Crafting system in rpg?

[Muscab]

A lot of rpgs that I have played had some good crafting system. For me, any rpgs without an advance crafting system is usually suck and I won't play them. Most peoples said that Star Ocean 2 has one of the best crafting system ever. I haven't played Star Ocean 2 yet so I'm looking forward for it and hopefully I will enjoy the crafting system. Great game franchise like Final Fantasy have some good crafting system such as in the Final Fantasy 9. Also in Dragon Quest games like Dragon Quest VII and IX. Without a good crafting system, some rpgs will be really boring and feel like they're lacking of the ingredient required to make a good rpgs. How important is the crafting system in rpgs, what is the most awesome crafting system you have tried and what rpgs that has a good crafting system?

[skunkcrook]

My favorite one was probably Legend of Mana on the Ps1.Very complicated tho.

[ShadowsofCreation]

I don't think crafting systems are at all important to a good rpg. I'm not sure what you find so exciting about picking up two ingredients, walking to a shop and paying for them to be put together. To me it's just extra work. Why would you want to waste time searching for ingredients by grinding and such when in a lot of other great games all you have to do is walk into the store and buy what you want? I have only seen crafting done well a couple of times and FFIX was certainly not one of them (and it's one of my favorite games). The only game that really comes to mind for having a good 'crafting' system is Dark Cloud for the PS2, and that's only good because you have COMPLETE control over how your weapons become stronger.

[Sheik]

I would say that Sword of Mana II for the SNES is a very simplistic, yet greatly underlooked crafting system(for weapons). To upgrade your weapon that's already only equippable by certain people, you need a mana essence (I'll just call it that for short) which comes from certain bosses you beat. It's pretty inventive when it comes to making you grind for the best weapon, because the ones who stand in front of you becomes your source for making your weapon stronger. There's no extensive collection of rare ingredients or shit like that, just pure will to be the best by beating the best.

[Andy_Jerk]

Tough call. I tried playing Ark of Naphishtim on hard and it was just a pain. I beat the Wasp boss but after that it was nearly impossible. And the amount of grinding it took to upgrade weapons was unreasonable. Granted, I tried it on hard. That's always a grey area for me though, because it's like I don't want the game to be retardedly easy, so I tend to choose the highest difficulty and pay for it.

To be honest I think a lot of modern games' tutorials and complex crafting systems are tedious, but I understand that they are trying to keep things interesting.

[Lyger]

you know what else has a good crafting system?....minecraft...it's even got craft in the title

[Andy_Jerk]

you know what else has a good crafting system?....minecraft...it's even got craft in the title

Good point. Sometimes they let you know there's going to be some crafting.

[Muscab]

I don't think crafting systems are at all important to a good rpg. I'm not sure what you find so exciting about picking up two ingredients, walking to a shop and paying for them to be put together. To me it's just extra work. Why would you want to waste time searching for ingredients by grinding and such when in a lot of other great games all you have to do is walk into the store and buy what you want? I have only seen crafting done well a couple of times and FFIX was certainly not one of them (and it's one of my favorite games). The only game that really comes to mind for having a good 'crafting' system is Dark Cloud for the PS2, and that's only good because you have COMPLETE control over how your weapons become stronger.

I don't think that it is all about finding couple of ingredients and mix them up; not an advance crafting system. When it comes to an advance crafting system, it usually requires random items including rare items where you can use them to enhance your weapons. But in some game, once you craft a weapon, it will be available in the shop immediately; great example will be FF Tactics A2.

[GeminiSparkSP]

Summon Night: Swordcraft Story series. By far (I think), it's the GBA RPG that has a simple, yet unique crafting system.