I Need People's Opinions

[Blackmoon69]

I have a very simple question. Tell me which of the following you would prefer in a action battle system for leveling up.

Stat Distribution:
After getting enough exp you add points to the stats you desire to increase.

Stat Growing:
The more that you use a stat, the more it increases. For example, strength would increase after so many attacks on an enemy. Dexterity would increase every time you dogged an enemy attack.

[coreystranick]

Hmm...I like both. But stat growing would probably be better. For me it seems it would even out the characters better then I could. I always make mine too weak in one area when I distribute so if my character grew more around how I played then it would work better.

I say go for option 2

[Blackmoon69]

You have a good point. I often have that problem too. Stat growing would probably be the best choice in my opinion too.

[drenrin2120]

The second one also allows the player to still have some control over their character's stats if they want to.

[SaiKar]

Stat Growing:
The more that you use a stat, the more it increases. For example, strength would increase after so many attacks on an enemy. Dexterity would increase every time you dogged an enemy attack.

I believe Final Fantasy 2 had this system. Reportedly, it was the worst thing ever. Like, the only ways to get more defense and HP was to take damage. So you had to get into battles and let you get the crap kicked out of yourself just so you'd have enough defensive stats so later enemies wouldn't slaughter you.

[zuhane]

Yeah, I vote the first. You can exploit your strengths to help increase weak areas and
get better at them. If you spend the whole game just attacking, then decide you want to use
spells, it'll take ages and be really monotonous. If you can spend points, you can save loads
up, then just blow all of them!

[Bluhman]

1st is the trite and true surefire way to make an XP system that works.

As 'kar said, the 2nd one is extremely dubious that it would work out correctly.

You could perhaps try out a 3rd option, which combines the two elements. The Elder Scrolls series is particularly notable for using this system, where you develop skills as you do various actions such as sword-using, blocking, or jogging. After gaining 10 skill-ups, you will be able to level up and distribute points into your actual stats, improving your overall capabilities.
Though, part of the reason it works for TES is that it's a live-action, non-party based RPG, and not a turn-based typical RPG.

[drenrin2120]

You COULD take a lesson from pokemon and allow for a base stat to increase while applying "bonus" points to stats for doing certain things. Of course, I can't stand EV training and think it's the worst thing ever. I would hate you for implementing it. But it's better than what Sai said.

[Moosetroop11]

I didn't mind the system in FF2 at all, actually. Apart from the fact that the more you used a piece of magic the more MP it took up, I found it a nice natural way of levelling up.  Plus, in morrowind, you really felt like you were actually training, rocky style, rather than just doing whatever to get experience and putting that into strength or whatever.

My advice would be that done right the system would be really cool and give the game a very different angle because it's a pretty rare thing to implement, but it would also take lots of work to get right, so be prepared for a struggle.

[Blackmoon69]

Btw... I'm debating between two scripts I found for RMXP. I'm not custom making this. I'm using these scripts and Blizz ABS script. If you don't know what Blizz ABS is look it up. It's absolutely amazing. Back to the point, I'm still convinced for the second one. The "natural leveling up" compared to morrowind is kind of the trump card right now. Haha

[drenrin2120]

This is kind of derailing, but speaking of scripts, apparently VX has a Mode 7 script, which allows for a pseudo 3D overworld. I'm very jealous that rm2k3 doesn't have this ability.

But I digress. Scripts are a great way of circum-navigating large amounts of time on code.