I think part of the appeal of Souls games is that they don't have level scaling. Starting off terrified of everything and ending up super powerful, swatting aside enemies that gave you real trouble, really adds to the journey, not just of exploring the game world etc, but that feeling of progressing as a player.

Game Scoop is the Avengers-like crossover of IGN people.

I hate the idea of level scaling...it's like playing AD&D with an egomaniacal DM whose jealous of your character's stats...If you invest the time to level up your character you should get to enjoy the fruits of your labor...if Bloodborne had level scaling it would have been absolutely terrible. If I put 1000 hours into a game I should be able to walk around certain areas like I am a god...For me, it's a terrible mechanic...takes away my feeling of accomplishment.

I agree, Oblivion and FFVIII had level scaling and it really hurt those games for me. It makes no sense, you might as well just remove levels altogether.

The solution is simple. Like witcher 3, in the options menu, enemy scaling can be switched on or off. Too easy.

Diggin' Damon's Godzilla vs. Gamera tee. His tee game is always on point.

Theres optional level scaling on witcher 3. It was useful for end game, but I wouldn't want it on the whole game.

In Resident Evil 4, it had a hidden "level scaling" where the game makes future enemies harder or easier if you play good or badly...

Witcher 3 had no level scaling and it is arguably one of the best rpgs of all time

I like Dragon Age Inquisition 🤷🏻‍♂️, why people complain about it....

Instead of making same enemies stronger games should introduce new enemies and scenarios even near the end. One of the best example of this I can think of is Resident Evil 4, it maintains the challenge throughout the game without making the player feel cheated by introducing new enemies and different situations like the regenerator enemy. I feel many games in the sixth generation did difficulty scaling a lot better than most games today.

You don't 'kill' anything in the last guardian, you just destroy magic enchanted suits of armor.

I agree completely with Daemon and Sam. I tweeted this out, too, that Spiderman was a perfect recent example of how a game with open-world RPG elements should handle enemies and level scaling: Don't tie it to an arbitrary number system!! Old-school RPGs and even some newer ones simply use that as padding to extend the life of a game when you're really just doing the same thing over and over again. But PS4 Spiderman made enemies harder by giving them shields, different guns (rockets, snipers, etc.), making them physically bigger and tougher, more mobile, etc. There were so many creative ways Insomniac varied their enemies. But most games just level up enemies with higher HP/Damage and think that's smart. It is not. I care more about constantly getting different items and abilities to add to my arsenal. Spiderman absolutely made me feel stronger and better because both the enemies and I were fighting differently/better as the game went on.

The first loud console was the Sega Dreamcast. It sounded like a jet air liner taking off.

They copied the witcher on pretty much everything else they should've used the same progression system too.

Hahaha. Patriot arrow from Men In Tights was such a random reference lol

Octopath Traveler does a great job with level scaling, you're not fighting the same mobs over and over. The game does a fantastic job of simply giving the mob you were gonna fight more powerful attacks.

Silly Omega Cops, my game of the generation came out in 2014. Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze, baby! It's simply the greatest 2D platformer of all time and a criminally underrated gem that everyone needs to play. Glad it got a second life on Switch. I kind of consider Tropical Freeze, or really the Wii U, last gen now though. If I exclude that masterpiece from the running, God of War or Super Mario Odyssey would likely be my GotG.

Loving the love that Holland, Michigan got on this episode! Shoutout to my cousins there lol

I thought Horizon Zero Dawn had good leveling. Like Daemon said if you go back to the starting area you can wreck all the machines, but I think the game still feels good doing it just because Horizon's combat was so fun no matter the level of enemy. At the same time there were enemies that you would work up to battling, were difficult, but slowly become easier for you to take down.

Great show 👍

I hate when enemies scale with you. Absolutely HATE it!!! It’s the reason I’ve never held Skyrim in the high regard so many do. I understand why they do it in an open world which allows you to go anywhere, but it RUINS progression. And progression is why I play. What’s the point then. Kingdoms of Amalur had a good idea and F4 followed a similar path by having ranges enemies could be in certain areas. Playing DQXI now and it’s perfect! And I think Brandon wouldn’t have gotten bored if Skyrim had had difficult challenges to work towards.

