Many role-playing games rely on the player leveling up their main character and companions in a hope to get stronger and to face off against harder foes. In many titles this leveling up is done traditionally by players gaining experience that they can then use to purchase stat increases as well as other skills that they may use.
However, some RPG titles have stepped away from this method of leveling and have instead focused on an equipment-based progression system. This therefore means that a player focuses must focus on finding better armor and weapons which may cause them to sacrifice other stats in order to be stronger in other areas. These are some of the RPG games that mainly use an equipment-based progression system.
10 Paper Mario
While the original Paper Mario was allowed to level up its health, mana and badge points, it still heavily relied on new equipment to upgrade Mario's attack and defense when going up against difficult foes.
In future games of the franchise such as Paper Mario: The Origami King, traditional leveling was removed as health is gained by finding HP-up Hearts and the basic abilities such as the Hammer and jump is unlocked as the player progress through the game. Collecting coins can be used to buy upgrades of these things.
9 Mega Man Battle Network
Similar to Paper Mario, there is a small level up system, but this only allows the player to increase their health as well as their KB which is needed to use chips in the game. Due to how limiting the leveling up system is, this means players must rely on other means to get more powerful.
Firstly, players may find other Chips to install that can fulfill a variety of purposes such as giving the player a line of defense or helping them inflict more damage. Apart from this, players can also obtain customizer parts which focus on increasing other stats and abilities such as rate of fire.
8 Final Fantasy 9
It should be noted that Final Fantasy 9 does have its own traditional leveling system which also runs across the vast majority of the Final Fantasy franchise. However, these experience changes that can boost both stats and skills are only useful for passive boosts.
The rest of the progression players have to work through relies on the equipment they pick up and upgrade on their adventures. Within this equipment is character-specific abilities that characters can only learn by having said items equipped, once it has been learned players then have the freedom to move the armor or weapons to other characters if they so wish.
7 Dark Cloud
In the action RPG Dark Cloud, leveling does appear naturally as gaining experience will increase the player's health and thirst which are both vital features when attempting to survive dungeons. However, in order to defend themselves against the dangers of these dungeons players must find new weapons or enhancements to increase their damage.
Focusing on a single weapon can make it an unstoppable force to wield. This can therefore lead to many of the other weapons the player finds being useless due to needing to be upgraded in order to even dent the enemy.
6 Helen's Mysterious Castle
Although short Helen's Mysterious Castle is a JRPG that lends itself nicely to the equipment-based progression mechanic that many traditional RPGs made the most of. Matching the pixel retro style of these past games Helen's Mysterious Castle doesn't allow the player to level up Helen but instead improve the items she uses on her adventure.
As a solo protagonist, Helen must rely on the weapons she finds and improves with experience points to freely switch between them in one-on-one battles in order to get the upper hand.
5 Deception
While in the first Deception the player could level up their character, the main focus was on the wide array of traps the player could make a most of in their playthrough. This continued to be the main feature of the game with improvements unlocking later on.
In later games of the franchise such as Kagero: Deception 2, the leveling system was removed entirely so that the main focus was only on the traps players used. Therefore, players would rely on expanding their experience with the different types of traps instead of relying on leveling past the dangers.
4 Toukiden: Kiwami
Toukiden: Kiwami is a great example of a game that only relies on equipment-based progression as the player's characters are unable to level up traditionally at all, this means there is no experience gained to increase stats.
Instead of focusing on leveling, players must make and upgrade their weapons in order to increase the damage they deal to enemies. Special abilities and passive can also be improved, but this is done by searching for the souls of old heroes devoured by Oni to add these features.
3 Moonlighter
While playing as the shopkeeper Will who has dreams of one day becoming a great adventurer by exploring dungeons and such. It is surprising to see that Will can't level up by defeating enemies on his travels or even selling items from his shop.
Instead, players must go to the blacksmith Andrei to task him with creating weapons and armor for Will that he can then take to the Enchanter, Eris to upgrade them into something even greater. With these new defenses and weapons, Will is more likely to survive in this RPG with rogue-like mechanics.
2 God Eater
Another great role-playing title that relies on the player improving their equipment in order to get stronger is the Namco Bandai Game, God Eater. Bother the main character and their party members that follow them throughout the story have a set amount of stats that can only be improved by changing and upgrading their equipment loadout.
When going into a battle the player decides if they wish for it to be an easy fight or not by earlier deciding if they upgrade their equipment more or decide to take on the fight with what they have.
1 Monster Hunter
Using the materials harvested from the monsters the player defeats is the single way that players can improve their stats in Monster Hunter. Taking on different creatures will allow them to find new materials to make different armor that may help when hunting another monster in its vast world.
It isn't just the armor either, as weapons are created similarly with the player deciding which weapon better suits their play style and improving it through upgrading said weapon to better their chances when coming up against new foes.