Cyberpunk 2077 used the static levels on launch, but changed to almost everything leveling with you in 2.0. I think the change actually worked better for the game, but it’s also done differently than every other game I’ve seen use that approach. Enemies gain stats much slower than V does, so a level 20 V still feels much more powerful than a level 1 V, but you also have the freedom to explore rather than having arbitrary beef gates making it nigh impossible to go to certain parts of the city before you’re supposed to.
On the other hand, I also love Morrowind’s painstakingly hand-crafted world with static enemies and hand-placed loot. In most games done that way, however, returning to lower level areas is typically a complete waste of time.
Ultimately, I think both systems can work if they’re done well, but everything leveling up is almost always done poorly, or at least worse than the average game with static levels.
A system I have thought of before is a hybrid where enemies have a target level and then their actual level is the average of your level and the target level. For instance, if an enemy’s target level is 20 and you’re level 1, they’ll be level 10. You probably won’t be able to do much to them. But when you get to level 10, they’ll be level 15, which you might be able to deal with if you’re good. You’ll eventually out-level them, but they’ll still be interesting to fight because when you’re at level 40 they’ll be at level 30. I only make the occasional mod, though, so I’ve never gotten to test if this actually is fun.
Even if you notice that your brush techniques an inventory screens don’t look complete, it really does feel like the end. Then when they do look complete and you’re sure you’ve finally finished it, there’s one more region and some upgrades.
However, Reach’s tagline was, “From the beginning, you know the end,” so there was an expectation that everyone playing would know how it was going to pan out.
The Halo 1 and KOTOR twists do hit pretty hard if you somehow haven’t been spoiled. KOTOR has one of my favorite reveal sequences ever with showing you how much foreshadowing you missed, and Halo’s twist turns the game on its head.
It’s been a while, but I think the disc didn’t center as it went in and the system just spat it out. The rest of the system was an original model Wii, so the software should have still been there, but the newer drive couldn’t handle minidiscs. Launch model was apparently the RVL-001. The RVL-101 dropped GC support, but looked almost identical. The RVL-201 was the top loader model.
There was a model before the tray loading one that dropped GC support, too. I found out when the disc drive on my Wii died and I replaced it with an official later model drive and it couldn’t read Wind Waker anymore.
Slot-loading CD drives would get jammed if you inserted anything other than a round, full-sized disc.
The launch model Wii was an exception, with parts in there specifically for handling mini-discs for GameCube compatibility. The feature was quietly removed from later models.