ruined and boring power systems

[J_Chemist]

Real Life has a pretty bad system.

 

[Shrimp_eater]

Well, bleeding doesn't happen until someone is in the negatives.
Most RPGs are Binary damage. Here. Let me quote my guide.


That is how a LITERAL RPG should work. But for some reason people add in debuffs and wound penalties. They don't EXIST unless it's a special attack. HPs are a reflection on, well, as you put it... plot armor.
Here. Let me quote some more stuff.



I think this applies to power systems in stories as well.

I think the problem with games like Borderlands (or the Diablos, some JRPGs, etc) is that the constant stream of new equipment and higher levels trivializes things and make everything feel like a numbers game. Then to compensate the player's new weapons with higher numbers, the dev needs to increase the health of the newer enemies, in worst cases level-scale older ones.

So you end up with something like this:
MC LvlX vs Enemy LvlX
MC deals 3 dps // Enemy has 30 HP.

MC LvlXXX vs Enemy LvlXXX
MC deals 300 dps // Enemy has 3000 HP.

Nothing changed mechanically.

I don't have much experience with D&D (most of it come's from BG3 really) but what i think makes things work there is that player's skills, equipments, stat increases are all relatively leveled throughout. Weapons of a certain class all deal similar damage, but "better" weapons come with increased chance of taking more HP or special properties. The characters ability and proficiency modifiers aren't too extreme either and ultimately still rely on luck, with most of their advantage being the increased chance of dealing higher damage.

 

[Aader]

I've not watched the Solo Leveling anime yet, but the game like system was designed by the architect so Sung Jinwoo could better understand it. The better he understands, the faster he grows, the easier to bring back the Shadow Monarch

 

[BearlyAlive]

The most boring system I have seen is the standard cultivation one. The closer you look the more it's just a tedious plain old leveling system, but with artsy names and an inbuilt afk clicker in the form of meditation. It even got the permanent stat up items you always see in RPGs in the form of pills. Instead of items being common, rare, legendary, or any scaling system, really, they just add more and more adjectives to to the descriptors...
How hard is it to not say "I am level 51" instead of "I'm a Long Dong practitioner of the Legendary Sect of Legends Gang Bang Cultivation Arts Ding Dong Realm Master" when both in actuality describe the same?

Also, every system that only interacts with one person, commonly the MC. I can stomach normal gamification, but those user-only things just scream cheap plot armor.

 

[TheEldritchGod]

How hard is it to not say "I am level 51" instead of "I'm a Long Dong practitioner of the Legendary Sect of Legends Gang Bang Cultivation Arts Ding Dong Realm Master" when both in actuality describe the same?

Just throw some change down a flight of stairs then name it after what you hear.

 

[NotaNuffian]

I think I have gripes with LitRPG and the stupid blue table that everyone has but somehow it is not consistent.

Because sometimes the stats fail to take into account of BS such as body type and weight and length of limbs etc, so somehow the author will write "the stats mean different things to different people." Bitch, you don't get a pass for trying and failing to gamify life and then pull this asterisk bull.

OR when it tries it darndest to make sure that "lower level can't beat higher level" mantra and then had MC and friends constantly dragging said mantra into the shed for some gangbang.

In the end, the true system of combat only works when the opposing forces fuck each other in the field, the author can fluff on how MC has mastered Monkey Steals Peach all he wants, it is only when the testicular carnage he caused on the field that truly displays the prowess.

 

[ZukoMee]

and then had MC and friends constantly dragging said mantra into the shed for some gangbang.

That's uh....quite the image there.

In the end, the true system of combat only works when the opposing forces fuck each other in the field, the author can fluff on how MC has mastered Monkey Steals Peach all he wants, it is only when the testicular carnage he caused on the field that truly displays the prowess.

Dude!!XD

Just throw some change down a flight of stairs then name it after what you hear.

Lol. I knew this old Korean guy back in NYC who told me that he named all four of his kids by tossing them down the stairs and listening to what sounds they made.

 

[ConansWitchBaby]

Litrpg's with any type of attributes. Those numbers are always useless.

Systems where powers just become discount psychic constructs. Everyone and their mother can make a healing spell out of their respective elements. Want a dragon? Just shape whatever type of junk manipulation into the shape of one. Magic is just psychic powers with extra steps.

 

[Notadate]

I think the problem really started after people began adapting RPG systems from table-top-based RPG videogames. Some of them do work very well in terms of balacing a game, but it sort of became a slippery slope from there.

Imagine you have an isometric RPG that uses guns. The higher your "gun-skill", the more damage you deal. Makes sense in a isometric (or table-top) perspective because ultimately you're only dealing with the act of shooting as an abstraction. So the higher damage you deal can be attributed to your character being able to use a gun better the higher the skill level.

But then RPG makers tried translating this into FPS games, like Fallout 3 onwards. There you are actually pointing a gun, and shooting people in the arms, legs, head, etc. That previous abstraction makes no sense anymore because the player became the agent rather than just a decision-maker. Why is a bullet to the head, from the same weapon, suddenly doing more damage because you are "more skilled" now? It's the type of logic that went over the game designers heads, or perhaps just ignored because they couldn't be bothered adapting the systems properly.

stop making me think im you
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fun fact the thing above ive posted was a middle finger to system stats. I really hate stat systems

 

[ElijahRyne]

tell me examples of power systems that you don’t like or think they are ruined. for me, Domain expansion from jjk. It's funny when you only have 3 battles in the entire manga where de is completely used. Imagine that in hxh, they will tell us about nen. But we will see it in action only in the finale, or like that but in Naruto. bruh. I also don't like demon fruits from one piece, or power system like solo leveling. I don't like they concept. If you have examples tell me, and why you think it's bad

9/10 times elemental magic is boring. Like, who cares about fireballs and all that jazz, especially when the magic is almost solely used in combat. That guy over there has earth magic but, you are telling me, doesn’t use it to make their life easier? 8/10 times power systems based of of a litRPG system are boring. Killed 5 slimes with stick bash, kill a thousand more for stick bash+. A training montage with no stakes thus ensues, to add unneeded and unnecessary padding. Better yet, unneeded and unnecessary padding through montages or 5 or so chapter arcs is what the litRPG power system is based off of at least 80% of the time, imo.

 

[Notadate]

9/10 times elemental magic is boring. Like, who cares about fireballs and all that jazz, especially when the magic is almost solely used in combat. That guy over there has earth magic but, you are telling me, doesn’t use it to make their life easier? 8/10 times power systems based of of a litRPG system are boring. Killed 5 slimes with stick bash, kill a thousand more for stick bash+. A training montage with no stakes thus ensues, to add unneeded and unnecessary padding. Better yet, unneeded and unnecessary padding through montages or 5 or so chapter arcs is what the litRPG power system is based off of at least 80% of the time, imo.

Stick bash
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Create a force full bash to add upon to a stick bash

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Stick bash+
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Manifest the stick bash, make it come true. Release force like your the stick.

- - -

I am the stick bash
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You are one with the stick bash, the force of all stick bash's are you. Refine control over the act of releasing stick bashes.

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I actually enjoy stories where the mc has limited power set, and has to grow around it. Learning how to effectively use it.