Make One Slight Change to A Game, Make it 1000X More Awesome

[Frezzato]

Take the Elder Scrolls series and make it an XP based system where you spend skill points on level up, like Fallout. The "use it to level it" system is the literal definition of a grind. If it were not for the fact that I can play the game in a window and watch netflix while I cast courage on my follower for 2 hours, the game would almost be unplayable.

No. I love the TES leveling model, and wish more games would use it.
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Want to be better at archery? Use a bow or find a someone to teach you. That's something that makes sense inside and outside the game. Yeah, it's not a typical system for games, which is why I think a lot of gamers are irritated by it, but it's there for a reason.

Ha ha! I remember my friend, who never played Morrowind, started playing Oblivion and immediately began using the conversation skill just to get good prices from shops (in the town right after you create your character). I thought that was bad, but let him play the way he wanted. So his bonus became biggest to conversation and he kept leveling that exclusively. So around, I dunno, level 10 or 15, he finally sets out into the wilderness and realizes that the world had leveled up around him and he was basically a businessman. He couldn't defend himself against a wolf so he gave me the controller. I ran away but kept running into different animals. I had three wolves, a troll and maybe a cougar (I couldn't turn around to look) trailing me as if I were the Pied Piper for monsters.

I have to give it to my friend, he did eventually finish the game with that character, but not before I gave him the nickname 'Fancy Lad', as in the movie Cabin Boy. My friend thought he was being clever, but the game proved him wrong.