>> ^MilkmanDan:
But really, I'd love to see an RPG where a max-level veteran is statistically only 3-5 times stronger than a completely fresh noob. But realistically, I know that the only way that system can work is in an open-world sandbox style game, and those seem to be rapidly falling out of favor. A pity, at least to my tastes.


It's interesting that this sort of progression seems to be part of every genre *but* RPGs. In Zelda 2, for instance, you can only double your health and magic. You grow a bit more powerful as the game continues, but you can still be killed by scrubs if you're not careful.

I don't know if you're into tabletop role playing games, but Legend of the Five Rings exhibits this sort of growth. Even combat masters are only statistically two or three times more hardy than a commoner, though they have special techniques they've trained over their lifetime. Even so, a group of five or six starting characters could cut them down in most cases. It's interesting to look at and fun to play, but as it's a tabletop RPG, it does fall into the category of open world.

I used to love Final Fantasy games, but for me it started going downhill after whatever FF3 for SNES was in the Japanese numbering... 5? 6?

However, I won't fall into the trap of claiming that FF3(6?) was actually better than the more recent endeavors -- the real difference is that I personally grew out / away from them. Some of that stems from my being roughly 10-15 years old when I was massively intrigued with FF2 and FF3, but I don't want to overstate that and suggest that an older player can't enjoy the series. What I really grew dissatisfied with is the leveling system that is so prominently featured in JRPGs, and to a certain extent western RPGs as well.

My specific problem is this: I start out as a level 1 peon, with 100 health points. My level 1 stick of smiting does 10 points of damage, and the imps I am fighting have about 50 health points each. I grind away for a while, slowly being spoonfed a storyline that isn't exactly Pulitzer material.

Pretty soon, I bask in my own splendor at having reached level 10. At level 10, I have 1000 health points. I now have an iron sword which does 100 damage, and I'm now fighting ogres that have 500 health points each.

By the time I reach the final boss (or actually in the case of FF games, only after spending some significant grind time after that point) I'm up to a godly level 100, and I now have a massive 10,000 health points. My heavenly sword of deadliness hits for a staggering 1000 damage, but the drakes I am fighting are up to a beefy 5000 hp each.

What's wrong with this picture? Only the fact that the entire leveling system is completely meaningless. The proportions between my level, health, damage, and enemy strength remain essentially constant. At the end of the game, I'm basically doing the exact same things to win a battle that I was at the start. All of the flashy new skills, spells, etc. that I have access to provide me with very brief moments of new gameplay experiences that merely serve to emphasize how consistent and predictable 99% of the rest of the game is.

My foes are visually much more impressive and intimidating by the end of the game, but those looks can't really hide the fact that inside they are just a level 1/10/100 "angry bag" that functions in basically the same way from start to finish. There are exceptions, but not in any truly profound way.

Practically every RPG falls prey to this problem, but the ones that annoy me the most are those that utilize leveling that results in characters that are statistically orders of magnitude more powerful at their final level than they were at the start. Growing to be ten times more effective in combat after training / battle experience? Maybe, depending on where you place the baseline / "level 1". 100 times? I doubt it. 1000 times? Um, no.

Skills-based leveling limits this problem. Sometimes. But really, I'd love to see an RPG where a max-level veteran is statistically only 3-5 times stronger than a completely fresh noob. But realistically, I know that the only way that system can work is in an open-world sandbox style game, and those seem to be rapidly falling out of favor. A pity, at least to my tastes.

I never used to like this show, but lately it's my secret pleasure.

Butters just cracks me up. They all do.

I think my favorite scene was when Kenny was sniffing cat pee, and Kyle's dad did it once again "for old time's sake" and he and Kennie ended up in a sandbox at the school slapping each other around.

I about bust a gut.

It's on!

ANNOUNCING THE ROAST OF KULPIMS! Saturday Feb 20.
The time has come again for we, the jesting crew, to pay tribute take the piss out of one of our own. This time up it'sour Gay Trekkie Roman, aka Kulpims!

