FFII is honestly one of my favorites, and it's all because of the leveling system. I love that you as the player get to choose, through your actions, how your characters grow and what their strengths and weaknesses are. The story and characters are also surprisingly deep and impactful considering the limitations games had at the time.
I’m right there with you. So bummed that I didn’t experience this game earlier in life, but it was a real treat regardless! I totally get why people can be initially put off by the leveling system, but once I figured out how to properly engage with it, I found it to be a great time! Thanks for your thoughts! Hope you enjoyed the video!
This is one of my favorite FFs and i honestly didn't have to grind much... maybe 30 minutes combined mostly to gird Maria's HP from when I let her live in the back row. The growth system isn't perfect, my whole party ended up monks, because I started to see the one character I set out to be a tanky monk was dealing double then triple the damage of Firion using one of the 2 best swords and I realized early on to usually put everybody in the frontline because you need the HP growth regardless of role. So endgame I had a former magic knight turned red magic-monk, a dark magic monk, a light magic monk and the guest character. And everybody with healing spells because there is no reason to not have healing on everybody. So there is definitely an optimal build you get funneled towards, but I wish they refined this system and didn't just make it a different series and then make it function even worse.
I get it. From a player's perspective; when players see any low stats that can be increased, it's unsatisfying to just leave them as it is especially when they can do something about it (like the urge to scratch an itch). Sometimes, players will even question if their stats are balanced enough to progress to the next part of the story. I actually have an idea to reduce the players' compulsion to level up every stat they can; the game should automatically sort out all the characters' weapons AND magic spells proficiency together, from the highest to the lowest (even a slight experience puts the skill above another that has no experience). It'll be like Overwatch's Hero playtime sorting, knowing what role the player is good at from a glance.
That’s a great idea, man! I think it was Mark Brown on Game Maker’s Toolkit (check him out if you get the chance) who made a video about how players, if given the chance, will “optimize” the fun out of their gameplay experience entirely. Like, a developer might have an “intended” way to play, but if there are loopholes where players can cheese their way through, a lot of people will unfortunately take the path of least resistance. That’s what I did with Fire Emblem Awakening back in the day, and it kinda ruined my experience. 😩 Playing through this game, on the other hand, was really fun for me after I decided to focus my attention on specific stats instead of just grinding everything up.
@@GamesAreCreative I've subscribed to GMTK, I love game design channels like this one too. (So I'm a subscriber to this channel too.) Anyway, yeah. You CAN tell players how to properly play your game, but they'll always *go for the most efficient way to play for the least amount of effort*. Grinding for levels in RPGs isn't hard, but really tedious. It takes a lot of time and patience, and when they're done with the grinding, the next part of the game is hardly a challenge. The grinding is boring, then the battles become boring. So to them, the game itself is boring. By the way, I took a quote here from Codex Entry's video; "What We Can Learn From Devil May Cry 3".
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FFII is honestly one of my favorites, and it's all because of the leveling system. I love that you as the player get to choose, through your actions, how your characters grow and what their strengths and weaknesses are. The story and characters are also surprisingly deep and impactful considering the limitations games had at the time.
I’m right there with you. So bummed that I didn’t experience this game earlier in life, but it was a real treat regardless! I totally get why people can be initially put off by the leveling system, but once I figured out how to properly engage with it, I found it to be a great time!
Thanks for your thoughts! Hope you enjoyed the video!
@@GamesAreCreative I did enjoy the video, thank you.
Wow, what an incredible video. Love watching your videos from a player and designer view. Thanks for the video!
Appreciate those kind words and your support!
This is one of my favorite FFs and i honestly didn't have to grind much... maybe 30 minutes combined mostly to gird Maria's HP from when I let her live in the back row.
The growth system isn't perfect, my whole party ended up monks, because I started to see the one character I set out to be a tanky monk was dealing double then triple the damage of Firion using one of the 2 best swords and I realized early on to usually put everybody in the frontline because you need the HP growth regardless of role. So endgame I had a former magic knight turned red magic-monk, a dark magic monk, a light magic monk and the guest character. And everybody with healing spells because there is no reason to not have healing on everybody.
So there is definitely an optimal build you get funneled towards, but I wish they refined this system and didn't just make it a different series and then make it function even worse.
I hear what you’re saying man! The system’s definitely not perfect, but I wish they had stuck with it a little longer to refine it. Really cool idea!
127th view of a video that will have several thousand views next year and many more the next. Guys, buy stock in this dude, he's going places.
Thanks Levi, your encouragement means the world to me! You’re the best!
I get it. From a player's perspective; when players see any low stats that can be increased, it's unsatisfying to just leave them as it is especially when they can do something about it (like the urge to scratch an itch). Sometimes, players will even question if their stats are balanced enough to progress to the next part of the story.
I actually have an idea to reduce the players' compulsion to level up every stat they can;
the game should automatically sort out all the characters' weapons AND magic spells proficiency together, from the highest to the lowest (even a slight experience puts the skill above another that has no experience).
It'll be like Overwatch's Hero playtime sorting, knowing what role the player is good at from a glance.
That’s a great idea, man! I think it was Mark Brown on Game Maker’s Toolkit (check him out if you get the chance) who made a video about how players, if given the chance, will “optimize” the fun out of their gameplay experience entirely. Like, a developer might have an “intended” way to play, but if there are loopholes where players can cheese their way through, a lot of people will unfortunately take the path of least resistance. That’s what I did with Fire Emblem Awakening back in the day, and it kinda ruined my experience. 😩 Playing through this game, on the other hand, was really fun for me after I decided to focus my attention on specific stats instead of just grinding everything up.
@@GamesAreCreative
I've subscribed to GMTK, I love game design channels like this one too. (So I'm a subscriber to this channel too.)
Anyway, yeah. You CAN tell players how to properly play your game, but they'll always *go for the most efficient way to play for the least amount of effort*.
Grinding for levels in RPGs isn't hard, but really tedious. It takes a lot of time and patience, and when they're done with the grinding, the next part of the game is hardly a challenge.
The grinding is boring, then the battles become boring. So to them, the game itself is boring.
By the way, I took a quote here from Codex Entry's video; "What We Can Learn From Devil May Cry 3".