RPG games with the best crafting system on the PC?

[Tuma]

I do find it a lot of fun, and I do like the permadeath, however, the beginning after dying is always horribly tedious after a couple of deaths ^^

They introduced a preset called "Default Plus" that gives you a more convenient start but also by making the world a bit more dangerous.

[Fengas]

I liked crafting system in Amalur.

[Stir]

I don't like crafting, and I especially don't like it in RPGs. Crafting basically only adds downtime. Crafting in computer RPGs only appeared because, in pen and paper RPGs, people sat down and thought 'but it's illogical... Why shouldn't a player be able to make stuff?' The answer is, of course: Because there is no need to. The player should be involved in the story. NPCs should make stuff. But that's a metagame reason, so it's not good enough for an RPG... Which is why crafting in RPGs exists. Because it would be metagame not to include it.

[Noshamehere]

Ok so I've had some experience with crafting games, here's my input


First of all, what do you seek in crafting. Complexity? Tedious? Simplicity? Uniqueness?

Here's a small list compiled of some crafting games i've experienced. What I like and dislike.


WoW (World of Warcraft) -

Crafting in this game was fun. It wasn't too tedious and making someone of the more upper class pre end game raid gear could take some patience. Finding materials was rather simple. Take up a profession at a local main city, look at your mini map to find nodes, herbs or what ever craft you take up and begin collecting. Recipes and patterns were easily found either by a vendor or drops from monsters. Some of the rarer ones were tough to come by later on, and even at that the materials needed to craft were unbelievable difficult to acquire unless you had a group of players fighting extreme late game content.

I rate the craft system 7.5/10


Aion

Extremely hard game to craft. Keep in mind i crafted during the 1.0 release. I was one of the 1st to unlock master blacksmithing and that alone was an achievement. Finding the proper materials to make items was incredibly difficult to come by, made purchasing off the auction house the only way to go. Crafting in this game is incredibly frustrating and challenging. But this is why i rate this game with the 2nd best crafting mechanics ive seen to date. Skilling up the craft was free of charge. NPCS would allow you to craft items using their generated materials allowing you to skill up. Seems silly doesn't it? Well here's why. To make an item that supersedes the common ground loot requires patience, longevity and a bit of luck. Most weapons and armor are a 3 part crafting set up. Make the 1st item, if it succeeds use that item now combined with more materials to make the 2nd item. That 2nd item would need a bit of luck to turn into whats called a HIGH QUALITY item. Every synthesis has 2 versions of itself. Low and High quality. This was a randomly generated lot. To simplify, let's say 10% of the time you get a HIGH quality. 25% of the time, the synthesis broke. So making something (should it not shatter ) would have to HIGH quality (which ill refer to as HQ from here) then take that HQ item and craft it's 3rd component which faces the same fate as every other synthesis. Praying the 3rd trial procs a HQ. Lol - Fun times. Makes me want to play it

I rate Aion with a 8.5/10


Final Fantasy XI

Good lord where do I start. This game has the most INTRIGUING crafting system you will ever see. I cant go into the details of it because most of it is theoretical. There was some truth however to some of the thing I will mention here. Using an item called a crystal, the base component for every craft obtainable through fighting monsters, and combining items allows you to synthesize an item. Final Fantasy 11's in game world time was based on 7 days of the week, and these days were elemental based. Crystals were also elemental based. Water fire earth wind etc. . . . Depending on what day of the week it is, the environment you craft in and you skill level determined success or failure. These statistics decided also whether or not you could HQ. Your skill level was the biggest factor of these pre requisites. Items were difficult to come by, be prepared to treasure hunt for synthesis materials for hours.
Each craft has a guild. And each guild supplied you with guild points used to purchase equipment pertaining to that craft. In this game, the slightest difference in stats could be the difference between 1000 gil return and 10,000,000. The HQ (A.K.A the +1's) had these types of price differentiation.
Certain items were seasonal, and some items were only obtainable when a house faction controls an area.
So imagine the price fluctuations for an item that hasn't been able to be crafted for weeks on end due to a certain regime in control of an area.. . . . .

I'll stop here, or this won't end. It would be impossible to try this out though. FF11 is quite an old game now, and being able to run through the game from level 1 is almost undo-able seeing the game is MMO dependent. You cannot level past 12 alone. And you need to be a certain level to get to locatins to find items.

Took me 3 years to reach max level of a craft.

This is by far the BEST crafting game ive ever played, and I rate it 9.5/10



Final Fantasy 14

I can't say much because of non disclosure agreements. FF 14 is currently in closed beta and I'm currently testing it now. The crafting is no where as complex as 11, yet very intriguing and seems fun. The graphics are absolutely outstanding and the complete overhaul of the game to FF14 A realm reborn is something Square Enix should be proud about. The re-hauled the game and its my next gen MMO. Finally something interesting to play, and for you crafters out there, this is your next hit.

I rate FF 14 ARR (As of beta trial - unknown for release ) with an 8/10

[Rue Meridian]

Snip

Final Fantasy 14

I can't say much because of non disclosure agreements. FF 14 is currently in closed beta and I'm currently testing it now. The crafting is no where as complex as 11, yet very intriguing and seems fun. The graphics are absolutely outstanding and the complete overhaul of the game to FF14 A realm reborn is something Square Enix should be proud about. The re-hauled the game and its my next gen MMO. Finally something interesting to play, and for you crafters out there, this is your next hit.

