ITT: Cody undercuts his central argument against Destiny

by Xenos , Shores of Time, Monday, August 12, 2013, 11:00 (3913 days ago) @ Leisandir

Is it cheating to have a tough enemy rendered more easily defeated by granting the player access to a more powerful weapon? The Cyberdemon is a much different animal if you're wielding a BFG 9000 than if all you have is the rocket launcher. Leveling is similar: in the same way that special items like the BFG tend to be hidden off the beaten path, there are often non-required areas in RPGs where you can gain experience at a more brisk rate than if you just played straight through, leaving you at a higher level for certain encounters. It's a way of rewarding exploration just like equipment and story bits.

That said, I prefer something more tangible, like a health kit or a diary, but I think level-based difficulty can be handled well. Any enemy can be defeated, but they are made easier when you take your time.

Yeah I think this all comes down to content personally. Early RPG's mostly used stats (and often only stats) to show you getting more powerful, with occasional new skills that were really just more powerful than the old ones. This often because of the limitations of development at the time. The RPG's and games that having leveling toda that I enjoy most are games that give you new skills that give you new ways to play, or even a new weapon can be interesting if it is more than just "this weapon does 5 more damage than your previous one!" So it all comes down to giving the player choices rather than just "here is your path, grind enough and you can continue down the one path we've given you."