see, i just think it's an extension of like, running around collecting rings or fruit or musical notes or whatever and Making Number Go Up. Only instead you're collecting rock, stick or beast hide and Making Crude Hatchet.
The crafting stuff is my biggest gripe with a lot of games. I can 100% see where it's fun in games where that's the point... but I hate it's tacked on to something like an RPG.
I hear lots of players complain when a game doesn't have crafting, and all i think is "i want my cool equipment to drop out of the fallen bodies of my righteously-punished enemies. I know how to save worlds, not piece them together from scratch."
I was reading a review of a recent game that had crafting in it when it was questionable it was necessary, and someone left a review on Steam that said, effectively, "I hate you notch for raising a generation on the idea that punching a tree for an hour was okay."
I enjoy the Atelier series, but they were at least designed from the ground up to have crafting as the central mechanic. Most things now take genres that worked fine already and shoehorn crafting in regardless.
I've got a friend who's a games design lecturer and he told me the other day that his #1 question to students about their assignments is "what's the technical or artistic reason for including a crafting system in this?" because they don't even question it, they just go straight to designing one.
What are some examples of games you've found to have crafting systems when you weren't expecting it to, and/or (if applicable) instances of that you dislike and wish weren't in it?
*Boots up another guaranteed mid Dragon Ball title* Aw yeah Dragon Ball: Kakarot time to shoot lazers and punch stuff
*89 hours later, pulling Goku's tail out of a pond with a fish attached so I can craft a meal to boost my stats* Aw yeah that's the stuff
And those that don’t tend to have microtransactions, and then there those with both, seriously though I don’t mind crafting so much, as long as it’s done well.
I miss old games where you could kill any character and take whatever they had equipped or in inv. Admittedly this was uncommon, but just fantastic to go, "Hey that's a NICE ring *stabstabstab*."
One of the many reasons I love Pacific Drive recently, the crafting system feels like it belongs, is satisfying, and does not send you out on continual hunts.
Do you consider that good or bad?
I can't speak for everyone, but I love crafting. I get to say "I didn't just kill the boss. I killed it with the weapons and armor I crafted. I made the weapon that killed this enemy."
I love that feeling.