Why do we pay him this honour you might ask? Is it because of some extraordinary contribution he's made to the community here? Has the man fought heroically in some war overseas? Is he celebrated in the intellectual community for his witty repartee in debating the great moral and political philosophers of our time? NO I say! The reason we give him this great honour is that his name was on the list!!!

I've sifted (so to speak) through his videos and comments for insight into his personality, but came up with nothing but small brown nuggets- very much like the Lincoln Logs I used to find buried in my backyard sandbox as a child. At least I hope they were Lincoln Logs. Some interesting statistics though... He's sifted 507 videos with 12,146 votes received. This translates to a weighted average of a very low 23.9 votes per video. This means that, basically nobody gives a shit what the man posts, except his sock puppet Choggie . http://www.videosift.com/member/kulpims/published

Looking through Roman's comments you'll notice that he communicates mostly through a series of guttural noises generated deep in his diaphragm, and a series of clicks and whistles which are almost inaudible to the human ear. If you can decipher those look here: http://www.videosift.com/usercomments/kulpims.

So... we expect the usual gang of idiots to vomit their wisdom and wit all over these hallowed halls here at Parody Talk. The Roast will start as soon as I haul my hung-over ass out of the sack, promptly at the crack of 2:00 pm Pacific! It's my birthday the night before, and if you think I'm arriving any earlier than that, you're crazy!

See you here crew!

-The RoastMASTER!

It's on!

ANNOUNCING THE ROAST OF KULPIMS! Saturday Feb 20.
The time has come again for we, the jesting crew, to pay tribute take the piss out of one of our own. This time up it'sour Gay Trekkie Roman, aka Kulpims!

Why do we pay him this honour you might ask? Is it because of some extraordinary contribution he's made to the community here? Has the man fought heroically in some war overseas? Is he celebrated in the intellectual community for his witty repartee in debating the great moral and political philosophers of our time? NO I say! The reason we give him this great honour is that his name was on the list!!!

I've sifted (so to speak) through his videos and comments for insight into his personality, but came up with nothing but small brown nuggets- very much like the Lincoln Logs I used to find buried in my backyard sandbox as a child. At least I hope they were Lincoln Logs. Some interesting statistics though... He's sifted 507 videos with 12,146 votes received. This translates to a weighted average of a very low 23.9 votes per video. This means that, basically nobody gives a shit what the man posts, except his sock puppet Choggie . http://www.videosift.com/member/kulpims/published

Looking through Roman's comments you'll notice that he communicates mostly through a series of guttural noises generated deep in his diaphragm, and a series of clicks and whistles which are almost inaudible to the human ear. If you can decipher those look here: http://www.videosift.com/usercomments/kulpims.

So... we expect the usual gang of idiots to vomit their wisdom and wit all over these hallowed halls here at Parody Talk. The Roast will start as soon as I haul my hung-over ass out of the sack, promptly at the crack of 2:00 pm Pacific! It's my birthday the night before, and if you think I'm arriving any earlier than that, you're crazy!

See you here crew!

-The RoastMASTER!

It's on!

ANNOUNCING THE ROAST OF KULPIMS! Saturday Feb 20.
The time has come again for we, the jesting crew, to pay tribute take the piss out of one of our own. This time up it'sour Gay Trekkie Roman, aka Kulpims!

Why do we pay him this honour you might ask? Is it because of some extraordinary contribution he's made to the community here? Has the man fought heroically in some war overseas? Is he celebrated in the intellectual community for his witty repartee in debating the great moral and political philosophers of our time? NO I say! The reason we give him this great honour is that his name was on the list!!!

