Being overpowered,good or bad?

[LaughingAtlas]

Just yesterday, I was finishing Force Unleashed on the hardest difficulty and I realized something; "challenge" should mostly come with boss fights. Time after time, I'd try to get through the massive end area just before

Spoiler: Might be predictable, but still a spoiler, I think

fighting Vader and get pretty much insta-killed AGAIN by some prick I didn't see or one of those bullshit droids' homing... lasersmissles? A force wrecking ball I was not, much less one capable of pulling down a star destroyer. When I finally got through the cheap bastardry of the final chamber, it was time for Vader, which was incredibly enjoyable. (when he wasn't spamming grip or ignoring my every attack, hardest difficulty and all that)Struggling in that bit was how it should be, you Vs. the dark lord of the sith, challenging conflict with a trained master. (basically the summary of a "boss", I think)

The boss fights were probably the best part of that game, even if they were a little too easy on normal. On the other hand, crushing cannon fodder with minimal resistance was pretty fun. (bullshit droids notwithstanding) As I watched the closing cutscene, I noticed that probably no one feels like a hero when every single underling could take them down if they aren't careful, but decapitating the land's mightiest villians with a flick of the wrist is hardly satisfying. I think the balance comes with easy common foes and tough enemy leaders. That way, we can enjoy trouncing silly goblins and save our healthkits and big guns for the head killing machine.

In RPGs, maybe the leveling system could be fine tuned so as to let weaker enemies be strong enough that they aren't slain in one hit, but aren't all brick golems either. Bosses could be strong enough to always pose a threat, but not be roided up dragons from hell.

 

[Optimystic]

I like getting to that point on my first playthrough, provided there is a "New Game Plus" [http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/NewGamePlus] that actually expects me to be uber and really puts me through my paces, e.g. Diablo and Mass Effect.

 

[Custard_Angel]

In games like Oblivion my goal is always to become the unkillable God, which is why when I am an unbeatable swordmaster, I'll go back to square one and pick up a bow, or an axe or get out the fists and become a master of a new attack method.

You can always challenge yourself more in Oblivion. Set the difficulty higher, put away your armor and fight in plain clothes, dont use magic etc.

 

[BreakfastMan]

I love being overpowered by the end of a game. It is a great feeling being able to defeat with ease enemies that gave you a lot of trouble in the beginning. It feels like a reward for sticking with the game to the end.

 

[cikame]

Life is challenging enough, games are the only time i can win - pro overpowered.

 

[Zenn3k]

I HATE enemy scaling.

To me it removes the point of playing an RPG, which is to become more powerful as you progress. SOME enemy scaling is okay, but when it basically makes leveling up completely pointless (like in DA:O for example), it really makes playing the game pointless, I'd rather just watch the cutscenes at that point and move on.

The classic situation for an RPG is, "this enemy is too strong, try again when you are stronger", but when no amount of leveling or upgrades improves your chances, really, what is the point?

 

[XT inc]

It depends, I hate games that make me over powered because it strips the challenge away. On the other hand I love enemy scaling to make everything work.

Its like when I beat final fantasy tactics A2, The missions in the game were too low for my character, there's no sort of you beat the game here are hardcore missions for high level chars, and the prospect of restarting a 60 hour grindy Srpg isn't entertaining. I already spent 10 missions to unlock dual wield I am not doing it again.

 

[the December King]

Even though I have found about 99 percent of content in Saint's Row 2, I still love to run around town with unlimited ammo, unlimited running, and the fastest regenerating health.

Why? Well, to make it challenging, I turn on some of the 'cheat codes' ('evil cars' and 'pedestrian war'). With everyone in the whole city trying to kill you, crossing the street is a potentially lethal venture, and getting from one end of town to the other becomes almost impossible!

 

[ChaoticLegion]

Exactly this.... Being overpowered kinda removes the challenging fun from the game. At the moment I'm re-playing through oblivion....again, with 6.5GB worth of Mods on it.. however I made sure each mod wouldn't add anything overpowering to the game.

I dislike scaling enemies. It removes any feeling of accomplishment, and in case like Oblivion, can become downright idiotic. Why would a bandit be wearing the most expensive armour available, and swinging a powerful enchanted Daedric sword? If he just sold it, he'd be able to live like a king, so why is he hanging around in the woods mugging people for loose change?

