So Nobody Saves the World just came out recently, I have been playing it, and its an absolute delight in every respect you could care to mention. Probably my favorite subtle thing about it is the progression, though.
See, the basic idea is you're doing a action RPG zeld-em-up sort of thing, except where you transform into different forms. These forms are basically FF5 jobs (or even closer to Jimmy and the Pulsating Mass forms honestly), complete with being able to customize one form with abilities from a different form. It also measures form XP by doing quests, which are effectively mini-achievements for each form. Most of them are simple stuff, like just using an attack a lot, or using it in optimal situations (like catching a bunch of enemies with one area move).
The clever part here is that the customization quests give you clues for how to build forms that might not be immediately apparent, opening up some really neat playstyles. My favorite example is one of the Rogue form quests. They have a backstab ability, because Rogue. One of their form quests is to kill an enemy afflicted with Fear with that backstab. Fear is a really good status effect for that since it makes enemies run away (and thus turn their backs to you) but its also exclusive to the Ghost form normally. So the quest kind of coaches you by going "hey, try this out and see how it works and we'll give you form XP", and then you try it and suddenly it works amazingly well.
Seriously, once I get a new computer with a working keyboard, I might have to LP this.