Crafting mechanics: Lessons learned from prior games?

[jivex5k]

Someone mentioned fishing....that would BE AWESOME!

I'd like to be able to maintain a garden of herbs and spices in my house/stronghold as well.

[steelshark]

I think "crafting" should be more in the line of "letting some proffesional do it for you".

BG1/2 had good options. But I was missing a sort of "ordering" system.

Say I want 100 Arrows+1... why can't i ask for these to be made for me?

[TrashMan]

I understand what your saying here, but that doesn't mean I wouldn't also be good at something else. Your perspective makes it sound like someone who plays the piano can't do anything else well. What if that guys also an accountant or successful day trader? What if he also is a gifted singer? It's not like you're starting off as a champion, the more you work at something the better you get at it. There's only so many math books you need to go through in order to be a math wiz. Given you have a desire to learn, it doesn't take 3 years to master division for example. and even simple math can be used in many ways. Neither does it seem that unreasonable to me that over a course of an epic game that with proper resources, books, or materiels that your hero comes upon, he should be able to read the instructions and craft something great if he has some level of training or skill. Maybe it's not the very best item in game, but certainly if he has quality components it should be reasonable to assume he could craft a really nice item.

 

What part of "adventurers don't have time for this" did you miss?

 

Blacksmithing in as art that takes YEARS - if not decades - to truly master.

And I somehow doubt the game will span years.

 

Sure, the PC could learn some of the basics....But crafting great items? No way.

[anubite]

I thought crafting was a dumb addition during the kickstarter - crafting doesn't feel like it fits cRPGs at all. It just reminds me of WOW? Any recent RPG that has had crafting has just struck me as a, "Oh, they're pandering to WOW players." moment. Maybe I'm wrong about that - but crafting tends to be shallow in most RPGs, because they're afraid to let some of the best items be craftable, and also because, once you've crafted that item you want from the profession, you're practically done with said profession. The only professions that are "useful" are the ones with consumables attached, but those have limited value to me.

 

I think crafting could be done well in theory, but it doesn't strike me as a feature that inherently has much depth or finesse. So it was an odd stretch goal for the kickstarter.

 

If anything, don't do crafting like NWN2. I liked that recipes were well hidden and that crafting was kind of unintuitive. But that was it - there's nothing fun about having to go onto the internet to look up all the bizarre recipes, there's nothing fun about taking a dagger mold and turning it into a +3 dagger of frost, there's nothing fun about buying iron bars from a vendor, only to realize they only have 9 of them and you need 10 to make the dumb dagger. Now you have to lug around all those iron bars until you can find a stupid vendor with one more, and then you need to walk aaaaall the way back to the blacksmithing area to craft. Crafting like that just felt like a hassle even if it was balanced. It wasn't fun or deep at all.

Edited November 7, 2012 by anubite

[Jarmo]

I'd like to be able to craft pretty good enhancements to different kinds of things. Especially weapons.

It's always sucky to create a halberd specialist and then not find any good halberds anywhere, only katanas and spears and daggers and whatever.

 

Just barging into someones smithy or laboratory and starting to craft, no.

But if the smith or alchemist is a friend you've already helped in some major way (quest!!), then why not? He'll help you even.

Or maybe the crafting is done by the friendly craftsman, bring in the schematic/recipe/whatever, give the ingredients and help along.

If you didn't help her already, she'd help you anyway, if you're a smooth talker, the task is interesting enough, or if you give a pile of cash for the trouble.

 

 

Recipe crafting.

 

ToEE had a pretty simple but neat crafting system, you have the base masterwork item, know the correct spell, have the appropriate crafting feat. Off you go.

FO3 and NV had a somewhat nice system, find a schematic and ingredients and a work bench and off you go.

Pretty much the same system as in NWN2, except in NWN2 you needed the correct spells as well, sort of a hybrid between NV and NWN2.

 

The thing I didn't like in any crafting systems, was a huge amount of loot about and no way of knowing beforehand if something is going to be essential.

Find a diamond or beljuril or emerald, can you sell it? Oh, the star sapphire you got in act 1, you'd need it in act 3 and there's only one in game. Too bad.

In NWN2 I ended up with like 10 bags full of stuff that might be needed in crafting later on, or not.

 

Mask of the Betrayer had a pretty nifty system again, with different levels of different kinds of glowing stuff extracted from different things.

 

 

 

Minor crafting.

 

I'd also like to be able to do or have done some minor basic enchancements. Like scribble an extra damage rune in the blade.