I've sifted (so to speak) through his videos and comments for insight into his personality, but came up with nothing but small brown nuggets- very much like the Lincoln Logs I used to find buried in my backyard sandbox as a child. At least I hope they were Lincoln Logs. Some interesting statistics though... He's sifted 507 videos with 12,146 votes received. This translates to a weighted average of a very low 23.9 votes per video. This means that, basically nobody gives a shit what the man posts, except his sock puppet Choggie . http://www.videosift.com/member/kulpims/published

Looking through Roman's comments you'll notice that he communicates mostly through a series of guttural noises generated deep in his diaphragm, and a series of clicks and whistles which are almost inaudible to the human ear. If you can decipher those look here: http://www.videosift.com/usercomments/kulpims.

So... we expect the usual gang of idiots to vomit their wisdom and wit all over these hallowed halls here at Parody Talk. The Roast will start as soon as I haul my hung-over ass out of the sack, promptly at the crack of 2:00 pm Pacific! It's my birthday the night before, and if you think I'm arriving any earlier than that, you're crazy!

See you here crew!

-The RoastMASTER!

It's on!

ANNOUNCING THE ROAST OF KULPIMS! Saturday Feb 20.
The time has come again for we, the jesting crew, to pay tribute take the piss out of one of our own. This time up it'sour Gay Trekkie Roman, aka Kulpims!

Why do we pay him this honour you might ask? Is it because of some extraordinary contribution he's made to the community here? Has the man fought heroically in some war overseas? Is he celebrated in the intellectual community for his witty repartee in debating the great moral and political philosophers of our time? NO I say! The reason we give him this great honour is that his name was on the list!!!

I've sifted (so to speak) through his videos and comments for insight into his personality, but came up with nothing but small brown nuggets- very much like the Lincoln Logs I used to find buried in my backyard sandbox as a child. At least I hope they were Lincoln Logs. Some interesting statistics though... He's sifted 507 videos with 12,146 votes received. This translates to a weighted average of a very low 23.9 votes per video. This means that, basically nobody gives a shit what the man posts, except his sock puppet Choggie . http://www.videosift.com/member/kulpims/published

Looking through Roman's comments you'll notice that he communicates mostly through a series of guttural noises generated deep in his diaphragm, and a series of clicks and whistles which are almost inaudible to the human ear. If you can decipher those look here: http://www.videosift.com/usercomments/kulpims.

So... we expect the usual gang of idiots to vomit their wisdom and wit all over these hallowed halls here at Parody Talk. The Roast will start as soon as I haul my hung-over ass out of the sack, promptly at the crack of 2:00 pm Pacific! It's my birthday the night before, and if you think I'm arriving any earlier than that, you're crazy!

See you here crew!

-The RoastMASTER!

It's on!

ANNOUNCING THE ROAST OF KULPIMS! Saturday Feb 20.
The time has come again for we, the jesting crew, to pay tribute take the piss out of one of our own. This time up it'sour Gay Trekkie Roman, aka Kulpims!

Why do we pay him this honour you might ask? Is it because of some extraordinary contribution he's made to the community here? Has the man fought heroically in some war overseas? Is he celebrated in the intellectual community for his witty repartee in debating the great moral and political philosophers of our time? NO I say! The reason we give him this great honour is that his name was on the list!!!

I've sifted (so to speak) through his videos and comments for insight into his personality, but came up with nothing but small brown nuggets- very much like the Lincoln Logs I used to find buried in my backyard sandbox as a child. At least I hope they were Lincoln Logs. Some interesting statistics though... He's sifted 507 videos with 12,146 votes received. This translates to a weighted average of a very low 23.9 votes per video. This means that, basically nobody gives a shit what the man posts, except his sock puppet Choggie . http://www.videosift.com/member/kulpims/published

Looking through Roman's comments you'll notice that he communicates mostly through a series of guttural noises generated deep in his diaphragm, and a series of clicks and whistles which are almost inaudible to the human ear. If you can decipher those look here: http://www.videosift.com/usercomments/kulpims.

