Topic: Experience Requirements for my Hack

[Phoenix]

Can anyone think of any real problems with having the experience requirements for all the characters in my hack be the same? I personally don't check experience levels that often, so I doubt I'd even notice. It just seems like a waste to devote time to making up random experience requirement numbers 14 times over when I could just do it once . . . . I can't see any downsides other than it might seem simplistic if some characters have the same "to-level-up" numbers. It seem to me like even that would probably not happen that often. Thoughts?

[JCE3000GT]

I'd slant the magic users to gain levels slightly faster than melee characters.  But too much faster. 

Also, the first 5~8 levels when you first get a character should be quick.  While the last 20 or so should be difficult. 

[Deathlike2]

I'd slant the magic users to gain levels slightly faster than melee characters.  But too much faster. 

Also, the first 5~8 levels when you first get a character should be quick.  While the last 20 or so should be difficult. 

I actually like the current design of things.. but if it were to be done over, make the spell levels useful early and difficult late (it should be moreso like FF4 than FF2US).

I think different experience levels are important mainly to adjust a character's stats over time.. although characters like FuSoYa and Tellah need them so they can take in more damage gracefully (and technically, the wiser should benefit anyways since they aren't getting radically better soon).

If the character set was more like the FF1 system, then I'd have no issue, but it's an afterthought I guess.

I wonder if you can actually start some of your characters at level 1 (like Edge), and properly adjust the pointers/table to handle it (not sure if there's space or if that's actually viable)...

[Phoenix]

I wonder if you can actually start some of your characters at level 1 (like Edge), and properly adjust the pointers/table to handle it (not sure if there's space or if that's actually viable)...

It can be done, it would just be a bit of work. For my hack I'll end up doing just that for every character; I'm going to have to start the level-up data from scratch, since my characters are completely different and will join the party in a different order.

I'll take into consideration what you've both said. Neither of you pointed out any real downsides, though, which makes me think I'll at least try it. The stat balancing is separate from the actual level up requirement, so that's not really an issue. The idea may not work out in any case, depending on how I decide the characters enter/exit the party and how long they stay relative to each other. But it's worth a shot if it saves me a significant amount of time right now.

[JCE3000GT]

There isn't a downside if you do everything from scratch.  This way you can personally tailor the characters to how you like them.  I'd keep in mind at the parts in the game where the characters come in where the monsters are in terms of magic or melee and go from there.  It makes no sense to level quickly a melee character if the monsters/area is more susceptible to magic right?

It might take a few playthroughs to get the right balance of stats and levels.  This is what your beta testers must really pay attention to among other things.

[Dragonsbrethren]

I think it'll work out fine, especially if you balance the game with that in mind. The original annoyed me with the different EXP requirements a few times, especially Cecil and Kain in the beginning, Cecil gets his level up in a few battles, Kain takes forever.

This is something I hadn't even considered for my hack yet, I'll probably make it so that characters that join at lower levels gain levels faster until they reach the same average level the party should be at for that point in the game, then slow to the same rate as the other characters.