Gain XP during battle? (MZ)

[bridiogames]

So I have this idea where the player starts each battle at level 1, but can gain XP during the battle. After the battle the player's XP is removed, meaning the next battle they will continue to be level 1. Enemies still level up like normal. The player has to use items, abilities not learned through leveling up, and other tricks in order to beat the tougher enemies. Most battles will have more then one enemy, so the player can kill the weaker enemies in order to level up and beat the stronger enemies.

Implementing this I think is simple; I just have to manually change the XP after killing the enemy, then reset the XP when the battle ends. Though I'm fairly new to RPG maker, so there may be some problem that I just don't see right now.

If anyone reading this has any cool ideas for this, let me know. Any ideas about skills, mechanics, enemy skills/behaviors, or anything else I would love to hear. I also want to hear if this is even a cool idea. Maybe this sounds boring to play, idk. I love writing stories and I want to make a fun experience, and my biggest struggle is finding that mechanic that would draw people in. Maybe this is it, maybe it isn't. I think it's a cool idea, but what do I know?

Right now I have some ideas, like letting the player summon allies that can attack for the player, but can also be attacked by the player so the player can gain XP. Also abilities/items that boost attack at low hp, that let the player survive at one hp, that boost XP, etc. I also had an idea where enemies later on could decrease the level of the player if they think the player's level is too high.

 

[TheoAllen]

Combat is an investment. Except if your game has a fixed amount of combat that you can only engage it once in which each of them is basically a "puzzle game", then please no. Level and experience exist for the reason to reward the player for basically "I already win this battle, please make it easier".

The idea doesn't sound too bad if it makes each battle has a strategy (by strategy, I mean picking which enemy to kill first). But at some point, it could become an annoyance when you're playing long enough and you wanted an easier time (level and experience plays in this part).

So, are you having a fixed amount of battles or it is endless/grindable?

 

[MarxMayhem]

Personally, I don't see that system being enjoyable in the long run. Players would understand that if a powerful skill or other effect requires meeting certain conditions in battle before using, but to outright gate their overall efficiency behind grinding, and then losing that efficiency at the end of each battle? That makes combat a chore, specially if it's reduced to "more enemies = tougher fights".

The concept has some merits, and it can be reworked into something more enjoyable. One example is reworking the TP function to increase or decrease a battler's stats depending on how high or low it is, respectively. They can be better at 1 stat while becoming worse in another, and higher TP = higher TGR, etc., opening risk vs reward plays and imo a better way to buy players in the idea of making battlers stronger as battle time progress.

 

[Vivisecta]

I feel like this concept can work easily as a roguelike/roguelite! Instead of one battle, make the enemies come in waves (like an arena), and for every amount of waves the player clears they gain permanent upgrades or money they can use to buy things outside of the arena!

 

[Dark_Ansem]

I am going to be of dissenting opinion and say that I like the idea - but it does need some work. It's not like it would be practical to level up in battle.

 

[bridiogames]

I like the stuff everyone has written, and thank you guys for commenting and offering you advice. Thinking more about it, I do agree that battling would be a chore with this idea. My original plan was to make enemies avoidable and/or make money/items the incentive for beating enemies, but after thinking about it and reading everyone's post I think ditching grinding in favor of a fixed amount of battles.

The issue with that approach that I am facing right now is how to incorporate battles, since even when reducing them you still need battles in order to give the player a thing to do, even if you don't have some fresh mechanic that would spice that battle up. Like walking around a map and getting a random encounter is a core RPG mechanic, and ditching that leaves a lot of empty space. The roguelike idea might be the best option, allowing the player to fight enemies with a fresh experience on every successive playthrough.

I had the idea of maybe making it an arena battler, where the player battles enemy after enemy, and after defeating an enemy they get an ability/item that they can use for the next battle. After dying, new abilities/items that would allow the player to get farther next time would be available. Maybe the player is climbing a tower, and has to get to the top in order to do whatever he needs to do. Haven't thought a lot about the plot yet lol. Would this be a solid approach, or is there maybe another approach that suits this idea better?

 

[MarxMayhem]

The issue with that approach that I am facing right now is how to incorporate battles, since even when reducing them you still need battles in order to give the player a thing to do, even if you don't have some fresh mechanic that would spice that battle up.

I'm not a fan of making something different for the sake of making it different. I'd rather have something that works really well because I want things to work as intended, with any luck factor properly relayed to me.

Having said that, your original idea can still live on in a different form. If you want to make players choose who they want to fight in an encounter, just make it instead that all encounters are on-map, and throw in an assortment of enemies in each map. This requires making running away from battles easier, and a bunch of other balancing stuff, but you can get the same effect that way.

I had the idea of maybe making it an arena battler, where the player battles enemy after enemy, and after defeating an enemy they get an ability/item that they can use for the next battle. After dying, new abilities/items that would allow the player to get farther next time would be available.

Arena battlers sound like a nice alternative for your idea. The option to choose who you would want to fight against, including seeing general stats, can stimulate player's brains since strategy is there: Should I fight X instead of Y? Are my advantages more obvious in this fight than in that one? Can I finish the fight against Z with using the least amount of resources as possible? These things can buy your players in combat, even if you end up with a generic battle system.

As for upgrades, I'm not a fan of stripping *everything* from a player when they fail a roguelike. One way I can make it fair is that everything the players would need to win batles- items, gear, experience points, etc.- cna be bought by money. Battles always drop some gold and maybe some other stuff, so they can choose to retreat and keep the stuff they have, or risk losing everything to progress. Regardless, players can earn gold and should be the one thing players do not lose at all in event of a failure (losing *some* should be fine though), as they will need it to get stronger and progress.

 

[A_Higher_Plane]

How about gaining EXP as a reward during battle? I mean, like in Final Fantasy X, if you do more damage than a certain amount on an enemy, it is treated as an "overkill" and the message pops up as the enemy dies and you get extra AP (EXP) from it. I think this is a great "reward factor".