most rpg are generous or at least balance in distributing loots. should be a rule that every rpg is XD It's frustrating enough that you don't meet the desired level to beat a monster. How about no treasure chest too?

speaking of treasures, the treasure hunting in av1 to distract the player to go back to somewhere is fun to do so. It's nice to go back to places and hear what npcs will say, specially those who criticize the main character and those who you'd helped.

I need a good story. Also if puzzles are to hard with no hints i will quit a game. Most people seem to differ with me there, but thats how i am. Also mini games and side quests are a must to take a break some times. More equipment the better. Visible bad guys are a great plus. I agree moving to slow is a turn off. Some games ive played have houses you can buy and decorate. Like azure dreams, steambot chronicles, metal saga, and even sweet lily dreams. This is always a huge factor for me. I like customization of my heros. Whether its stats or skills, something i can be proud of making good. I like games that have features that build good and bad relationships with other characters to. I guess last would be many play able characters to.

Three the Hard Way reminds me of one thing I really want. A custom stats system and a lack of money. In the game, money really meant something. In others, I could waste it but if you waste money in TTHW, you're doomed to lose
Plus, no XP or stats boost when you're too strong for the area

Thought of some other things.

Large dungeons and other areas should have "landmarks" or at least signs that show where you're going. I've seen games with HUGE dungeons where everything looks the same and it's super easy to get lost. That's something that will turn me off.

You shouldn't have to spend a million years levelling up before you're strong enough to go to a new area. Since I play RPGs mainly for story and exploration instad of battles, it really turns me off when I have to level up over and over again before I can explore a new area without dying (or at the very least the monsters should be visible so you have a chance of avoiding them on the way to the next town).

This isn't necessary, but I enjoy facesets for playable characters. It helps me to connect an identity with my chracters.

I enjoy stories that have secrets to discover as the game progresses (such as Stella's identity in AV3 or the nature of your reality in Eternal Eden).

@Ivann
Just a nasty bug. Wrong speed was selected. If anyone who enhances it should have some good scripting, eventing, mapping, and good data base working.

@Theone
Ikr? It's because money is so hard to come by in TTHW that it makes the game rewarding.

Also a good thing in RPGs is that the maximum level shouldn't always be 100. Unless the story and battles are long enough to make you go to that level (like Everlong), then I see no reason for the max level to be so high.

Also as theone said, few battles xp or none if the monsters are too easy (but they'll still drop gp/ingredients).


Your stats shouldn't just go up all at once only when leveled up, characters should level up a certain ability of them while playing a certain rounds of battles (just like in TTHW). That way you won't be 'over-leveled-up' and it actually makes sense to increase your stats that way.

@ivana: what's wrong with having a high hard level cap? It's not like it hurts anyone if your soft level cap is lower than your hard. Let's you have more leg room if you want to add content to the game as you don't need to raise the level cap.

What high hard cap? You mean having 100 as the max level? Why bother obtaining the max level when you can just beat the final boss at 3/5 of the max level? It looks pointless, unless you're playing a different genre of game (MMORPG, shooter or something, not sure so don't ask me).

@Ivana:
Well, to some players reaching the max level might be a challenge, plus sometimes doing it could give some benefits, like getting a super secret skill, or something like that.

@ivana: Sorry, used to another rpg game forum where those terms are used.

Hard lvl cap = maximum lvl programmed.
Soft lvl cap = what you typically get to in one game set at ~normal.

Some rpgs like dragon age have DLCs (downloadable content ie extra quests and such) or replay bonuses (2nd run = more exp earned) so having a high lvl cap is suitable for these types of games. It saves the hassle of having to raise the caps anyway in the DLC.

For example, in DA, even if you kill everything and finish all quests, you'll still only get to around lvl 15-20. With the DLC content though, you'll easily hit max cap at 35.

And as shed said, having a high max cap give some players incentive to play the game longer. Higher lvl = more stats = more pwnage to go around. I don't see what's wrong to indulge them when it hurts no one and is easy to program.

Ah no wonder. I thought the same when you wrote those terms.

Well that might be the case for some types of games, but why would you go through the hassle of leveling up when there's nothing new to discover? The story gets stuck unless you beat the final boss and the only thing you'll benefit from that is to satisfy your curiosity or make the final battle super-duper easy. I'd rather ask the other players what the skills are (or IF there's one) rather than waste another 1 or 2 hours to level all of them up.

Most of the old RPGs I've played doesn't even have a new or "super awesome secret" skill even when reaching the max level. Just increasing the stats. Unless the story is long enough for me to reach the max level, then I mostly wouldn't try and bother doing it. *shivers at the thought of Exit Fate*

Exactly as Ivana said.
Also, the story has to be complex, either politically (Aka TTHW), demonically (Aka TTHW and Av1), with betrayal or something philosophical (Aka The Way)

I agree about the level cap. Another thing that bugs me is when Final battles require you to be say, level 85-90 while you'd get killed in the dungeons at this level (Aka Aveyond, the one con). Also, I really dislike it when your final boss require you to be 20-25 levels more than for ANY other monster.

And something like Alchemy (Aveyond) or something like the potions (TTHW) or a custom system (The Way) helps too

You should even out the advantages and disadvantages all together. Like in AV1, you use the level goodie before enrolling. You loss some skills you could have learned making battles longer if they are prone to magic and resistant to melee.

Personally, I almost never TRY to reach the maximum level, but if the final boss kills me I appreciate there being an option to level up further to get ready.

@ivana: But you don't have to level up to the max. It's only for people who want to hit max cap for whatever reason.

It's an option, not a requirement. As for myself, I hate farming so I don't generally hit the cap. I only hit it if the game allows second runs (Mass effect), has many DLCs (Dragon Age), or I feel like farming (Adventurequest).

Now, if you were fighting to get a lvl 30 armor but the lvl required to even do the quest was lvl 60, than we have a problem.

@KTC- I think Ivana's like my sister. She HAS to get to the maximum level even if you can finish it on half of the level. My sister got to Ahriman's lair at level 60 , found it was near the end, and the promptly spent the rest of her time levelling up to level 99 while I watched, wondering why she was doing it

@theone: dang, well more power to her I guess? (and never let her play Dragon age 2 than since you'll never get to max level. Soft cap at ~lvl 25. Hard cap at lvl 50.)

Huh why am I like her? I thought I said I don't like reaching the max level o_O

Yea. Ivana maybe talking extra pro-cautions. I don't like leveling up but have no choice if there isn't a goodie cave nearby.

Oh, I just played the demo for Path of Thantos for about five minutes and thought of something else.

I do NOT want a game to immediately begin with a big battle. I want a chance to explore and get oriented with the world before tackling monsters. Like I said before, battles aren't the main reason why I play RPGs, so when the first thing I have to do is battle when I'm not yet hooked onto the story or the characters, I'm likely to just uninstall the demo if I lose.