Most RPGs feature some sort of system where characters gain power as the game progresses, allowing them to fight more powerful monsters. As with player equipment, there are some games that do this well and others that make it a confusing mess.
Games that do this well include, by no means an all-inclusive list, some of the Final Fantasy games, Mass Effect, and the Baldur's Gate series. Games that do this poorly include The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion and Final Fantasy 8 and 12. I'm sure Final Fantasy 13 does it poorly as well, but I haven't played that one.
What separates the first series of games from the latter? I'll compare Final Fantasy 9 with Final Fantasy 8 to show how 9 is far superior.
Both games feature characters that level up automatically after the turn-based battles. However, Final Fantasy 8 has the additional quandary of having Guardian Forces, or GFs-which can be summoned during combat to attack the enemy. There are quite a few GFs in the game, which more than doubles the number of characters you have to gain experience for in order to compete with enemies. In Final Fantasy 9, all you have to do is gain experience for the main characters of the story, simplifying the process greatly.
Both games handle how abilities, which can range from stealing from enemies to get items to casting spells, are learned. In Final Fantasy 8, many abilities are taught by GFs, which have to be leveled to learn these abilities. Then, any character with that GF can use the abilities it knows. Some characters have to have books purchased for them to teach specific abilities, such as the tricks for Rinoa's dog that it can use for her limit breaks. Lastly, any character can use magic, but they have to "draw" the magic from enemies during battle, at a rate of about 5-10 units per use of the draw command, or from various points around the world, which only provide 5-10 units of the spell and then run out for a period of time. This is tedious because when you find a new magic spell on an enemy you have to spend 3 hours drawing it out so all your characters have enough of it to go around. You can only hold 100 units of each spell as well. Additionally, this magic is used to bolster the regular abilities of each character. For example, you can put the spell "cure", which heals a player's characters, into their health stat to provide a boost to health. This boost depends on how much of the cure magic you have on hand drawn from the enemy. So, when you use magic, it depletes your statistics as well.
If all of this isn't confusing enough, whenever you change characters you have to move all of your drawn magic and GFs around to each of them so that they will be competent. If you fail to do this, they will be worthless. Additionally, unlike most of the Final Fantasy games, monsters become stronger as your characters level. So spending time leveling up doesn't really give you a boost if you're having trouble with a particular boss fight or area-the monsters will still be roughly the same difficulty. This entire system is the reason I never finished Final Fantasy XIII-it was needlessly complicated and forced the player to put a lot of tedious work into each character.
In comparison, Final Fantasy IX is much easier to understand. Characters level automatically and each character has specific tasks they are good at. The main character, Zidane, is the only one who can steal items. Vivi is a mage who casts offensive magic. Steiner is a knight who is good at attacking with his sword. These basic facts aren't changed with the leveling system, instead their aptitude for their specific role is improved.
As for how abilities are gained, the system is fairly easy as well. Every weapon and piece of armor has abilities on them that the characters can learn through acquiring AP-which are gained from fighting enemies. Once an ability is learned, you can change the piece of equipment for something better, but you still keep the option to equip the ability on your character's menu. For instance, if you learn antibody, which makes a character immune to poison, from a piece of wrist armor, when you remove the wrist you can still choose to use the antibody ability. Every character has a specific amount of points available to allocate to equipping these abilities. So it becomes a tactical choice of which abilities to select. If you're fighting monsters with poison attacks, it's a good idea to equip every character with the antibody ability. Monsters also do not level up along with your characters, which means that if you're struggling with a fight you can go back and strengthen your party to progress further.
As I hope you can see from my summary, Final Fantasy 9 has a far superior system in place for character development. Stick with systems that are easy to pick up and logical and you increase the player's enjoyment of a game. No one likes to have to spend three hours in the menu trying to customize their characters when it could take three seconds.
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