Chunk's name in the Goonies was Lawrence... Lawrence is a good name.

24:00 There are 2 Aero the Acrobat games, and 1 Zero game. The first Aero game is actually very good on the SNES.

The remaining 15 games I would imagine that would be on the PlayStation Classic: Twisted Metal 2 Metal Gear Solid Spyro the Dragon (Insomniac classic) Crash Bandicoot (Naughty Dog classic) PaRappa the Rapper Resident Evil Tomb Raider WipEout MediEvil Ace Combat Silent Hill Castlevania Symphony of the Night Oddworld Destruction Derby Parasite Eve

Give me the option of turning level scaling on and off. That simple.

Level scalling kinda defeats the purpose of a level system for me. It's nice to not be over/underpowered but like Damon said the games design is in charge of the difficulty regardless of the scaling. Some enemies are going to be hit sponges regardless of your level. I find it's used to just make an easier attributes system. I don't like the damage numbers popping up after hits though. Just feels unnecessary.

I can't believe Daemon wasn't an Omega Cop in your Hitman scenario! :P

I ran into a problem in Octopath where I'm such a high level that everyone's final chapter is unbelievably easy because I have all the secret jobs + every character is over level 60 which is way higher than the recommended level. I wish it had level scaling so it would make the bosses more challenging and I know there might be post game stuff, but I dont have the time to mess around in games after I beat them because I already did everything worth doing so I dont deem it worth it.

Wow, Bayo 2 got snubbed out of the GOTY 2014 conversation FAST

Saturday Scoop?! I am very okay with this.

Sloth was played by 90s Buffalo Bills Quarter Back Jim Kelly

I first learned of level scaling when Oblivion was released, and I absolutely hated it. In the vanilla version, unless you min/maxed your character, you wouldn't have a chance against many enemies. You couldn't play naturally unless you wanted to have a hell of a time surviving. Even weapons and armor scaled to your level in that game, in which you couldn't find certain equipment until you reached a specific level, but who cares, by then even generic thugs are wearing the best armor in the game. Your best chance at survival was increasing your skills, but not actually leveling up. Something like BotW was much better where it just introduced stronger enemies as you progressed the story. There were still weak enemies mixed in, but with the stronger ones entering the foray, you at least had better equipment by that point and more tools at your disposal.

So I guess some of us find it frustrating when we can't outlevel an area, while others find it frustrating when you can? In an MMO, devs need to make that decision for the player for balance reasons, but I see zero reason why other games don't make it optional. Some of the most aclaimed action RPGs, such as Skyrim, Fallout 4, and Witcher 3 make it a choice.

Funny how Sam likes pinball so much, I think that's how his mind works. Sean Bean wasn't in GoldenEye! Did you mean Sean Austin? Did you mean Goonies? LOL

Brosnan is my favourite Bond. It was the last time the series had fun.

Level scaling: make it optional for main quest, and mandatory for open world and side quests. I use side quests mainly for grinding and getting ready for hard missions and bosses. If they level up along with me, I will just rush through the main quest.

In defense of the enemies in odyssey is each faction kind of does play different mostly cultists and bandits are pretty much pushovers. Also lvl scaling does add more of a challenge instead of just annihilating enemies throughout be game

lol. a) Level Scaling is NOT a new phrase that Game Scoop has just coined (which was misleadingly implied) and b) Level Scaling bloody exists in Skyrim, Brandin. In fact it was introduced in Oblivion where everyone hated it and has existed in ever Elder scrolls/Fallout Game ever since. Just in Skyrim they hid it a bit better.

