02-17-2018, 09:18 PM
I'd actually argue that at least two stat upgrades are essential to round out your character's statline and really make them excel at whatever it is they do. Take my characters for exmple:
Kelly is a tactician. I loaded him down with 5 in TEC right away, but that left him with a 1 in DEF and a 2 in ATK, which was a little weaker physically than the way I wanted to write him - so I made the stat-upgrades part of the story, and got him to spot where he can be himself. I may get him more when I have the spare OM, but two was what I needed. Yay stat-upgrades!
Ghidorah thinks tactics are a kind of snack-food (metaphorically speaking), but he's a goddamn wrecking-ball. I bought him 2 stat upgrades during character-creation and put them both in SPD, because I put all of his base-stats into ATK and DEF. Without buying those stat-upgrades, he would have been too slow to be threatening, and he couldn't possibly have less than 5 in either of his other physical stats .
Admittedly, I play two examples of heavily skewing a character stat-wise - but even if what they do is mostly defined by fluff or by their moves, a 3/3/3/3 gives you a solid basis for whatever it is your non-stat-focused character does.
I agree 100% with Blink about the narrative role of transformations (Ghidorah's whole story revolves around the fact that he turns into a 115-foot-tall - and soon to be much larger than that - three-headed dragon; Kelly's vector-sketch power-up changes the entire flavor of any encounter in which its used because it makes him tremendously more powerful and durable). They're also pretty crucial for fights, though: not just because they give you a way to spend that delicious SP, but also because they can help you close the gap in areas where your character's basic build is deficient, or push your advantages high enough to compensate. In a graded fight, they give you the advantage of both a moment of drama for that story-telling boost and increased latitude for what you can write your character doing, and how you can respond to what your opponent(s) bring to the table.
Also, they cost way less. WAY less. A tier 1 power-up gets you a temporary 5 stats for the cost of a single stat-upgrade.
Kelly is a tactician. I loaded him down with 5 in TEC right away, but that left him with a 1 in DEF and a 2 in ATK, which was a little weaker physically than the way I wanted to write him - so I made the stat-upgrades part of the story, and got him to spot where he can be himself. I may get him more when I have the spare OM, but two was what I needed. Yay stat-upgrades!
Ghidorah thinks tactics are a kind of snack-food (metaphorically speaking), but he's a goddamn wrecking-ball. I bought him 2 stat upgrades during character-creation and put them both in SPD, because I put all of his base-stats into ATK and DEF. Without buying those stat-upgrades, he would have been too slow to be threatening, and he couldn't possibly have less than 5 in either of his other physical stats .
Admittedly, I play two examples of heavily skewing a character stat-wise - but even if what they do is mostly defined by fluff or by their moves, a 3/3/3/3 gives you a solid basis for whatever it is your non-stat-focused character does.
I agree 100% with Blink about the narrative role of transformations (Ghidorah's whole story revolves around the fact that he turns into a 115-foot-tall - and soon to be much larger than that - three-headed dragon; Kelly's vector-sketch power-up changes the entire flavor of any encounter in which its used because it makes him tremendously more powerful and durable). They're also pretty crucial for fights, though: not just because they give you a way to spend that delicious SP, but also because they can help you close the gap in areas where your character's basic build is deficient, or push your advantages high enough to compensate. In a graded fight, they give you the advantage of both a moment of drama for that story-telling boost and increased latitude for what you can write your character doing, and how you can respond to what your opponent(s) bring to the table.
Also, they cost way less. WAY less. A tier 1 power-up gets you a temporary 5 stats for the cost of a single stat-upgrade.