Fantasy, plausibility and Item drops...

[Reika]

Here is how it works.

Upon slaying the monster dematerializes into the air in the form of Aether. The particles that come from it congregate and form the droped item!!!!!

The mysteries of the universe have been unraveled.

[Rhomagus]

I would've preferred if you had to turn in some material dropped from the NM into an NPC and the NPC would give you the finished item.

I also agree that with some NMs it makes sense while with others it doesn't. At the same time, holding 100 swords on your person is ridiculous but I wouldn't want them to implement some kind of weight mechanic in the game that would prevent me from doing so.

Sometimes you have to implement game design for gaming purposes before plausibility. The NMs irk me but there are a lot of "realistic" things that could be implemented into this game that would really piss me off:

- Needing to eat
- Needing to sleep
- Fatigue*
- SP degeneration over time if that class wasn't utilized for a certain period
- Running fatigue
- Realistic time
- Realistic distance
- Realistic injury/battle (one slice in the wrong area equals death)
- Realistic death
- Other bodily functions

Some of those things I could deal with to a degree and it depends on their severity. I'm never going to praise the fatigue system but it's not a huge gripe for me considering my playing habits anyways, and realistic running could make for a decent design mechanic like in the GTA series. Some of those things could be cool but you have to design the game from the ground up with them in mind. All in all you have to have a design reason for doing something first. Like Naoki Yoshida's example for the large cake used in crafting. There should be a reason to have a large cake before you can craft one. I prefer that type of design philosophy. As long as that's kept in mind I think it's okay to incorporate some plausibility into the design but it has to be an interesting mechanic and add to the depth of strategy in the game before it should be considered.

I don't think loot drops from NMs fits this criteria, regardless of "that's what every other MMO does". Could've easily made an NPC issue it after proof of dispatching the NM. That would also cut down on over camping as a character would have to go back to town to turn in the evidence of their success. Even if you didn't want them to go back to town you could have the character acquire a pool of items and turn them all in at once if necessary.

[Reika]

I would've preferred if you had to turn in some material dropped from the NM into an NPC and the NPC would give you the finished item.

I also agree that with some NMs it makes sense while with others it doesn't. At the same time, holding 100 swords on your person is ridiculous but I wouldn't want them to implement some kind of weight mechanic in the game that would prevent me from doing so.

Sometimes you have to implement game design for gaming purposes before plausibility. The NMs irk me but there are a lot of "realistic" things that could be implemented into this game that would really piss me off:

- Needing to eat
- Needing to sleep
- Fatigue*
- SP degeneration over time if that class wasn't utilized for a certain period
- Running fatigue
- Realistic time
- Realistic distance
- Realistic injury/battle (one slice in the wrong area equals death)
- Realistic death
- Other bodily functions

Some of those things I could deal with to a degree and it depends on their severity. I'm never going to praise the fatigue system but it's not a huge gripe for me considering my playing habits anyways, and realistic running could make for a decent design mechanic like in the GTA series. Some of those things could be cool but you have to design the game from the ground up with them in mind. All in all you have to have a design reason for doing something first. Like Naoki Yoshida's example for the large cake used in crafting. There should be a reason to have a large cake before you can craft one. I prefer that type of design philosophy. As long as that's kept in mind I think it's okay to incorporate some plausibility into the design but it has to be an interesting mechanic and add to the depth of strategy in the game before it should be considered.

I don't think loot drops from NMs fits this criteria, regardless of "that's what every other MMO does". Could've easily made an NPC issue it after proof of dispatching the NM. That would also cut down on over camping as a character would have to go back to town to turn in the evidence of their success. Even if you didn't want them to go back to town you could have the character acquire a pool of items and turn them all in at once if necessary.

Ahh you missed the part about invisible mogles holding our belongings.

[toshimoog]

Sometimes you have to implement game design for gaming purposes before plausibility. The NMs irk me but there are a lot of "realistic" things that could be implemented into this game that would really piss me off:

- Needing to eat
- Needing to sleep
- Fatigue*
- SP degeneration over time if that class wasn't utilized for a certain period
- Running fatigue
- Realistic time
- Realistic distance
- Realistic injury/battle (one slice in the wrong area equals death)
- Realistic death
- Other bodily functions

The Sims - Final Fantasy edition