Games that allow you to become overpowered(or offer OP equipment and abilities): thumbs up or thumbs down?

DragoonKain

Neighbours from Hell
I was debating this with a friend the other day. He prefers games that don't allow you to become OP and make you use your wits, skill, and brain to climb your way to the top in games. I prefer when games offer you the option to become OP... if you want it. Whether it be through leveling, through really powerful equipment or abilities, or whatever else. My argument is that if you want that difficulty and balance, you can always skip the things that make you OP. But in games, I want the feeling that I was rewarded with something for my troubles. All the grinding, all the exploring, all the side questing... I want to feel like I got something really worthwhile out of it. It seems too often these days, more and more games do the thing where there are no OP weapons or abilities. Some might be a little stronger than others objectively, but really it's just a matter of personal preference and style. I like when I'm near the end of a game, and I do a side quest or find some really challenging optional dungeon and fight some optional boss and get some really powerful weapon at the end of it that allows me to absolutely wreck fools. I liked going into endgame boss battles fully leveled and decked out in my OP gear, even if it was the final boss, and absolutely trashing them, and having the feeling like this is what all that effort allowed me to do.

I really appreciate that Cyberpunk 2077 kind of offered something like this in Phantom Liberty. The Erebus weapon you get in it just shreds enemies. It's not to the level of some other games and it doesn't make you invincible or anything, but it was really fucking cool going around feeling like an absolute machine tearing through enemies and feeling like all my exploring gifted me with something completely worthwhile. I hate the things some games do now where every weapon is virtually the same strength, they either just have a different visual design or have different skills associated with it that are no different than the next. And some games do the thing where weapons do get incrementally stronger, but by the end of the game all you have is a weapon that is just the strongest one of the bunch, but offers nothing tangibly difference making and with enemy scaling you don't notice a real difference in battles anyway. It's just a means for you to keep up with increasing difficulty of your foes.

Curious where you stand on games offering you the ability to be OP. Do you prefer it when games focus on difficulty and not giving you a way to become godlike if you put the time in? Or do you like when you can explore and quest and grind and get your hands on amazing equipment or level yourself to a place where you can crush everyone if you so desire?
 
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Thumbs up. Becoming over-powered takes time and it's good that players who do that get the feeling of being rewarded for it.
 
It depends on the game. In human to human multiplayer games, OP stuff should be toned down.

In single player games, go nuts. Power fantasy is an aspect of videogames. My personal preference is that the more OP something is, the harder it is to obtain, either through time or skill difficulty or brainpower needed to figure it out. In most games, if it's too easy to become stupidly overpowered, it trivializes the basic gameplay loop, which is not constructive.
 
You can play as me, bender bender , in the Futurama video game (Now available on PS2 and Xbox for the low, low price of $49.99). Talk about being overpowered.
 
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I love being OP in games and just steam roll everything but you have to earn it through the course of the game, not just handed it on a silver platter.
 
I don't mind it at all, but it should require some serious work, or be really difficult to come by. Games that re really hard early on and show you how difficult the world is but then let you work towards being a total badass are fun to me.
 
Any game that gives you lots of option how you build your character, you can make them OP. This is true with Souls games and even Shin Megami Tensei games.

I personally don't mind that as long as you worked on it to make your build OP rather than your character be OP from get go.
 
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Becoming super overpowered is often the reward for putting so much time into a game. It's like the victory lap for me. I absolutely love it, especially in roguelites
 
It's sure is a nice way to close a single-player campaign.

Both Half-Life 2 and Titanfall 2 managed to do this by giving the player a tool that's not only OP, but also very fun to use.
 
It should be possible to lord over the last boss if you put in the work.
Enough people will still find pleasure in speedrunning and taking it out with a twig.
 
Thumbs up 👍

It took me many, many hours of grinding and helping folks conquer bosses in Elden Ring but I'm finally a walking god of destruction and no enemy can touch me.

It's amazing
 
Grindy grinds can be fun and drive up 'the engagement', but a game where your OP-ness comes down to developing your skills at novel gameplay are better.
 
That's why unlocking infinite ammo or invisibility in Metal Gear Solid was so much fun. You first play it normally and then unlock it so you get the best of both worlds
 
Its a mix, you should feel like a god versus most scrub mobs but there still need to be things that can challenge you.

