TLDR: My suggestion is that enemies SHOULD NOT get more difficult as the player gets stronger. The enemies difficulty SHOULD be tied to the zone they are in.
I bought the game today. After making my way off the beach, I hit the town and got a few quests. Going back to the beach I see multiple different enemy types that are much more difficult than before. My assumption was that I would be able to re visit this zone and farm some basic resources now that I have the armour and weapons necessary to deal with the threats there, but I was severely wrong. Getting a few pieces of pine wood was an hour long fight for my life.
In a souls like / ARPG / RPG, it can be very satisfying to re visit parts of the game that once gave you trouble, and then blast through them with the gear and experience that you have gained. This can also provide a player with a sense of comfort when they know “I can always go back to the beach and farm up some basic materials to sell if I need to”.
I am currently giving this the benefit of the doubt. Maybe the first zones in the game get rebalanced once you complete them, and they never scale again after this. If that is the case, then I think that this is in a fine state.
The rest of the game is gorgeous, the controls are great, and it’s a lot of fun. I think that this game has the potential to be a masterpiece.
I came back to the game to see what changed. After 1st level up I went to whisper to remember/realize that I can spend points wherever. Spent all (Dex for dagger) and progressed from beach to Garrison. Was looking forward to doing more damage, only to encounter a crab on my way back that suddenly seemed impervious to my “improved” dagger damage (due to enemy scaling…?)
That’s absolutely terrible game design and completely crushed all desire to keep playing (for the moment).
I am a huge fan of Ori and I think once Wicked is ready, it will be absolutely awesome. And I already love a lot about the game. I played a bunch at E.A. release and came back to the game today to see what changed. At first I enjoyed coming back a lot. Combat was so much fun! After 1st level-up I went to the first Cerim Whisper to remember/realize that I can spend points wherever I am. Spent them all (Dex for dagger) and progressed from beach to Garrison. Was looking forward to doing more damage, only to encounter a crab on my way back that suddenly seemed impervious to my “improved” dagger damage (due to enemy scaling…?). Basically all enemies are sponges now. Every encounter feels like a boss fight.
That’s absolutely terrible game design imo and completely crushed all desire to keep playing (for the moment). Sorry for phrasing it so harshly but that’s how it felt. Also I love the unconventional art design, but some of the armor pieces are just too dang ugly. (Looking at you, boar skin chest!)
Its like the enemies have minimum and max level, and the devs said something about a plague system too, so its not fully implemented yet, but some enemies shouldnt have more than 1 level, crabs and rats should die fast.
Since some enemies are human, they should have varied levels of power, as long as the devs implement some sort of visual clue for us to notice that this huge dude is wearing full plate he must be tanky and hit hard, mages die fast and dish a lot of damage, and so on, we should be fine.
The devs should definitely look at the debacle that was Oblivion level scaling with bandits running around wearing daedric armor, so as to avoid that crap like the plague.
from my experience or from what it felt for me, as u progress through the story the areas “level up”. new enemies spawn with new attacks etc and are harder to kill than before the “progression trigger”.
not sure how exactly it is implemented, but it felt like killing a specific boss, for example the one right in front of sacrament leveled the coastal region and made new enemies appear, like fire witches now spawning on the beach, not only in the fort etc.
i think some sort of area lvl and progression is needed. who in their right mind wants to finish the story and take a lvl 100 char to kill lvl 1 crabs?
the surroundings should level with your progress, otherwise u would just kill lvl 1 mobs and get lvl 1 drops. that would make it totally pointless to revisit areas.
They said they would implement the plague system, might differ from what happens now, i like this system, you clear the sewers and the enemies in there are free to roam, so to speak, so they show up on the beach and the keep, later if you clear the twin boss the mercenary soldiers show up, since they are harder, not only that the keep changes, the main entrance from the beach is barred and theres acess to the ramparts, nice touch, gives you reason to explore the same area again.
I love the enemy level scaling, especially the way it’s happening now, with new enemies appearing in visited areas after a point.
I think it gives strong replayability to areas of the game and makes sure it never gets boring!
Because we always have the feeling of something new.
Sorry OP, but imo after 30 hours of gameplay, if enemy scaling is removed, it will kill the replay value of the game, so I completely disagree with you. Maybe you just don’t play enough to complain it. (Not being rude just sincere).
I like the level scale too, i just think that every area should have a level cap, or we will destroy that sense of progression we have, Oblivion did this, bandits in daedra armor was stupid, thats why i like the current design, the enemy changes, its not just a level 30 bandit, its another enemy entirely, its a level 30 mercenary, new toon, new loot table, new attacks and so on.
Its not lazy like Oblivion, that would mean a level 30 bloated HP crab or rat on the beach.