A great yet rare RPG feature.

So my 3 year old son wanted to play a starwars game, but the PS2 wasn't accessible and I didnt want to get out my SNES(that is Super Nintendo). So I loaded StarWars:Knights of the Old Repbublic. This is a wonderful game for starwars fans. It is a Role Playing Game in the Star Wars universe, but that is where it becomes very much........ Normal. It basically used D&D rules(that's Dungeons & Dragons). I'm guessing D&D 3.0 rules, but it's been so long I forget which rule set. There is nothing wrong with the rule set, but in some ways I wish they had just been inovated and did something new. Anyway, on to the thing the game reminded me of.

Level gaining and gaining skills. In all RPGs the character(s) you control gains Abilities, Skills, Feats, Powers, and other ways to become better. Most RPGs over the years have used a Level system where you gain points until you gain a Level and increase your abilities. Everytime a play a new game and they use some form of this I think.........WHY? I mean, I walk around solving puzzles, rescuing captives, and hacking things with my sword. Then what happens. I get to increase my ability to cast FIREBALL and use a Bow without ever doing any of those things at all. It makes no sense at all. You could go around hitting everything you see with an AXE and then increase your abliity to cast spells, sneak around, or throw darts. WHAT?

Well not all games are this way. One more recent game I played was Elder Scrolls: Morrowwind. You got better at whatever you did. Jumping made you a better jumper and so on. This isnt a recent idea though. I remember playing a Final Fantasy game that did this many years ago in Japan, but wasnt released in the US until mor recently. I cant Remember if it is FF2, FF3 or what but using an axe made you better with axes and using the Fire Spell made you better with the Fire Spell. Also I believe on the SNES the game Secret of Mana did a similar thing with increasing the abilities you use. So it isnt new, but it isnt the standard yet. I hope it does become the standard b/c it gives you something to shoot for.

I mean picture this. You've been playing some game for 30 hours(not straight) and you are level 42. You can hack most anything with your sword or ICE X spell, but you have to go to a new area where you seem to be having lots of trouble. You learn that a hermit can teach you some new Trick/Spell. So you travel across half the world to see him and he teaches you some Wind Blast XXX spell, but it is at level 1 so it doenst do well. Now you have to go around building that up to level 5 or so to be usable in the new area. That sounds like real life. I dont care if you are the best Bike rider in the world, but at sometime you may need a car and need to learn how to use it effectively. So you jump in and get better so you can drive.

Just my thoughts on what should be the standard in RPGs and any games where this is possible.