10 Cruel Tricks Video Games Played On RPG Players

Generally speaking, the majority of RPGs allow you to level up at your own pace, such that if you want to grind away and become grossly over-levelled early on, effectively trivialising the rest of the game's battles, you're free to do so.

But some RPGs have sought to combat this by introducing level scaling - that is, where an enemy's level is tied to your own. The more you level, the tougher enemies will be, in turn eliminating much of the incentive to grind.

Final Fantasy VIII is perhaps the single most infamous and divisive example of this, but other notable instances include The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, Fallout, and Mass Effect: Andromeda.

Given that enemy level scaling makes levelling feel basically pointless and only forces players into tough, lengthy battles, it's understandably a widely-loathed mechanic.

After all, video games are a power fantasy above all else, so if we want to spend 20 hours becoming more powerful than everything else in the game, let us.