So, levelling in TES has had some… interesting… design choices over the years, from the weird counterintuitive attribute-maxing minigame of major and minor skills in Morrowind and Oblivion, to the much simpler but arguably less-interesting system in Skyrim. And then there’s the contentious issue of level scaling getting its oar in, too.
What would you personally like to see implemented? Where does modern game design stand on the issue? Is skill-based levelling still a sensible idea, or should we be looking in a different direction? (Generic XP? Something else?)
I agree that level scaled enemies are immersion breaking. I also LIKE being able to return to the starter area and feel like a demigod sometimes for a sense of progress. It would be nice if some areas had plausible reasons to level scale. Perhaps an organization rivalling the PC which is well organized and funded, that is forced to equip it’s troops with ever increasing gear to counter your ballooning power. Something like that would allow for scaling in some places and not others.
I like your idea for level scaling in some places but not others! That would mean the main story and maybe some important side quests can always be appropriately challenging, but random no-name bandits won’t be walking around with enchanted daedric weapons. A perfectly immersive compromise.
I love it when games have you really weak in the beginning to the point of running away from certain enemies, and then later you return to that area after many level ups, and the AI is programmed to be afraid of you and run, or just not get aggroed on you. So precious few games that actually do that tho.