Perhaps it's just me but the audio seems a bit low, I have to max my volume out to make this hearable and even then it's a tad lower than I would like

The Crash Bandicoot might be good for a rental, I was surprised by how quickly I got through the collection, likewise the upcoming Spyro collection could also be good. Journey & Flower are on PS4 and they were made by thatgamecompany - that's how the company spells their name without spaces.

Oblivion had level scaling. I remember it being weird when a random low life bandit with glass armor and a daedric sword would try to rob me.

the problem is when you level up. your gear is not level up but, your enemy and his gear will level up.

Tina has the smoothest voice at IGN, I could listen to her voice at day.

ESPN Xtreme Games is awesome. It used the Road Rash engine, and plays in a similar fashion, but has more varied playstyle. There are no sports celebs in it. All it would require is an ESPN license.

snake skeleton? i'm 75 hours and level 48 and haven't encountered anything like that

Games that handle level scaling do it differently,for instance in oblivion,you start off fighting small enemies,then when you level up,you start Fighting ogres,Minotaur's etc,there's nothing wrong with level scaling.

Sean Bean could have played Chester Copperpott, he was definitely killed in it just not on screen, Sean "off screen" Bean

The flip side to this is The Witcher 3, in which you start out as a low level Witcher and often randomly encounter people and creatures that are 5-10 levels higher which means either running away as quickly as possible, or being killed in seconds. There are arguments for and against doing this, but for me, the unevenness of the experience has stopped me investing any time with it, even if it adds to the sense of being grounded in hard fantasy. A compromise between level scaling and The Witcher's patchwork of npc levels, is to simply have zone-levels, which you find in WoW and GW2 among others.

27:23. Open it and clean the fan Daemon!

I would like to know the up sides of level scaling. Why do they do it?

Hellblade isn't a PlayStation exclusive... It was released with PC and now is on Xbox...

I remember oblivion and bandits in glass armour. There should be a balance.

The level scaling in Oblivion kept me from enjoying it to its fullest. I want to feel like I have progressed and have gotten stronger. I like it when a certain enemy type in a certain area can have a level range between X and Y, where Y is when a particular enemy in a certain region maxes out.

The scaling in Assassins Creed Odyssey almost wrecks it. All they need to do to fix it is keep scaling but have it as a percentage. From what I can see so far is the areas have been scaling but staying 1-2 levels under what you are. Having it as a percentage would work so much better. I can't understand why these people who get paid to make these games can get something like this so wrong.

Aww music from TF3. Have a thumbs up.

I play rpgs for a power fantasy, life is challenging. I came here for fun. If I punt in 100 hours I want to overpower everything in a few dozen regions. But if there’s regions where things are tough or higher level elsewhere then I’m good with that. I hate enemy level scaling.

GOTY 2014 for me ia something between Alien Isolation and Halo MCC. controversial opinion, I know

The PS Vita does have exclusives :)

I like lvl scaling but it needs to be sort of a hybrid thing. I want to feel more powerful as I progress. If I was forced which way to play I would choose not to have lvl scaling

So can anyone tell me how to disable the level scaling in Odyssey? Or change the options surrounding it? I've looked in the options and can't find anything. Thanks!

Level scaling kind of feels weird to me. You can’t go here because you’re LV. 32 and the enemy is 40. But if you come back at LV. 44 to be more prepared, then they’re 44 too? But you just said that they’re 40... I just don’t like when rules are broken like that. It’s so hard to express how I feel through text in the comments.

Wait Brandin works at IGN and didn't know if the Vita had exclusives?

Actually they've found that the Higan emulator is more accurate than SuperNT

Enemy upscaling shouldn’t have anything to do with enemies above your level. I think your ire is misplaced.

