So what do you guys think?

I heard this guy out and I agree with him. I love Fire Emblem but I been on the final battle of Fire Emblem Fates: Birthright forever. But I haven't been able to beat it. So what I been doing is grinding. And it was back when I was working. So whenever I had 10 minutes I'd do a battle. I was grinding so I could finish the game. But as fun as the series has tried to make it with the supports at the end of the day grinding is boring as hell. So instead of finishing this game I loved I just given up on it. And maybe I could pick it up right now and beat it. But I'm going to be pissed off if I have to do anymore grinding. And it's a great game. Even when the enemies are more powerful and outnumber you it's fun to do the battles over and over again and try to find the best strategy and a lot of the time get lucky to win the battle. This dude hit the nail on the head here.

Levels are a defining characteristic in RPGs. If you got rid of them it wouldn't be an RPG anymore.

TJ Ω wrote:

Levels are a defining characteristic in RPGs. If you got rid of them it wouldn't be an RPG anymore.

Explain why you need levels to role play?

I enjoy the leveling up aspect of games, although grinding can be tedious (though not every RPG requires grinding to be strong enough to take on the enemies you need to face).

I've tried to find out exactly what constitutes an RPG, but there seems to be arguments about what defining characteristics there are. Most seem to think levelling up is a defining trait, though. Technically speaking, any game where you play as a character would be an RPG, because you're taking on the role of said character, but nobody would say Call of Duty is an RPG or Uncharted or anything like that.

If I think the levelling up in a game is so tedious that it ruins the experience for me, I just won't play it. Usually, though, I enjoy levelling up. I think turn-based RPGs wouldn't be as fun without levelling up. Growing and becoming stronger as you progress through the story is part of the appeal for me, especially in the kinda games where you can sorta decide how you grow. Like, in Pokemon, you can choose the moves your Pokemon learn and you can focus on some stats more than others. I enjoy that.

MooseNugget wrote:

TJ Ω wrote:

Levels are a defining characteristic in RPGs. If you got rid of them it wouldn't be an RPG anymore.

Explain why you need levels to role play?

If going for a literal definition of the word, you don't need them at all. However, RPGs have used level systems for 40+ years, enough for it to become a defining characteristic of the genre. If you take that away, you're effectively changing the genre.