Did you ever become too powerful in a game?

[Emerald]

Let's see, I played Disgaea 3 again recently and I remember blasting the lvl 1 prinnies for something like 5-6 million damage each. Lvl 9999 Succubus's will do that.

[IMJ]

I remember when I played Lunar for the first time. I was in the mindset of "oldschool rpg, must level grind!".
I would grind and grind and grind, when I got to the final FINAL boss I barely broke a sweat. I felt bad about it it was so easy. I just spammed defense lowering moves on him and boosted my own attack power. I think at the beginning of the fight I think Alex only did 90 points of damage with a normal attack, by the end each hit was doing about 400 points. It was unfair.

This is interesting because I am pretty sure that the Lunar games scaled the power levels of the enemies as you grew in power in order to maintain some semblence of a challenge. IIRC I read this on Working Designs now-defunct website, so I've got no support with this...

Man, I miss WD.

My own dominating story is Castlevania: SOTN. I loved that game... couldn't put it down. Once I leveled Alucard up to max, I started leveling up the (IIRC) Blood Sword to some ridiculous power level by killing Mer-Man repeatedly (they bleed, so it fed the sword).

By the time I was done, that sword might as well have been Alucard's shield under the Shield Rod enchantment. Those of you who have played the game know what I mean....

[fast]

When Castlevania Circle of the Moon just came out I realized that the poison worms would continue to fall for however long you stood under them. So I go to the point I could kill them before they landed on me. Rubberbanded down the A button and left it running for a day or two. Needless to say I one shoted the first boss. I have beaten the game three or four times now, I still think it is the best of the new style of Castlevanias, but the first time through I so cheated.

[Limewater]

I'm currently playing through the Final Fantasy 1 and 2 cart on the GBA. I've finished FF1, and I just picked up Leila in FF2.

I beat the original on the NES and part two on an emulator using the translation by (I think) Neo Demiforce. Both were quite difficult.

The GBA version of FF2 is balanced a little better, but with just a little grinding at the beginning of FF1, I was dramatically overpowered for the rest of the game.

[Gamerforlife]

Actually, getting uber powerful is what motivates me to play rpgs and anything with rpg elements. I like the story elements as well of course, but more than anything in rpgs I find it very satisfying to see a character go from level 1 wimp to a true badass by the end of the game. However, many games fail in giving players anything to keep their interest once they have gotten this strong.

I think the Final Fantasy games have had a good proper balance since FF 7. FF 7 had the uber strong enemies known as the Weapons and every installment since has had something to challenge gamers even after they have become incredibly powerful, so there is a nice balance there. Final Fantasy 12 really did it best. No matter how strong you get there is something in the game that can kick your ass if you're not careful. That is, assuming you're going outside the storyline and looking for optional encounters and bosses.

For the completist who wants to do it all, FF 12 always has something to challenge you no matter how strong your characters get. They are bosses that can take a strong party hours to kill. And with a built in achievement system, I have found no other Final Fantasy game more satisfying to complete in its entirety. You have to work your ass off and even get a little lucky to do everything in that game and the game has so many little badges of honor to reward you. That game was brilliant in a lot of ways, including the cool gambit system and the more realistic environments and enemies.

[MrPopo]

I remember when I played Lunar for the first time. I was in the mindset of "oldschool rpg, must level grind!".
I would grind and grind and grind, when I got to the final FINAL boss I barely broke a sweat. I felt bad about it it was so easy. I just spammed defense lowering moves on him and boosted my own attack power. I think at the beginning of the fight I think Alex only did 90 points of damage with a normal attack, by the end each hit was doing about 400 points. It was unfair.

This is interesting because I am pretty sure that the Lunar games scaled the power levels of the enemies as you grew in power in order to maintain some semblence of a challenge. IIRC I read this on Working Designs now-defunct website, so I've got no support with this...

As I recall, Lunar 1's bosses had stats which were a multiplier of Alex's level. So yes, the bosses did scale with how you powered up. However, leveling up does get you new skills. The difference between Alex one level before he gets the self attack buff and the level he does get it is very large compared to the buff to the boss stats. So power leveling in Lunar 1 got you better tools for dealing with enemies, which made a big difference.

As far as I can remember, Lunar 2 just has fixed boss stats.

[lordofduct]

I remember when I played Lunar for the first time. I was in the mindset of "oldschool rpg, must level grind!".
I would grind and grind and grind, when I got to the final FINAL boss I barely broke a sweat. I felt bad about it it was so easy. I just spammed defense lowering moves on him and boosted my own attack power. I think at the beginning of the fight I think Alex only did 90 points of damage with a normal attack, by the end each hit was doing about 400 points. It was unfair.

This is interesting because I am pretty sure that the Lunar games scaled the power levels of the enemies as you grew in power in order to maintain some semblence of a challenge. IIRC I read this on Working Designs now-defunct website, so I've got no support with this...

As I recall, Lunar 1's bosses had stats which were a multiplier of Alex's level. So yes, the bosses did scale with how you powered up. However, leveling up does get you new skills. The difference between Alex one level before he gets the self attack buff and the level he does get it is very large compared to the buff to the boss stats. So power leveling in Lunar 1 got you better tools for dealing with enemies, which made a big difference.

As far as I can remember, Lunar 2 just has fixed boss stats.

That also depends which of the numerous versions you play as well.

Though Lunar 1 is the only that has the leveling bosses. The Playstation Complete version being the one with the leveling bosses (PS and I believe Saturn... haven't played teh Saturn version in ages, so I can't remember).

Other weird things like that in the Lunar series as WD added a magic experience cost to saves in the SegaCD version of Lunar 2 Eternal Blue.

I also remember Lunar 2 having some asshole bosses. Zophar being my most memorable boss fight ever. SCD and PS alike. "Bitch, get off, I'm playing ZOPHAR!"



One series that I always seem to out level my self in was the Final Fantasy series. I'd get so annoyed with some of the cheap bosses I'd grind and then end up washing through the rest of the game. One of the many reasons I got tired of the FF series. Among other things as well... I don't know I could never really get into that series.

Lunar and Phantasy Star were always my sucker games. I just couldn't get enough of them.