The Displeasure of Video Game-Style Power Systems

I think I can finally articulate my problem with 'video game"'style power system stories.

Part of the appeal of the general shounen genre for me is the emotional aspect of the characters’ power levels. The reasoning and motivation behind the training arc, the bonds that form and break during it, how a battle could force them to use their abilities in ways they normally wouldn’t consider, or even how their determination to save someone / reach out to someone / defeat the enemy / attain their ambition pushes them to unexpected heights.

But a video game power level system typically replaces all that with bland numbers that basically equate to 'grinds’ and min-max strats

E.g. “appraisal skills” tend to remove the tension of not knowing how strong the opponent is, and the apprehension, horror, or satisfaction of finding out.

(All of this in addition to how it just breaks immersion for me when the characters that are NOT in a video game and/or NOT AWARE the world they live in is a video game talk about skills and MP with empirical numbers)

It’s one thing to have a detailed power system (like Hunter x Hunter), and it’s a completely different thing to strip it down into just another chunk of data to be processed.