Player Character's Degree of Power

Okay, here's a topic I've been thinking about.

In most games whose focus is combat, as indicated by the genre to which they belong (action, action-adventure, rpg, action-rpg, etc etc), the player character has a predetermined degree of power, with limits on how low or high can that power go.

For example, in the God of War games, you've got Kratos, an angry, bald killing machine against whom the average human soldier holds no chance whatsoever, while mythological creatures and gods give him a run for his money.

Games like Uncharted show that Nathan Drake is capable of going toe to toe with any single enemy, but larger amounts of that kind of enemy can present trouble.

Then you have a game like Dark Souls, where even the lowliest enemy can kill a player if he isn't careful. And once you complete your character's build (let's say that happens at SL120), your only rivals (read: things that can actually kill you) are elite mobs, lategame bosses and gravity.

The question is: In any game where combat is centric to the gameplay, what kind of degree of power you like your player character to have?
Or, which is the level of epicness you aspire to reach?

Skyrim did this right. Hard fights at first, but by the very end you're a badass who cast magic for free and can easily kill dragons. I hacked it so I one shot dragons with my bow of pwnage.

Shadow of the Colossus was nearly perfect, and the ending... Dark Souls did it well, but I think some games like Borderlands and Diablo do it better. You can destroy smaller enemies with very little trouble, but they can still get the best of you if you stop paying attention, and boss mobs are challenging.


SoTC stuff that may be considered spoilers:

Spoiler:

I like it where the character you are given is just a simple human being in a world where everything is beyond your meagre strength.

Thus you have to become stronger, forge alliances, and rely on luck to see you through.

Start as a weakling and end the game as a super powerful force to be reckoned with

I just like to kick *** from the start but then my gaming skills are decidedly average.

I like it when a game has a steady difficulty rating throughout, the character gets stronger and you can feel them become stronger, but then he/she encounters even tougher challenges.

I enjoy when you have a fairly strong character, and progress getting stronger as you go along. And THEN near the end, a boss *** you up good before the fight, and you have to fight with a handicap.

Zone Of The Enders 2 had a prime example

Spoiler:

If I'm not arm wrestling the incredible hulk and winning by the end of the game then I'm calling it a flaw

Yeki that game sounds awesome, what system is it for and when did it come out?

Quarik wrote:Shadow of the Colossus was nearly perfect, and the ending... Dark Souls did it well, but I think some games like Borderlands and Diablo do it better. You can destroy smaller enemies with very little trouble, but they can still get the best of you if you stop paying attention, and boss mobs are challenging.


SoTC stuff that may be considered spoilers:

Spoiler:

Yes, SotC was an awesome game. I just beat it. I like it that you can't go toe to toe with any of the Collosi, you have to use your wits to take each one down. And yes, the ending was very sad for me too. Wasn't expecting it, to say the least.

ps2, and it came out in 2003 I do believe

Do I need to link some of my writing tools here?

Damn how did I miss this game during my PS2 days? Probably too much Kingdom Hearts lol

I like hard-core games where if you aren't careful, you die. (Even though i get pissed off and rage quit..i always come back to the game) As for starting out in the game, i prefer to be an average guy. Nothing special about him, but by the end of the game i'm kickin' *** and taking names.