That's the power fantasy.
 
It should not come too easily, but I welcome the possibility.
I always thought NG+ and beyond would be a nightmare in FromSoft games, but Sekiro became progressively easier after the first playthrough and it was a lot of fun.
Nothing bad with becoming OP by exploiting a game's system like you can in FF8, either.
 
Up, reminds me to my FFT, which i kill final boss and every enemies with only counter ability, sometimes double swords, or far fist. Or sd gundam g gen, in which i kill boss with only lowest damage such as head vulcan (still overkill damage) or DS with only shield parry. For me, its fun to learn or grinds, then mercilessly break the game.
 
I like being OP with "reasonable" amount of work put into it - as long as the process of grinding is fun and respect the player's time.
 
I don't mind, I like trying to find the combinations myself but also the opportunity to just brute force it out. Also, NG+ all live, I sometimes want to replay the game but just don't have time or patience to do it from scratch again.
 
GoldenEye 007 (N64) disables unlocking new levels to advance the game if you're using any unlockable cheats that you can earn and be OP with.
 
Definite thumbs up. After a journey in a game you should be allowed to become super powerful. Level scaling and mechanics like it should be an option to turn off or on.
 
Silent Hill 2 and 3 give you super powerful weapons after beating the game with the highest score, I'd say it works as a reward for dedicated players who've already mastered the game
 
Being OP is fun sometimes, especially when returning to face earlier enemies that gave me a hard time, but can make a game feel boring to play after a while from the complete lack of challenge.
 
I prefer op gear in looters like diablo. If something has a .000001% drop chance and you get your hands on it, it better be op.
 
I love The Divine Force but Second Story 2D Remake was great too

I prefer 3D Star Ocean to 2D Star Ocean though
I can see that. What do you think of the Ys games? I loved Ys VIII Lacrimosa of Dana and Monstrum Nox. Can't wait for Nordics.

I didn't get to finish The Divine Force as I got stuck and didn't know how to progress. I enjoyed The Last Hope and some other 3D Star Ocean games.
 
I can see that. What do you think of the Ys games? I loved Ys VIII Lacrimosa of Dana and Monstrum Nox. Can't wait for Nordics.

I didn't get to finish The Divine Force as I got stuck and didn't know how to progress. I enjoyed The Last Hope and some other 3D Star Ocean games.

I love what I played of the Ys Games. But I admittedly only played through Ys VIII and got through to the end of the first path of Ys Origins but never beat that final boss

For me the Worst Star Ocean is Star Ocean 5. I loved that all my party members were in my Battle Team but overall that game sucks. Another plus was the sexy Witch WAIFU though lol
 
I love what I played of the Ys Games. But I admittedly only played through Ys VIII and got through to the end of the first path of Ys Origins but never beat that final boss

For me the Worst Star Ocean is Star Ocean 5. I loved that all my party members were in my Battle Team but overall that game sucks. Another plus was the sexy Witch WAIFU though lol
Yeah i agree. Its like they weren't even trying in Star Ocean 5. Im glad i rented that game and didn't buy it. I would have been pissed.

Thats cool, didn't know that there were many Ys fans here. I didn't finish Orgins either.

You should try Ys Monstrum Nox if you can. You can run up buildings and whatnot. Pretty fun traversal.
 
Yeah i agree. Its like they weren't even trying in Star Ocean 5. Im glad i rented that game and didn't buy it. I would have been pissed.

Thats cool, didn't know that there were many Ys fans here. I didn't finish Orgins either.

You should try Ys Monstrum Nox if you can. You can run up buildings and whatnot. Pretty fun traversal.

Weirdly enough everytime with Star Ocean 5 I would get a migraine just playing it

Yeah I have Ys Monstrum Nox on Switch. I'll be playing it later this year
 
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I think being able to become overpowered is a fun way to let everyone enjoy the game.
As long as it's optional, I don't see a problem with it.
 
I prefer it that way usually, I'm typically playing games for the story so I tend to play on easy or normal is preferred and things to make it even easier I have no gripes about

like I just beat the final boss in Trails of Cold Steel II, I doubt I've been this far in the series without there being things to make the party OP (I nearly took out the final boss with one hit from s-craft thanks to ogre power, an early crit turn bonus, and the quartz that makes your first attack 2x the power)
 
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