Or have someone cast sharpness on the blade or durability on the leather jack. These would be maybe +1 damage or attack,

and might lose their effect after 50 hits or something. A single use +1 strength bracelet or something.

 

 

Major special crafting.

 

Then besides the basic crafing, there should/could be special items, split in many ways or creatable in special circumstance.

Like find the hilt of dawnstar from kings tomb and then later the broken blade of dawnstar embedded in the balrogs skull.

Bring them to a master smith and he'll say you'd need brittle starmetal to reforge the sword and he knows just where to get some (extra quest!).

In the end you're rewarded with the best sword in the game, quite a bit more powerful than anything you could craft yourself.

And it'd be nice if you could at that point decide to lengthen the hilt to get a bastard sword or claymore instead, or shorten the blade to get a shortsword.

Edited November 7, 2012 by Jarmo

[Hormalakh]

.... Maybe I'm wrong about that - but crafting tends to be shallow in most RPGs, because they're afraid to let some of the best items be craftable, and also because, once you've crafted that item you want from the profession, you're practically done with said profession. The only professions that are "useful" are the ones with consumables attached, but those have limited value to me.

 

... Crafting like that just felt like a hassle even if it was balanced. It wasn't fun or deep at all.

 

Any specific ideas on how to make crafting "deeper" as you call it? I am of the same mind as you, but I honestly can't think of any games that are SP that have done crafting remotely well enough to where I enjoyed it.

 

BG2's Cromwell was too specific and limited - it seemed almost like quests in that game. Cespenar from the ToB was much better, but it was still missing a little something. I also didn't think having to wait for Cespenar to go through your packs one at a time (and you having to skip items that you knew you didn't have everything for) was the best way they could have done it. Perhaps some sort of menu would have been better.

Edited November 7, 2012 by Hormalakh

[anubite]

I guess BG2 is an interesting example. There's "crafting" to an extent... I mean, it wouldn't be deep, but I DID like the multi-headed mace crafting. It was simple, "secret", and very narrowly purposed. You found the pieces, you "crafted" the mace. And then later on in the expansion you could upgrade it by finding other heads to graft onto it. That would probably a very good crafting system - where you hide 20 or so unique weapons in the game, and they can be constructed by finding the necessary rare parts. The craft is more or less a hidden quest though, it's not like the crafting system in NWN or a TES game.

 

That kind of crafting system... I mean, the way I would personally attempt to implement it (I probably wouldn't implement a crafting system into a single player RPG if I were making one)... would be...

 

1. NPCs do crafting for you, there's no silly skill level you need to raise up (it just feels to grind-y and purpsoeless for a SP RPG)

2. You find NPCs who are willing to make things for you, they tell you what they need to craft mundane items for you. You pay a comission, and you craft stuff that way.

a) You can request certain design elements of a item when you craft it (the result is, the weapon you get might have +10% attack rate, or have some specific stat on it that you want, but this sort of thing should probably be semi-random - you can only ask for something and get a vague stat in return)

b) You can request things to be grafted/imbeded/socketed in the crafted item (the result is, a more generic effect that is predictable)

 

The purpose for that is so that you can't easily get the best items through crafting. And well, because crafted gear would be semi-random, it would be "different" from quest/found gear. When an item "differs" rather than strictly being better/worse, you have a more balanced item system I think. Obviously Obsidian will make many custom items to drop in the wild - but what if I make a Warrior character who likes to use Intel/Wisdom-based swords? That give bonus spell damage? Well, you should be able to craft such a thing, perhaps? By socketing certain things and requesting certain design choices from the crafter.

3. Rarer, more unique things can be crafted by finding rare NPCs and giving them rare items, similar to how crafting worked in BG2 I guess - I mean, that system wasn't perfect, but it was reasonable and didn't feel like too much of a hassle and finding secrets is reasonably entertaining

4. Don't make crafting about gathering iron ingots? That just feels like menial work. A crafter probably has all the iron he needs and he'll charge you a premium for it. He might need some rare schema to make an advanced weapon, or a special kind of leather or chemical, to make something special for you though.

5. If souls are the theme, perhaps souls should be the crafting focus too. Dark/Demon's Souls have an extensive crafting system that's kind of fun - using souls. You can only use boss souls once, so you have to chose a unique fabrication of a given soul. That's like choosing one special reward for an important quest, so it's kind of interesting.

