Board 8 > Name games where it feels the best to level up in

(+) Yeah! (+)

Do you ever play a game where you level up and it just feels... "blah"? Like, or sure, you get a few increases in your stats, but you don't really feel like you're getting stronger so it's meaningless. Maybe you get a new spell or ability every once in a while, but it's not that exciting when you only get a new spell every five levels or something.

So what about the opposite? What are examples of games where most of the levels feel great and impactful?

I thought about this as I was replaying Fire Emblem. You level up a lot in that game, and because most of the time even a single stat point is a huge improvement for a character you get really hyped when you reach a new level, especially if you roll well on your growth rates. You might think that the fact you can roll badly (even get a level up with NO stat increases!) might make leveling up feel bad, but it actually has the opposite effect for me. Yeah, it's not uncommon to get a completely trash level, but that just makes the good levels feel even better, and it makes you look forward to the next level up in hopes of "making up" for a bad one. The weird thing is, in later games in the series where growth rates are a lot better, level ups become more and more boring, because you get a "standard" level up more often, and the enemy's stats are balanced to compensate for it, so it's harder to get that feeling of getting a fantastic level that makes your character feel absurdly more powerful than they should be.

Legit my first thought was Fire Emblem.

Dark Souls for sure

A lot of Western RPGs have lower caps than JRPGs to me so they all feel satisfying on that front

dnd

Dying Light games are good for this. When you reach a new level, the weapons improve and you can kill zombies more easily. You go from struggling to take down a simple biter to hacking through multiple in one swing. You also become more capable of taking down powerful zombies, so the volatile that was certain death at level one becomes highly dangerous but potentially killable.

Symphony of the Night

Vampire Survivors, maybe?

Fire Emblem for sure.

First legit thought was Earthbound because every level feels earned and there can be so many changes from enemies running away or really cool new moves, and the music is sooo good.

But Fire Emblem is probably the best answer. Getting a really good spread of stats on a level-up is the best feeling.

Pokmon by a gazillion miles

First thought was definitely FE, and yeah specifically the ones where the growth rates aren't busted.

I was going to say definitely NOT Fire Emblem because you can get levels with literally 0 stat increases

Stuff like FFX is the best imo because you can choose what to do with it, so if you have a build in mind it feels like working towards a goal

I would actually say non-RPGs like Ori or Just Cause or Ubisoft games, because each level gives you a significant new gameplay change. But it's also a relatively minor part of the game, so you never feel like you're missing out by taking different abilities, or feel like a chore to level up.

Pokmon Go

I like the ones with a skill tree, and especially if the skill tree is small enough that every new skill point matters. Hogwarts Legacy is an example of this.

WoW Hardcore (1 life, permadeath).

Currently at level 42 and its been an absolute fight to get here. Every level feels massive.

My first thought was Super Mario RPG. I'm sure there are better answers but the fanfare that comes with it, plus watching your stats increase and choosing how to increase them further just...feels good.

Etrian Odyssey's my pick. If you've got a plan, seeing that plan get ever closer to reality is such a good feeling.

Any TTRPG is a really good option too. Only 20 levels means each one has some impact, depending on the system of course.

Grapple_M1 posted...

My first thought was Super Mario RPG. I'm sure there are better answers but the fanfare that comes with it, plus watching your stats increase and choosing how to increase them further just...feels good.

Plus the level up theme rocks

I have taken pictures of levels ups for Fire Emblem 3 houses. (okay, so most of them were of Felix, but he gets good levels)

Super Mario RPG was my first thought as well

BlueCrystalTear posted...

Pokmon Go

Is this a joke
Like maybe in the first 30 levels or something I dunno
But once you reach the higher levels and it takes you weeks or months to level up and all you get are trash rewards that you throw away half of them...yeah

Vampire Survivors is good. Super Mario RPG and the Mario and Luigi games are all great, and I think the sound design in Pokemon always used to do it for me. Fire Emblem is great too.

