What's Your RPG Playstyle?

[Stiker]

I finally got a chance to sit down and finish up my first playthrough of Chrono Trigger DS and as I was fighting Lavos I was thinking back to the first time I played the game and how much harder I made things on myself the first time.

I used to hate any random battles, would run away because I didn't like fighting anything but bosses, and as a consequence, I was usually underleveled for many boss fights. I remember thinking back how frustrating final boss fights like Lavos were because I was so seriously underleveled. Back then, I wanted the story and the leveling up was an annoyance.

Now though, my playstyle has completely changed. I don't mind the grind; in fact, I welcome it. As I've played more RPGs, I have found a lot more fun pimping out my characters.

I don't always like going completely overboard on it (unless I fall in love with an attribute/leveling system) because I do like some sort of a challenge. Basically, I want to be able to smoke any lesser enemy that comes my way, but when a boss fight occurs, I want to at least have some form of challenge involved.

So how do you approach RPG games (and also I guess, has it ever changed)? Get through the story quickly? Stay underleveled to make things more challenging? Max everything out? Or does it lie somewhere in between?

[izembo]

max it all to make it a breeze and just enjoy the story while i slaughter

[Zetah]

Play through the game normally, and then pimp my characters at the end or on a 2nd playthrough. I don't run very often.

[Hiryo]

Play through the game normally, and then pimp my characters at the end or on a 2nd playthrough. I don't run very often.

This, but on games where they show you a skill tree, or possible routes for a character to go, I grind a little bit if i see a spiffy trait/attack/spell that i suddenly neeeeed to have.

[Resin]

Normally, first playthrough with no help whatsoever; I probably grind a bit extra throughout the game and try to explore a bit but don't really worry about the best gear or hidden shit. Second playthrough with help/guides and try to do everything there is to do.

[Maxxthepenguin]

Depends how the game is structured. Some games I rush through. Some games I'm invested in the story so I stick to the main plot while noting the sidequests for later. Some games make me enthralled in sidequests. Some games are fun to pimp your character out in (not many JRPGs though, FFV is a notable exception :/). If I enjoy the battle system, I try to kill all the monsters I can find. If I don't, I run. The only constant is that in most games, I shy away from using any items until they're obsolete.

[Jotaru]

The only constant is that in most games, I shy away from using any items until they're obsolete.

'Saving' megalixers til later, when you need them, and finishing the game with 50-odd of them? Yeah...

[Stiker]

The only constant is that in most games, I shy away from using any items until they're obsolete.

I didn't even think about this one lol. I've ALWAYS done that. Always great to sit at a final boss and use Elixirs/Megaelixirs like they are friggin' candy.

[Karshe]

I never run from battles, ever. That is, assuming I'm not randomly about to die... playing through Lost Odyssey right now and mobs randomly have En-Petrify every once in a while which I'm never prepared for. I hardly ever 'grind,' although FFV is an exception... I remember going to the basment of Galuf's castle and killing some statue things for mass AP.

'Saving' megalixers til later, when you need them, and finishing the game with 50-odd of them? Yeah...

This is SO me, in every RPG ever.

[Elcura]

My first rule of RPGs is always buy 99 potions (or equivilent) ASAP. After that I usually play as the game lets me, if I enjoy the battle system I never run away even if it becomes tedious (if I can avoid an encounter then I probably will). I overlevel and pimp out my characters if the game allows, making some parts easy but keeping the challenge overall. FFXII is a perfect example of this, doing hunts made you seriously strong so the main story was piss easy but the hunts were always a challenge, so it evens out. I usually never have to grind levels, if I lose a fight it's because I need to find the right strategy (Hi P3: FES). I use items generously and never save up a particular item just in case, most times this happens you finish the game with 85 megalixers because you MIGHT need them.

[Maxxthepenguin]

I hardly ever 'grind,' although FFV is an exception... I remember going to the basment of Galuf's castle and killing some statue things for mass AP.

This is one of my main complains with JRPGs. Characters either all develop similarly or don't allow you to develop in any unique way. You don't ever get the feeling that you discovered the (well planned and predicted) combination of skills that feels like you're breaking the game. You either are following the path set out for the character or the characters are blank slates. FFV's characters are blank slates, but once you start building up a character on a path, you don't want to really change it and so you get four unique, fun characters that you get to choose the progress of. Games where you easily max out your characters to predefined maximum points just aren't as fun. My biggest complaint about FFXII was that by the end of the game, your characters were so similar to each other because you got so close to maxxing them out naturally. If you got half the AP (or whatever it was called), you would have had to have had more specialized characters. That would have been better.

[Kaisha]

'Saving' megalixers til later, when you need them, and finishing the game with 50-odd of them? Yeah...