 

I guess the key thing for me, is that WOW-based crafting gets you this generic or pointless item that's already worthless the moment you've made it - you probably could have bought the item itself cheaper than the ingrdients alone. Fun crafting is arriving at a semi-unique, semi-precious creation all your own, or something that's just one-of-a-kind that you chose from a selection of possibilities.

Edited November 7, 2012 by anubite

[Somna]

RE-EDIT: Quick re-skimming of the thread didn't turn up kind of comments I was mostly thinking about when posting the horror vision of Skyrim crafting, either I've read them somewhere else or I may have just come up with them myself from the way most people talked against such things, which in my opinion is still a valid argument in the context of this thread as even a vision of such things in this case bring about shivers.

 

By horror, are you talking about how one of the easiest ways to clear Skyrim is to cap Blacksmithing and Enchanting (and Alchemy if you wanted to) and then plow through everything with really strong gear?

[anubite]

Skyrim crafting is the perfect example of WOW-inspired crafting. Then again, Skyrim's gameplay design is largely non-existent. A good game design question is, "Did Skyrim do this?" If yes, then don't do it - especially if you're designing PE.

 

Yes, Skyrim sold a ton - but that was largely due to marketing, branding, and the fact it delivered on what people wanted from the game: a huge open world with stupid **** to do in it. People would have more thoroughly enjoyed the game if it had been balanced better, if its combat weren't so trivial, and... other problems it has.

Edited November 8, 2012 by anubite

[Hormalakh]

Skyrim crafting is the perfect example of WOW-inspired crafting. Then again, Skyrim's gameplay design is largely non-existent. A good game design question is, "Did Skyrim do this?" If yes, then don't do it - especially if you're designing PE.

 

Yes, Skyrim sold a ton - but that was largely due to marketing, branding, and the fact it delivered on what people wanted from the game: a huge open world with stupid **** to do in it. People would have more thoroughly enjoyed the game if it had been balanced better, if its combat weren't so trivial, and... other problems it has.

 

Skyrim's the most amazing fantasy hiking-sim I've ever seen.

[Somna]

Skyrim crafting is the perfect example of WOW-inspired crafting. Then again, Skyrim's gameplay design is largely non-existent. A good game design question is, "Did Skyrim do this?" If yes, then don't do it - especially if you're designing PE.

 

Yes, Skyrim sold a ton - but that was largely due to marketing, branding, and the fact it delivered on what people wanted from the game: a huge open world with stupid **** to do in it. People would have more thoroughly enjoyed the game if it had been balanced better, if its combat weren't so trivial, and... other problems it has.

 

Skyrim's the most amazing fantasy hiking-sim I've ever seen.

 

Still got 125+ hours out of it.

 

I think if I were designing the crafting system, I'd do the following:

 

A definition, so that I don't have to repeat it multiple times:

 

Passively Active: You set an option and it starts working on that option when time permits. May be restricted in certain areas, and will pause while in combat. If you ever go into combat, requires 10 minutes in-game time before it starts ticking again.

 

-----------------------------------------------------

 

- NON-MAGICAL Ammunition crafting (i.e. bolts, arrows) -- tied to your party level, automatically controlled by whatever ranged weapons your party has equipped, if any. Passive (automatically create a batch while resting).

 

- Mundane weapon/armor crafting -- requires non-combat skill devoted towards it (so tied to a character level), Passively Active in town/city maps only. Can be queued.

 

- Repairs (if broken equipment is ever used) -- Use up automatically scrounged parts or toggled option of gold if no parts while out of combat, Toggled Passive (as you may want the parts for something else)

 

- Magical ammunition crafting -- Options tied to your party level. Passively Active in town/city maps only. Can be queued. Much slower than mundane armor/weapon crafting. (This is assuming that ranged weapons are treated like 3.5 D&D, where the weapon automatically gives its traits to the ammo being fired, so you'd be using this to craft specialty ammunition like Arrows of Slaying instead.)

 

- Magical consumable item crafting (i.e. Potion, scrolls, charged items) -- Requires components or money. Passively Active in cities/towns or while resting.

 

- Magical weapon/armor crafting -- Requires money and a town/city visit (or a safe area and high quality components) to finish and must meet prerequisite criteria.

Example weapon: Make a Flaming Sword. Prerequisites: Sword to be enchanted, someone using said sword in combat, and fire magic to buff the wielder in combat (and keep him buffed). You may not change to a different weapon or use a different type of magic on the wielder while attempting to fulfill this criteria. Passively Active on finishing step, Passive otherwise.

 

 

-----------------------------------------------------

 

I don't know, that's just what I think. I'm sure there's lots of holes in the ideas.