JeffreyRaze posted...

Etrian Odyssey's my pick. If you've got a plan, seeing that plan get ever closer to reality is such a good feeling.

Any TTRPG is a really good option too. Only 20 levels means each one has some impact, depending on the system of course.

This is my answer I think. The whole thing top to bottom-- though table top RPG is probably my #1 if we aren't tailoring responses to a VG board.

Legit don't understand some of the responses in here though. Symphony of the Night? It's just a brief freeze. Fire Emblem can be cool I guess when you get a wall of +1s but it's such a mixed bag. Completely average level up or worse is deflating. I guess there's that anticipation though.

Shining Force, not the series but the first game. Your promoted characters gets some really random spikes in a few levels.

That might actually be the reason why I have called myself Zylo online for the last 24 years.

World of Warcraft

not joking

It was really satisfying grinding levels in Undertale to the point you stop getting into random encounters. :)

Dragon Warrior 1

EverQuest, just because of how big a fight it is to earn them. (And subsequently, WoW, but far less so.)

Anything based on old-school D&D where the level cap is 10 or 20.

Fallout 3 & New Vegas, where a level-up allows you to immediately assign a pile of skill points. ME1 had that, too, but it wasn't quite as good.

And basically anything that had a particularly memorable sound effect or jingle.

First thought was Breath of Fire 2 at least the early game. You have a bit of freedom in where to go early, but the wrong way has some tougher monsters. Leveling up to barely beat them at first and then start having an easier time feels nice.

Nanis23 posted...

Is this a joke
Like maybe in the first 30 levels or something I dunno
But once you reach the higher levels and it takes you weeks or months to level up and all you get are trash rewards that you throw away half of them...yeah

I'm with BCT on this one. Every level past 40 feels very much earned and yeah the rewards don't do anything, but the status being a bigger number feels important.

Rocket League.

The game is way more fun when you reach higher rank.
Way less fun when you lose that said rank...

Gloomhaven / Frosthaven

World of Warcraft for sure (the Classic versions) (especially Hardcore, as Accel mentioned).

Your stats don't actually increase much (actually, hardly at all).

However, something even more important happens. Your "% chance to hit" when attacking an enemy, is mostly calculated by comparing your level to the enemy's level. If you're 3 levels below the target, it feels like you can barely hit it. Meanwhile the enemy will deal massively increased damage to you.

But each time you level up, your "% chance to hit" goes waaaay up, against the same target. You can REALLY feel it, each time.

Levelling up once, can be the difference between a Quest feeling like a dangerous slog, or a walk in the park.

(Also the sound and visual effects are some of the all time best.)

(Also you buy new abilities/spells on even-numbered levels, and that can often be an absolute game changer!)

The Borderlands games.
I remember looking forward to level up a lot. Because of a few reasons -

1.Skill Tree - Every time you level up you get a skill point to spend on a skill on the skill tree, sometimes it's boring "enhance a already known skill" and sometimes you learn a new skill altogther. But even the "boring" enhance is good as most characters skill trees has great synergy between skills

2.New Weapons - when you pick up a strong weapon it sometimes can be overleveled and you can't use it until you reach that minimum level the weapon requires

3.Enemy level - enemies have levels too and the games has relative balancing which means the higher the distance between the player level and the enemies the less/more damage they make.
So there is a huge difference if you are 2 levels below a boss level or 2 levels above

Sheep007 posted...

Vampire Survivors is good.

Seanchan posted...

Vampire Survivors, maybe?

Came to say this.

yeah Borderlands was my #2. the skill tree is pretty great.

redrocket posted...

World of Warcraft

not joking

came in hoping someone had said this, good work redrocket (and Epyo)

Anything with a skill tree like Final Fantasy X or KOTOR is really satisfying.

mnk posted...

It was really satisfying grinding levels in Undertale to the point you stop getting into random encounters. :)

You could say it feels lovely.