Someone by the name of Manny asked us this:

Well, Manny, here are you answers.

Mohagany Marvel Head Doctor Hershey replied: 

 I’ve always been a max all skills kinda guy. Of course, if it’s a capped skill point system, like in Mass Effect, I max out essential skills first. I understand the need for balance in a game, but after beating it two or three times, you want to play around with it. Some games don’t allow for that at all.

If I could just fucking walk through Dark Souls without dying from getting shanked in the ass by an ogre! It’s not unbalanced. It’s not OP. After realizing your first enemy is the area boss, then fighting a dragon, a drider that spits lava, etc, you just want to be comfortable in knowing that you can flay an attacker with a spell or with a barehanded strike.

Valiastice said: 

I typically pick out how I want characters to do around the time I get them. It depends on how they are introduced. Like In Mass Effect, everyone is very specialized, so since I’m the primary Damage Dealer (Infiltrator) I set Wrex to tank or draw fire and Liara or Samara to CC or Knock enemies down, so I max skills purely off of use. If there still time I’ll max out all of them, but essential skills first.

Ziven also replied, saying: 

I personally play start and pick out skills I know I can use. First of all I need to establish that I’m not great at games - they don’t come naturally, and because of this I rank game story over game play. Anything too complex is something I’m very likely to auto-fail at, so getting through the game to get through awesome story is kind of like my minimum requirement.

If the system is easily comprehensible or easy to adapt to, then once I get the hang of it I may max skills just because I’m capable of doing so. Some games have systems that strongly encourage balance leveling in all skills, and I’m very good at following directions. But in a game where it’s obvious that you can’t max in everything at once (For example, Fallout 3), or an RPG where the characters are limited to certain families of skills (Tales of Series) I tend to max what is useful.

In Fallout 3’s case, where there are so many options, I tend to “make a character” and follow with what they want. Not only does it help me avoid the “Jack of all trades, Master of none” conundrum, but it boosts replay value, as I can replay the game with a different “character” who has different skills and see how that goes.

And Shadow Akuma put: 

When I first started getting into RPG’s, I had wanted to max out all the skills. I figure that was how it was suppose to be played in the first place but that changed when I got into Knights of the Old Republic and I notice that I could no longer do that (or I could and I didn’t have the time to). From then on out, I planned out which points went to where and generally knew how I was going to play. 

When I started to play Mass Effect, before I even put the disc in, I did my research on what play style I was going for (Vanguard on ME1, Adept on 2, Might stick to Adept in ME3). Even Borderlands, I knew who (Siren) and what I was going to stick with (SMG’s all the way). 

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