The level scaling in this game makes no sense

[Janthis]

So I'm fighting a bunch of level 7-8 bandits and dispatching them no problem. Then I go to the next city, accept a quest and suddenly the thugs I'm fighting are level 24? I even tried to complete the quest regardless, but of course I was barely scratching them while they were killing me in 2 hits. Same for weapons, I can forge a sword that's level 1, or 5, then later on I find another sword that looks the same but it's level 20.

I love the game otherwise, but this is some seriously immersion-breaking crap. It's like Oblivion all over again, but instead of things scaling to your level, levels are all over the place, like an MMO.

[Dawidko1200]

To be honest, that is the only flaw I find in the game. That, and unskippable narration when you load.

[WolfEisberg]

Originally posted by Dawidko1200:

To be honest, that is the only flaw I find in the game. That, and unskippable narration when you load.

You can skip the narration once the loading is done.

[Overlord Ducky]

The game gives you a clear indication of what level you should be to complete a specific quest. The best way to level up is to alternate between side quests and the main questline.

Although it's frustrating at first, it's barely noticable as you start moving on in the game. It's also a nice trick from the devs to make sure that the main questline doesn't stall too hard, while also making you return to completed areas later on, which makes the world feel larger and more alive. Also fits the lore of the Witchers, which is that they travel around the world many times over while they're slaying monsters and whatnot.

[Duncan]

Originally posted by 176-617:

The game gives you a clear indication of what level you should be to complete a specific quest. The best way to level up is to alternate between side quests and the main questline.

Although it's frustrating at first, it's barely noticable as you start moving on in the game. It's also a nice trick from the devs to make sure that the main questline doesn't stall too hard, while also making you return to completed areas later on, which makes the world feel larger and more alive. Also fits the lore of the Witchers, which is that they travel around the world many times over while they're slaying monsters and whatnot.

I dont think witchers in the books used to race through all the towns and cities at once, collect all possible contracts, then slowly start doing the easiest ones lol. Levels in this game could sure use much more logics and zoning, I really liked white orchard because the quest level distribution was rather low, but once you get to velen you basically accept a level 30 quest right away being just level 3 or 4. A quest that you will do in maybe 100 hours.

[Janthis]

Originally posted by 176-617:

The game gives you a clear indication of what level you should be to complete a specific quest. The best way to level up is to alternate between side quests and the main questline.

Yeah, but you only see the quest's level after you've already accepted it. I've had to postpone or run away from quite a few encounters that were like 10 levels above me. I'll get back to them, but it still feels a little weird and "videogame-y".

[Overlord Ducky]

Originally posted by Duncan:

I dont think witchers in the books used to race through all the towns and cities at once, collect all possible contracts, then slowly start doing the easiest ones lol.

They probably didn't, but Witchers in the books were, most likely, not affected by the infamous "RPG sequel skill/gear reset" either.

Originally posted by ionutz1280:

Yeah, but you only see the quest's level after you've already accepted it. I've had to postpone or run away from quite a few encounters that were like 10 levels above me. I'll get back to them, but it still feels a little weird and "videogame-y".

You can't really blame the game for you not checking the information it gives you. But yes, I agree that it's a bit awkward at first, but it happens in a lot of other RPGs, although maybe not as frequently. As for it being "videogame-y", I disagree. The fact that all the strong enemies are actually spread out across the world makes far more sense than bunching up all of them in a single late-game area, which is what a lot of RPGs do.

[Janthis]

You can't really blame the game for you not checking the information it gives you.

As I said, you only see the level of the quest after you've already accepted it. How could I know that around Velen quests were level 10-11, then when entering Novigrad, the first quest I accepted would be level 25? As for feeling videogame-y, it does because of how the levels are spread out. You can be killing all kinds of monsters at level 10, then meet a bandit (or a wolf!) who's level 25. Same with equipment.

[Overlord Ducky]

Originally posted by ionutz1280:

As I said, you only see the level of the quest after you've already accepted it. How could I know that around Velen quests were level 10-11, then when entering Novigrad, the first quest I accepted would be level 25? As for feeling videogame-y, it does because of how the levels are spread out. You can be killing all kinds of monsters at level 10, then meet a bandit (or a wolf!) who's level 25. Same with equipment.

There's no disadvantage to having uncompleted quests in your log, unless you have a personal dislike for leaving quests uncompleted. However, this happens in a lot of RPGs as well (Skyrim is a great example, since certain enemies simply can't be fought at lower levels, yet early/easy-to-start quests might still require you to fight them). Even the "meet person here at this time of day" objectives are static until you decide it's time to do them.

Looking back at the whole "videogame-y" feel, I guess it depends on the game. Turn-based RPGs like Final Fantasy has a tendency to sort areas, and thus gear, by the enemies' level, while action RPGs are quite prone to giving you gear that you can't use, or shouldn't be able to use, for a long time because you're sequence-breaking to some extent. I feel like Witcher does it more naturally, though. In real life, there'd be no telling if you'd find high or low quality gear in the field, because that withered skeleton you found could've been a peasant that barely knew how a sword looked or an extremely skilled Knight, and the gear would reflect that.

