I agree with you that, for the most part, level scaling sucks when you are playing a single player, character driven RPG. I prefer the way you described more often than not. But let's not kid ourselves into thinking non-level scaling is without flaws.
How often do you find the game extremely tough at the beginning on non-level scaling games, only to turn out incredibly easy at the end? Is that any more realistic?
Bottom line is, you either have a game that is too hard at the beginning and too easy at the end, or, in the case of level-scaling games, you have a game too easy in the beginning and too hard at the end. Pick your poison. I'm just saying that certain games may function better with level-scaling, and King Arthur is one of them.
Nah, I don't agree with you really.
First of all, I don't think the primary reason people want to get rid of level scaling is because it's unrealistic. I think it's because it removes a large portion of the motivation to evolve your characters.
At a very basic level, I think one of the very core aspects of any CRPG is the ability to grow your character, and traditionally this was from nothing to something very powerful.
It's true that many games ended up being "easy" towards the end - but that's actually part of the reward.
There's this very integral rhythm to the whole thing, and a well executed CRPG will start out as a huge challenge - to motivate you to build your character well. Then it will slowly become more managable - so as to give you constant feedback on how you're doing. In the end, if you've managed to build your character with guile - you should be able to defeat most enemies with relative ease because THAT's why you poured all that effort into it. That's the whole point.
Now, you can handle the very end fight (or boss fight) in many ways. I tend to prefer just a really tough enemy with a strong AI. I don't care for puzzle fights that forego everything you've learned and nullify the strength you've been building, but I also don't care for a total pushover.
Just a really tough boss that developers require you to be very tough to defeat. If you've built your character perfectly, then it might be easy - but I think that's fair enough.
There's always the level-cap solution - and I much prefer that to a scaling experience.
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There are always people who complain that a game is too easy, but there's a difference between the validity of such claims. I have to laugh at people who struggle for hours on end to find the perfect strategy - and when they finally break the inevitably breakable AI or find some loophole - the game suddenly becomes way too easy.
What a surprise.
I tend to play along with the developers, given they've been smart about it. I never intentionally look for loopholes or exploits - but if they serve them up in such a way that I'll find them simply by being observant, then I can't really go on completely ignoring it. But when you struggle and intentionally seek a way to break the game, you will be responsible for the ease of "defeating" it.
That's how I see it, anyway.