Scaling monsters - Boon or Bane?

[number2301]

The only game I've seen this in is Fallout 3, so I'm gonna say bane. At level 30 you randomly run into Giant Albino Radscorpians and those massive Super Mutants (who's name I forget) which take about two dozen shots from a Plasma Rifle. Yeah that isn't fun.

That's not scaling, though. In fact, that's the opposite of scaling. Scaling is when the monster's level rises to match your own, so that grinding is no guarantee of victory.

(Also, I sympathize. In my first Fallout 3 run, the game decided that a Giant Radscorpion lived RIGHT outside the Super Duper Mart. That was not much fun.)

Erm, enemies increasing in strength with your level is scaling and is exactly what Fallout 3 does, and what I'm talking about. The only difference being that Fallout 3 did it by replacing enemies with stronger ones.

 

[Midnight Crossroads]

I can see the reasons for it, but I prefer the satisfaction of slaughtering hordes of mobs which gave me difficulty when I was a lower leveled player. Take WoW, I enjoy occasionally purging the local fauna in the Plaguelands for all the grief they gave me as a low level player. I used to make challenge runs for myself where I would run to Hope's Chapel with the mobs still being skull leveled to me from Trisifal Glades. It made it fun and exciting, and showed my progress once I could defeat them without difficulty. It made me feel like I accomplished something, like I had grown in power and ability.

The only thing I would like to see less of is monsters of low levels possessing a suicidal level of confidence in their ability against the guy with the glowing sword. I'm riding my horse through some woods when a rabbit attacks, gives me a scant 5 exp and a bit of fur to sell for a couple pieces of copper. Gee, that sure was worth the two loading screens.

 

[RatRace123]

I like it, it keeps the challenge consistent, of course depending on the RPG if you come back later you should have more powerful equipment, though, you're at the same level as the monster your infinity plus one sword should give you the advantage.