RPGs That Let You Decide How You Level Up

Most role-playing games (RPGs) allow characters to get stronger by earning experience points (EXP) and leveling up. As characters gain levels, their abilities usually improve – this could mean higher stats, new skills, or even powerful spells. For example, in the classic RPG Final Fantasy 7, leveling up boosts a character’s stats. In the Pokemon games, leveling up can also teach Pokemon new moves or even cause them to evolve into entirely new forms.

Moving through a game in a set order helps players get better and face tougher obstacles. However, traditional leveling systems can feel restrictive and don’t always let players customize their experience. If you’re looking for RPGs with more flexible ways to improve your character, here are a few recommendations.

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33

Building A Better RPG

In Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, battles are turn-based, but designed to be more engaging – players can attack, use special skills, dodge, and counter enemy moves. As players gain experience (EXP), they’ll earn one skill point and three attribute points to improve their characters.

Characters improve by spending skill points to learn abilities, though some advanced abilities cost more than one point. Attributes are fundamental stats that influence things like attack strength and health. Luckily, both skills and attributes can be reset if you want to try a different build.

Super Mario RPG: Legend Of The Seven Stars

The Best Level Up Music Ever?

Like many RPGs, Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars uses turn-based battles, but with a twist: hitting buttons at the right time can make your attacks stronger and your defenses better. Characters get more powerful by earning experience points, which increases their stats and occasionally unlocks new abilities.

Players can also choose to boost one of three stats – health, magic, or attack – to become even stronger. This character progression system remained the same in the 2023 Switch version. While not overly complex, it offered a unique approach compared to other SNES role-playing games, as did the game’s battle system.

The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim

Every Level By Your Command

Skyrim’s leveling system can be tricky because it involves two different ways to progress. You improve your character by using skills, and as those skills increase, you also earn experience points to level up your character overall.

Practicing skills like healing or stealth will improve those abilities. When your character levels up, you can choose from many different skill paths to customize how they develop. You can also boost core stats like Health, Stamina, and Magicka, which influence almost everything your character does.

Raidou Remastered: The Mystery Of The Soulless Army

Demon Mastery 101

The remaster of Raidou Remastered: The Mystery of the Soulless Army improves the gameplay, with combat now feeling smoother than in the original PlayStation 2 version. Both players and their summoned demons will earn experience points and level up, just like in a traditional RPG.

Demons gain new abilities as they grow stronger, and when you combine them, you choose which abilities they keep, letting you build a party that fits your playstyle. The main character, Raidou, gets better in a different way – you directly control how each of his stats improves when he levels up.

Elden Ring

Make Some Noise For Poise

Unlike most FromSoftware games, Elden Ring doesn’t rely on experience points to help your character grow stronger after defeating enemies. Instead, you collect Runes, which act as both currency for buying items and a way to increase your stats.

Okay, so you can totally make your character look how you want and pick a class to start, but it’s not set in stone like in some other RPGs. How you spend your skill points as you level up really matters – it decides how good you are at everything, whether it’s casting spells or getting accurate with a bow. You’ve gotta keep an eye on what gear needs too, because your stats have to match!

Dragon Quest 9: Sentinels Of The Starry Sky

Vocations For Days

In Dragon Quest 9: Sentinels of the Starry Sky, players battle using a turn-based system and choose from different character classes called Vocations. As you gain experience with a Vocation, you earn skill points to improve abilities, often related to specific weapons.

Raising a weapon’s level unlocks permanent improvements to your character’s stats and builds a stronger connection with that weapon. As an example, mastering a sword to level thirteen grants access to the powerful Metal Slash ability, which is particularly effective against Metal Slime monsters.

Fallout: New Vegas

Come Get Your Perks

Gaining levels in Fallout: New Vegas isn’t difficult because it takes a long time to earn experience. The challenge comes from choosing which Perks to select – there are so many good options that it can be tough to decide!

When you create a character, you distribute points to key abilities like Strength, which impacts how well they fight in close combat and how much they can carry. You can improve these core abilities by finding rare books. Perks, which are special abilities, are earned every two levels. For example, the ‘Bloody Mess’ Perk makes enemies explode when you land a critical hit – it’s a visually satisfying effect!

Etrian Odyssey 4: Legends Of The Titan

Dungeon Divers

Etrian Odyssey 4: Legends of the Titan was the first game in the series released on the 3DS, and many fans still consider it one of the best. The game lets you create a party of adventurers with a variety of different classes, and then explore challenging dungeons.

As characters gain experience and level up, they earn skill points. Each character class then allows you to improve different stats. Focusing on certain stats unlocks more powerful skills and spells as you progress. These stats also directly impact how effective those skills and spells are – for example, boosting fire or healing magic. Etrian Odyssey 4: Legends of the Titan is a complex turn-based RPG, and it can be challenging, but players who stick with it will find it very satisfying.

The Outer Worlds 2

An Open-Ended Gameplay System

In The Outer Worlds 2, you’ll have lots of character stats and skills to customize at the beginning. What’s really cool is how flexible the game is – there are many ways to tackle any challenge. You can build your character to be a clever engineer who picks locks and finds alternate routes, or a powerful fighter who simply forces their way through obstacles – it’s up to you!

As you gain levels, you can use skill points to improve core abilities like weapon skills and crafting. Perks, similar to those in Fallout: New Vegas, offer more unique and specialized benefits. This similarity exists because both games were created by Obsidian Entertainment.

Kingdom Hearts: Chain Of Memories

Heart Of The Cards

Like Super Mario RPG, Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories features a leveling system where Sora gets stronger by defeating enemies and earning experience. When he levels up, players get to choose how to improve his stats – they can increase his HP (hit points) for more health, or boost his CP, which lets him use more cards during battles.

The original Game Boy Advance version features real-time battles where players build decks of cards before fighting. Having more cards allows for more powerful combinations. When leveling up, players can also choose new abilities, which often enhance their card combos.

2026-02-06 11:37