So... we expect the usual gang of idiots to vomit their wisdom and wit all over these hallowed halls here at Parody Talk. The Roast will start as soon as I haul my hung-over ass out of the sack, promptly at the crack of 2:00 pm Pacific! It's my birthday the night before, and if you think I'm arriving any earlier than that, you're crazy!

See you here crew!

-The RoastMASTER!

It's on!

ANNOUNCING THE ROAST OF KULPIMS! Saturday Feb 20.
The time has come again for we, the jesting crew, to pay tribute take the piss out of one of our own. This time up it'sour Gay Trekkie Roman, aka Kulpims!

Why do we pay him this honour you might ask? Is it because of some extraordinary contribution he's made to the community here? Has the man fought heroically in some war overseas? Is he celebrated in the intellectual community for his witty repartee in debating the great moral and political philosophers of our time? NO I say! The reason we give him this great honour is that his name was on the list!!!

I've sifted (so to speak) through his videos and comments for insight into his personality, but came up with nothing but small brown nuggets- very much like the Lincoln Logs I used to find buried in my backyard sandbox as a child. At least I hope they were Lincoln Logs. Some interesting statistics though... He's sifted 507 videos with 12,146 votes received. This translates to a weighted average of a very low 23.9 votes per video. This means that, basically nobody gives a shit what the man posts, except his sock puppet Choggie . http://www.videosift.com/member/kulpims/published

Looking through Roman's comments you'll notice that he communicates mostly through a series of guttural noises generated deep in his diaphragm, and a series of clicks and whistles which are almost inaudible to the human ear. If you can decipher those look here: http://www.videosift.com/usercomments/kulpims.

So... we expect the usual gang of idiots to vomit their wisdom and wit all over these hallowed halls here at Parody Talk. The Roast will start as soon as I haul my hung-over ass out of the sack, promptly at the crack of 2:00 pm Pacific! It's my birthday the night before, and if you think I'm arriving any earlier than that, you're crazy!

See you here crew!

-The RoastMASTER!

It's on!

ANNOUNCING THE ROAST OF KULPIMS! Saturday Feb 20.
The time has come again for we, the jesting crew, to pay tribute take the piss out of one of our own. This time up it'sour Gay Trekkie Roman, aka Kulpims!

Why do we pay him this honour you might ask? Is it because of some extraordinary contribution he's made to the community here? Has the man fought heroically in some war overseas? Is he celebrated in the intellectual community for his witty repartee in debating the great moral and political philosophers of our time? NO I say! The reason we give him this great honour is that his name was on the list!!!

I've sifted (so to speak) through his videos and comments for insight into his personality, but came up with nothing but small brown nuggets- very much like the Lincoln Logs I used to find buried in my backyard sandbox as a child. At least I hope they were Lincoln Logs. Some interesting statistics though... He's sifted 507 videos with 12,146 votes received. This translates to a weighted average of a very low 23.9 votes per video. This means that, basically nobody gives a shit what the man posts, except his sock puppet Choggie . http://www.videosift.com/member/kulpims/published

Looking through Roman's comments you'll notice that he communicates mostly through a series of guttural noises generated deep in his diaphragm, and a series of clicks and whistles which are almost inaudible to the human ear. If you can decipher those look here: http://www.videosift.com/usercomments/kulpims.

So... we expect the usual gang of idiots to vomit their wisdom and wit all over these hallowed halls here at Parody Talk. The Roast will start as soon as I haul my hung-over ass out of the sack, promptly at the crack of 2:00 pm Pacific! It's my birthday the night before, and if you think I'm arriving any earlier than that, you're crazy!

See you here crew!

-The RoastMASTER!

It's on!

ANNOUNCING THE ROAST OF KULPIMS! Saturday Feb 20.
The time has come again for we, the jesting crew, to pay tribute take the piss out of one of our own. This time up it'sour Gay Trekkie Roman, aka Kulpims!

