I’ve been playing Fallout 3 on Xbox a lot lately. A thing I’ve noticed is that leveling up is done in the JRPG style, and not in the old AD&D one. For those unfamiliar, let me translate: JRPG usually have FAST leveling up. It means that you will level up quickly and constantly during the game, opposed to the AD&D system, where leveling up is a real “event”. I still remember the old SSI games based on the AD&D rules, the early levels were even acceptable, but then… going from level 10 to 11 was a real pain 🙂

To be honest I was a fan of the AD&D. Until recently. I mean, is cool that every level up is something unique, that brings new perks/features to the character. But on the other hand, I really like constant reward to the player. In Fallou 3 (but also in other games like Everquest 2) for example you can experience points by just discovering new locations. Or every trap/lock that you manage to disarm/unlock without a key. Beside of course completing quests and killing enemies!

It’s cool to see the EXP bar whenever you do one of those steps. It feels “right”. It’s like the game is telling you “YOU RULE”. I fell in love with it, and I am going to implement something similar to my VN/RPG game Planet Stronghold. There won’t be a full 3d virtual world, but I’ll fill it with many quests and also will make sure there are places in which you can use the various non-combat skills.

Speaking of which, two new screenshots: the skills screen, and the quests screen. They should both be final, no more change to skills 🙂