balancing skills/equipment - and weather penalties should be used

[Crimson Dragon Inc.]

hi everyone this is a little bit of a touchy topic -BALANCE-

now before i get into details i would like to state i love to make my games very challanging, so when i balance i balance it to where the game is beatable but still very challangeing

when i make skills and equipment i always run in to a rut, cuase i prefer functionality over straight stats/pure power, but i always have pieces of gear that give straight stats or skills that are pure power for players that prefer it

but the balance is always hard to maintain in this due to pure power and straight stats generally start to out do functionality late game

which is why i installed a system for both that allows both types of players to enjoy the difficulty with out either side having a large advantange over the other (though i do design some bosses/dungeons with functionality in mind and others with pure power and straight stats)

basicly the gear with functionality is weaker but its effects balance it to being just as strong (poisen sword will be weaker on paper then the steel sword, but has the ability to poisen enemies which does more damage over time, or the lightning sword though weaker it offers a chance of stun and paralyze)  so that the player can pick and choose how they want thier character to fight

same with skills, with the exception of certain super moves that require 100 tp to use skills are generally either pure power or spells that deal damage and throw out status effects and/or buffs and/or debuffs and/or has an element (example would be big bang is a pure power ability dealing out heavy damage to all enemies, but meteor shower has the fire, earth, and spirit elements and has a chance of stun, and burns but deals less damage per use though both cost the same)

now i started implementing passive skills into this mix, using moogle_x passive skill plug in

here is where the problems set in

for skills i want to make one that greatly increases critical hit rate and critical hit damage, but i want it to come at a great cost, i was thinking of it greatly lowering eva and the defenses/resistances of the character that equips it..... but are the penalties too steep or is this a great gambit skill

the same goes for certain gears, greatly increasing one aspect but at a penalty at great loss in others.... 

would people use these or would they just be a waste of space in the game?

how would you answer this question

also just since the topic of balance is here.... if your using a stat distribution system, instead of gaining straight boosts with a level, what are good stats to start a level 1 character at?

 

[Crimson Dragon Inc.]

wow i thought this would of gotton alot of comments... how wrong i was..... if no one comments about it in three days......