Additionally, the game keeps the high-level quests, gear and enemies in mind, because no routes are ever completely blocked by strong enemies, and there's always the stash where you can unload any items you don't want to carry around. Once again, this can be compared to Skyrim, where you might not have any safe place to store items for hours, so the game lets you use the highest-quality gear from level one, if you can get your hands on it.

[Janthis]

There's no disadvantage to having uncompleted quests in your log, unless you have a personal dislike for leaving quests uncompleted.

There is that, and sometimes it's like the game is taunting you. To use Hattori (the sword guy) in Novigrad as an example, he's like "please help me now! Meet me tonight!" (I'm level 11 and the quest is level 25). Then if you don't go, he's like "Why didn't you show up? You made a fool of me!" Sorry man, what the hell did you expect me to do there? Show up so they'll laugh at me before they wipe the floor with my gray ass?

It would make more sense if there were certain high-level areas where the enemies were really tough or somesuch, and you could start in easier "newbie" areas. But I guess that wouldn't make sense from the perspective of Geralt already being a seasoned monster hunter. But neither does it make sense to have the same creatures be 10-20 levels apart in different areas. It's a hard thing to balance, definitely.

[Overlord Ducky]

Originally posted by ionutz1280:

It would make more sense if there were certain high-level areas where the enemies were really tough or somesuch, and you could start in easier "newbie" areas. But I guess that wouldn't make sense from the perspective of Geralt already being a seasoned monster hunter. But neither does it make sense to have the same creatures be 10-20 levels apart in different areas. It's a hard thing to balance, definitely.

I'd say the big problem here is one that I've found the game to be guilty of many times, which is that White Orchard is quite misleading as far as prologues go. A video game prologue, in this case the start of the game up until leaving the Emperor's palace, is meant to set up the "rules" the game has for the player. Among the rules, it implies that quests are near your level, and different enemies of the same type are still going to be relatively close to each other in strength. Basically, the game starts out with a starter area that is effectively level-locked like Final Fantasy or World of Warcraft is, but then it flips it around completely and takes on the "high-level enemies might mess you up if you're not careful" attitude the moment you enter a new area. It's a weird way to go, to say the least, but once you realise the proper rules, I wouldn't say it's such a huge issue.

[Janthis]

Originally posted by steveyos:

I like it because it's how rpg games have been and should continue to be but there's a monster level scaling option for those of you who play it like call of duty and no I do not mean that as an insult if you just like going from main mission to main mission in a linear fashion a la call of duty just turn on thte monster scaling option

I haven't tried it yet, but from what I heard the option only upscales low-level enemies to make them provide a challenge, it doesn't lower high-level ones to your level.

[tonypa]

I always thought the mixture of higher and lower level quests and enemies made perfect sense in a open world. You can go pretty much anywhere and do anything, yet you should stay careful and look out before running into battles. The quests have level recommendations, the enemies have levels above them, it is not like the more difficult content is hidden from you and much higher level enemies will somehow catch you by surprise.

I always go around the map and explore all the points of interest, the villages, the ruins, treasures etc. And knowing next enemy could be much higher level makes the whole eploring so much more fun. You do not have to fight everything, you can leave the spot, level up and return later.

You constantly have long list of quests to do, nothing forces you to do last quest you find.

[Shadow♥]

Originally posted by ionutz1280:

Originally posted by 176-617:

The game gives you a clear indication of what level you should be to complete a specific quest. The best way to level up is to alternate between side quests and the main questline.

Yeah, but you only see the quest's level after you've already accepted it. I've had to postpone or run away from quite a few encounters that were like 10 levels above me. I'll get back to them, but it still feels a little weird and "videogame-y".

i agree....ive had to run away from encounters as well once i saw the skull above the npcs and realized they were way above my level.

[Shadow♥]

Originally posted by tonypa:

I always thought the mixture of higher and lower level quests and enemies made perfect sense in a open world. You can go pretty much anywhere and do anything, yet you should stay careful and look out before running into battles. The quests have level recommendations, the enemies have levels above them, it is not like the more difficult content is hidden from you and much higher level enemies will somehow catch you by surprise.

I always go around the map and explore all the points of interest, the villages, the ruins, treasures etc. And knowing next enemy could be much higher level makes the whole eploring so much more fun. You do not have to fight everything, you can leave the spot, level up and return later.

You constantly have long list of quests to do, nothing forces you to do last quest you find.

this is true too.....i just leave higher level areas and return later

[jss1138]

Originally posted by ionutz1280:

levels are all over the place

I did find that annoying as well.

I feel the game would have been better designed with some minor linearity imposed. Write the story so that it progresses from section to section, starting in White Orchard and ending at Kaer Morhen, with each section containing only quests, enemies and loot appropriate to the player's level in that section, and with no reason to ever go back to an earlier section once completed.

Designed that way, there'd be no need for leveled armour and weapons, because the better stuff would only be available later in the game, which you could only reach once you'd progressed to that section.