Using Looted Clothes and Armor

[nikolokolus]

This is easily reflected by game mechanics. Looted armor is damaged (reflecting physical damage as well as lack of proper fitting) and wearing it incurs penalties or doesn't protect enough. This is fixed by a trip to the blacksmith/field repair (fitting and patching the suit).

 

Of course it would be trivial to implement it, but more importantly, would it make the game more fun? I really doubt it would for me.

Edited September 25, 2012 by nikolokolus

[catmorbid]

Didn't Arcanum have separate armors for small, medium (human) and large body sizes? I think it worked pretty well there, and actually brought an extra dimension of credibility to the world.

[FlintlockJazz]

Such a system was used in Venetica but there you controled only one character and armours were rare, I only used about 4 armours in the game and one of them I think was necessary to finish the game.

 

So - 1 character, very limited number of choices, largely the opposite of Eternity, in short no. If it must be done, do it Arcanum style.

 

I was going to mention Venetica.

 

Personally I feel that in most games armour is just picked up to be sold anyway and just ends up being timewasting heavy junk. I'd prefer that you acquire armour through other means than loot and just get more money instead of armour via looting.

[Pauzulodburzum]

I dont really know, but as an pnp rgp entusiast is armor a good way to earn that extra cash needed, as long as the party has a pack horse or two.

Armor are expensive, but YOU choose if you want the extra load for cash, or have it modified for private use.

Besides, we almost never found much better armor then we had, after upgrades and enchantments.. Wasnt worth the cost, but gave some coins for ale.. Or, whine

[Data4]

I was being sarcastic with my comment in another thread when I spoke of the dangers of letting women in the club. Part of me hopes this thread is a joke.

 

Don't get me wrong, I'm all for the diversity of ideas, but seriously? Dress-up Barbie in a RPG?

[Amentep]

I was being sarcastic with my comment in another thread when I spoke of the dangers of letting women in the club. Part of me hopes this thread is a joke.

 

Don't get me wrong, I'm all for the diversity of ideas, but seriously? Dress-up Barbie in a RPG?

 

Not really my intent to make a "dress up Barbie" suggestion; my point is that its unrealistic to be able to loot bodies and put their (probably damaged) armor on - particularly with no regard to size or body type (an orc, a giant, a gnome and a human can all trade clothes) and wade into the next battle and proposed a possible way to address that that could bring interesting useablity / versatility to blacksmithing and crafting skills. In addition such a method could be used to further customize the characters avatar (if that was wanted and desired) by giving use of the skill the option to customize a bit further.

 

Wizardry 8 and Arcanum (which I'd forgotten) already used "size" for clothes to make really small / large clothes unusable by other groups. My problem with this (moreso in Wizardry 8 than Arcanum) was the lack of clothes in a specific size could create problems in the party (everyone's wearing superarmor exept the short/big character who is still wearing leather because no one has the odd sized armor*)

 

It seems the vast majority of people feel like its TOO micromanaging a concept and prefer the usual abstraction which honestly I can live with.

 

*Although I suppose in retrospect, this actually isn't that far off from real life.

[themanclaw]

I don't see why you shouldn't be able to loot clothes that don't have any gameplay benifits (ie; help your stats)

I do like the idea of only being wearable though if they fit the player's character.

All in all, I hate in-game economies and grinding for money. If I wanted to feel like there is so much I need to get but can't afford I'd just check my bank account.

[Quadrone]

Voted "no".

Just seems like a hassle ingame as well as workload wise that does very little for actually improving the game itself.

Obsidian would have to include either special stores at several convenient locations or come up with an additional crafting system. Quite a bit of work, especially if you could recolor and engrave each piece of armor there is, as proposed.

 

For the player, this would also prevent you from swapping armor and such between party members while on a quest, or to be more precise you wouldn't be able to do stuff like "test out those gauntlets on the dwarf just to see how they influence his stats".

[themanclaw]

For the player, this would also prevent you from swapping armor and such between party members while on a quest, or to be more precise you wouldn't be able to do stuff like "test out those gauntlets on the dwarf just to see how they influence his stats".

Or just have it so that you can't change armor during combat.

[greenmonster]

Picking up a weapon and using it makes sense. Armor not so much, especially across races and genders.

At the same time it may be a drag on game play to have to schlep back to town. In a lot of ways this is like magic item identification. Maybe having a non-combat skill (armorer/blacksmith/etc) that allows adjustment would be a good compromise. If you dont want to schelp it, spend the points.

[Quadrone]

For the player, this would also prevent you from swapping armor and such between party members while on a quest, or to be more precise you wouldn't be able to do stuff like "test out those gauntlets on the dwarf just to see how they influence his stats".

Or just have it so that you can't change armor during combat.

 

I don't see how that relates to what I said, sorry.

I meant that while on a quest out somewhere you find some magic gauntlets and when you try to decide who gets to wear them you can't put them on one party member first and then on the other to test out who reaps the greater benefit from it. Instead you would either have to return to the next city or do some crafting in between each swap. IMO that sounds rather obnoxious.

[jellydonut]

If it was a player skill, it would just be a skill everyone would pick anyway.

 

How about this? You can wear unfitted items, but since they don't fit you, their stats are suboptimal. You can optionally have them fitted in town by a specialist for a fee. This would turn it from tedium to a nice gear upgrade tier that makes sense.

[Data4]

It seems the vast majority of people feel like its TOO micromanaging a concept and prefer the usual abstraction which honestly I can live with.

 

*Although I suppose in retrospect, this actually isn't that far off from real life.

 

I look at it from the practical development standpoint of finite resources, especially since this isn't going to be made on a AAA budget. Is it a wise use of resources? What is the return on the investment? Does it increase the fun factor? Does it increase the annoyance factor? I'm on the side of those who think it's unnecessary micromanagement. The key word in your quoted post is "abstraction". RPGs are based completely around abstractions, i.e. stats. Real swordsmen train for years to hone their skills. RPG swordsmen play a numbers game. It doesn't make sense that martial training can be relegated to a numerical representation, but you need to have a random armor drop taken to an armorsmith to have it custom fitted to your 6'2, 220 lb frame.

[SqueakyCat]

No, just no. There's a finite budget and this, for me, wouldn't even be on the radar to be on my 'wildest dreams' wishlist.

[Gorth]

I would like to see a mix. Some things, like bracers, robes, soft fabric stuff you could rationalise being reused. Metal armour? Leave it for the scavengers to collect, melt down and make pig iron ploughs from. In Gorth's ideal fantasy world, armour would only be available from the master of the arts so to speak, whether that be a blacksmith or something like it that can tailor it to you (at a rather hefty price). Found a piece of legendary armour somewhere? Great, it will look good on the wall of your trophy room. But then, I usually don't like loot rich game mechanics in the first place.

[Aedelric]

Armour requiring fitting before you can wear it would not be a very enjoyable mechanic. Get some gloves travel to town, pay gold for fitting, then obtain armour, leave town, find boots, return to town, get them fitted... and so on and so on.

 

It would be exceptionally repetitive, especially since you have six or seven armour parts on a person (Going by classic games), with six or so companions.

 

In many ways it is the repetitive nature that is not liked in the identifying items process or the item durability mechanic. I am open to any of these mechanics, so long as they are not repetitive and are enjoyable to do, which unfortunately they rarely ever are.