Poll: Overtraining in games

[Lukeydoodly]

I love over training and then destroying bosses.

Which is why I have currently stopped playing FF13. There is something wrong with your game when I can kill a boss in 1/3 of it's par time, yet die within 15 seconds against normal enemies.

 

[xbeaker]

I am all for it. If you need to be 5 or 10 levels above the monsters in an area to be able to fight them conforably, then so be it. It is one of the reasons I am so against the recent trend of RPS where you level, and the world levels with you. Being able to over, or under train allows you to naturally adjust the difficulty of the games with a natural reward, which is the extra money and XP you get for taking things on that are realitively higher (20 gold to a 5th level charater still in town B may be a fortune, but 20 gold to a 15th level charter in town D may barely buy a room at an inn) and the time you save.

 

[Flour]

This [http://i42.tinypic.com/m9olee.jpg] is the character I leveled to finish the last few maps of Disgaea3. I might be overestimating the final boss' strength, I mean, she does 20k damage with a spell that costs about 300SP to cast and can be expanded to hit up to 6 enemies at once. I also don't know of any resistance to the type of magic she uses.

[sup]Normally I wouldn't post pictures taken with my phone's camera but I don't have a way to capture console images/video on my computer and it was only intended to be shown to friends.(looking for a card that allows me to do this, though)[/sup]

 

[Darth Caelum]

A couple of days ago a friend and I were comparing how each of us beat the Elite Four in Soul Silver. I used strategy and types to my advantage. My friend on the other hand beat them by training 20 levels higher than anything he would fight.

So my question is how do you feel about overtraining?

Fine i guess. All tactics are legitimate courses of action.
[sub]Love your avatar by the way.[/sub]

 

[TPiddy]

Does it let me pwn a boss in a matter of seconds? Yes? Then spending 5 hours training to turn a 2 minute fight into a 30 second one is worth it.

This.... I am a man with limited time to dedicate to gaming, so if leveling up higher means that the tough parts of the game go faster and I am more likely to succeed, then so be it. I will do so.

 

[Regiment]

It's fine, although boring, and I'd never have the patience.

(How much time would it take to train that much? I just beat the E4 in my SoulSilver, and I was struggling to find anything that gave enough EXP to get my Pokemon into the 40s, let alone 60s!)

 

[Regiment]

It's fine, although boring, and I'd never have the patience.

(How much time would it take to train that much? I just beat the E4 in my SoulSilver, and I was struggling to find anything that gave enough EXP to get my Pokemon into the 40s, let alone 60s!)

Rematch the gym leaders, battle your rival in dragons den so he will appear at the elite four entrance and the routes with an exclamation mark on your map means there is a trainer there who wants to battle you. Each time you beat a trainer again, their pokemon will be a higher level or may have evolved by the next time.

Good luck in tracking down the EXP!

I didn't know you could rebattle the leaders. I rebattled people on the map, and worked out in Victory Road. I should get on that (once I get off the S.S. Aqua). I love free EXP, and with clever EXP Share-ing, Gym Leaders are just that.

 

[Rewold]

At least for me RPGs become boring with overtraining. As an example the crater in FF7 with characters lvl80. Over quick and didn't feel any kind of challenge. Boss battles are my favorite in RPGs and I want them to be challenging.

 

[Macgyvercas]

Haven't played SoulSilive yet, but I did the overtraining thing in Blue. Hell, I'm replaying Yellow right now and overtraining is right at the fucking top of my list of tricks.

 

[tomtom94]

When grinding is the only option, that is what I will do. But in Pokemon I tend to try the clever approach. I like being clever.

[sub]It doesn't happen often[/sub]

 

[ShatteredBlack]

Well, I've finished playing SoulSilver.

I picked tododile and had a mate trade me a Lv. 5 Pupitar. Steamrolled through the whole game wit just those two and any others needed for HM's.

I trained 2 Pokemon instead of 6, so each got 3x the Exp as they would normally - turned them into steamrollers!

 

[Naheal]

Over Training/leveling is fine but winning while at a lower level with skill/strategy is a classier victory.

This man says it all. You can win with levels all you want, but winning with strats/skills makes the victory just that much sweeter.

 

[C117]

Rule #57 in gaming: If it works, it is a legitimate strategy.

And so, overtraining is fine by me, even if it does feel less exciting to win that way.

 

[mad825]

really? why are people obsessed about what level it is? level of a pokemon really determines what moves it will learn and when it will evolve (if it ever does ^.^) mainly. the stats is all I care about,two pokemons can be at the same, type specie and level yet have totally different stats and the one with the highest stats will have the overall dominance on the battle field (assuming they all have offensive moves)

 

[GrinningManiac]

I never cared for types in Blue (only one I ever played)

I'd just pick pokemon I found awesome or adorable and trained them to be at least a THREAT to the enemy

I ended up pwning with a pidgeot, an oddish, an electrode, a dratini and articuno (possibly also a seel)

 

[Amnestic]

I do both. No reason to not play type advantages and play tactically even if I'm overlevelled.

 

[dagens24]

The best RPGs are the ones where you don't have to train at all. You just do the missions/story and you should always be at a playable stregth. Bioware games come to mind. I've never had to grind for levels in a bioware game; I just play and I'm always exactly where I should be.

 

[gmaverick019_v1legacy]

People care about this? Back in the good old days we would just level Mew Two to 100 and GG the Elite Four in five minutes.

this. i rolled over them with my OP pokemon

in pokemon, thats always what i do, my character spends more time fishing and running through grass more then anything else

in final fantasies or the such, i progress in the story a good 30 minutes, then grind for a good hour or two, earning like 5 levels, then maul the next 30 minutes of story and whatnot, rinse and repeat, works pretty well and im satisfied, so whats wrong with it?

 

[MagnetoHydroDynamics]

I remember beating the crap out of the last boss (a bit freaking three headed dragon) in Golden Sun 2, with only my characters melee attacks.

 

[KitsunetheFox]

Here's how I beat Pokemon.
1) I always use the type advantages as best as I can. E.g. If I'm fighting Cynthia's Garchomp, then I'll switch to Electivire and use Ice Punch.
2) Before I even start the Elite 4 (take into account that Elite 4 Pokemon in Diamond/Pearl range from level 50 to 60), I make sure that all my Pokemon are levle 60+. That way, by the end of the league, I am a bit superior to the Champion.
3) I study each gym leader/boss and their Pokemon, making sure that my final team can take on any one of their Pokemon at any time. E.g. If the game has a great deal of bosses who use Grass Pokemon, I'm going to have at least 1 pure Fire-based Pokemon.
4) I use a pre-set team of types and moves that has never failed me. I make sure that I have: Grass type, Water type, Fire type, Ice (usually Ice Beam), Flying type, Electric type, Fighting, Psychic type, Normal and Ground (Earthquake). In some cases I have random "just in case" moves thrown in for good measure, e.g. Bite or Sleep Powder. My team tends to never have more than 3 of the HMs at once within it (Mainly Fly, Strength and Surf, as I find that they are the most combat effective).
5) When I'm prepared, I walk in there, and I don't stop hitting until they fall down. I don't use status moves, to me they are a waste of time. I hit them as hard as I can and as fast as I can.
So far, I have cleared Blue, Silver, Yellow, Fire Red, Ruby, Sapphire, Emerald and Platinum with this strategy.

So yes, I overtain, and I wish I didn't sometimes (in Pokemon, it takes a while), but I don't feel confident in my ability to win (I have never claimed to be good at video games) if I don't have that advantage. The less variables there are, the more confident I become about my chances of victory.