Let's say that someone finds a way to disable promotion to a job once you change out of it. So, if a Bob, a squire, promotes to an archer, he can't go back to being a squire.
What can be done with this?
Under this framework, what would you have to do to ensure that every job, or every job branch, is useful?
Would you end up with a bunch of generics, one of each class?
Would this make generics more useful, and reduce the need for NPC job classes? If it does, and NPC job classes are somehow integrated into the generic job tree, how could NPC's be made unique and useful in their own rights? Higher starting stats? Better than average starting equipment?
Also, this should make level up/level down cycling impossible, so every job class could have unique stat growths.
I got this idea while thinking about that one PS1 Tactical RPG... it wasn't wild arms (or was it?)... Don't remember.
Make every class unique in fft, so everyone can be only of 1 class and use items
Make 1 character of every class join during the game
FFT=Fire emblem
In FFT, it'd just force people to master jobs before switching. Maybe even grind to 99 for the stat growth before learning any different jobs. Not exactly fun.
Okay, another idea.
What if you kept the ability to level up, but removed all distinctions between levels?
No level 1, no level 2, no level 99, no levels period.
Just experience.
So you could level up forever, concievably. Anyone could max out their stats after maybe seven or eight hours.
Next, what if, along with the above idea, you disabled experience gain in battle, or experience gain from actions taken during battle?
Then you can't level up at all. So you'd need to make some way to gain experience.
From here, the idea kind of forks:
1. You could gain experience at the end of sucessful missions.
2. This will be a pain in the butt, but you could attach difficulty factors - experience multipliers - to enemies and make a half-assed Saga get-up.
3. Again, a pain in the butt... you could make some kind of system where you have a semi-random chance to gain a few points of a stat based on successful actions in battle.
Option 2 sounds like the Tales series Exp system if you enable Combo Exp from the Grade shop....(longer the combo string the more Exp which adds a level of difficulty [keeping the combo going] to battle if you want to level) and option 3 would be melding FFT and FFII stat mechanics? It sounds intriguing....