I remember a day when old RPG games had either a level cap or a definite ending. From Pool of Radiance to Secrets of the Silver Blades to Final Fantasy the game had a final boss or stage and often had some type of level cap. Today, gamers don’t want it to end, they’d rather have the option to wonder around aimlessly or completing minor quests in order to soak up every ounce of money they spent on the title.
Now even Bethesda is saying “we’ve learned our lesson” from the whiplash of ending their game title and capping levels. Gamers want to go back and re-try content they missed, they want to run side quests and talk to everyone in the world they want to grind themselves to über powerful levels and become a god in their fantasy world. Can you blame them?
You can’t really blame them for wanting to maximize the content, although it’s slightly more evolved than RPG’s of old. Perhaps it was World of Warcraft and other MMORPG’s that brought us to the stage in life where we all want to squeeze every last RPG dime out of the title. As a kid I wondered the world of Hyrule and covered every tile of graphical color, burned every bush, bombed every stone looking for all the content. However, even Zelda had an end with scrolling credits – you didn’t just land on a platform with your master sword and a dream.
Other titles have used level caps to limit you and draw you into the next release of the game. This was popular in the D&D world because the game is designed to target specific levels of difficulty. They may only allow you to gain level 10 because the enemies are no tougher than level 13, allowing the challenge to be good but not overwhelming. If they allow you to get to level 50 they’d have to design the game so all the enemies grow powerful along with you — that’s not always a desired result.
Final Fantasy is a popular franchise that typically allows you to grow infinitely powerful depending on how much time you want to spend repeat killing the same enemies. Gamers aren’t always into the grind, they just want to grind “enough” to make the challenges a little more do-able.
Today, however, with larger storage capacity, larger development teams and the desire to build more value into your gameplay experience titles have dozens of side quests and sub-plots that are totally optional. The result of so many sub-quests results in a player who is much more powerful at the end of those quests compared to a player who sticks to the narrow path of the main plot. So, games much grow dynamically challenging to keep the fun per dollar high.
Do you like your RPG’s to have a definite end and a high but capped level?
While full PlayStation Network service is expected to return by May 31, Eurogamer is 
In 1986 SNK released Ikari Warriors, it had all the makings of a classic title. Cool weapons, time strategies, two player action and a great challenge. We’re now seeing folks reproduce some of the essence of classic games by creating platformers like Little Big Planet and
🙂 Now that is a nice surprise! Glad to hear the old crew again.
@NOLF:
NOLF was a pretty cool game. The developers also released modding tools and a part of the source code as an SDK, and that created quite a community around it.
The game was geared around comedy; too bad they don’t make any games like that.
Don, it’s LithTech, not LeechTech.
@ Sony could be facing “serious trouble“:
Sony IS in serious trouble. PS3 never selling too well, then getting its root key exposed, then PSN getting hacked, then Vita tanks, then they change the EULA to have users dismiss their rights to class action lawsuits … man! 2011 was not the year for Sony.
@Take Two CEO states “strong become stronger” with next-gen transitions:
What’s a bit weird (and worrisome) is that the company is in a good shape because of its franchises. Really? No new games, just rehashes of the same?
@Developer Starbreeze fears Syndicate may be “too hard“:
Well, the difficulty can ramp up, as long as it ramps up instead of being a vertical wall of a learning curve.
Ninja Gaiden was ok-ish. Contra was also ok-ish. Granted, at the time I was playing those, I had all the time in the world to try again after a failure.
Now, emulators can create saves, so …
@1% violent videogame tax:
Good luck with that. 90% of the games are violent.
@Ubisoft cuts off legit players With DRM server migration:
Something tells me that the backlash they will get for this will not change their mind about this particular DRM system.
The article has said it all: so far, DRM only hampered legit customers.
That was a really nice surprise! I had never listened to a podcast made by them, but I really enjoyed it. Seeing as this was only published on a Sunday, is there still going to be an episode on Thursday?
@Developer Starbreeze fears Syndicate may be “too hard“: I agree. The least they can do is TRY to make an easy mode, or maybe they could implement a quick-save feature which is the only thing that keeps me playing hard games.
@Ubisoft cuts off legit players With DRM server migration: I have no idea why they are still trying with DRM. Can’t they try to find some other system, it’s already evident that DRM drives customers away.
When I heard Don’s voice before the intro music I smiled. Then Jennifer did the intro. Hard to believe that it was almost a year ago when the handover happened and the Episode 200 quiz happened.
I don’t get too much time to post up a comment normally, but I wanted to say thanks to the old crew for gracing my ears once again. As one of the first podcasts I subscribed to, the “married couple and their pal” were part of my weekly routine. I hope they get a moment to see the comments from the old listeners who loved them.
Not to say that the new crew are bad (except Paul – Hate mail!), but I haven’t found things flowing quite so well as you clearly can’t record in the same room like Derrick and Jennifer.
So from someone who has listened to all 250 episodes, thanks.
hahaa. I was right I guessed it right thanks jonah for bringing them back for this episode but I sure do hope they could stay permanently I’m not saying that the new guys suck ,just sayin I miss the old days. Do I get an award for guessing the special happening right? Jk
@sony could be facing big trouble
there’s no doubt that sony is indeed facing a big problem coz the ps3 the vita the issues and almost everything they have done last year was a failure….uhhmm maybe they should consider quitting and make tv’s instead
@ ubisoft drm server migration
This is the main reason I bought a cracked copy of assasins creed revelations.hahaaa advantages
Wish the old guys could really come back and join the new guys
It was great to hear Derrick, Jen, and Don’s voices again. This was a really, really pleasant surprise.
Hope all of you and your families are doing well.
computer specs anyone?,coz I’m still really curious about it
Thanks folks, it took a lot of effort and scheduling to find a date that all three of us could pull off-crazy lives lately.
Too bad it’s so tough to build a career/job out of podcasting otherwise doing these things all day (Leo Laporte style) would be nothing but a gift. Unfortunately, real life and other opportunities struggle to take up time.
I’m overjoyed that many of the original listeners keep going far after the core group of the show has moved on. Jennifer and I created the podcast roughly five years ago and to know there is still a team pushing on with it is pretty crazy.
Perhaps that’s what happens when people do it with a passion over a profit. Granted, profit is always nice too 😉