The Best Power Is The Power You Missed

Gaining power is a typical feature in games.

 Collecting more powerful equipment and learning utilitarian new techniques are obvious examples, but this concept shows up in many forms. Less obvious examples are additional inventory space or access to new areas. I have no doubt you can come up with many other examples.

I think we can all agree it feels great to pick up that rocket launcher a few moments before facing the next boss enemy. What could be better?

Yes, please.

But, wouldn't you also say finding that rocket launcher would have felt just a little bit sweeter if you could have missed it...but didn't?

I think a lot of players would agree. Maybe even most players, if I had to guess. But, a few of you might be wondering "What difference would that make?"

The reason it feels so much better to gain power you could have missed is the relativity involved. If your game is feeding you a steady and constant stream of increased power and it consistently follows this up with a challenge that's just a bit tougher than the last thing you had to face...what's the difference? You got stronger and the enemy got stronger, so aside from the aesthetics...aren't you right where you left off?

The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion is a great game, but players were disappointed that monsters everywhere in the game would scale in power along with the player character's level. 

Now, this approach isn't completely worthless of course. There's a lot to be said for aesthetics (I should know, I'm an artist.) And, of course, there are a lot of creative ways to challenge and reward the player. But, if you can gain optional power, power you could have missed, power others did miss, now you're growing on a curve...maybe a different curve than your enemies, even. We are talking exponential growth. Maybe your enemies can't even keep up.

Now that's real success and real success feels good.