[Grand_Commander13]

I wouldn't go with any sort of toggling passive; I'd prefer a system where this stuff got done when you set up camp to do a long rest. An interface could pop up and you could allocate your time (maybe even set sleep schedules and watches, though hopefully we could keep those on file and not set them every time). Yeah, this guy repairs armor, this guy crafts arrows, and all that fun stuff.

 

It's a bit more involved than the old resting systems; it's so old school it's adding in detail Baldur's Gate removed.

 

But even if we didn't get geeky with the watches and sleeping order you could still use the setting up camp as a time to do all of your crafting.

[Frenetic Pony]

So Kindgom's of Amalur (among others?) have a cool system where you had various compents for each weapon you're assembling, and each component gives different stats to the eventual items. It's pretty neat for crafting the item you want.

[Grand_Commander13]

So it's kind of like the KOTOR 2 crafting system, except you don't get an item until you put all of the components in and you can't take them out later?

 

I can live with that. It needs to be balanced better though; KOTOR 2 did suffer from a few "why would I take that?" options. And by "a few" I mean "a lot."

[Hormalakh]

Any non-RPGs that have a completely different crafting mechanism that we can look at? Let's see if we can think of some crazy wacky ideas, but those that are extremely fun to play. I want FUN FUN FUN with crafting

[Somna]

So it's kind of like the KOTOR 2 crafting system, except you don't get an item until you put all of the components in and you can't take them out later?

 

I can live with that. It needs to be balanced better though; KOTOR 2 did suffer from a few "why would I take that?" options. And by "a few" I mean "a lot."

 

Sort of. You can salvage the equipment, and with how the crafting system works, someone actually put up a FAQ on how to abuse this to mostly get the stats you want from one component to another to customize your weapons.

[Ralewyn]

I've always loved the idea of crafting systems in RPGs, but never really the implementation. There are a scant few games I could name where I actually enjoyed and was engaged with the crafting system. I'm less concerned with what it makes and more concerned with how it's made.

 

People keep mentioning New Vegas, and though I'll admit I never bothered with ammunition crafting, as much as I love New Vegas its crafting system is the exact sort of crafting system I despise in games. I hate crafting systems that involve you having to hunt for pages upon pages of unique components and reagents that clutter your inventory and would otherwise be vendor trash and never knowing what you should actually keep because it's important or trash because it's just cluttering up your inventory and you can't make anything useful out of it. 9/10 times I went to the crafting bench in that game I realized I didn't have the components for what I wanted to make and would have to make a mental note to keep an eye out for it later, when really I wanted to be able to make that thing when I was at the base in the first place. Most of the time I just up and forgot about whatever I was looking for. Supplies for tanning gecko hides, as one example: I'd go hours at a time with gecko hides I couldn't tan because I couldn't find turpentine or horsenettles, and I believe there's still untanned gecko hides in my inventory after I finished the game. Does it impact my experience really? No, but those are gecko hides I never made profit on because I was waiting to double their whopping 10-cap-or-so value by gathering the crafting supplies that never materialized.

 

I actually really enjoyed the crafting system in KOTOR II, personally. For its time it was quite simple and streamlined and I was genuinely engaged making mods and equipment and such for my party, especially building my own lightsaber. It's unfortunate, because all the numbers are pretty broken and so crafting numbers are broken too and even if you make really cool stuff it ends up not really mattering because you're going to be an unkillable planet-slayer up until endgame no matter what you're doing in KOTOR II, so some more stacked overpowered stuff on top of that doesn't make a lot of difference.

But with KOTOR II I could get rid of stuff I didn't want in my inventory cleanly and efficiently and recycle it directly into making stuff I did want, like sweet armor inlays for all my jedi robes that buffed CON and gave HP regen, and in general I just really liked the designs for a lot of the equipment mods, how many of them weren't necessarily upgrades so much as side-grades and were mostly dependent on what you were looking for. It just never ended up shining through because the combat balance in general in that game was super wonky.

 

In my experience, crafting systems in games have one or more of the following issues:

1. Arbitrary: Crafting doesn't do much or is mostly used for economic purposes. Nothing you can make is better than what you're finding just playing the game normally at your current level.
   
2. Arcane: Crafting is stupidly complicated to make anything useful and requires you invest a massive chunk of time to get anything good out of it while not being fun.
   
3. Resource Management: The game features 50+ unique ingredients for making things, all of them having no other purpose but vendor trash while never being easy to find when you really need them to make something. This becomes especially bad when the game has encumbrance.
   

