Game of Numbers

Numbers are everywhere in the video games of today either in the forefront or in the background controlling everything. When I think of numbers, I think of Final Fantasy VII on Playstation where you knew you were getting more powerful simply by looking at the numbers showing up after you hit an enemy (those numbers could get crazy).

It's weird to associate numbers to power in a video game but how else can it be shared to the player that he's powerful? There are no better visual queues than to have a number go up, change color, or get bigger to show the user that the hit animation he's done hundred of times before was successful and either more, or less, powerful than before. 

It's a video game concept that seems to be difficult to get rid of.

Ghost Recon Breakpoint uses a different, but still satisfying, strategy. Instead of showing the player numbers to the player, a specific sound is played, with a rumble of the controller, when you've successfully shot an enemy (the sound is a bit different when you hit the enemy in the head). This is a wonderful, and different, way to let the user know that the hit was successful and I can't tell you how much I love this little thing.

While numbers are a great way to show power, I would like to see a more varied ways of showing power to the user as he plays.