Poll of the Day > Level 99 shouldn't be a thing

(+) Yeah! (+)

Level 100 starts another digit but how are devs going to deny players the full Lv.100 experience?

Same thing with 999 or 9999 if caps go that high.

i prefer level 69

wink wink

Coding limitations?

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Level 99 is iconic, that's why it's the maximum level in most games
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Lots of times they only code in two spots for the digits

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Ogurisama posted...

Lots of times they only code in two spots for the digits

This. Those old Final Fantasy games were made for the Famicom in the mid to late 80s. And they were big games for the time too. They had to make every byte count, so they made the decisions to only let the character level go up to 99 and to cap the health and damage at 999 and later 9999.

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Nothing will be as silly as Mystic Quest's cap of 41.

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papercup posted...

This. Those old Final Fantasy games were made for the Famicom in the mid to late 80s. And they were big games for the time too. They had to make every byte count, so they made the decisions to only let the character level go up to 99 and to cap the health and damage at 999 and later 9999.

The memory use for 100 and 99 is the same.
110 0011 is 99.
110 0100 is 100. Same amount of memory.
Max memory limit to hold 9999 would also hold 16, 383

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SinisterSlay posted...

The memory use for 100 and 99 is the same.
110 0011 is 99.
110 0100 is 100. Same amount of memory.
Max memory limit to hold 9999 would also hold 16, 383

Visually, however, you have to code in a display with additional digits. If one of those digits is almost never going to be used, it's not worth the effort and visual clutter, so you might as well stick with one less than the even multiple of ten. Even if you get into using scientific notation, you're still going to want to cap the number of digits on the exponent so the number will fit in the display you design.

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SinisterSlay posted...

The memory use for 100 and 99 is the same.
110 0011 is 99.
110 0100 is 100. Same amount of memory.
Max memory limit to hold 9999 would also hold 16, 383

I understand this, but as adjl said

adjl posted...

Visually, however, you have to code in a display with additional digits. If one of those digits is almost never going to be used, it's not worth the effort and visual clutter, so you might as well stick with one less than the even multiple of ten. Even if you get into using scientific notation, you're still going to want to cap the number of digits on the exponent so the number will fit in the display you design.

Again, we're talking early 1980s home computer technology here. And really the idea behind FF was a way to play what is essentially D&D on that technology, which was no small feat for the time, and with very limited memory, with large detailed sprites. Every. Byte. Counts.

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Google how a double is calculated. It's fascinating.

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That's partly funny to me, because DnD tends to cap at 20, FFI at 50, and most of the FF games at 99. *shrugs*

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stopping at 99... would be a UI issue (not a memory issue) as others have already said

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I prefer it stop at 99 otherwise it is most likely one of those games with insane levels and bosses you can only beat at those levels. Just not enough time to properly play a game like that.
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Revelation34 posted...

I prefer it stop at 99 otherwise it is most likely one of those games with insane levels and bosses you can only beat at those levels. Just not enough time to properly play a game like that.

I mean, Disgaea (perhaps the quintessential example of a game with insane levels) can be beaten quite comfortably at ~level 85, despite the level cap being 9999 and there being a prestige system of sorts that allows you to store some 165,000 additional levels worth of stats. Even in games with massive level caps that are designed to offer a ton of grinding, you can usually get a reasonable experience without that full time investment. When level caps are high, you also tend to get levels much faster to account for that. Developers generally recognize that making necessary leveling take too long will turn players off of their game.

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adjl posted...

I mean, Disgaea (perhaps the quintessential example of a game with insane levels) can be beaten quite comfortably at ~level 85, despite the level cap being 9999 and there being a prestige system of sorts that allows you to store some 165,000 additional levels worth of stats. Even in games with massive level caps that are designed to offer a ton of grinding, you can usually get a reasonable experience without that full time investment. When level caps are high, you also tend to get levels much faster to account for that. Developers generally recognize that making necessary leveling take too long will turn players off of their game.

I don't think I ever got far in either game I played (1 and 2). I just think TRPGs take too long to play in general now. Turn based/action RPGs are faster battles. I do want to get the Disgaea games on Steam anyway though.
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I dont mind level 99

the 9999 HP is especially iconic though. You cant do wrong with that

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Hyrule Warriors has a cap of 255...

FrozenBananas posted...

the 9999 HP is especially iconic though. You cant do wrong with that

I like this, too. I like 9999 for HP more than 10000...
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You guys sure are smart. I wish I got into programming. I have a Python for dummies book on my wishlist, but I don't know if I'd be able to learn or what I'd be able to do with it that'd be useful. So it's just been sitting on my wishlist.


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SpeedDemon20 posted...

You guys sure are smart. I wish I got into programming. I have a Python for dummies book on my wishlist, but I don't know if I'd be able to learn or what I'd be able to do with it that'd be useful. So it's just been sitting on my wishlist.

I prefer cobras.
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Should we just go from 98 to 100??

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