Leveling up Style?

[IDistractedYou]

So for those of you who play RPG's whats your leveling up style? When I play I normally build higher than I need to at the begining (Usually up to at least Level 10) before I attempt even the first quest and then if do it sporadiacally after that. Or if you can see what your characters development will be (Ie; you gain ability x at level y) I'll work towards that and it gives me an advantage over the enemies in the next area.

Ironically I hate games that insane leveling is a requirement to just survive a trip from town to town. (Ie;7th Saga)

 

[KuwabaraTheMan]

I prefer to level up en route, and not over do it. And then when I reach a road block, level up my characters for a little until I can't clear that area.

 

[Artimus Gigan]

Essentialy I level up as I explore all of the dungeon and I don't escape from battles

if I find a place where I can heal/save I stay there forawhile and level if the Items//EXP/Gold is good

I do most of my leveling outside though, so I can escape to a town if needed

 

[Roman Legion]

Depends entirely on the game and how "fun" the battle system is.

--Romey

 

[Captain Highwind]

Well for Golden Sun 2, I had a terrible time leveling up to 100. I was doing that in an attempt to completely pwn the final boss, but I never made it past 65 and I haven't picked the game up since.

For Tales of Legendia, it would have been great if I could pick and choose my battles, but having so many random encounters got the job done I guess.

And then we have Kingdom Hearts 2. This is the best game I've seen for leveling up because you can multi-task and keep your mind busy, instead of only having to concentrate on leveling up. You can develop your drive or summon gauges at the same time, or hunt for synthesis gems and still gain a lot of experience. By the time most of the gems are collected, your pretty close to level 99.

 

[Mog]

Depends entirely on the game and how "fun" the battle system is.

--Romey

Agreed. If it's a strict turn based style like a Final Fantasy or Dragon Quest I level up as I go and may deviate to gain a level or two at random, but I just try to finish the game and maybe take on a few side-quests.

If the battle system is more active and fun like Tales of Symphonia and Kingdom Hearts I'll fight for an hour or two randomly for fun and end up getting a couple levels in the process.

 

[Vermunium]

Life is a constant struggle. What's the fun to be overleveled and completly owning a boss? That just takes the fun out of it for me. I usually just keep around recommended levels.

 

[Tanooki]

Well for Golden Sun 2, I had a terrible time leveling up to 100. I was doing that in an attempt to completely pwn the final boss, but I never made it past 65 and I haven't picked the game up since

you just need to know where to go. everyone in my party is at lvl99

 

[Captain Harlock]

It depends on the game. With a game like FF6/FFT/FF9/FF7 where abilities are learned/mastered over constant fighting, I'll keep on fighting to get new abilities. (Example: it takes 20 battles to learn a Fire spell). If I happen to level up as well, it's a bonus. However, I usually like to overlevel myself. RPGs can be long, so I usually bulk up early on and then just plow right through instead of having downtime later on. I always go out of my way from the main quest and devote time to leveling as opposed to doing it as I progress.

 

[Tash]

I like to stay about 5 levels under the normal level. Although in some games, I'll hit a roadblock that just can't be beaten at my level.

 

[SirLemming]

Either I level up at certain points to learn certain abilities, or I do it when I get my first Game Over. And always before the final boss.

 

[Tanooki]

depends of the difficulty of the rpg

normally i just level up as i go, but if i know i'm coming up on something huge and it's kicked my butt before on a previous playthrough, then i level up like crazy. also, before entering the final boss, i level up as much as possible

with mmorpg's, such as WoW, i normally level up as i go along. but if i get bored, which was quite often (which is why i quit playing WoW), i leveled up, too

 

[guerillacropoli]

I think most RPG's are designed so that if you explore each area thoroughly, and fight through most random encounters, you will be at just the right level to keep the combat challenging, but manageable.

Some RPG's can be fairly unforgiving, though. Baldur's Gate II is very hard, even at medium difficulty, requiring the player to come up with some fairly innovative strategies for dealing with the situation. Others, like most FF games, remain pretty easy the entire way through.

 

[Master Moron]

Life is a constant struggle. What's the fun to be overleveled and completly owning a boss? That just takes the fun out of it for me. I usually just keep around recommended levels.

Winning is fun. Losing isn't.

 

[Ghostriderboy]

but if you win to much it gets boring

 

[Captain Highwind]

I guess that's the difference then. Seeing how easy it is to pwn the boss is what helps me stay motivated when leveling up. Plus it gives me a strong sense of accomplishment. I mean it doesn't always work, so there's still some challenge to it.

you just need to know where to go. everyone in my party is at lvl99

All I've been able to level up a good deal is in the last dungeon before the final boss. Suggestions, plz!

 

[Mynd Hed]

Winning is fun. Losing isn't.

If it were as simple as that, everybody would just grab a Gameshark and win at everything all the time with no effort.

But yes, it depends on the game. Most modern console RPGs are built so that you can play through the main story without ever stopping and explicitly "leveling," so that's what I tend to do.

If a game does require too much leveling, I tend to get bored and put it down. Final Fantasy Tactics, for example, had a fascinating and deep combat system, but I got so tired of having to play fifty of the same random battle in a row in order to level up for the next big hard "story" battle that I never did finish it.

On the other hand, Dragon Quest 8 is superbly balanced such that you always feel like the next tough boss or dungeon is just BARELY too powerful for you to tackle, so leveling isn't such a chore because you only tend to do a little of it at a time. Plus, you've got this huge beautiful world to explore while you level, with chests and unique monsters to search for, so it gives you something to do rather than just run in circles around a town and dash in whenever you need healing.

That's how leveling SHOULD be, IMO-- you follow the main story line until you reach a road block, and then you go off and complete some side quests until you're powerful enough to progress in the main story some more. That way the main story can retain a sense of challenge, but you never have to just mindlessly level so much that you get bored and the game seems more like a chore than a pleasure.

 

[Tanooki]

All I've been able to level up a good deal is in the last dungeon before the final boss. Suggestions, plz!

maybe that's where i'm talking about... hmm... it's been so long since i played golden sun 2. it is a place you need the boat to reach, i know that much. and the enemies you want to fight, the ones that give out the most experience, are like these blue/green phoenixes. hope that helps. anyway, there are other creatures in there that drop pretty cool equipment, too. for instance, this one creature drops something called a "valiance sword" or a "vagrant sword" that almost everyone can use. pretty powerful

 

[Master Moron]

If it were as simple as that, everybody would just grab a Gameshark and win at everything all the time with no effort.

Well, that would definitely be fun. But, then you couldn't really say that you beat the game fair and square, since you cheated.

 

[Roman Legion]

I liked Disgaea's solution to leveling. You can easily beat the game's main arc at under level 60 in a reasonable amount of time, but if you're interested in all the extra maps and alternate endings... there's more than enough leveling to keep you busy. Heh.

--Romey