I rate FF 14 ARR (As of beta trial - unknown for release ) with an 8/10

Here is how non-disclosure agreement will work in Beta Test phase 3:
Information will be free to post. Everything is open and you can post freely about any aspect of the beta test and your thoughts on it.

In regards to images and video in Beta Test phase 3:
You can post images of phase 3 (no images from Alpha, phase 1 or phase 2)
You cannot post audio or video.

So please, do tell if any of that falls in those areas . I completely agree with you on FFXI and was actually going to compose a post of it myself, it is by far the best IMO as well, loved your response. I was the first 100+3 Tailor on Valfor, took me FOREVER to get there at the time, but was so worth it, awesome to see people run around in your signed HQ gear So yeah, details on FF14 if you have the time, I've been part of the beta but haven't been able to play since I'm traveling for work and only have my work laptop

[Ferocity]

Its an old game but "Evil Island" great crafting system there in my opinion.

Yes, it was very cool system. However, limited resources (aka no respawns) killed that game :( You had enough resources only for vendor items and crafting 1 spell (Prismatic Lightning, or how it was called, you had no real choice here either). You also had to play solo, as companions were leeching limited experience.

From non-action, non-MMO RPGs:
Final Fantasy IX has synthesis masters.
Final Fantasy X has customization system, which is basically crafting.
Star Ocean has it (though SO is more action-based).
Arcanum has nice crafting system. However you will have to make huge sacrifices in combat capabilities, unless you will get no-level-cap mod.
Dungeon Siege II has it. As working with base item and applying various reagents, and special unique recipes.
Dragon Quest IX has it, but I didn't play it myself (Nintendo DS... why?), so can't say how good it is.

Out of above, FF X and DS 2 have the most thought-out systems.

[noepeen]

Gothic I for sure!

[Deleted]

The absolute best crafting system I've ever seen is in a MMORPG called Istaria. Doing nothing else but crafting really kept me playing for hours.
The races of the game, by mechanics, can be roughly divided into dragons and non-dragons (there are 11 races in the game, but playing any of the 'biped' races is kind of the same, while dragons are distinctly different). In the same way, dragons and non-dragons have different crafting skills. Both are detailed, but not too complex. You do not have to choose your professions, you can just do whatever you like. It could be a bit grindy at times, I guess, but I found the experience very enjoyable.
Personally, I was playing a dragon most of the time, just flying back and forth between gem mines, crafting stations, and cities, slowly crafting my way up - and found the experience very enjoyable. Every crafting system in a game since then has been a bit of a disappointment for me. I swapped to WoW shortly after, and it really felt shallow craft-wise.

[Noshamehere]

Here is how non-disclosure agreement will work in Beta Test phase 3:
Information will be free to post. Everything is open and you can post freely about any aspect of the beta test and your thoughts on it.

In regards to images and video in Beta Test phase 3:
You can post images of phase 3 (no images from Alpha, phase 1 or phase 2)
You cannot post audio or video.

So please, do tell if any of that falls in those areas . I completely agree with you on FFXI and was actually going to compose a post of it myself, it is by far the best IMO as well, loved your response. I was the first 100+3 Tailor on Valfor, took me FOREVER to get there at the time, but was so worth it, awesome to see people run around in your signed HQ gear So yeah, details on FF14 if you have the time, I've been part of the beta but haven't been able to play since I'm traveling for work and only have my work laptop

Just read it lol!


Ok so . . .


Final Fantasy 14

The crafting resembles a lot like wow's crafting this time around.

Essentially the way it works is each players has a Log system. For Monsters like in ff12, crafting and gathering etc.

Opening your log shows you what level you are in your current craft and what you can make. Each time you make a new item you get bonus experience.


here's how the the crafting works


You start with a meter which essentially is your "Attempts" to craft an Item. And it also shows you a completion line - like 0/60 to make an ingot.

While you craft, your tool and level will decide how many "Attempts" you get to craft an item, and if you want to aim for completion or for finesse.

The higher level you are, the more attempts you get and therefore can try more for finesse prior to completing a synthesis.

Each item you make an item it gives you a set amount of XP, but trying for HQ increases the xp you get, even if you only succeeded 1 HQ attempt in the HQ meter.

Yes , there's 2 meters. Obviously you can fail attempts too, reducing your chance to complete so it's a gamble if you try to HQ too much.

Crafting has its own set of abilities, as does gathering. Increase % chances etc. There are also bonus daily quests to increase your xp for the day.

Seems multiple artisan skills have 2 crafting tools. Like Woodworker uses a saw, or a mallet and table. Quite interesting.

Yes , you still need crystals which can be harvested by gathering skills.

The gathering is fun, you find a node and you select from a list of 6 pre determined choices ( depending on the node level )

[bals]

UO has a great crafting system. Being a crafter actually meant something.

[Cyclone Jack]

While it is a sandbox MMO, I always found the crafting in A Tale in the Desert to be quite good. The RPG side of it is up to the player(s) though.