Scaling Enemies

[Suffolk]

I had a thought and was wondering what other people's opinions were on the idea of scaling enemies, or other difficulties in the game based on the level of the player.

I am not sure if it is possible in RMMV, but I have liked it in other games because it allows for the player to go anywhere in the world without being limited to certain zones because they are not strong enough to fight there, or the content is too low level to be fun.

What are your thoughts on this game mechanic?

 

[Alaxandir]

I had a thought and was wondering what other people's opinions were on the idea of scaling enemies, or other difficulties in the game based on the level of the player.

I am not sure if it is possible in RMMV, but I have liked it in other games because it allows for the player to go anywhere in the world without being limited to certain zones because they are not strong enough to fight there, or the content is too low level to be fun.

What are your thoughts on this game mechanic?

It's a mechanic more suited to an MMO environment imho. It encourages grinding, and grinding as a core mechanic isn't a positive thing IMO.
Yanfly has a plugin which can accomplish this, but I think it's weird to have a wolf be as strong as it is at level 1 to be at level 99 for example.
I think it could be used successfully in an RPG Maker game which was free-form exploration I.e pseuedo elder scrolls. But it's tricky to pull off right in this engine.

 

[Suffolk]

I'm not sure why it would encourage grinding? That assumes that there is a reward for the grind. If The enemies got easier after the grind, then the grind would be worth it. In this case, the enemies would be just as hard to defeat even after you grind out a couple levels.

I think the opposite would be true in that grinding becomes pointless and the only reason to level up would be to use better gear.

I knew a guy who beat Skyrim on level 1. Since the leveling process is manual in that game, he just never did it and was able to beat the last boss very easily.

 

[MinisterJay]

I personally like having a player IQ check when it comes to character level versus a much higher leveled monsters. If a player has a band of first level characters, and they want to fight a pair of irritated hill giants, when they have opportunity to not fight, I let them. Maybe they will learn, and play better after seeing the Game Over screen.

 

[CT_Bolt]

I had a thought and was wondering what other people's opinions were on the idea of scaling enemies, or other difficulties in the game based on the level of the player. What are your thoughts on this game mechanic?

Honestly I have thought of doing this before myself, so I do like the idea. It just really depends on the game & how it is utilized.
Like @Alaxandir has mentioned above generally best for a MMO but this could work nice for others as well.

I am not sure if it is possible in RMMV

Of course it's possible, anything is possible with RMMV as long as you pursue your dream to the fullest.
Here are some plugin's that would help you achieve this.

Spoiler: Plugins

LevelAgnostic by Reedo: Click Here to View
Scales the primary parameters of enemies according to party level

ICF-Soft Enemy Selector by Reedo: Click Here to View
This plugin allows you to change enemies before battle starts.

Static EXP by @Mr. Trivel: Click Here to View
Makes every level require same amount of EXP. Enemies give exp depending on actor level.

Extra Enemy Drops by Yanfly: Click Here to View
This plugin allows you to add more than 3 items at drop. In addition to having more than 3 drops, this plugin also allows you to expand the enemy drops to have conditional drops, drops that will only appear before the player if certain conditions are met.

Enemy Levels by Yanfly: Click Here to view
This plugin allows enemies to function off of a leveling system. An enemy’s level will be increased relative to the player under specific rulings and will increase its stats based on its level.
Enemy Level Calculator created by FlyingDream: Click Here to View

Enemy Classes by Hime: Click Here to View
Allows you to assign a class to an enemy. Parameters and actions available are determined by enemy class and levels.

[SSG] Difficulty Setting by Heartbreak61: Click Here to View
This plugin allows you to set difficulties that affects enemies stats, exp, gold, and shop price. You can choose wether to display difficulty setting on Game Option screen or not (default: on). In case you don't want to, you can switch difficulty levels using Event Plugin Command.

[hr][/hr]
Personally I'd say go for it, I'd love to see what you come up with.

PS. I might suggest a better topic title for this. I originally thought this meant visually scaling the enemy. Something like "Increasing enemy difficulty" might be more suitable.

 

[Companion Wulf]

I think scaling enemy levels to match characters' levels is a good idea, but not every enemy, even if the player has to go back to a lower-level area later in the game. That's where the grinding would be...well, a grind! Perhaps more powerful versions of the enemies are more appropriate: wolves at early levels are the equivalent of wolf cubs and later in the game they become wolf alpha males/females. I like games that do that more than the majority that insist that you have to fight lower-level enemies with one hit each before you can move on.

 

[CT_Bolt]

I think scaling enemy levels to match characters' levels is a good idea, but not every enemy, even if the player has to go back to a lower-level area later in the game. That's where the grinding would be...well, a grind! Perhaps more powerful versions of the enemies are more appropriate: wolves at early levels are the equivalent of wolf cubs and later in the game they become wolf alpha males/females. I like games that do that more than the majority that insist that you have to fight lower-level enemies with one hit each before you can move on.

Great answer! I second all of this.

 

[LTN Games]

Yup I second that as well :) In my game I literally only have about 8 enemies so I had to be creative and make variants of the same enemy as well as making unique troops. So early game you could fight 1-2 low level enemies and as you progress you encounter more troops with more than 2 enemies to make it a bit tougher, then as you progress more the enemies change either color or just names and they're are the stronger variants. I really like messing around in the troops area because you can come up with some pretty unique battles with ranged difficulties.

 

[BlueByt3]

fighting less often but more intense with higher level reward could brush away the feeling of "grinding".