How to make gear progression non-linear

[Edellis]

Kerbump

People call this a case power creep. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bxszx...apZ-rvp0cODHhm

I find it hilarious how I can feel when people are about to link to an Extra Credits video. Not that it's bad or anything.

This actually isn't a case of power creep though because newer content isn't going to ruin the balancing of the game, it's just going to render old content no longer optimal. Which is pretty much how it's supposed to be.

The only thing non-linear gear progression really adds though is a ton of replay value and alternate playstyles.

What they need to do is drop two things. First is the inability to swap armor while engaged in battle. Second is add more god damn stats to the game.

I agree with both of these...sort of. They should definitely allow you to swap armors/weapons during battle with a short cool-down penalty.

The game has plenty of stats though, it just doesn't use any of them. We have the basic few which influence every stat except TP, Elemental resistance support, and even Physical Resistances (Blunt/Edge/Piercing from Vagrant Story). This gives them more than enough leeway to significantly boost the "RPG" factor of this game whenever they feel they need to.

There is plenty of room for Square allowing these to become useful in the future. They just have to find a good time to introduce the concept that isn't too late, since 1-49 doesn't use them at all.

The main problem with non-linear progression? It's infinitely harder to balance. I like having options and cool effects just as much as the next person, but they always trend towards horribly lop-sided class balances.

True, but Honestly? I don't see this being a problem for Square. Balancing was never really a weakpoint for them.

Weapons themselves are already pretty streamlined for balance sake. Adding special traits into the mix should be simple enough to balance. This is why I suggested the higher-tier items should have a limited amount of Materia slots in order to cut back on power creep in the future.

Not like it really matters though. If there is no level syncing on any level 50 content, the next patch is going to render the duties even easier then they are for current i90s.