Welcome to "Another thread" by "That guy" and if you are here, you must be thinking about "Those words" he gonna share with the masses. Well Then there is nothing wrong with it. Oh well. But anyway to continue, this is a thread about some of the Pet Peeves in RPG games. For those who don't know, a RPG game or more known as Japanese Roleplaying Game, is basically games that Japanese started making that feature the kind of stuff you would find in such table top games like Dungeons And Dragons (Never played it but is all i hear) Instead the player is given a set of characters in a fantasy world with towns to talk to people, gain information, solve problems and buy items, equipment. Then venture into dungeons to defeat monsters, earn exp, level up and learn spells as well as save the world from horrible darkness. Prime examples are Final Fantasy and Dragon quest series, so if you played these before, then you get what one is. (Again, explaining for those who doesn't.)
Each game is different in some ways and some of these differences are probably my biggest gripe of them, regardless of your opinion of my skill in playing them, I have played plenty and finished a handful while others ignored. This is just a small list of things that some games have that I may not agree with. Now these may exist in other games that aren't even a RPG but may feature such things, castlevania symphony of the night while is mostly a 2D action platformer like the games before it, have plenty of rpg elements such as exp gain, and equipable items and status. So keep in mind this is just general things of rpg concepts that I don't like in no particular order.
One common thing in RPG games is gaining exp, you get it by defeating enemies and each game has some different way of handling it. In final fantasy games and breath of fire, each enemy rewards specific amount of exp upon defeat, but these game specifically handles it differently. The amount each character gain is divided between all the participating characters. This is something I hated the most, cause it just misleading.
For example in final fantasy 4 you have a party of 5 characters, if you beat a enemy rewarding 10,000 exp, each character gains 2,000 instead. Of course you know how much, there is a bestiary which is basically a monster encyclopedia guide to the game. If you do have 5 members, it would be easier to just say you gain 2,000 but it doesn't change to suit the situation and many may not even know this fact. Again in a game like breath of fire 1 & 4 which in one you max party of 8 and 4 is 6, you get 1/8 or 1/6 of the total exp for each member. Again, to me is just confusing but it also means each character levels up slowly the more people you have.
My brother has a habit of killing his party until one is alive, in this case only the remaining character gains the exp, the total amount. So is based on the amount of people still standing at the end of the battle. Some people don't find it a problem but i do. Suppose i like using specific characters, then later find out i need to use another character I didn't find useful, this especially plot specific in some games, you may have weak characters you are forced to use or even could be stuck with cause enemies are too strong to even defeat to grow stronger. It could just be a problem, one I have done a few times. Not every RPG has such problems like this but i know a few.
The second thing about this is just too odd. After achieving higher levels, the amount you gain decreases. In symphony of the night, after gaining level 60, you notice the same enemy that gave you a lot more to level up quickly suddenly drop drastically, making it longer to max out levels and i know some people like to have max status as much as possible. WHY this is i dunno. Of course in that game, high levels isn't really needed to play the game since is not like RPG with turn based "forced attack" no way to dodge system but still is just odd to me. My only theory for the two exp gain alteration decisions is to kinda balance the game in terms of difficulty, but I wish is well explained to the player not hidden only to realize it sometime late.
Another thing I dislike in some games, I know some games in the beginning of the Revolutionary RPG genre was very limited to what can be done, but is not the case anymore, and even then some games still didn't have this problem. Back to final fantasy 4 again, a game made for SNES, in this game you can hold a total of 40 different items with you, you have the option to store WAY MORE, by means of a FAT CHOCOBO. (Don't ask I didn't make the game) Having a whistle you can enter a chocobo forest and summon a fat chocobo who can store items for you, of course you can always sell it for money which you may do more often. Is just something I didn't like. Chrono trigger, also for SNES, has you holding one of every item in the game, and 99 of them at that. That i find okay.
Is kinda upsetting when you in dungeons and find treasure you can't keep cause you have full inventory. If the game wasn't already hard enough for some of you, this adds to it, games that do this are phantasy star on genesis and even tales games, they limit you to 15 per item with possibility to increase it to 30 or more in some cases by means of grade shop.... which is accessible only after finishing the game once and playing again from the beginning along with other perks. Still I prefer to just have 99 limit and slot for every item in the game. Especially for the completionist and collectable hobbyist out there.
Perhaps the idea of this is just a sign of difficulty, to challenge the player, Is okay. I understand challenge, is not a problem to be honest. Tough Challenges come in different forms and ideas. Some people consider that a game is too easy, whenever you come to a difficult boss battle, you just go fight weaker monsters to gain a few levels and then make it easier. Others will try to challenge it on lower level or restrictive items and beat the boss. Some people like speedrunners do things like Play Legend of Zelda without the sword the whole game, or maybe collect no upgrades in mega man X or play super mario bros without pressing b to run the whole game. The thing is they set their own challenges, nothing wrong with that.
