATE hate HATE hate it when you have a fixed number of characters with different skills, but only the ones in the party gain EXP. Therefore all these other party members are rendered pointless because it's bad enough having to grind the main party, much less others.

    There are some games where it's acceptable, Pokemon being an obvious example. I've just come off FFIV TAY and feel grumpy that so many of my characters were perma-benched in the last chapter, so maybe that's what has fueled my rage.
    This was also one of my biggest gripes with FFX.

    The system makes different people useful in different circumstances. It lets you freely trade them in and out.

    But you only get SP if you participate in battles. It just wastes so much time swapping them at the beginning of every fight.



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  5. #5
    Memento Mori Site Contributor Wolf Kanno's Avatar
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    To get this back on topic...

    I find I prefer a balanced approach. I tend to favor games where characters have defined roles and purpose in battle, but that the game allows for a little wiggle room to develop them in a way to fit your play-style. I will cite Breath of Fire III as a beautiful example of what I mean where the whole party fit into very specific combat roles, but the skill and Master system gives you a lot of freedom to develop the characters how you want.

    I feel it's why I love Job Class systems cause they usually give this to me in one package where I get focus for the character, but the ability to either enhance their strengths or cover there weaknesses. I rarely enjoy "build the character from scratch" approaches because the lack of focus tends to make it easy to build characters who basically do a little of everything, which I find frankly boring to play with.

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    Feel the Bern Administrator Del Murder's Avatar
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    Job classes are the best, especially ones like FF Tactics where you can switch jobs on the fly but the points gained in a job are unique to the character. It makes the characters unique and gives you flexibility at the same time.

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