 

I actually happen to be exploring the issue of crafting systems in a personal project I'm working on right now as both a design experiment and an opportunity to learn more Unity and Scaleform. I'm trying to build a crafting system that is engaging and intuitive enough in its dynamics that it can carry a game on its own. It may work out, it may not, but I suspect I'll learn a lot in the process regardless.

[Hormalakh]

I've always loved the idea of crafting systems in RPGs, but never really the implementation. There are a scant few games I could name where I actually enjoyed and was engaged with the crafting system. I'm less concerned with what it makes and more concerned with how it's made.

 

People keep mentioning New Vegas, and though I'll admit I never bothered with ammunition crafting, as much as I love New Vegas its crafting system is the exact sort of crafting system I despise in games. I hate crafting systems that involve you having to hunt for pages upon pages of unique components and reagents that clutter your inventory and would otherwise be vendor trash and never knowing what you should actually keep because it's important or trash because it's just cluttering up your inventory and you can't make anything useful out of it. 9/10 times I went to the crafting bench in that game I realized I didn't have the components for what I wanted to make and would have to make a mental note to keep an eye out for it later, when really I wanted to be able to make that thing when I was at the base in the first place. Most of the time I just up and forgot about whatever I was looking for. Supplies for tanning gecko hides, as one example: I'd go hours at a time with gecko hides I couldn't tan because I couldn't find turpentine or horsenettles, and I believe there's still untanned gecko hides in my inventory after I finished the game. Does it impact my experience really? No, but those are gecko hides I never made profit on because I was waiting to double their whopping 10-cap-or-so value by gathering the crafting supplies that never materialized.

 

I actually really enjoyed the crafting system in KOTOR II, personally. For its time it was quite simple and streamlined and I was genuinely engaged making mods and equipment and such for my party, especially building my own lightsaber. It's unfortunate, because all the numbers are pretty broken and so crafting numbers are broken too and even if you make really cool stuff it ends up not really mattering because you're going to be an unkillable planet-slayer up until endgame no matter what you're doing in KOTOR II, so some more stacked overpowered stuff on top of that doesn't make a lot of difference.

But with KOTOR II I could get rid of stuff I didn't want in my inventory cleanly and efficiently and recycle it directly into making stuff I did want, like sweet armor inlays for all my jedi robes that buffed CON and gave HP regen, and in general I just really liked the designs for a lot of the equipment mods, how many of them weren't necessarily upgrades so much as side-grades and were mostly dependent on what you were looking for. It just never ended up shining through because the combat balance in general in that game was super wonky.

 

In my experience, crafting systems in games have one or more of the following issues:

1. Arbitrary: Crafting doesn't do much or is mostly used for economic purposes. Nothing you can make is better than what you're finding just playing the game normally at your current level.
    
   
2. Arcane: Crafting is stupidly complicated to make anything useful and requires you invest a massive chunk of time to get anything good out of it while not being fun.
    
   
3. Resource Management: The game features 50+ unique ingredients for making things, all of them having no other purpose but vendor trash while never being easy to find when you really need them to make something. This becomes especially bad when the game has encumbrance.
   

 

I actually happen to be exploring the issue of crafting systems in a personal project I'm working on right now as both a design experiment and an opportunity to learn more Unity and Scaleform. I'm trying to build a crafting system that is engaging and intuitive enough in its dynamics that it can carry a game on its own. It may work out, it may not, but I suspect I'll learn a lot in the process regardless.

 

 

I'm really thinking that having ingredients able to create more than one possible thing for party-crafting is a huge MUST. I keep hearing the same notion that carrying ingredients in your inventory and only being able to make one thing from it is really annoying and I agree. I think Obsidian should keep that in mind when considering party-crafting.

 

I personally do like party-crafting or personal crafting especially for the ammunition because it's nice to know that you're never too far away from creating something useful. The one example I truly enjoyed is Arcanum's technologically-based crafting. I think that there are aspects to that that I found extremely satisfying. It was less crafting and more technological "spellcasting" using ingredients. I really loved that aspect of it. Instead of using mana to cast fireball, you'd have to gather the ingredients to make an explosive grenade that you then threw. It was fun.

[Farbautisonn]

I know Im a glutton for humiliation and for extremely time consuming and expensive skill sets but I enjoyed the Everquest crafting system. It took time, took resources and for a casual player could be a real effort. I dont really appreciate being able to spend 30 gold florins (or whatever the equivalent for a evening binge in local alcohol would cost) and 2 hrs of gametime to become a grandmaster craftsman. Seems ****ing ridiculous and pandering for the attention defecit crowd to me.

