Best Leveling Systems In JRPGs

It’s easy to assume that the leveling systems in most JRPGs are traditional and don’t really try to experiment all that often. However, this is doing a disservice to games that take risks and try to make leveling up as involved as possible.

Some of the best JRPGs around have modernized and experimented with the simple act of leveling up, ensuring that players can have a great time gaining experience and building up their skills. Players will love how their characters get stronger in these games instead of just getting random stat boosts as one would expect from such titles.

7 Final Fantasy 10

The Sphere Grid Is A Blast To Make Progress In

The Sphere Grid from Final Fantasy 10 is an obvious mention in a discussion about games with unique leveling systems. Gaining Sphere Levels and using them to make progress for each character on a shared grid is a simple yet excellent way to make leveling more involved than ever before.

It helps that every character starts at a spot on the Sphere Grid that helps them pursue a unique class, with Kimahri being the sole exception who follows hot on the trail of other characters instead. The grid may seem overwhelming at first glance but is simple to engage with and makes for an excellent leveling system.

6 Chrono Cross

Grinding Is Impossible, With Levels Tied To Story Progression

Any JRPG that discourages players from grinding deserves a special mention. Chrono Cross makes many changes from its prequel, including a leveling system that is governed by story progression instead of regular XP gain.

Players can only level up until a certain point before they must make progress to reap the benefits of their work. This ensures that the party doesn’t become too over-leveled, making dungeons and boss fights feel challenging without overwhelming players.

5 The World Ends With You

Players Can Lower Their Levels For A Higher Drop Rate

The World Ends With You is a unique JRPG with a modern-day setting and excellent action combat. The leveling system may seem traditional, but there’s a fun way to mess around with Neku’s strength.

If players want to take risks, they can intentionally lower their level in certain encounters to enjoy a higher item drop rate. It’s a fun balancing mechanic that adds some much-needed depth to what is otherwise a cut-and-dry leveling system.

4 Lost Odyssey

The Game Only Gives XP Up To A Certain Level To Prevent Grinding

Players who want to check out an excellent JRPG made by Hironobu Sakaguchi will love what Lost Odyssey brings to the table. It’s a shame that this game didn’t enjoy major success, since it brought its fair share of interesting ideas to the table on how to modernize JRPGs.

A lot of games in this genre suffered from grinding and overleveling, and this issue was addressed in a simple manner by Lost Odyssey. Players received a set amount of 100 XP to help them tackle an area before reaching an acceptable level, after which enemies never drop more than 1 XP. It’s an elegant solution to this problem and makes leveling up more meaningful in the grand scheme of things.

3 Final Fantasy 12

The License Board Is A Joy To Navigate

The Zodiac Age edition of Final Fantasy 12 allows players to take two jobs and develop detailed license boards that accompany a familiar level-up system from time to time. This makes classes quite meaningful as players decide the trajectory their party members take during an epic journey.

If Final Fantasy 12‘s combat system is too passive for some, then this progression system should make up for it. Getting a whole host of job abilities and tweaking gambits to make the most of a character’s strengths is a great way to make the most of this experimental Final Fantasy game.

2 Tales Of Xillia

Growth Points Can Be Acquired To Make Progress In The Lilium Orb

The Tales series has delivered its fair share of intense action-focused JRPGs, and Tales of Xillia is no exception here. Players who are on the fence about checking this title out may change their minds when they see the involved leveling system afforded by the Lilium Orb.

Players acquire GP from battles they can use to make progress in the Lilium Orb, which isn’t all that complex if players seek out what they want instead of being confused. However, if this is too much of a headache, players can just turn on Auto Level to let the AI take these decisions for them.

1 Dragon Quest 9: Sentinels of the Starry Skies

Switching Vocations And Make Full Use Of Stat Bonuses Makes For A Great Time

Sometimes, the simplest leveling systems end up being the most fun to mess around with. Such is the case with Dragon Quest 9, which allows the hero to switch Vocations and seek out the roles they want to mess around with.

Each Vocation levels separately and players will have to start from square one whenever they switch roles, but skills from other Vocations remain intact. This can allow the Hero to become super-powered in no time as long as players are tactical about switching out their Vocations from time to time.