Loot-based games are all about the grind to get that next best piece of armor or weapon. For example, gear matters a lot in Destiny 2 as it raises the overall level, and Diablo 4 also has an emphasis on getting the best loot for a character. Loot is fun to acquire in games as a goal, but it doesn’t have to be everything.
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There are other RPGs where gear means everything, but there are also games where leveling up is the most important thing to making a strong or unique character. The following RPGs are for players who don’t want to be concerned about gear and want to enjoy strategizing with their character builds, from forgotten classics to modern examples.
Bravely Default: Flying Fairy
A Job Is A Job
Bravely Default: Flying Fairy has a classic battle and equipment system found in older Final Fantasy games. Leveling up and getting the best gear can be handy in turn-based battles, but the Job system is the most important aspect of the gameplay.
Characters can equip one Job, like a Black Mage, and then equip a secondary Job’s skills, like a Monk, to then use them in battle. Passive skills can also be equipped, like increasing HP potential, so mastering the art of cross-classing to maximize the potential of characters is how players can create an untouchable party.
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33
Paint Me A Picto
In Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, characters can equip weapons and accessory-like gear called Pictos that grant them special skills. After learning the skills from these Pictos, players can then equip them in the Lumina system, and building combos is one way players can make characters stronger, from letting them act twice in one turn to increasing their affinity to fire.
So, in a way, gear is important to unlocking the potential of characters, but after skills are learned, the gear is no longer important. There are also stats to increase after leveling up and skills, both passive and active, which can change how characters act in the turn-based battles.
Cyberpunk 2077
Hack The Planet
Cyberpunk 2077 lets players create their character and mod them as the game goes on to form an unstoppable cyborg if they so wish. The greatest thing about the game is that all builds matter as missions are open-ended. If players want to invest in cybernetics to make the weapons more potent, then that is one possibility.
However, hacking and deduction skills are also valuable to make headway in the game. Overall, even with the best guns, they won’t matter much if their character is built haphazardly without a clear path defined.
Deus Ex: Human Revolution
A Sneaking Future
Deus Ex: Human Revolution is another cyberpunk game, although this one has fewer character choices. Players will always be special agent Adam Jensen, but they can forge his body to their liking.
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Like Cyberpunk 2077, the cybernetic mods can be bought to get through missions in an open manner, like preparing their lung capacity to withstand gases if they know a situation calls for it. It’s also more of a stealth game, and while weapons are impotent in intense firefights, giving Jensen better mods to make him quieter or to make his takedowns lethal is more valuable.
Elden Ring
Build Your Tarnished
Elden Ring gives players class choices at the beginning, but they are more like a base set of equipment and stats that players can branch off from later on. They may start with an affinity toward magic, but maybe they could decide they like taking down enemies with melee attacks more later on.
By increasing stats in a certain direction, they can increase the potential of weapons and other pieces of gear, and not the other way around. Spells can become stronger, the weight distribution of larger weapons will become less sluggish, and so on, which makes Elden Ring a flexible RPG.
Just Keep Playing
The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim, like most entries in The Elder Scrolls series, has a unique leveling-up system. When players do any type of action, from casting spells to blacksmithing, they will increase an associated skill. The potential of these skills can be broadened with a wealth of skill trees to determine what type of character players want to be.
Equipment overflows in this game, and while there are rarities that are cool, like axes that can do freezing damage, players can also build their character in a way that they can craft their own weapons with these properties. Like Elden Ring, this makes The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim flexible.
Fallout: New Vegas
Weight Distribution
Stats and Perks mean everything in Fallout: New Vegas as they determine what characters can accomplish. For example, high Strength means that players will do more damage with melee weapons, and they can carry more equipment without being overburdened.
Getting an amazing hammer, for example, won’t mean anything if a character’s Strength is low. Perks are skills that can do a wild assortment of things, like increasing critical damage, which are more fun to unlock than finding huge stashes of gear.
Final Fantasy 7
The Material Gang
Final Fantasy 7’s party members can each equip particular weapons, but most accessories and armor are open. All pieces of gear contain Materia slots, which players can equip to perform spells like Fire. Materia goes beyond spell casting, though, as they can increase stats like HP or affect what a spell can do.
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Combining All with Fire will allow a character to cast Fire on multiple enemies, for example. Players will often equip low-grade gear to level up Materia faster if there is an associated boost attached. Melee strikes with weapons can be powerful, but overall, Materia experimentation is king in Final Fantasy 7 and its various remakes.
Octopath Traveler 2
Mastering NPCs
Octopath Traveler 2 lets players choose one of eight characters to play at the start, with the other seven being recruitable later. Each character starts with a Job, and they can learn secondary Jobs later, cross-classing like in Bravely Default: Flying Fairy. Leveling up and gaining skills make all the difference in the turn-based battle system, more so than any gear.
By gaining levels and Job proficiency, characters can become more efficient at using their Path Actions against NPCs. For example, Temenos can use Coerce to get information, while Osvald can use Mug to steal items.
Persona 5
Ren-dering A Better Hero
Persona 5 is a complex turn-based RPG wherein all party members can equip weapons and gear of all sorts. Physical attacks don’t matter as much as using skills, as elemental strikes can stun enemies, leading to players getting an extra turn.
Ren is the silent protagonist who can bond with all Persona, metaphysical beings found in dungeons, to himself. By fusing Persona together, players can create the ultimate builds with varied elemental skills to take advantage of most combat situations to get extra turns more often. The more players can attack, the quicker battles will go.
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