[Hormalakh]

I know Im a glutton for humiliation and for extremely time consuming and expensive skill sets but I enjoyed the Everquest crafting system. It took time, took resources and for a casual player could be a real effort. I dont really appreciate being able to spend 30 gold florins (or whatever the equivalent for a evening binge in local alcohol would cost) and 2 hrs of gametime to become a grandmaster craftsman. Seems ****ing ridiculous and pandering for the attention defecit crowd to me.

 

I think depth is always a good thing, but having clunky mechanics that don't fit the gameplay and story can break narrative immersion. It's important to have something that is both fun and useful and something that a majority of the players will utilize. Why make it a stretch goal if less than half the people are going to use it. That's bad game design.

[AGX-17]

Skyrim crafting is the perfect example of WOW-inspired crafting. Then again, Skyrim's gameplay design is largely non-existent. A good game design question is, "Did Skyrim do this?" If yes, then don't do it - especially if you're designing PE.

 

Yes, Skyrim sold a ton - but that was largely due to marketing, branding, and the fact it delivered on what people wanted from the game: a huge open world with stupid **** to do in it. People would have more thoroughly enjoyed the game if it had been balanced better, if its combat weren't so trivial, and... other problems it has.

 

Skyrim's the most amazing fantasy hiking-sim I've ever seen.

 

As a hiker who lives in a place where hiking is a valid pastime, I have to say Skyrim is a casual hiking game, like iPhone app casual.

 

[ontopic]By the way, did anyone hear about how crafting in Skyrim is stupid and needs to be nerfed but never will because Bethesda designs for powergamers/minmaxers?[/ontopic]

Edited November 11, 2012 by AGX-17

[Somna]

 

 

I'm really thinking that having ingredients able to create more than one possible thing for party-crafting is a huge MUST. I keep hearing the same notion that carrying ingredients in your inventory and only being able to make one thing from it is really annoying and I agree. I think Obsidian should keep that in mind when considering party-crafting.

 

I personally do like party-crafting or personal crafting especially for the ammunition because it's nice to know that you're never too far away from creating something useful. The one example I truly enjoyed is Arcanum's technologically-based crafting. I think that there are aspects to that that I found extremely satisfying. It was less crafting and more technological "spellcasting" using ingredients. I really loved that aspect of it. Instead of using mana to cast fireball, you'd have to gather the ingredients to make an explosive grenade that you then threw. It was fun.

 

They have already said that the crafting components go into a separate inventory so that they won't clutter your regular UI. As long as there is enough space in the crafting inventory to hold everything, having to lug around unique crafting items that only build one thing should be a non-issue.

[Hormalakh]

 

They have already said that the crafting components go into a separate inventory so that they won't clutter your regular UI. As long as there is enough space in the crafting inventory to hold everything, having to lug around unique crafting items that only build one thing should be a non-issue.

 

suorce?

[Somna]

They have already said that the crafting components go into a separate inventory so that they won't clutter your regular UI. As long as there is enough space in the crafting inventory to hold everything, having to lug around unique crafting items that only build one thing should be a non-issue.

 

suorce?

 

I went here first:

 

http://forums.obsidian.net/topic/61637-comprehensive-project-eternity-information-guide/

 

Then I clicked the link to here:

 

http://www.sorcerers.net/forums/showthread.php?t=58186

 

Scrolled down to the crafting section in the gigantic list of quoted sources and have this:

 

http://www.sorcerers.net/forums/showthread.php?t=58186

 

Scroll down and you'll find this:

 

Buck: How integral will crafting and enchanting be to the game experience? Will we constantly be finding and acquiring mundane components that will allow us to forge new items when we return to a workshop of some kind?

 

Josh: Probably not constantly, but you will be finding ingredients frequently. These ingredients will be segregated into their own inventory space to prevent them from cluttering up your inventory UI. The use of forges, alchemical labs, or other interaction points will allow you to perform crafting. It will not be integral to the game experience but will give the player many more options for customizing their gear and consumable items.

 

 

(Responding like this because I don't think people are even remotely aware of Marceror's thread.)

[Somna]

Bleh. Just realized the clipboard didn't register my last copy, and it's not letting me edit my post now either.

 

Last link should be:

 

http://www.gamebanshee.com/interviews/109792-project-eternity-interview/page-2.html