I first heard of Exp Share–a mechanic the place all get together members acquire expertise factors no matter in the event that they’re in battle–in Pokemon. Many RPGs have some stage of it. Sometimes, it is only for members of your present get together. Sometimes, it is for the whole roster. Its absence or restricted implementation particularly stands out when revisiting older video games like Persona 4 and evaluating them to newer ones like Pokemon Scarlet and Violet. Despite what would possibly appear to be a minor quality-of-life function at first, its presence–or lack thereof–can have a huge impact on a sport, inflicting you to play a lot in another way than you in any other case would.I’m calling it Exp Share as a result of that is what it is known as in Pokemon, and it does not appear to have one other well known identify. In Pokemon’s case, Exp Share began as an precise merchandise that you could possibly give to a person Pokemon in order that it could acquire expertise even with out being concerned in a battle. It was particularly handy for elevating low-level monsters into common get together members. Exp Share finally become an merchandise that distributed expertise factors to your whole group. Starting from Pokemon: Let’s Go, Pikachu and Let’s Go, Eevee, it was constructed into the sport as a default mechanic quite than an merchandise that you simply wanted to acquire.It wasn’t an addition that stayed distinctive to Pokemon, although. Just up to now yr, Xenoblade Chronicles 3 and One Piece Odyssey each provided their very own model of Exp Share. These video games have a number of characters with distinct skills, sufficient to encourage gamers to experiment with them. In Xenoblade 3 particularly, it felt virtually legal to disregard your Heroes (seventh get together member) when there have been so many character lessons to strive. All members of your foremost get together are there to remain, however it could’ve been a frightening job for even essentially the most diligent participant to stage up every of the Heroes individually. By permitting Heroes to build up expertise factors even after they’re not in battle, it opens up alternatives for experimentation and selection that will in any other case be untenable.Even One Piece Odyssey, Bandai Namco’s first time making a One Piece RPG, was a way more seamless expertise because of this mechanic. Instead of worrying about grinding all of your characters to the identical stage, you could possibly simply progress by means of the story utilizing whichever characters you wished.Exp Share looks like such a pure, welcome aspect in any RPG, making it all of the extra noticeable when it is absent. That’s why it was so jarring once I picked up Persona 4 and there was no Exp Share to be discovered. Persona 4 Golden was ported to Nintendo Switch earlier this yr, but it surely’s basically the identical because the 2012 model that got here out for PlayStation. I did not begin craving Exp Share till I recruited my fifth get together member, at which level I used to be compelled to begin benching characters. It then appeared counterintuitive to spend money on the brand new character as a result of their Social Links (one other a part of Persona 4’s advanced ecosystem) have been a lot much less developed than these of the characters I already had. Even if later recruits gained Social Links extra rapidly, including them to the get together nonetheless felt like a short lived drawback as a result of they lacked the fight bonuses I had with veteran members.At first, the dearth of Exp Share made me much less prepared to experiment as a result of it could imply letting different get together members lag behind the remaining. However, I spotted that you would be able to technically revisit dungeons to grind ranges for all of the characters if you wish to. It wasn’t a great answer, however there was a approach out. Exp Share makes it in order that there isn’t any have to spend time grinding ranges for characters that are not in your foremost get together. In Persona 4, I discovered to drop into dungeons extra usually in order that I may mess around with different characters as a substitute of solely counting on the instances I needed to to be able to progress the story. You need to dive again in, even when no new plot-related content material is accessible, to stage up get together members. Otherwise, you danger the lesser-used get together members falling behind. It looks like Altus finally determined that its previous system was outdated, too, contemplating Persona 5 included Exp Share. At least for now, Persona 4 is the final mainline Persona installment to not have the function.Fire Emblem is likely one of the few collection that also does not use Exp Share (with just a few exceptions, like Path of Radiance). Fire Emblem Fates, which works equally to the franchise’s newest entry, Fire Emblem Engage, additionally satisfied me to fastidiously select the way to stage my most prized characters. You cannot spend time endlessly leveling characters. Instead, you must plan which characters to tackle the primary mission and which of them to stage up in aspect quests in order that they sustain with the group. Fates had a restricted variety of aspect quests accessible per chapter, so that you solely had just a few possibilities to stage up characters earlier than transferring to the following chapter.It by no means felt like the sport was suggesting that you simply solely use a handful of characters and ignore the remaining due to sort weaknesses, although. Fire Emblem video games emphasize technique, so you need to use the models that work finest given a selected battle. It’s a extra aware choice than in Persona 4, which does not cease you from leveling up different characters however forces you to grind to take action. Meanwhile, Fates (and Fire Emblem basically) pushes the participant to choose and select which characters to spend money on due to the restricted battles. It additionally allowed gamers to experiment with out Exp Share as a result of you’ll be able to management many models per battle as a substitute of simply 4 at a time like in Persona.”Grind” is the important thing phrase right here. It’s grinding for those who’re preventing enemies or repeating dungeons with out another purpose than to farm XP. Fates manages to keep away from grinding as a result of the quests do not overlap. Even for those who’re preventing the identical sort of enemies, they seem on new maps in several eventualities. You do not repeat a map to achieve XP, and do not even have the choice to. In quick, it sacrifices the experimentation you’ll be able to have with the complete forged for a extra streamlined expertise.I nonetheless loved Persona 4. I ended up revisiting dungeons and unlocking Social Links as a result of I preferred the brand new characters and wished to make use of them. However, Exp Share would have lessened that have to grind and stored my give attention to advancing the story. It makes me want that video games with out Exp Share would not less than have a extra optimum different or setup–like in Fire Emblem, the place it is a deliberate, strategy-based choice.Exp Share has turn into more and more frequent in RPGs as time goes on, and I am unable to blame builders for leaning into what makes it simpler for gamers to experiment with totally different characters with out feeling like they’re repeating content material. I nonetheless really feel some nostalgia each time a sport forces me into old-school useful resource administration with out it. However, it is a mechanic that has freed up hours of my time by lessening the monotonous grinding that turn-based RPGs have been as soon as infamous for, and that is actually one thing to be grateful for.
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