Why do we pay him this honour you might ask? Is it because of some extraordinary contribution he's made to the community here? Has the man fought heroically in some war overseas? Is he celebrated in the intellectual community for his witty repartee in debating the great moral and political philosophers of our time? NO I say! The reason we give him this great honour is that his name was on the list!!!

I've sifted (so to speak) through his videos and comments for insight into his personality, but came up with nothing but small brown nuggets- very much like the Lincoln Logs I used to find buried in my backyard sandbox as a child. At least I hope they were Lincoln Logs. Some interesting statistics though... He's sifted 507 videos with 12,146 votes received. This translates to a weighted average of a very low 23.9 votes per video. This means that, basically nobody gives a shit what the man posts, except his sock puppet Choggie . http://www.videosift.com/member/kulpims/published

Looking through Roman's comments you'll notice that he communicates mostly through a series of guttural noises generated deep in his diaphragm, and a series of clicks and whistles which are almost inaudible to the human ear. If you can decipher those look here: http://www.videosift.com/usercomments/kulpims.

So... we expect the usual gang of idiots to vomit their wisdom and wit all over these hallowed halls here at Parody Talk. The Roast will start as soon as I haul my hung-over ass out of the sack, promptly at the crack of 2:00 pm Pacific! It's my birthday the night before, and if you think I'm arriving any earlier than that, you're crazy!

See you here crew!

-The RoastMASTER!

It's on!

ANNOUNCING THE ROAST OF KULPIMS! Saturday Feb 20.
The time has come again for we, the jesting crew, to pay tribute take the piss out of one of our own. This time up it'sour Gay Trekkie Roman, aka Kulpims!

Why do we pay him this honour you might ask? Is it because of some extraordinary contribution he's made to the community here? Has the man fought heroically in some war overseas? Is he celebrated in the intellectual community for his witty repartee in debating the great moral and political philosophers of our time? NO I say! The reason we give him this great honour is that his name was on the list!!!

I've sifted (so to speak) through his videos and comments for insight into his personality, but came up with nothing but small brown nuggets- very much like the Lincoln Logs I used to find buried in my backyard sandbox as a child. At least I hope they were Lincoln Logs. Some interesting statistics though... He's sifted 507 videos with 12,146 votes received. This translates to a weighted average of a very low 23.9 votes per video. This means that, basically nobody gives a shit what the man posts, except his sock puppet Choggie . http://www.videosift.com/member/kulpims/published

Looking through Roman's comments you'll notice that he communicates mostly through a series of guttural noises generated deep in his diaphragm, and a series of clicks and whistles which are almost inaudible to the human ear. If you can decipher those look here: http://www.videosift.com/usercomments/kulpims.

So... we expect the usual gang of idiots to vomit their wisdom and wit all over these hallowed halls here at Parody Talk. The Roast will start as soon as I haul my hung-over ass out of the sack, promptly at the crack of 2:00 pm Pacific! It's my birthday the night before, and if you think I'm arriving any earlier than that, you're crazy!

See you here crew!

-The RoastMASTER!

It's on!

ANNOUNCING THE ROAST OF KULPIMS! Saturday Feb 20.
The time has come again for we, the jesting crew, to pay tribute take the piss out of one of our own. This time up it'sour Gay Trekkie Roman, aka Kulpims!

Why do we pay him this honour you might ask? Is it because of some extraordinary contribution he's made to the community here? Has the man fought heroically in some war overseas? Is he celebrated in the intellectual community for his witty repartee in debating the great moral and political philosophers of our time? NO I say! The reason we give him this great honour is that his name was on the list!!!

I've sifted (so to speak) through his videos and comments for insight into his personality, but came up with nothing but small brown nuggets- very much like the Lincoln Logs I used to find buried in my backyard sandbox as a child. At least I hope they were Lincoln Logs. Some interesting statistics though... He's sifted 507 videos with 12,146 votes received. This translates to a weighted average of a very low 23.9 votes per video. This means that, basically nobody gives a shit what the man posts, except his sock puppet Choggie . http://www.videosift.com/member/kulpims/published

Looking through Roman's comments you'll notice that he communicates mostly through a series of guttural noises generated deep in his diaphragm, and a series of clicks and whistles which are almost inaudible to the human ear. If you can decipher those look here: http://www.videosift.com/usercomments/kulpims.

