Items in RPGs - your opinion

[Michael Omer]

This is actually a thread inspired by the "what do you like in RPGs" thread. I was wondering, what are your opinions regarding item systems in RPGs.
Some RPGs have a lot of items, enabling a lot of customization, but I can't help but feel that this causes for some disrespect for the items. Receiving a better weapon isn't an issue if they keep dropping around you. I actually prefer less items available, and the feeling that I've accomplished something when I've received (or bought) a new and better armor or weapon.
thoughts?

 

[Thaluikhain]

It really sucks to have gone and bought yourself a new fancy gun at great expense, only for the mooks in the next mission to carry them as standard.

More items sort makes sense, given that, IRL, there's loads of different types of guna and stuff, using incompatible ammo (grrr), though it can be very annoying, especially when how many of one gun affects how many of the others you can carry (which makes sense, though).

 

[ToastiestZombie]

When theres lots of items it's cool. But when it gets too un friendly to noobs by having 10 items that all enhance magic or something like that. My favourite item system isn't actually in an RPG, its Team Fortress 2's. The way that just through playing you can get new items, and most items are sidegrades instead of proper upgrades. If it was implemented into an MMO then I think it would be pretty cool.

 

[trouble_gum]

Sometimes, the sheer volume of armoured trousers, slightly differently coloured swords and sparkly potions far outweighs the actual utility of having so much variation. This usually occurs when RPGs simply have lots of items for the sake of it, and there's little to no appreciable difference between your Executioner's Blade and your Falchion of Doombringing.

Likewise, if an RPG's NPCs and locations vomit forth armour, potions, shields and assorted melee weapons like a broken vending machine, then you swiftly find; a) your inventory is overfilled with useless crap, b) weapon and armour shops are totally pointless since all your upgrading needs can be served by visiting the nearest dungeon, slaughtering its inhabitants and rifling through their pockets and c) money becomes as irrelevance as well.

To my mind, if your RPG is going to employ a crafting/upgrading system, then the elements required for this should either require a modicum of effort to acquire, so as to keep you keen to acquire them or they should be purchasable at not insignificant costs and generally unavailable from killing random NPCs. Again, ease of acquisition devalues the end result. That +50 Broadsword of Orc-Slaying with a Fire Damage crystal stuck to the hilt that gives you +10 Endurance and 25% Spell Resistance feels like more of an achievement if you actually had to work for the components. And you couldn't acquire all the bits for a duplicate from doing another couple of quests.

Like the OP, I'd far rather see a more limited selection of items that are actually functionally different and that, when I'm presented with a possible alternative or replacement; selecting one over the other is more of a choice than "Well, that one has better stats, yoink."

Conversely, I also don't want to spend large amounts of time studying the differing stats of two different suits of armour trying to decide whether Suit A's higher resistance to Slashing Damage makes it superior to Suit B which has poor slash resist but a solid Bashing Damage modifier! I'd rather have a simple Damage Resistance stat and penalties / bonuses / special abilities. Especially if the game is going to routinely throw NPCs who use multiple damage types simultaneously at you. Yes, Chainmail providing more protection from Slashing than Crush is more realistic, and makes choosing your armour more of a choice - but poring over the stats becomes pretty tedious.

The stats also have to make a difference. My hero(ine) shouldn't be able to wander into a fight wearing naught but the obligatory leather y-fronts the game requires to maintain a sub-18 rating and take no more damage than if they were to engage in combat in full plate. Yes, Fable III, I'm looking accusingly at you here.

So, tl;dr - I want my items to be meaningful within the game world - both in terms of efficacy of protection from or dismemberment of the NPCs, and in their relative rarity or paucity of the resources to alter or upgrade them.

 

[Darth Rosenberg]

As far as I'm concerned, more customisation = better. I almost don't care about the properties of items, most of the time. Rings and wotnot? Sure, give me stats. But appearance is more relevant.

I also like how Dragon Age 2 implemented levelling gear. I know some hate the idea, but the constant cycle of items becoming useless is simply a tiresome hassle for me. It depends on the game, of course, because DA2 never punishes you for not outfitting elemental boosts, which would require item switching or party balancing.

 

[Zhukov]

I don't consider items and inventory systems to be a vital part of RPGs or games in general.

