not talking table top RPGs, since everyone starts them in the middle sometimes.
can anyone think of a videogame (console or computer) role playing game where you start out with ‘good’ weapons, and somewhat powerful?
I mean, most games you start out equiped with like “broken sword” then get the “iron sword” then 20 hours later you get like the “crazy chaos sword of death”
is there any games you start out with the “crazy chaos sword of death” instead? and 20 hours later get the “rediculus kill everything in the universe by looking at it sword”?
I mean, really all it would have to be is takeing a normal game, then adding an extra zero at all the end of all the stats…
baulder’s gate II does this pretty much, start you out strong and high level (although not your equiptment) even though in the framework of the actual game your not really stronger than the start of any other game…
I don’t know… just sort of think it would be interesting… play like… a final fantasy game where you start out with ultima and go from there… or a dragon warrior game that has the first enemy being king slimes… or a fallout game where you start with power armor… and then power up starting there…
Well… Planescape Torment starts you out as a 3rd level fighter. And you can get some reasonably powerful items and special abilities pretty fast, if your are thorough and/or know where they are to start.
Well, I at first thought Baldur’s Gate II except that, though it can be played as a stand-alone, it is a continuation in a series. You can transfer characters from Baldur’s Gate, which are started at level 1.
A lot of games ‘tease’ with getting a lot of powerful weapons or having a powerful ally for a brief period of time near the beginning… think Castlevania: Symphony of the Night with infamous “equipment loss” that tends to happen in sequels, or fighting alongside Sephiroth in Final Fantasy 7.
I guess RPGs have learned the lesson from D&D that characters peak the fun level at midlevels, where they don’t have to fight a zillion goblins but aren’t fighting gods’ avatars either. Thus, most RPGs start you off learning the system fighting little things but progress pretty swiftly into learning magic, getting items, etc.
I’d like to see an RPG where you progress backwards – that is, your character gains in levels but rather than fighting a huge difference in monster power (one area of the world has squirrels attacking you, others have mammoth dragons by the cartload) you lose equipment powers over time so you learn to make do. I guess it might be frustrating in the long run though.
The Shining Force series on Genesis had a neat gimmick where most allies started out at pretty weak levels (although in later parts of the game, new allies tended to be given at higher levels), then as you begin levelling up pretty powerfully–you become eligible for ‘Promotion’.
Eventually, you -had- to be promoted, because it was the only way to use the upper-level equipment for each class. But when you decide to do it is left up to the player. After being promoted, the character selected would be knocked back to level 1, and their stats would take a pretty good loss. But then–as you levelled them up, they would eventually become more powerful than they were previously.
That’s not -quite- the same thing that the OP was asking for…but I thought it merited mentioning.
I believe in the game Nethack, equipment tends to be found pretty quickly. Often the weapon you start with will be good for quite awhile until you either get really really lucky, find an altar, or go on the Quest.
In Ogre Battle 64 (that one at least, I can’t remember how it is in the others of the series), you gain the majority of your characters either by recruiting random encounters to your cause or by training soldiers.
To train a soldier, a group has to drag a dinky little guy along with them for a while, but when this little guy gains a level he’ll turn into either a Fighter or an Amazon depending on gender. The stats of this Fighter depend on those of the character leading the group, so once you have an above-average leader, he’ll start training better guys from the get-go, who can then be upgaded to better units almost instantly since most equipment is pretty cheap.