Crafting & Enchantment

[AGX-17]

How is it going to work? Are we just bringing elemental detritus to a master enchanter, or are we going to have the potential to become one ourselves? Should mastery of such crafting areas be counterbalanced by penalties to combat abilities? Recent experience with what passes for RPGs these days suggests to me that such pursuits should preclude significant combat skill, be it physical or arcane. Thoughts?

[nikolokolus]

The short answer is that I don't think the developers are even sure how it's going to work. On general principle I don't particularly like the idea of a PC being able to become a master craftsman over the course of a game ... a journeyman or apprentice? Sure. But true masterwork craftsmanship should be reserved for people who spend a lifetime perfecting their craft, not a part-time nail-pounder.

Edited October 8, 2012 by nikolokolus

[Chromie]

Crafting system a la Vagrant Story. Make it happ'n.

[Valorian]

I agree with nikolokolus.

Just one more thing, please make the enchanting/crafting components finite. For instance, I don't want endless herbs (=endless potions). If you intend to bring to the table any resource management, like healing back your HPs, endless potions would trivialize it.

 

In Drakensang everything respawned after cca 15 minutes so I had to keep track where I picked up flowers and where I didn't (such an entertaining mini-game, I tell you) to not completely cheesify the game. In Arcanum you could collect countless of herbs as you traveled around the world.

On a side note, a big no as well to respawning enemies and endless random enocunters that are just a cheap XP bag (I'm looking at you Fallout world map).

[Sensuki]

Once you pick say a herb, doesn't it not grow back until the next season (or year)? *hint hint*

[Maf]

One discussion you see often regarding crafting is how it might unbalance the items in the game.

An obvious solution to crafting either making epic items useless or the other way around is the following:

 

Make crafting synergistic, like how cespenar could upgrade your Carsomyr +5 to +6.

IF you took the time to get the right items.

This approach seems like the best fit.

It also allows "underpowered" epic items to become useful again if you REALLY like it (taking the time to upgrade it).

You could take this global (any x item + y item = upgraded x item) or item specific.

 

Also:

 

I LOVE talking weapons with a personality!

[Neversleep]

One discussion you see often regarding crafting is how it might unbalance the items in the game.

An obvious solution to crafting either making epic items useless or the other way around is the following:

 

Make crafting synergistic, like how cespenar could upgrade your Carsomyr +5 to +6.

IF you took the time to get the right items.

This approach seems like the best fit.

It also allows "underpowered" epic items to become useful again if you REALLY like it (taking the time to upgrade it).

You could take this global (any x item + y item = upgraded x item) or item specific.

 

Also:

 

I LOVE talking weapons with a personality!

 

Crafting balance in relation to looted gear is something that concerns me also, and has been touched on in my thread here:

 

http://forums.obsidi...m-descriptions/

 

Basically the concept is that while the lore and (hopefully) concept art accompanying the items you find in the world increases the appeal and allure of those items, a crafting system - if not done just right - can accomplish the exact opposite.

 

HotU was the most striking example of this for me. The crafting system in that game allowed you to add every conceivable bonus to your gear. This meant that the items you found while adventuring could never compare to the ones you enhanced yourself. Certain combinations of properties are always going to be exploitable (adding the Keen property to weapons with a base threat range of 18-20 comes to mind). Once you have made a weapon like this you will hardly spare a second glance at the ones you pick up from the hoard of that dragon you just slew

 

It's not just the fact that crafted equipment can be overpowered either. Crafted items can never have the character of loot items. They have base item appearance, no accompanying lore and no room for unique concept art (should such a thing be implemented, *wink*). From a roleplaying perspective, I also don't like the fact that adventurers - who would be part time craftsmen at best - could equal or outstrip the efforts of even the realms most gifted artisans, be they contemporary or even stretching back to antiquity.

 

So with all that said, how do you do a crafting system well? I have one answer, although it may not be a popular one - don't include one! Okay, it has already been promised as a feature so no turning back now... if you have to have one, how do you balance it so that it doesn't detract from the gear found out in the wild or ends up being useless?

 

My opinion is that the crafting of consumable items (potions, scrolls, bombs etc) is something the character should be free to do with fair frequency - within balancing limits of course. Crafting of arms and armor however, should be a very costly endeavor. I can see a system working where the number of items created in this way during the course of the game is very limited - to the extent where the player must very carefully consider which items he/she wants to create as outfitting an entire party or even just one character in elite crafted gear is not feasible.

 

I could also see crafting of gear consuming a uniform resource (soulstones anyone? not sure yet how obsidian will handle the harnessing of souls for such purposes or moral implications thereof), with more powerful gear consuming more of this resource. This would require the player to choose between crafting more numerous amounts of mid level gear or saving it all for just a handful of very powerful endgame items. Powerful crafted items should be *unique* allowing for a proper lore entry and... concept art drawing

 

For roleplaying purposes I would also like to see crafting achieved under the mentorship of and in partnership with an NPC artisan of great skill. This would somewhat account for the relatively fast increase and overall quality of the player characters skill and the influence of this NPC should be seen in the design and lore of the crafted items.

 

Okay i'm tired now - moar coffee!!