Equipment Levels...(read on for more detail)

[VertigoAffliction]

I remember playing an RPG that had leveling up involving ONLY equipment, and in this game, it was a weapon, armor and accessory. The weapon would increase attacking ability, the armor increased defensive ability, and the accessory would increase EITHER Stamina (HP), Force (Mana), or Constitution (Durability which also affects how much one can carry).

When the equipment levels up, the relative stats increase, but if unequipped, those stats drop. Also, unequipping would often lead to the equipment level dropping back to zero. There were some equipment that retained its' level, or if you had a specific item on hand, all equipment would retain its' level.

In the game, there were certain things the player could do to increase base stats, such as side quests ('Errands'), but usually those were just as tedious as the main quests, but getting one's Constitution to 10 this way would ensure one could carry enough money ('Malt') to be able to buy 'Hemp Ki', which was one of a handful of armors that increased all stats, Constitution by 3, Stamina and Force by 4, Attack and Defense by 3. However, getting this far was an extra four to six hours of extra gameplay.

From what I remember, the max level of any given equipment was 20, but getting the equipment from 0 to 4 took a good long time to do. I don't know the formula for how the equipment increased stats, and it almost seemed random to a degree, but wearing a level six 'Majir Brooch' made the game rather easy by providing an extra 36 Stamina on top of the 24 Stamina I already had (you start with 15).

Anyway, long story short, it seems like a good mechanic, if implemented well. However, would it be worth using?

 

[JtheDuelist]

@VertigoAffliction Without a doubt, the best example of this in a RPG is Monster Hunter- the character only gets stronger based on the gear it uses (weapon, helmet, chestplate, vambraces, belt, boots, and talisman) as there is no level-up system (unless you count the Hunter Rank system used in the online portion of older MH titles), forcing the player to actually learn the necessary skills needed to play rather than grind until brokenness.

 

[zebby]

Leveling up equipment instead of characters is actually an interesting concept. And if done right, it could give your game a more strategic touch. I'm thinking about sharing high-level equipment between characters if you have a game that introduces a lot of characters throughout the game. With equipment leveling instead of characters it would be much easier to balance since you don't have to anticipate what level you want to introduce those new characters at. And it would make them usable instantly (provided that the equipment doesn't actually drop back down once unequipped). It would surely emphasize strategy over raw power, especially when combined with a clever effectiveness system, crafting/forging and so on.

 

[Adventurer_inc.]

Equipment levels are actually an interesting topic.

A perfect example of a game that is not this is "Darkest Dungeon." Where equipment is fairly disposable and all of the player focus is on each individual member. Weapon and Armor are barely aren't even given a slot and work more like "upgrades" on the members. However, members are extremely fragile, while money is not. According to Darkest Dungeon design discussion, the reason for this was so that when you dispose of the member because they have become too broken to be useful anymore after you built them up, you'll feel something.

That actually got me thinking about why most JRPG went with the design choice of disposable equipment while keeping characters highly customizable with such features as skills trees. The equipment almost always compliments the character and never the other way around. One of the reason might be to keep player focus on the character and their stories. The designers might be attempting to keep the player invested in their character and in turn, the story designers are trying to tell.

I think this would actually explain why equipment dropping back to level zero was implemented in that certain game. The developer is trying to remind you that their characters are not disposables. Feel free to disagree.

 

[VertigoAffliction]

The game itself has you playing as a woman (or, definitely feminine in appearance), but it is primarily a solo party game, much akin to RPGs like Faria, or LoZ. You occasionally have followers, but they do not participate in battle (although in some cases they do have a meter that functions much like Stamina and if it depletes, even if you still have Stamina left, it is Game Over).

From what I recall, the game was Korean (or maybe Chinese?), but poorly translated to English, so a lot of the text was garbage/impossible to read and comprehend.

One thing about the equipment itself is that some of the equipment could actually drop in level if it was made of 'inferior' materials (this mostly applied to poorly cobbled iron/leather/wood or anything with the 'poor' quality). How the equipment drops in level is a mystery because the formula is not clear for either gaining nor decreasing; there's no UI showing any sort of progress. If an equip changes levels, it will tell you. If it does so in battle or post battle, it will display the equip that changed levels, and a brief summary of stat changes, if any (sometimes the stats don't change at all). In battle, it shows this above the enemy line, post battle, in the summary text box. Outside of battle, it will just show the icon of the equip that changed level, and the level it changed to.

I never got far in this game. There's a boss battle that has the boss going all the way down to minimal Stamina, and then by some force of magic, gets fully restored. I unfortunately cannot find/acquire the item I believe is required to subdue the magic, so it is unbeatable. But, the boss allowed me to level up all my equips by four levels before I gave up on trying to beat it to the dirt, which did make dealing damage easier.

@Adventurer_inc. Actually, if the function for the equipment was for character development, that wouldn't surprise me, though given the way the game works altogether, I think character development was meant to be secondary to gameplay, and long grinding sessions. You can save anywhere and at almost any time, though you have a long waiting screen for any given save, not unlike in Mario Paint (though the time is significantly longer than twenty-two seconds and the music is mainly soft white noise).

I wish I had a title for you, but I can say that it was a DOS game.