I have no interest in "loot based" games. Swapping items around for the sake of making numbers bigger is just... pointless. I might as well save myself some money and play with a calculator. 1+1+1+1+1+1+1+1... oh my God, best game ever!

Ideally, different loadouts should make for completely different styles of play. Big bulky plate armour or quiet silk and padded shoes? Concealable dagger and poison or a big fuck-off halberd. Shotgun and grenades or a sniper rifle. That sort of thing.

I think that, generally speaking, RPGs have the worst kind of items and inventory systems. Just stat increases with minimal actual affect on gameplay. Shooters and "action-adventure" games tend to do it better.

 

[WolfThomas]

I liked how it was in an RPG like Morrowind, a rare sword like Chysamere or Umbra was the best item in game and could be found from the start, but it was difficult to actually get it that early because of the inherent danger and of course you didn't know where to look.

 

[WanderingFool]

Hmmm... with the Mass Effect games, I liked ME1's item system more than ME2, but thats largely because I had alot of options. I do agree, however, that it basically meant alot of junk was just there for you to find and sell, and eventually, halfway through your second playthrough on a character, you just stop using money.

Spoiler: What I would like to see is a system like this:

Take a game like Oblivion. Now, have almost all the weapons found in the game be either iron or steel.
-Almost all the weapons you find are made of weaker iron, and are mass produced, making them cheap but weak and breakable, so after enough use, they will break.
-Steel weapons are only made by blacksmiths and the like, they are more expensive, but are stronger and dont break like iron. Have a number of uniqe weapons that can be found/made using rare items.

This basically means that you can either buy and use iron swords which dont last long but can be baught cheaper, or save up and buy a good steel weapon that will last forever (in terms of the game).

 

[mikey7339]

I liked how it was in an RPG like Morrowind, a rare sword like Chysamere or Umbra was the best item in game and could be found from the start, but it was difficult to actually get it that early because of the inherent danger and of course you didn't know where to look.

Funny thing, in Oblivion right after I got out of the sewers, one of the first things I did was get a horse and wander around in awe of the game. I ended up coming across the small dungeon where Umbra was camped out. I had played Morrowind and knew what/who Umbra was, but didn't know that's who I had stumbled on. All I saw was her glowing purple sword and was like 'OMG Want!'...so I hit her, then she hit me and damn near one shot me. Took off out of the dungeon, get back out in the open and she is still following me. I ended up getting back on my horse and kitted her back to town, where the guards had at her and finally after she took down about a dozen of them, they got her and I got to loot her corpse...ended up with damn near the best sword in the game at like level 3, completely on accident.


Anyway back on topic. The more items the better, the more item/armor/weapons slots the better. One of the big things I like about RPGs is treasure hunting and getting the best possible gear. This is especially true where some of the items are randomly generated like in Borderlands or Diablo 3, so there is never really any end to the item hunt because something better can always spawn.

 

[rednose1]

Some beefs I have with items in RPGs:Only a couple of beefs I have with items in game.
Weapons/armor you just bought being replaced immediately by drops in next mission/zone.
Regen potions based off of a specific number. When you a near invincible god, and need to regain health (hence the HEAR invincible part), nothing sucks more than chugging 10050hp regen potions. Make them based off of a precent of health dammit. Itmes that restore 1/4, 2/3, etc. Of total health are always efective, no mater what the level.

Forgot to add, one of the things I DP like in items is makeing them actually functionally different from each other. Just picking the sword that gives the biggest damage is pointless, but haveing to pick between one that can slow them down, or another that can deal extra damage vs. fire dudes allos you to better custimize to your style of gameplay.

 

[Thaluikhain]

Oh...one other thing. Stupid stats are annoying.

In "Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodline", as I understand it, every melee weapon as a lethality rating. It also has a rating for the melee skill required to properly use it. For every point your melee is above teh required amount, one point is added to lethality. For every point your melee is below the required amount, one point is subtracted.

Now, either I've missed something, or that's Lethality+Melee-Requirement. What was the point in having eperate Lethality and Requirement numbers? They don't do anything else, as far as I can see. You have the same thing for the guns, IIRC, with firearms skill.

 

[Smooth Operator]

My preference is to have a good amount of variety but never too many items at once, also for all of them to have s custom design rather then random drop grinder, in a well designed game the items alone will tell a story of your adventures, a random grinder setup will only tell you how lucky you are compared to others and without comparison they don't tell you shit.

