Items in RPGs - your opinion

[Raika]

It seems like many of my favorite RPGs keep the item systems fairly simple. Final Fantasy X-2 has equippable Garment Grids, dresspheres, and accessories, and barring the consumables, that's it. Super Mario RPG is even simpler than that, with very little stat management involved at all. Some people really like to manage their inventories for minutes on end, and more power to them, but I prefer a more direct approach.

 

[theonecookie]

The DnD systems tend to do it the best in that mostly new weapons or armor will be the same as what you can get a low level But with a fancy effect attached with only a few levels of quality between them which give you a good amount of choice whith the effects and what not but your not forced to change weapons out every time you find a new one

In truth this gives you the greatest amount of freedom with non of the bullshit spreadsheets you have to do in you normal rpg It also means that what weapons you pick have a effect on how you play the game and the right choices can make game easier but if you want to stick with that +1 vorpal long sword you found near the beginning for 75% of the game you can

 

[sifffffff]

I like item systems that have a ton of items with some more rare and hard to acquire weapons. I also enjoy games that have a good item crafting system. An example I enjoyed was Neverwinter Nights 2. I had to carefully build my character into one who was able to craft a +5 adamantium bastard sword. It takes time to do and once you succeed you get a great deal of nerdy satisfaction.

The same principle applies when you get a sweet random drop in Diablo 2

 

[Duck Sandwich]

I like when items are in fixed locations, so that if I get the Uber Awesome Sword of Kickass at some point, and I start a new game, I don't have to worry about not being able to find the Uber Awesome Sword of Kickass again. I hate when there's a huge imbalance between items, like when I'm going through a new place and doing barely any damage to random mooks because of crappy game balance - and then I find some random item in a chest that makes me able to one-shot said mooks. Finding items you can't use because you're not playing as the right character annoys the shit out of me as well. "Hey, a sweet helm! Oh wait, only Barbarians can use it, and I'm playing as a Sorceress. Fuck."

 

[Amnestic]

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.

I disagree. Mass Effect 1 gave the illusion of more choice by giving you lots of pallette-swapped stuff with mild number upgrade/changes, but pretty much every assault rifle fired the same, every sniper rifle fired the same. Pretty much the only major difference in the way a gun felt was stacking High-Explosive Ammo which ramped up your heating and explosive splash to stupid amounts.

Mass Effect 2 on the other hand, for the most part...the guns felt different to each other. This pistol is small-clip, large damage, this one has a large clip but fires in a three round burst. This sniper rifle is one-shot per clip, this one has 12 per clip.

I far prefer Mass Effect 2's inventory simply because the guns - again, for the most part - play differently. And, as an added bonus, they are legitimate tradeoffs for each other. Mass Effect 1 was a rush to Spectre VII/X and then you never used anything else because they were objectively better than everything else.

 

[JochemDude]

I always dislike the amount of stuff you can take, I just look what would I take if I were to travel with it.
Normally comes down to in Fallout a rifle with 6 magazines, a pistol with 3 magazines. Some money, ( I use a mod that gives money weight ) a binocular. 4 Stimpaks and a few grenades. That's basically it XD

 

[Tazzy da Devil]

I'm not really into items. Give me a few weapons and a couple of healing items, that's enough for me.

 

[skywolfblue]

In my opinion, ME1 and Oblivion are an example of a lot of items done badly. Most of them are the same handful of skins/models and only feature some boring stat upgrade.

What makes a good item system?

A) A lot of model/skin diversity, with interesting stat effects. World of Warcraft would be an example of this. There's a truly astounding number of completely unique armor sets and weapons in that game. And there are a lot of really weird and interesting procs on trinkets.

B) Streamline it. - See below -

I disagree. Mass Effect 1 gave the illusion of more choice by giving you lots of pallette-swapped stuff with mild number upgrade/changes, but pretty much every assault rifle fired the same, every sniper rifle fired the same. Pretty much the only major difference in the way a gun felt was stacking High-Explosive Ammo which ramped up your heating and explosive splash to stupid amounts.

Mass Effect 2 on the other hand, for the most part...the guns felt different to each other. This pistol is small-clip, large damage, this one has a large clip but fires in a three round burst. This sniper rifle is one-shot per clip, this one has 12 per clip.

I far prefer Mass Effect 2's inventory simply because the guns - again, for the most part - play differently. And, as an added bonus, they are legitimate tradeoffs for each other. Mass Effect 1 was a rush to Spectre VII/X and then you never used anything else because they were objectively better than everything else.

^ Agree with that completely.

 

[Something Amyss]

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?

So am I reading this wrong, or is the problem less about more items and more about more loot drops?

Because if so, I agree.

But I love to have a marketplace full of a ton of options.

I am annoyed, however, when I spend a ton of time customising everything, only to get 50 more item drops five steps into the next dungeon.

 

[Michael Omer]

I had Mass effect 2 in my mind as well. I found myself really happy to get a new weapon in it, compared to Mass effect 1, in which I mostly didn't notice if I got something better.