So, there I was, on my daily thinking. I was projecting my game inside my mind being played by the kinds of players I would love to have. "Sweet" I thought. But then, there was something that bugged me a little...

You see, my game is thought for very much all kind of RPG players. I love speedruns, and those restricted gameplays like low-level or whatever. I want my game to be as flexible as possible on those aspects. So, this is what bugged me exactly, pertaining low-level gameplays.

ACTUAL PROGRESS PART!

The Ability Points, needed for learning skills, was given 1 point per level-up. So, that means I'm forcing players to level up to get skills. I could lower costs to like 1AP per skill upgrade/learn, but that still means leveling for getting power.
What I did instead is getting some inspiration from FinalFantasyV. Each battle gives you ability experience points. Only difference is that mine is always a percentage (100 per level up). Different encounters vary little on that aspect (~10-15%, 20+% on special battles), BUT bosses now give no experience points, and give you instead a full AP experience level (100%). Before bosses were like a low-level limiter, because they were giving you the necessary experience to be fine at the next area. I'm removing that now. Let's see if I can manage to make possible killing final boss at lvl1 x'D.

NOT PROGRESS PART!

So, only drawback is this (from what I know of). Normal leveling up gets less interesting every step I take. Yeah, it gives steady increments, mostly on the HP department. Still, you have equipment and fylgjas to power up your character more (and buffs for in-battle power up). Thing is, this is all I can devaluate leveling.
Also I can't clutter the game with any more customization mechanics. It's on its limit too!
Another thing is, if I want to make AP gain being apart from EXP gain, I NEED to make it possible. Monsters with low/no EXP gain and regular AP gain, like FF's Cactuar (but not that scarce!). And getting AP from special events. I've a lot of bosses to make, but I need to value if they're enough, and if not, check the places (game progression-wise) that are in need of more AP gaining.

I need to do a list to order my thoughts...

CHARACTER CUSTOMIZATION
-Skill tree: Available actions either in or outside of battle. AP gain from monster's value.
-Equipment: Statistics and available in-battle actions influence. Got from exploration.
--You can synthesize equipment and improve it too.
-Leveling up: Statistics increase. Monster's EXP.
-Fylgja/scrolls: Statistics increase, and summoning capabilities. They're found by exploration. And Fylgjas can level up as any other character.

So, I'll leave this here, I hope you are not bored of me talking. But I needed to get it out, because I'm thinking too much stuff. Sometimes I don't know if this game is getting more and more stupidly huge!

Salut,
OZ