Not saying the game devs shouldn't challenge players but some people just find their own way to enjoy playing the game, and some accept the terms and conditions of the game presents to the player and try to overcome them. In the end Difficulty is always subjective no matter what goes on, each person is different and have uncommon aptitude. Doesn't make them bad or good, just as long as they enjoy what they do.
If you have any problems in RPG games you encountered that you decided you could do without, share in the comments below.
Each game is different in some ways and some of these differences are probably my biggest gripe of them, regardless of your opinion of my skill in playing them, I have played plenty and finished a handful while others ignored. This is just a small list of things that some games have that I may not agree with. Now these may exist in other games that aren't even a RPG but may feature such things, castlevania symphony of the night while is mostly a 2D action platformer like the games before it, have plenty of rpg elements such as exp gain, and equipable items and status. So keep in mind this is just general things of rpg concepts that I don't like in no particular order.
EXP gain alteration
One common thing in RPG games is gaining exp, you get it by defeating enemies and each game has some different way of handling it. In final fantasy games and breath of fire, each enemy rewards specific amount of exp upon defeat, but these game specifically handles it differently. The amount each character gain is divided between all the participating characters. This is something I hated the most, cause it just misleading.
For example in final fantasy 4 you have a party of 5 characters, if you beat a enemy rewarding 10,000 exp, each character gains 2,000 instead. Of course you know how much, there is a bestiary which is basically a monster encyclopedia guide to the game. If you do have 5 members, it would be easier to just say you gain 2,000 but it doesn't change to suit the situation and many may not even know this fact. Again in a game like breath of fire 1 & 4 which in one you max party of 8 and 4 is 6, you get 1/8 or 1/6 of the total exp for each member. Again, to me is just confusing but it also means each character levels up slowly the more people you have.
My brother has a habit of killing his party until one is alive, in this case only the remaining character gains the exp, the total amount. So is based on the amount of people still standing at the end of the battle. Some people don't find it a problem but i do. Suppose i like using specific characters, then later find out i need to use another character I didn't find useful, this especially plot specific in some games, you may have weak characters you are forced to use or even could be stuck with cause enemies are too strong to even defeat to grow stronger. It could just be a problem, one I have done a few times. Not every RPG has such problems like this but i know a few.
The second thing about this is just too odd. After achieving higher levels, the amount you gain decreases. In symphony of the night, after gaining level 60, you notice the same enemy that gave you a lot more to level up quickly suddenly drop drastically, making it longer to max out levels and i know some people like to have max status as much as possible. WHY this is i dunno. Of course in that game, high levels isn't really needed to play the game since is not like RPG with turn based "forced attack" no way to dodge system but still is just odd to me. My only theory for the two exp gain alteration decisions is to kinda balance the game in terms of difficulty, but I wish is well explained to the player not hidden only to realize it sometime late.
Item storage
Another thing I dislike in some games, I know some games in the beginning of the Revolutionary RPG genre was very limited to what can be done, but is not the case anymore, and even then some games still didn't have this problem. Back to final fantasy 4 again, a game made for SNES, in this game you can hold a total of 40 different items with you, you have the option to store WAY MORE, by means of a FAT CHOCOBO. (Don't ask I didn't make the game) Having a whistle you can enter a chocobo forest and summon a fat chocobo who can store items for you, of course you can always sell it for money which you may do more often. Is just something I didn't like. Chrono trigger, also for SNES, has you holding one of every item in the game, and 99 of them at that. That i find okay.
Is kinda upsetting when you in dungeons and find treasure you can't keep cause you have full inventory. If the game wasn't already hard enough for some of you, this adds to it, games that do this are phantasy star on genesis and even tales games, they limit you to 15 per item with possibility to increase it to 30 or more in some cases by means of grade shop.... which is accessible only after finishing the game once and playing again from the beginning along with other perks. Still I prefer to just have 99 limit and slot for every item in the game. Especially for the completionist and collectable hobbyist out there.
Perhaps the idea of this is just a sign of difficulty, to challenge the player, Is okay. I understand challenge, is not a problem to be honest. Tough Challenges come in different forms and ideas. Some people consider that a game is too easy, whenever you come to a difficult boss battle, you just go fight weaker monsters to gain a few levels and then make it easier. Others will try to challenge it on lower level or restrictive items and beat the boss. Some people like speedrunners do things like Play Legend of Zelda without the sword the whole game, or maybe collect no upgrades in mega man X or play super mario bros without pressing b to run the whole game. The thing is they set their own challenges, nothing wrong with that.
Not saying the game devs shouldn't challenge players but some people just find their own way to enjoy playing the game, and some accept the terms and conditions of the game presents to the player and try to overcome them. In the end Difficulty is always subjective no matter what goes on, each person is different and have uncommon aptitude. Doesn't make them bad or good, just as long as they enjoy what they do.
If you have any problems in RPG games you encountered that you decided you could do without, share in the comments below.