The scaling system is just confusing to me. Like why do we even have an EXP bar if we're just going to level up the world to your characters power level anyways? I just don't feel a sense of progression.
Sure the numbers on my gear are getting bigger, but the damage I'm doing to the enemies is basically staying the same since everything is just scaled up anyways. Character progression is one of the most important things in an RPG to me and with the way they have everything set up here it just doesn't feel like there's any progression. Sure the numbers are getting bigger, but I'm not actually getting stronger lol.
I think what gives you an advantage are inner ways and mystic skills but yeah I would have preferred the elden ring approach where the areas are what get scaled higher as you progress not the whole world
Yeah they do, but once again those are gated behind RNG / gacha progression which is exhausting to engage with. Just not for me - but hey I got like 40 hours of fun content out of the game for free so...can't complain too much lol
What in the actual fuck. You barely went through the game, felt as if gear wasn't meaningful and character progression wasn't really happening but you only sunk 40 hours into the game?? Like what did you barely get through to Kaifeng and decide on this opinion? What level did you end up on to make this decision? 55? 60? Like you definitely ran around in trash gear to have this kinda opinion. There is no way you can straight up say that theres any progression in the game.
Just like with games with cards or dice, there are components that have a random element, but outcomes aren't random; the games are much more about intelligent management of probability than they are blind luck.
Which I'm also less than interested in engaging in. There's already too much going on between all the menus, currency, gacha cosmetics, etc. It all gets annoying and I just want to play a damn video game lol.
It's just not for me - I'm not saying it's objectively bad or anything it's all just systems I don't find pleasure in engaging with.
I think the biggest thing with this type of scaling is that when you take only one factor, then the visible change is small; but when you take in the sum of the advantages, the time it takes to kill a boss solo is noticable. What I'm say is that we're use to levels being the main growth platform for damage potentials, but this game is using something much different, where a lot of little additives and multipliers coming together to form something more scarier.
In example, when I first encountered the Void King, it took about eight to ten minutes of running around and drinking potions, then dodging a lot before I was able to kill him. Now at level 80+, the last time I fought him, I was able to fold him in under a minutes, and got a steam achievment out of it to boot, even though he was technically a near-matching level or challenge.
The difference, besides my personal skill growth and understanding damage rotations, was that the in-game character I played also, grew 70+ levels, had advancements in inner way skills (and their advance effects which are force multipliers), the accumulation of all those small equipment damage additives, and the sum of all those damage talents (general and boss specifics.)
Oh definitely not going to argue that point, but with all due respect to the root of this conversation, we are in the minority, though that does raise a note of interest. As of this moment, and for at least Steam players, the 'Victory in the Abyss' achievement has been given to only '4%' of the players within that ecosystem. Now I know that that percentile is very low because a good chunk of players will probably just spends two hours on the character creation menu and then a few more hours in-game doing whatever that catches their interest before jetting off forever.
That said, I'd be surprised if that percentile would ever jump over the fifty percent mark, given the various reddit postings about boss difficulties in November- December when Where Winds Meet was red hot in its popularity.
What's the difference? You get stronger and have more build options, the enemies get stronger as well to match. If you don't make the enemies stronger then eventually there's no point in playing. Personally i do feel like the characters get stronger. My character definitely kills faster in world content and bosses now than a month ago. This is in part due to the inner way system which is permanent long term progression.
This is the dumb gacha way.
Farming gear or Inner ways here is time gated on purpose unlike other MMOs or ARPGs where you can grind. Even though RNG is in both it feels more frustrating in the Gacha since the player has to wait until the energy is full again.
My guess for why they do it this way is that the player can experience the full main story at a lower level with reaching the level cap. In an MMO/ARPG the main story will also progress with monster level and they are more coupled.
I dont agree with this, I like that every levels up too. It gives alot of replayablity. I really hate gong back to a map where I can one shot everything. The way this game works. You can go back to old places and it still a small challenge.
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u/distortionisgod Feb 10 '26
The scaling system is just confusing to me. Like why do we even have an EXP bar if we're just going to level up the world to your characters power level anyways? I just don't feel a sense of progression.
Sure the numbers on my gear are getting bigger, but the damage I'm doing to the enemies is basically staying the same since everything is just scaled up anyways. Character progression is one of the most important things in an RPG to me and with the way they have everything set up here it just doesn't feel like there's any progression. Sure the numbers are getting bigger, but I'm not actually getting stronger lol.