I don't like continuously level scaling. Let me just say that bosses should be level capped. In single player game offline. On line is ok.

daemon should be an evil dj on the hitman game

I love the original Divinity Original Sin. I played and beat the console version during Holiday 2015, just like I beat Dragon Age Inquisition over holiday 2014. And I'm here to say that Dragon Age Inquisition was the better game. Divinity's story was decent but nothing to write home about, and Dragon Age not only had a great story but amazing character interactions. In fact though I loved the action RPG and crafting elements of Inquisition, I thought the element and surface interactions in Divinity's combat, and it's myriad of possibly crafted items(which had more surprises and was actually better than the crafting in Divinity 2) , actually gave Divinity the edge in combat systems. So though action may be more popular than turn based, I don't think turn based would have kept it from beating Dragon Age Inquisition in game of the year. I just think that Dragon Age Inquisition's tech, story, and characters were way better than Divinity, though Divinity was awesome. Divinity 2 copies some of the companion character personalities from Dragon Age Inquisition in it's pre-set characters, and is the better for it. Dragon Age Inquisition was definitely worth game of the year, and if you haven't played it, you should.

If they actually went settings, Origins had the same things, you can turn off enemy scaling.

Can y’all make a video or post a list of rpgs without level scaling, please.

I hate forced level scaling for a few reasons. Some games I want a challenge of seeing if tactics alone can defeat a far superior foe and sometimes I just want to wipe out entire armies and feel like a demigod. Allowing players to toggle it seems like the best move if you're going to include it in your game.

I feel like my issue with level scaling is it ruins stealth. I can no longer kill a guy stealth fully just because he is 2 levels ahead of me. Doesn't feel like an assassin as much as a warrior. Perhaps it should be called Warriors Creed now?

Is there such thing as a videogame Rental anymore? I'm confused.

Hey got to max level in Skyrim.... half way through. . How

Why is Brandin Tyrell on Game Scoop it’s bad enough he’s on unlocked!

Items being levels above u,are set up to make u want to get to that level.

Sourcing Zelda as a good example of enemy variety lol. I love BOTW but lets not pretend you're not literally fighting the same 5 enemy types for the entire game.

Level scaling in an elder scrolls game? Bandits threatening to kill you unless you pay a 10 gold toll to cross their bridge whilst they wear full daedric armour and wield ebony weapons.

Speaking of level scaling, it drives me crazy how in Destiny you do all this grinding to reach high levels but some activities reduce your level so you are never super overpowered. For example, I may be power level 600 but then enter an activity with a 300 level boss, and so it reduces me 340 level just for that encounter so it's not lopsided. I totally get that it does this to keep it challenging, but two years later when I'm twice as powerful as when I did that activity before when it was new and difficult, I want to go back and completely destroy it now that I've grown like crazy. Lol. Destiny is not once and done game. It's a hobby that you kind of live in and this does totally break the immersion. There are always activities at max power to do for a real challenge so why not let you destroy all the old stuff - esp the old raids that maybe you avoided because it wasn't worth the hassle but may now be fun that you are such a dominant force. Plus, how fun would it be to go back and try to beat things as a super powerful solo player that maybe took 6 people the first time you encountered it before. Since these old activities do not give you powerful loot anyway, why not let you go in and dominate it as you should if your progression and power level means anything? Or at least give you the option.

this is totally ridiculous. I tried to take on a camp of level 20-21 level soldiers, killed captain, polemach, and at one point leveled up to level 22. At one point, pncs killed my character outside of the camp walls. Game reloads the save (right after my levelling up) and ta-da-daaaaa EVERYONE in the camp is 22-23, What the wampa is this?!?!? so the save isn't even a save it's just a dunno what... And aaaaaaaaaaaaaalll that grinding?! so there's a merc that killed my charatcer like 100 times, I level up I think ok now I take him, but hellll no... He's leveled up tooo?! Ok, I get it if you want the challenge you turn this On but..... it should be ,y decision to make. Otherwise this game is absolutely stupidly prolonged NOT BY PLOT but by template-based slashing, stupid quests etc. This is just lazy ( BRING THE OPTION TO TURN THIS OFF @ubisoft

