If I play a video game this year, chances are high that I am also facing some kind of crafting system. Sometimes I’m fighting against zombies in a big open world. Or kill monsters and bandits in God of War Ragnarok. Or fight the bad guys on the bad streets of Gotham City as Batgirl. Once I just relax with Disney characters like Mickey. It doesn’t matter which game, in any case, they make me do crap, and I’m so tired of crafting. Please, make it stop.
You know, crafting: collect items that you then turn into other items. It has existed in video games for a long time. Use Giant Bombgreat wiki (though admittedly not exhaustive), I can find games from very early 1990s There are several types of mechanical engineering. For a long time, crafting was largely left out of MMOs and RPGs. Of course, there are exceptions to that rule, things like Dead space has some basic crafting mixed with its cosmic horror. Then, following the 2013 release of the critically acclaimed PS3 action game, Our Last, I noticed a growing trend. More and more games across multiple genres are starting to include crafting. Now, in 2022, most major AAA games (and even a lot of the smaller ones) include some sort of extra currency and material-related system that you have to spin into crap. other random. And I’m so tired, guys.
Earlier this year, I played Dying Light 2. I like the open world and its parkour system and find the zombie fight fun and bloody. But you know what I don’t care about: having to create things. But I understand. The game is set in a world ravaged by a zombie outbreak so everyone is forced to search for everything. I guess so, that way the crafting will work. afterward Horizon: Forbidden West also includes crafting and again, I see to myself why it makes sense, but it still doesn’t change that I’m gathering boring resources to build things that I need, adding more knowledge awake for everything. afterward God of War Ragnarok make me craft stuff. afterward Knight of Gotham, a game about superheroes, helps me earn resources and craft new clothes and weapons. And then… I just… don’t want to do this anymore.
Again, even if the people who make the game work really hard to make sure the game makes sense and “fits the story”, I’m just not sure it adds anything. what. Of all the previous examples of crafting, I cannot name any that I find amusing or amusing, or enjoyable, or anything but the chores that I have to deal with for hours. . A barrier between me and joy.
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When I talk to other people playing God of War, not one of them stopped and said, “Oh, and the crafting system! All those resources you have to manage and collect… man, damn it! “It’s not about manufacturing Ragnarok bad or ruining the game, it just really doesn’t add anything but one more thing to crush. Yes, sometimes manual work leads to bad things. But that damn thing is what I like. Not the boring, boring crafting system I interacted with to make it.
I understand that crafting can be a helpful inclusion in games — especially open world titles — as it provides a host of resources that you can use as exploration rewards. In theory, it also allows developers to give you more freedom to create the device you want, when you want, and at your own pace. But now that every game under the sun seems to include some sort of crafting system tied to some sort of boring resource economy, I just passed them all. I’m not happy. I didn’t learn more about the game’s world or universe. I don’t enjoy my time. I’m just seeing which device has more green arrows or bigger numbers, hold the X and trade the leather, iron, and silver pieces for a slightly better one that I’ll be replacing soon with something else made by me make. What a wonderful time!
Apart from a few rare exceptions, like Minecraft, whenever i start thinking about a game’s crafting system i usually have a different one keep thinking about how much more fun the game would be if i just found a sword great instead of having to gather a list of the materials I need to forge it. How much more fun would some already fun games be if you didn’t have to stomp around in a large field to get every piece of clay or mud you found?
The answer, for me, is “probably a lot.” And if your counter-argument to me asking that more and more games drop crafting is, “Well, that’s something you can mostly avoid”, that just makes me wonder Why is it in so many games?
Many of the biggest games of the last few years, critically acclaimed blockbusters have sold millions of copies, crafting systems included, so a lot of studios might be tempted to say, “If it’s not broken…” I get that. But the other way… what if you broke the mold and tried something else? Lots of recent success stories the game surrounds did something completely different than anything before. And while I understand that crafting systems and all their little details deal with different game design problems, there needs to be a different solution to these problems, different approaches. The new approach won’t accuse us of collecting random crafting analytics in almost everything we play 2023, 2024 and beyond.
Let’s see what? Worst case, some games ship without making pointless games and fewer people like them. Best case scenario, you discover a whole new way to interact with players and create your massive open world. I’d say it’s worth a try. I know my thumbs hurt from all the collecting and crafting I’ve done this year, thank you.
