Quote:
Originally Posted by Chrisb3  Remove levels, make everything item based.
You can only be as powerful as the items in the dungeon, so you can't out level anything. Finding rare/hidden stuff can give you an edge of course.
Items can increase the amount of spells you have or stats or whatever you want.
You can still put in a few 'outleveling' mechanics maybe, perhaps by getting a small amount of exp in things like magic casting and combat which can give you a little boost based on time invested. |
That's actually a very interesting idea. Very radical, but interesting nonetheless. I must admit, as a "classicist," I enjoy time-honored mechanics like level progression and such. But making everything item-based is a very interesting idea. The idea isn't without its drawbacks, though (it's hard to make magic users item-dependent; the complete absence of natural progression without items might get boring after awhile; you'd have to create 5 billion items to keep things from getting stale; etc.).
Ultimately, as you suggest, I think a decent solution is to find a halfway point between level-based progression and item-based progression. Maybe levels don't bump up your stats all that much, but are mainly used to get more skill allocation slots? Meanwhile, equipment dictates stats to a large degree (kind of like FFT) but is restricted by base class.
Alternatively, you can always make a traditional RPG with typical level-based progression and item-based progression, and just accept that some people are going to level-cheese their way through the game. After all, you really can't stop people from playing your game the way they want to play -- even if it means cheapening the experience for themselves. FF4, for instance, is much more fun and challenging if you aren't overleveled -- but it's on you to make that decision; the game doesn't force your hand either way.