Consistency is also extremely important, if one type of item usually gives one type of bonus then that should be a near unbreakable rule, keeping track of 50 different stats and sum totals is something machines are good at not us.

 

[Minjoltr]

I think I'd prefer upgrades over new items.
I was always reluctant to buy weapons or armour in WoW because I knew that it would be obsolete a few hours and a few levels later. A friend gave me 100 gold back when I started and told me to spend it wisely. I've now reached Level 85 and I've still got it.
I'm still hanging onto some old things though. I've got a set of odd bits of armour which look totally sweet together because sometimes it's nice to be spiffy rather than tough and one day I'm going to use my level 28 tiger bone mace again. Most of the bags I take with me have at least 16 spaces but I'm still using the 6 slot Little Blue Pouch which I found on a quillboar at level 10 because it was the first worthwhile drop I got. I keep special things in it.
I do have a tendency to hoard junk though and having loads of ingame items does not help. While some people fill their bank slots with awesome armour, crafting components and epic swords of killing more wolves, mine's overflowing with lucky coins, fish, dead rats, old weapons and treasure maps.

I like being able to pick up one sword or one gun and keep it all the way through the game. It gets a name and accompanies me like a faithful companion but with better pathfinding skills.
Having a house where I can leave all of the shiny junk I collect is pretty good too. If there's a single movable light in Morrowind which isn't somewhere in Fast Eddie's my house, I'd like to know where it is.

 

[krazykidd]

I like what legend of dragoon did in this respect , especially weapons and armor . You can biy weapons and armor ( the most expensive beig 10 000 gold) BUT the amount of gold you find is so low , battles only give you from 10-100 gold usually ( with some exception. Like special monsters that give you 1000 gold if you mana to kill them ). It means lime in real life you have to manage yout money properly. You are not bombarded with items and gold every turn, you actualy have to manage it properly or you'll always be poor.

But all in all i never have a problem with items in games.

Captacha 381 erased. How did they know that the 381 is the male strip club in my town thats closing?

 

[Ruwrak]

Well the fun begins when you complete Oblivion in the clothes you walked out of that prison with. A rusted dagger as your only weapon (it can be done! but tedious)

It depends really. I generally do not swap things unless it's a major upgrade.
The Dragon Age thing just.. well... It didn't please me that much. Everything looked the same and felt the same x.x

 

[KnightOfHearts]

I think games with tons of items to collect should at least have some kind crafting or upgrade system.
Vagrant story, mass effect 2, monster hunter and dark souls do this well.

When you just get tons of items throw at you all the micro managing takes away from the fun.

 

[Joccaren]

Somewhere between DA:O and ME2. Quite a broad area eh?

Well, I personally don't like inventory spam of tons of weapons you have 50 copies of, but I do like having some actual choice in weapon as opposed to having about 5, an unlimited number of them, and nothing to tell you the stats so you inherently assume that the latter weapons you find are better.

I'd like the items to level, though in large leaps as opposed to small steps, and for there to be a defined difference between each type, that makes it useful in different situations, without a weapon that is the best at everything.

Small items should have their very own compartment and separate inventory limit, as if there is to be a point to them they will be legion in number due to their only purpose being to craft other items, and if they are legion, ones inventory glogs up quite fast.

I also like a lot of choice of slots to put things in. Primary hand, secondary hand, Chest armour, helmet, leg armour, arm armour, boots, trinkets (About 3 slots), and lots more. The more I can pimp my character, the happier I am.

 

[everythingbeeps]

I don't mind games where I'm constantly picking up better stuff. Where that system fails is in a game like Borderlands, where you're constantly picking up new items but none of them are as good as the gun you had like ten levels ago.

 

[kouriichi]

Im a loot whore. I wont lie.
To me, Borderlands was like crack. "HOLY POOP! This shotgun has a x4 scope! BEAST!!"

I think loot makes games better. It gives you something to look for. When you have a grey pair of trousers, and you find some purple boxers, your entire day is just..... better.

But you cant cross the line like with many MMO's these days, where everything you pick up is useless except for those 2-5 items bosses "might" drop.

From a single player perspective, loot can make the game. Morrowind, oblivion, every fallout game, many single player games are better with loot.