Level Scaling: Difference between revisions

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When done well, it does exactly as intended, providing a constant challenge that keeps the game fun, and will keep itself largely unobtrusive. When done badly, it can head straight into [[Empty Levels]], and/or cause such fun things as bandits with [[Infinity+1 Sword|crazy powerful weapons]] and armor that they could retire in luxury just by selling, trying to kill you. [[Low Level Advantage|Underleveling]] (purposefully keeping yourself or your party at a low level) can become a viable tactic (and, under certain circumstances, a [[Game Breaker]]) if this trope is in effect.

Contrast [[Sorting Algorithm of Evil]], where the enemies get tougher as you go along, regardless of your own level.

 

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{{examples|Examples: }}

== [[Roguelikes]] ==

* ''[[Nethack]]'' determines enemy level by averaging your level with your current dungeon depth.

* ''[[ADOM]]'' scales a species' level by the number of that species of monster that's been killed. This means that [[Enemy Summoner|Enemy Summoners]] that create endless swarms of a single weak species (like werejackals which summon hordes of jackals) will lead to that species soon becoming very tough.

** Also, the 'Small Cave' starter dungeon's enemies scale by your level, but in a way that will cause them to ''massively'' outpace you if you don't get through it quickly.

* The bosses in ''[[Lunar Silver Star Story Complete|Lunar: Silver Star Story]]'' and it's PSP remake ''Silver Star Harmony'' have stats that scale with the hero's level, so it's easier to defeat some bosses at low levels. Released in 1992, this would make ''Lunar'' the [[Ur Example]] of RPG level-scaling.

* What also learned from ''Lunar'' was the ''[[Tactics Ogre]]'' sub-series. In that game, many of the enemies in the random encounters scaled with your party's level. However; story battles would eventually cap at a certain point so one could level to 50 and just throw rocks at the level 20 enemies and kill them. It was also possible to exploit this in ''Knight of Lodis'', where it was actually scaled off of ''Alphonse's'' level, so keep him three levels below the rest of the party and they carry him to victory.

** Worse than pointless, in fact. In the North American release, the stat points gained when your character levelled up were reduced, but the enemy stats were unchanged, resulting in incredibly hard fights if you were too "powerful".

** "Incredibly hard" is something of an understatement. These battles often reached into flat-out [[Unwinnable]] territory, even when you cheated.

[[Category:Video Game Tropes]]

[[Category:Level Scaling]]