What if Crafting were actually hard?

[Aion]

I remember a mini game from Brave Fencer Musashi where his mission is prevent the steam generator exploding

what if the minigame is like this

we got a bar like this

|-----F-----|----S---|-F-|--R--|-F-|--B--|--F--|

Where:

F=Fail
S=Standar Synth
R=Rapid
B=Bold

Every attempt of synth there will be a gauge, player must hit where it wants to perform the type of synth
The gauge will reset if player didnt hit the button, but if they didnt hit before a timer runs,it will consider fail attempt
The difference of player rank from recipe level will determine the gauge speed,the width of each synth, and the timer

elemental status can make your gauge point + or - from the point you hit the button

well, I hope you can understand what I explaining lol

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The alternative, F section only make the gauge reset, so the challenge is to hit the preffered snyth before the timer runs out(which is fail attempt), every percentage of progress will decrease the timer of next snyth (similiar to BFM minigame,which certain pipes have shorter duration)

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To add a bit randomness, the speed of gauge may change on each attempt of snyth based on the zone it hit, if you hit standard, no changes, if you hit rapid it goes faster, if bold it goes slower (only for next synth attempt/progresssion). Fail zone can make it slower or faster, and elemental status will change the gauge speed until it stabilized

[TheVedis]

Less people wouldn't mind crafting if 1) it was more interesting like you suggested and 2) The XP rate wasn't relatively abysmal later on.

2 was fixed with the addtion of 51+ recipes in 1.19

and 1 is pretty much imposible to fix unless you make it more annoying at the same time in the process

[DoctorMog]

I dont know about you guys,

But hitting enter for 4 hours straight is pretty mentally taxing.

[Nephera]

I'm all for making crafting into a fun minigame, the problem is making it into one that doesnt become extremely tedious as it goes on which could require a large amount of dev time by itself, as it would essentially be its own game within a game (Maybe try introducing new elements every 10 levels.)

Though I suppose EQ2 does have that whole trading card game you can play while playing EQ2.

Though the last time Square released a puzzle game they had popcap do it..




...also the steam generator is where most people ragequit brave fencer musashi.

[Aion]

I'm all for making crafting into a fun minigame, the problem is making it into one that doesnt become extremely tedious as it goes on which could require a large amount of dev time by itself, as it would essentially be its own game within a game (Maybe try introducing new elements every 10 levels.)

Though I suppose EQ2 does have that whole trading card game you can play while playing EQ2.

Though the last time Square released a puzzle game they had popcap do it..




...also the steam generator is where most people ragequit brave fencer musashi.

lol really? but its thrilling, race against the time lol, testing your jump skills too

[darkstarpoet1]

2 was fixed with the addtion of 51+ recipes in 1.19

and 1 is pretty much imposible to fix unless you make it more annoying at the same time in the process

quoted for truth being spoken.

[Dallie]

2 was fixed with the addtion of 51+ recipes in 1.19

and 1 is pretty much imposible to fix unless you make it more annoying at the same time in the process

Yep, most of the recipes added over level 50 seem to be level 53, thus giving a decent boost to those last few grinds; however, the mats for almost all of those recipes are either insanely expensive or time-consuming to obtain. Note that i'm not saying they shouldn't be, just that i'd much rather grind out leves than farm karakul fleece for days on end to have enough to grind out felt recipes to 50. (As an example, LW is just as bad)

[Rinsui]

Why the hell don't they add fun and addictive minigames (like Tetris or Puzzle Pirates) fo crafting?
Now granted, the parley minigame is a snoozefest, but at least it required your attention...

[Shneibel]

Crafting seems to be a hot topic, and this is something I've had sitting in the back of my head for a while.

What if crafting were actually hard? I don't mean a higher chance of failure, I mean replacing the synthesis minigame entirely with something in which success or failure depends (almost) entirely on the skill of the player and the stats of the character, rather than a series of random numbers?

Randomness undermines skill. If, for a given synthesis, I have a 40% chance of success if I just spam enter, but a 50% chance if I play carefully, (by using Wait, Preserve, etc), then the difference in output between me (a player) and your average "wobblybird on the keyboard" is only 25%.

Compare that to combat. A wobblybird on the keyboard even if presented with an endless supply of one-on-one encounters, will not be able to even compare to a human player in a grind party.

Every singleplayer FF title has had a host of minigames to go with it. I would like to see a puzzle-based minigame for crafting.

I agree with the 2nd post in the thread. IF I have to do this with 6-8 local lvl daily and each recipe 5-7 craft, i ll go insane.

I d suggest: that I ll be able to control my craft more rather than dealing with the randomness elemental

ninja edit: as ppl say "spam-the-enter" <---- only work for recipe = your lvl or below, if you plan to craft recipe above your lvl with just "spam-the-enter" you ll need luck to get it done (around 5+ lvl above)

[ellohwell]

Crafting finished items should involve skill, especially materia attachment and HQ synthesis.

But there needs to be an alternative method to progression other than flatout grinding. Obviously to be a successful crafter, being a successful merchant should be a part of the gameplay, so there does need to be some degree of mat-buying and farming involved (in my opinion), but I think it would be better if progression wasn't just a flat-out grind.

There are multiple ways to make progression less boring. One way is to incorporate the grind into doing quess (and I dont mean levequests). For example, they could make it that you have to repair certain barricades for your free company or grand company, or go on quests into the wilderness to build staff or make gear for people. In otherwords, you would still be consuming items, but it would make for more interesting gameplay and get you out and about, experiencing the world. They could balance the progression system so that time/exp is slightly better than flat-out grinding so that people choose the more interesting progression style over boring grind.

I guess that would be my vision for crafting. There is a lot you can do with it, but in general, without resorting to specifics, the main points are:

-Make crafting involving and skill-based for finished items and materia attachment
-And also, make the progression system less invested in repetitive grinding of mats