Exactly why I've got my game so heavily modded (since my last post I've added an extra 2GB of mods, meaning my mods are now 8.5GB in size... the base game being only 3.5GB.) Oblivion is an awesome game, and an even better experience when modded properly, such as not becoming overpowered.

 

[Confidingtripod]

Depends on the game: U.F.O.Aftermath ends up with my team in super armor carrying deployable cover triple-miniguns while my enemie's use biological armor and shields using guns that warp reality...the fights are...interesting, the more overpowered the game lets you become they become just as overpowered but in a different way.

 

[Ertol]

Well in single player games it depends on why I'm overpowered. If it's because I exploited some glitch or got 100% chameleon armor, then it's my fault I'm overpowered. I could just as easily not get the armor, just because it exists dosen't mean I need to use it. For example in Morrowind and Oblivion if you do the +5/+5/+5 every time on your skills you quickly become too powerful for normal, so I just don't do it. If a game makes you overpowered in the story because you consume some power or what not, then that's ok.

Personally I like when a game has low level monsters and high level ones. That way at lvl 60 I can still go back and kill the goblins that used to give me trouble, but I'm fighting high lvl ogres and what not that challange me.

 

[SonicWaffle]

Exactly why I've got my game so heavily modded (since my last post I've added an extra 2GB of mods, meaning my mods are now 8.5GB in size... the base game being only 3.5GB.) Oblivion is an awesome game, and an even better experience when modded properly, such as not becoming overpowered.

Fuck me, but that's a lot of mods. Unfortunately, I have Oblivion for the Xbox, so I don't have the option. Besides, it isn't exactly hard to become overpowered, you can do it in about an hour - learn the invisibility spell and the night-eye spell, get some sneak skill to increase your critical hit modifier, and you're done. Go invisible, crouch behind enemy, hit enemy for 1-hit-kill. Go invisible again before next enemy attacks, repeat the process. Towards the end, when I got bored of the main storyline (I'd done all the guild missions and many of the sidequests) I was just going invisible, running through the dungeon to pick up Magical Doodad #135, then going invisible again and running out. It saved a lot of messing around

In many ways, Oblivion is a very broken game, and I'm not sure if any amount of modding would remove all of it's problems.

 

[SyphonX]

Depends.

Assassin's Creed is ridiculous in this department. You are overpowered for the entirety of the game. Just f'ing unbelievably boring. The theme suggests you're supposed to be a sneaky assassin, and that your missions are dangerous, with an entire city watch trying to kill you.

You can literally kill everything non-stop, in the entire city (either city), and well.. it's boring. Your marks are not challenging either. You don't even have to wait for them to do something special, you can just kill them at any time. It's boredom factor is unrelenting. The game needs to be a teeny bit more difficult, or at least give us a hardcore option.

 

[Melgrath]

I don't mind the overpowered aspect in single player games because you can always choose to gimp yourself to whichever level you would like for added challenge.

The issues I have are in multiplayer games where a class or weapon or whatever is overpowered. In multiplayer games, if I don't choose the overpowered class/weapon/etc, someone else will. So inevitably you end up with Flavor of The Month crap that makes multiplayer gaming much more frustrating.

I guess is breaks down to what the game is and if it's more single player style or multiplayer style as to whether I'm pro-overpowered or not.

 

[Evilsanta]

I think that having some overpowered-ness (not quite a word) is an important element to have in a game. Players should have at some point, the ability to dominate the lesser enemies that gave them such a hard time at the start of the game. It's great fun, and it provides tangible feedback as to how far a player has progressed in a game. Now, it should certainly take a lot of effort and hard work to get to that point. A cheap victory, is not an enjoyable one imho.

All of that said, there still should be something offered in the game world to provide the player with a challenge. It gives them something further to work towards. That's why I feel a mix of static and scaled leveling is a good thing.

At a certain point in the game bandits and lesser monsters should be running from ME, yet greater demons and ancient swordsmen should be able to 'whoop mah butt' if I'm careless...

I couldnt have written it any better. Sure it is fun to be overpowerd but not all the time. And if overpowerd and it gets boring i up the diffulcuty. I did this in Mass Effect 2 as i could oneshot most enemies and upped it to insane which really gave me a challange. Kinda in the wrong way i guess.