Same -.-

I also have a bad habit of *not* throwing out 'one-time only' items, including starter gear. Made things hard for me on FFIV back in the days (where it was FF2 in the US, whoo!) when limited inventory space was an issue.
(hell, I still have my initial Lv1 RSE gear you start off with in FFXI knowing full well I could just rebuy it from vendor)

My style? Play for the story, and, if there's enough 'end-game' activity, I'll go about pimping out my dudes. Disgaea2 was awesome for this (yes I know it's a TBS, only example I can think of off-hand) since just beating the storyline was just the tip of the ice-berg of things to do that feel worth doing, rather than mindless side-quests that are just thrown in to inflate gameplay hours with shit rewards.

[Stiker]

My biggest complaint about FFXII was that by the end of the game, your characters were so similar to each other because you got so close to maxxing them out naturally. If you got half the AP (or whatever it was called), you would have had to have had more specialized characters. That would have been better.

Yeah I actually rather refused to spend LP to keep enhancing my characters in FFXII. I made two tanks, two DDs, and two ranged DD/mage characters and stopped their development there save for enhancing stats that would help those roles.

The license board made a bit of sense with the lore of the game (with the judges/laws and whatnot I guess), but it was seriously horrid when you realized everyone could be the same. I spent a lot more time pimping out my gambit system for my characters than their license boards because of this basically.

Also I rarely used Espers in the game, which honestly is rather disappointing because summons are usually a lot of fun IMO.

[Scythiroth]

I seem to just overlevel in every RPG, regardless of how many times I have played that specific game. I refuse to use guides on my first time playing a game, but then I like to make my second time through a "perfect" game where I do use a guide. I usually mess that up by missing that one item (every game has to have it...), and tend to have to play games 3+ times to get a "perfect" game.

edit: Didn't realize people were talking about items in this topic too. In most games I pretty much never use any, unless I absolutely have to.

'Saving' megalixers til later, when you need them, and finishing the game with 50-odd of them? Yeah...

Seems to be a great way to describe what I do as well.

[Ksandra]

My first runthrough I don't use any walkthroughs unless I get complete stuck and frustrated. Save any consumables nonbuyable for the end (elixiers, sometimes ethers, etc.) And half the time I get to the very end and don't beat it. Why because I get all sad that the game is almost over and tend to lose interest lol.

Then after a few weeks I decide to redo it, usually get walkthroughs to get the best wep n' stuff, and finally beat the game.

[Roranora]

I like to grind; I usually have Luminaire by the time I go to Magus' Castle. >.>;

[Wintermute]

Normally first play I go through the game with limited grinding.

Second play I grind like a motherfucker and use guides to pimp my characters. Then I slaughter everything in my path.

Also tend to hold on to all my items, usually use just magic to restore HP.

[MisterBob]

I refuse to grind in single player RPGs unless my progress is 100% blocked otherwise. As a result, I'm always undergeared/underleveled for boss fights. Much much more fun that way. I've always wondered why people grind like crazy and then plow through games, completely ruining any challenge they might have.

[Yuri-G]

- I try to force myself to avoid walkthroughs and message boards unless I know I'm only going to play through the game once and it's notorious for having lots of missable/hard to find stuff. I used to use them a lot, but I eventually realized I'm not getting into the game nearly as much if it's more of a rote exercise than a challenge for me to figure out.
- I usually don't grind much, although I will at points, depending on the game (for example, I'm playing SMT: Nocturne right now and I will grind for fusion fodder when I need better demons). I do grind a lot if the game is set up that way, like in some of the Dragon Quests, where there is a much stronger feeling of being rewarded when you've grinded (ground?) for an hour or so than in most games. Generally, if progress is very slow, I'm more likely to grind; if progress is very fast either due to lots of xp and gold or a high encounter rate, I'm less likely to grind.
- I generally pick a few people and use them a lot in games where you have a large party to pick from, although I try to make sure that nobody falls more than 5 or so levels behind at any point, just in case they come in handy or you're forced to use them.
- I talk to every single NPC unless the game has shitty dialogue and I can't stand it (in which case, I'm probably not playing it anyway lol). I do this moreso in games that have a lot of hidden stuff, less in games that are much more simple to play through and don't really require it, unless the dialogue is very well-written, in which case I'll talk to everyone just for the fun of it.
- I like to build a balanced party of characters who each have their own focus, as opposed to a party full of characters who are each well-balanced. I usually take pride in building up characters that are really, really good at what they do, and watching the bosses fall before them. I always try to spread abilities out and keep characters from having the same abilities, unless it's something like a Raise spell that is pretty handy to have on more than one character.
- I tend to go kamikaze the first time I fight a boss and hope I win but expect to lose, and pay attention to the abilities they use and what their weaknesses and strengths are so I can tear them apart next time.
- Last but not least, I'm more likely to pick the characters I use based on how much I like them as opposed to their abilities. It makes games more fun and often more challenging that way.

[izembo]

I refuse to grind in single player RPGs unless my progress is 100% blocked otherwise. As a result, I'm always undergeared/underleveled for boss fights. Much much more fun that way. I've always wondered why people grind like crazy and then plow through games, completely ruining any challenge they might have.

nothing more annoying than redoing the dungeon before the boss fight 10x just cause of the "challenge" of the boss. i'd rather see cool moves from the boss, be like hey that was cool, defeat him and move on. story is all important