I can't think of a single game that manages to have enemies correspond to your level rather than area or story progression actually contribute to the game. It just makes trying to get better gear ultimately a pointless task because the enemies get strong at the same rate so you might as well stay weak.

  • PorkrollPosadist [he/him, they/them]
    ·
    edit-2
    2 years ago

    I think Breath of the Wild handled this well. Not perfectly, but well. The enemies don't scale at all, The red bokoblins are always red bokoblins, and the gold lionels are always gold lionels. There is a wide range from the weakest ones to the strongest ones though. Aside from the tutorial plateau, there are no hard barriers to going anywhere. Once you unlock the glide ability, you can travel anywhere, including straight to the castle to fight Ganon. The only thing holding you back are the enemies, which stronger weapons and increased health/stamina genuinely help you dispatch. It can be fun to venture into dangerous terrain and grab a weapon that is stronger than what you're supposed to have, and since they break it isn't something you get to use to cheese your way through the rest of the game.

    The combat itself can be kind of repetitive, and some of the strongest enemies are basically just damage sponges, but you do get a strong sense of growth as the game develops. I think the fact that leveling isn't even required to win the game helps a lot with it. You don't go to all the shrines and invest in upgraded health/stamina because it is necessary for progression. You do it because it is useful, but it is just as exciting to take the minimalist route as it is to take the completionist one.

    • laziestflagellant [they/them]
      ·
      edit-2
      2 years ago

      There is actually a subtle enemy scaling in BOTW that iirc is based on how many enemies you kill (counted by each first enemy defeat, so farming the same bokoblin camp over and over doesn't increase the number). Beating the bosses in the Divine Beasts gives the progression tracker a huge boost, hence why it's associated with them but engaging with the Divine Beasts isn't necessary to progress the enemy tiers.

      Some enemies will always be fixed encounters but others will increment through the enemy color tiers as you progress through the game and defeat more of the area encounters. This is why you can actually miss an entire tier of Lynel weaponry if you progress too fast.

    • GreenTeaRedFlag [any]
      hexagon
      ·
      2 years ago

      Sorry if i phrased it poorly, but I don't count this as enemy scaling. Scaling requires the enemy to change based on your strength. Enemies having different strength based on area isn't scaled to you, it's just level design.