Enemy Balancing

[Lore]

Hey folks,

Just a quick question to ask - How do you guys go about balancing your enemies? I've tried a few different ways but they just don't seem to work well, like they'll be too weak or too strong as per the character level.

What do you guys do to work these out?

 

[Dad3353]

The only 'method' I use is by playing the Game, over and over. I'm rather in the minimalist camp (one could read that as 'lazy',and that's fine...); I'm not overly worried about having things 'exact'. My Enemies are rather the standard ones (Slime, Bat etc...); it's only really the Mini-Bosses that I customise. I just throw in whatever inspires me, try it out a fair few times, and adjust a little if required. If the Hero is too weak, he'll get whipped; if he's too strong, it's the enemy that cops it. That's as far as I take it.
I've a whole series of Enemies, in general, for random Encounters, and I chuck 'em in using Regions so as to have the strength I desire in the right places on the World Map. My enemies, such as Trolls for the Caves, are duplicated as Blue, Green, Red etc, each with a bit more 'punch' than the preceding one. I group them into Troops of one, two or more, so there is a whole range of enemies to be encountered. I don't find it critical to have anything more refined than that; there's a factor chance involved, and if things get tough..? Well, the Hero had better stock up on Potions, that's all. I keep it simple, by necessity as much as anything else.
Disclaimer: I'm lousy at Games, myself, and find few folks willing to go to the trouble of testing out my stuff, so I tend not to waste my time over-thinking these things. It is what it is.

 

[Lore]

The only 'method' I use is by playing the Game, over and over. I'm rather in the minimalist camp (one could read that as 'lazy',and that's fine...); I'm not overly worried about having things 'exact'. My Enemies are rather the standard ones (Slime, Bat etc...); it's only really the Mini-Bosses that I customise. I just throw in whatever inspires me, try it out a fair few times, and adjust a little if required. If the Hero is too weak, he'll get whipped; if he's too strong, it's the enemy that cops it. That's as far as I take it.
I've a whole series of Enemies, in general, for random Encounters, and I chuck 'em in using Regions so as to have the strength I desire in the right places on the World Map. My enemies, such as Trolls for the Caves, are duplicated as Blue, Green, Red etc, each with a bit more 'punch' than the preceding one. I group them into Troops of one, two or more, so there is a whole range of enemies to be encountered. I don't find it critical to have anything more refined than that; there's a factor chance involved, and if things get tough..? Well, the Hero had better stock up on Potions, that's all. I keep it simple, by necessity as much as anything else.
Disclaimer: I'm lousy at Games, myself, and find few folks willing to go to the trouble of testing out my stuff, so I tend not to waste my time over-thinking these things. It is what it is.

@Dad3353, thank you for your insight. You seem to be very much like me when I've been doing my testing. This is definitely an option. :D

 

[Jiriki9]

Well it's certainly a hard part to me. Especially since what IS balanced is a very subjective thing. I, for one, am not one who wants too much challenge, because if I loose the same fight 3 or more times in a row, I start losing motivation and thus, interest. Other people though think that a battle won on the first try is boring. ...all about the perspective.
For your question, well, probably testing is the only true method. You might be able to calculate a bit before, though. One way to go for it is to estimate which level the hero is when facing the enemy and taking the stats of that level as the basis. Or, put otherwise: The party put against "itself", enemies with the same stats and skills, should be equal, right? It then is up to randomness and/or tactic who wins that battle. From that on, you can shape the enemies in the directions you want. Of course, this definitely does not go around testing!