So... we expect the usual gang of idiots to vomit their wisdom and wit all over these hallowed halls here at Parody Talk. The Roast will start as soon as I haul my hung-over ass out of the sack, promptly at the crack of 2:00 pm Pacific! It's my birthday the night before, and if you think I'm arriving any earlier than that, you're crazy!

See you here crew!

-The RoastMASTER!

It's on!

ANNOUNCING THE ROAST OF KULPIMS! Saturday Feb 20.
The time has come again for we, the jesting crew, to pay tribute take the piss out of one of our own. This time up it'sour Gay Trekkie Roman, aka Kulpims!

Why do we pay him this honour you might ask? Is it because of some extraordinary contribution he's made to the community here? Has the man fought heroically in some war overseas? Is he celebrated in the intellectual community for his witty repartee in debating the great moral and political philosophers of our time? NO I say! The reason we give him this great honour is that his name was on the list!!!

I've sifted (so to speak) through his videos and comments for insight into his personality, but came up with nothing but small brown nuggets- very much like the Lincoln Logs I used to find buried in my backyard sandbox as a child. At least I hope they were Lincoln Logs. Some interesting statistics though... He's sifted 507 videos with 12,146 votes received. This translates to a weighted average of a very low 23.9 votes per video. This means that, basically nobody gives a shit what the man posts, except his sock puppet Choggie . http://www.videosift.com/member/kulpims/published

Looking through Roman's comments you'll notice that he communicates mostly through a series of guttural noises generated deep in his diaphragm, and a series of clicks and whistles which are almost inaudible to the human ear. If you can decipher those look here: http://www.videosift.com/usercomments/kulpims.

So... we expect the usual gang of idiots to vomit their wisdom and wit all over these hallowed halls here at Parody Talk. The Roast will start as soon as I haul my hung-over ass out of the sack, promptly at the crack of 2:00 pm Pacific! It's my birthday the night before, and if you think I'm arriving any earlier than that, you're crazy!

See you here crew!

-The RoastMASTER!

It's on!

ANNOUNCING THE ROAST OF KULPIMS! Saturday Feb 20.
The time has come again for we, the jesting crew, to pay tribute take the piss out of one of our own. This time up it'sour Gay Trekkie Roman, aka Kulpims!

Why do we pay him this honour you might ask? Is it because of some extraordinary contribution he's made to the community here? Has the man fought heroically in some war overseas? Is he celebrated in the intellectual community for his witty repartee in debating the great moral and political philosophers of our time? NO I say! The reason we give him this great honour is that his name was on the list!!!

I've sifted (so to speak) through his videos and comments for insight into his personality, but came up with nothing but small brown nuggets- very much like the Lincoln Logs I used to find buried in my backyard sandbox as a child. At least I hope they were Lincoln Logs. Some interesting statistics though... He's sifted 507 videos with 12,146 votes received. This translates to a weighted average of a very low 23.9 votes per video. This means that, basically nobody gives a shit what the man posts, except his sock puppet Choggie . http://www.videosift.com/member/kulpims/published

Looking through Roman's comments you'll notice that he communicates mostly through a series of guttural noises generated deep in his diaphragm, and a series of clicks and whistles which are almost inaudible to the human ear. If you can decipher those look here: http://www.videosift.com/usercomments/kulpims.

So... we expect the usual gang of idiots to vomit their wisdom and wit all over these hallowed halls here at Parody Talk. The Roast will start as soon as I haul my hung-over ass out of the sack, promptly at the crack of 2:00 pm Pacific! It's my birthday the night before, and if you think I'm arriving any earlier than that, you're crazy!

See you here crew!

-The RoastMASTER!