Grinding in the Campaign

[ref206]

The default campaign has a lot of things I love, but I felt there was something it was missing that grabbed my attention in the actual rpg series. I believe what I'm looking for could be the option to grind between actual campaign missions to make your characters as strong as you want. I suppose i'm putting in a request for a mod/modified new campaign that allows for this. The simplest way I thought of to include this would be to put in a dialogue that pops up directly after any mission that gives the option to proceed, or visit a selection of locations, if such a thing is currently possible in the game engine. If nobody else really cares,  I can try muddling about in the editor and .xml files myself, but I'd have a long ways to go to learn everything. So yeah, let me know if anyone would be into this.

[bugfartboy]

It's not grinding, persay, but Unbreakable weapons makes battle primers last a long time, effectively making it easier to make the game easier.

[Thaecrasis]

Well there is one strategy to grind as much as you want; theroetically you could be max level on all the starting characters during the town/tavern fight at the start of the game.

I don't use it too much because it is kindof cheap, but it's definitely a thing.

1) wait until you get to the last enemy                                                                 C
2) surround the enemy with 4 troops (or 3 and 1 object, or 2 and 2 objects)               V
3) shove the enemy or shove your own troops so that they don't move (e.g. A -> B ->X<- D  , A to E are your characters, X is the enemy, -> is the shove and direction
                                                                                                                     ^
                                                                                                                     E
4)If one of the characters doesn't have shove but will learn it in a level or two, they can attack the enemy (or even an ally theoretically), then get Gavrielle to heal whoever's being hit (enemy or ally)
5)Heal whoever's being attacked by the enemy regularly (exp for Louise for healing)

6)Remember to rest as much as possible to restore Louise's energy for further healing
7)Repeat

In this fashion you can level up indefinitely, though progress will become slower and slower as your characters become higher and higher levels above the enemy.

Hope this helps

[Kletian999]

Last time I had my new pyromancer attack an ally, they got no Exp from it.  Are spells exempted from friendly fire EXP?

[Thaecrasis]

Oh it seems attacking allies won't grant exp, but non-damaging commands to allies (shove, pull, etc) will still grant exp

[CraigStern]

That is correct. :)

[eyhung]

I admire the developer's vision on many things such as no saves during combat but giving xp for pushing/shoving allies seems to encourage pointless grinding (as well as potentially unbalance future missions).  Perhaps find some way to cap xp given for repeatable actions such as pushing the same person many times? 

[SmartyPants]

If people want to waste time grinding, then let them grind. It seems like a bad idea to get rid of experience from legitimate pushes and pulls because some people enjoy grinding.

[ifulmen]

If people want to waste time grinding, then let them grind. It seems like a bad idea to get rid of experience from legitimate pushes and pulls because some people enjoy grinding.

I agree. Even though it totally sounds like pokemon, it is an important part. But I would prefer some generic grinding missions instead of pull/heal/build/hover abuse. It also helps people to learn how the skills work and to develop their strategies.

[AK Dave]

I keep having to remind myself that this is a *tactical* RPG and not a traditional RPG.

In a tactical RPG, the fact that you can't grind may be part of what gives the game its challenge and distinguishes it from traditional RPG's. I'm not really sure. Do other tactical RPG's allow for grinding?

[CraigStern]

It's difficult to completely eliminate grinding from an RPG. If I take out experience for building, Teresa will basically never level up; and if I take out experience for pushing or pulling, Oliver (and to a lesser extent, Louise) will have a hard time leveling up. I've tried to structure the missions so that there is relatively little downtime so as to avoid excessive abuse of these features, though perhaps I need to do more.

[eyhung]

What about capping the amount of XP that can be gained in a single mission from a single activity?  For example, I think it's pretty trivial to power-level Louise up in mission 1 by getting her into a state where she can shield-rest-shield-rest ad infinitum once she heals for 14 -- I just kill all the attacking bandits except for 1 and let him wail away generating XP. 

[CraigStern]

Interesting idea!

Honestly, the game's probably tough enough as it is without me taking away the ability to grind characters, but I'll keep this in mind for future patches once more pressing issues are nailed down. ;)

[LightningLord2]

I suggested that the exp yield decreases as you keep attacking an opponent or keep using a non-attacking skill.