Benefits of a classical education

There is no rational argument for having level scaling, if you are going to have level scaling then just take out levels entirely. RPGs are all about running into a challenge you can't beat and then either going and levelling up a bit or getting some better equipment to boost your stats so you can take it on. The reality is that you are appealing to a mass audience, not just the hardcore gamers who can storm through any non-souls game on skill alone, there should never be an enemy that even the worst gamer cannot beat with enough grinding and over-levelling. I hate the fact that there are some great games that I can't enjoy because I simply do not have the skill level to progress, prime example, Nioh looked like an awesome game, basic enemies were challenging but manageable, but then I got to the first boss, tried to beat it 10 times, made it to the 2nd incarnation twice and was instantly wiped out, haven't picked it up since. I'm all for providing challenges to the people who want them, hence difficulty settings, but leave that door open for below average gamers. Odyssey has left that door open but for weaker gamers it can become a slog, I've completed every single side quest along the way basically maxing my exp without repeating much and I get no reward for that effort, it's bloody infuriating.

Hey the thumbnail looks like actress radhika apte

Where mah Justin at D: (Good job everyone tho)

You’ve obviously never seen Sharpe! en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sharpe_(TV_series)

With level scaling, having the main quest line scale with you and have the rest of the open world have set leveled areas would be nice. That way the story doesn’t get dull, but you can feel powerful or challenged when you’re out adventuring.

23:00 $30 per game is not worth it when you consider how manybnif those are worthless EA Sports games.

I feel level scaling is important. In early Assassin's Creed games, the main problem I had was having all the tools but not needing to use any. It was one button to win. In Odyssey, the scaling forces you to use skills and make you think about what you're going to do next. This is something I personally really enjoy. A big issue for me not having level scaling is having low level quests with next to no XP. There's no incentive to go back to a quest you ignored at the time. I agree it should not be mandatory. Some people just don't like the grind to be constant and they should have that ability to choose how they play!

I don’t think dragon age should’ve won I’d have taken mordor or mk8

Level scaling should be optional

Level scaling is stupid... the whole point of having RPG systems is to be able to get more and more powerful and kick ass! Level scaling in an rpg system just makes no sense, at that point just don’t have rpg mechanics and be an action game...

Enemy level up-scaling is F'n stupid! It totally ruins any sense of accomplishment and character progression. And it makes loot rarity insignificant. Honestly, the enemy level up-scaling in Odyssey has ruined the game for me. It's basically broken the game.

Scoop!

I hate level scaling, it ruined assassins creed for me, and why is it in there for the packs you can buy, weapons and amror to give you that nice endge, that is why there is level scaling and they refuse to turn it off, saying they can't but we all know by now they are lying, still a sad day last time I will be buying their games.

Enemy scaling is crafted towards the lowest common denominator. It's a lazy game mechanic that only exists so developers can cut cost by saving on development time. The player is essentially running on a "numbers treadmill" that give him the illusion of leveling up. But if everyone around you is leveling up as well, what's the point of gaining experience? Why collect more powerful armor? Why grind for XP? Oh that's right because they lock out missions to certain levels. It's a flimsy design kept together by scotch tape. It actually punishes you for going out, exploring, and finding better gear. It's there to keep all the uninterested casuals happy so they don't quit early or get confused without the aid of a nav marker. If I put in 200 hours into a game, I should be a god. I shouldn't be fighting with 80 year old peasants with pitchforks. That's ridiculous. If you want a challenge, unequip your armor or start a new game. BUT NOPE, THEY'D RATHER BITCH AND COMPLAIN TO DEVS AND RUIN A TRIED AND TRUE EXPERIENCE FOR EVERYONE ELSE.

Real life is enough challenging. Don’t need that on a video game

Ok dudes ps classic list was hiney

I never want a mindless lack of resistance in games. Can't stand being so OP that there's just zero challenge and everything is like a hot knife through butter. I think it's really a matter of how the world keeping up with you is presented to the player which makes you aware of it in a negative way.

I just can't convince myself to buy Odessey. They only had a year to make it and it's supposed to be a massive open world. It's either very repetitive or there was some employee cruelty going on.

Oddyssey is still not a freaking 9,2.