I first heard of Exp Share–a mechanic the place all social gathering members acquire expertise factors no matter in the event that they’re in battle–in Pokemon. Many RPGs have some stage of it. Generally, it is only for members of your present social gathering. Generally, it is for all the roster. Its absence or restricted implementation particularly stands out when revisiting older video games like Persona 4 and evaluating them to newer ones like Pokemon Scarlet and Violet. Regardless of what may appear to be a minor quality-of-life function at first, its presence–or lack thereof–can have a big effect on a sport, inflicting you to play a lot in another way than you in any other case would.
I am calling it Exp Share as a result of that is what it is known as in Pokemon, and it would not appear to have one other well known title. In Pokemon’s case, Exp Share began as an precise merchandise that you would give to a person Pokemon in order that it could acquire expertise even with out being concerned in a battle. It was particularly handy for elevating low-level monsters into common social gathering members. Exp Share finally was an merchandise that distributed expertise factors to your whole group. Ranging from Pokemon: Let’s Go, Pikachu and Let’s Go, Eevee, it was constructed into the sport as a default mechanic somewhat than an merchandise that you simply wanted to acquire.
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It wasn’t an addition that stayed distinctive to Pokemon, although. Simply prior to now yr, Xenoblade Chronicles 3 and One Piece Odyssey each supplied their very own model of Exp Share. These video games have a number of characters with distinct talents, sufficient to encourage gamers to experiment with them. In Xenoblade 3 particularly, it felt nearly felony to disregard your Heroes (seventh social gathering member) when there have been so many character lessons to attempt. All members of your primary social gathering are there to remain, however it could’ve been a frightening process for even probably the most diligent participant to stage up every of the Heroes individually. By permitting Heroes to build up expertise factors even after they’re not in battle, it opens up alternatives for experimentation and selection that will in any other case be untenable.
Even One Piece Odyssey, Bandai Namco’s first time making a One Piece RPG, was a way more seamless expertise because of this mechanic. As an alternative of worrying about grinding all of your characters to the identical stage, you would simply progress by the story utilizing whichever characters you needed.
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Exp Share looks like such a pure, welcome factor in any RPG, making it all of the extra noticeable when it is absent. That is why it was so jarring after I picked up Persona 4 and there was no Exp Share to be discovered. Persona 4 Golden was ported to Nintendo Swap earlier this yr, nevertheless it’s primarily the identical because the 2012 model that got here out for PlayStation. I did not begin craving Exp Share till I recruited my fifth social gathering member, at which level I used to be compelled to begin benching characters. It then appeared counterintuitive to spend money on the brand new character as a result of their Social Hyperlinks (one other a part of Persona 4’s advanced ecosystem) have been a lot much less developed than these of the characters I already had. Even when later recruits gained Social Hyperlinks extra rapidly, including them to the social gathering nonetheless felt like a short lived drawback as a result of they lacked the fight bonuses I had with veteran members.
At first, the dearth of Exp Share made me much less prepared to experiment as a result of it could imply letting different social gathering members lag behind the remainder. Nevertheless, I spotted that you could technically revisit dungeons to grind ranges for all of the characters if you wish to. It wasn’t a perfect answer, however there was a approach out.
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Exp Share makes it in order that there isn’t any must spend time grinding ranges for characters that are not in your primary social gathering. In Persona 4, I discovered to drop into dungeons extra usually in order that I may mess around with different characters as a substitute of solely counting on the instances I needed to as a way to progress the story. You must dive again in, even when no new plot-related content material is offered, to stage up social gathering members. In any other case, you danger the lesser-used social gathering members falling behind. It looks like Altus finally determined that its outdated system was outdated, too, contemplating Persona 5 integrated Exp Share. Not less than for now, Persona 4 is the final mainline Persona installment to not have the function.
Hearth Emblem is among the few collection that also would not use Exp Share (with just a few exceptions, like Path of Radiance). Hearth Emblem Fates, which works equally to the franchise’s newest entry, Hearth Emblem Interact, additionally satisfied me to rigorously select the right way to stage my most prized characters. You’ll be able to’t spend time endlessly leveling characters. As an alternative, you need to plan which characters to tackle the primary mission and which of them to stage up in aspect quests in order that they sustain with the group. Fates had a restricted variety of aspect quests obtainable per chapter, so that you solely had just a few possibilities to stage up characters earlier than shifting to the following chapter.
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It by no means felt like the sport was suggesting that you simply solely use a handful of characters and ignore the remainder due to sort weaknesses, although. Hearth Emblem video games emphasize technique, so it is best to use the models that work finest given a selected battle. It is a extra acutely aware determination than in Persona 4, which does not cease you from leveling up different characters however forces you to grind to take action. In the meantime, Fates (and Hearth Emblem generally) pushes the participant to choose and select which characters to spend money on due to the restricted battles. It additionally allowed gamers to experiment with out Exp Share as a result of you’ll be able to management many models per battle as a substitute of simply 4 at a time like in Persona.
“Grind” is the important thing phrase right here. It is grinding when you’re combating enemies or repeating dungeons with out every other motive than to farm XP. Fates manages to keep away from grinding as a result of the quests do not overlap. Even when you’re combating the identical sort of enemies, they seem on new maps in numerous situations. You do not repeat a map to achieve XP, and do not even have the choice to. In brief, it sacrifices the experimentation you’ll be able to have with the complete solid for a extra streamlined expertise.
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I nonetheless loved Persona 4. I ended up revisiting dungeons and unlocking Social Hyperlinks as a result of I appreciated the brand new characters and needed to make use of them. Nevertheless, Exp Share would have lessened that must grind and saved my concentrate on advancing the story. It makes me want that video games with out Exp Share would not less than have a extra optimum different or setup–like in Hearth Emblem, the place it is a deliberate, strategy-based determination.
Exp Share has turn into more and more widespread in RPGs as time goes on, and I can not blame builders for leaning into what makes it simpler for gamers to experiment with totally different characters with out feeling like they’re repeating content material. I nonetheless really feel some nostalgia at any time when a sport forces me into old-school useful resource administration with out it. Nevertheless, it is a mechanic that has freed up hours of my time by lessening the monotonous grinding that turn-based RPGs have been as soon as infamous for, and that is definitely one thing to be pleased about.
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