How to handle old/useless/etc equipment?

[rusty_shackleford]

What games handle old equipment in ways other than "sell it as junk for pocket change to the vendor"?

I'm a bit fond of games that at least let you break equipment down into components.

[Oyster Sauce]

Two Worlds is the greatest RPG of all time

[rusty_shackleford]

Two Worlds is the greatest RPG of all time

I don't remember what it does

I feel like I made this thread already but I couldn't find it so maybe I meant to make this thread but didn't

[Oyster Sauce]

Two Worlds is the greatest RPG of all time

I don't remember what it does

I feel like I made this thread already but I couldn't find it so maybe I meant to make this thread but didn't

You can combine any two identical pieces of gear to get a stronger version. Spell cards too.

[wndrbr]

It's mostly a problem in games with **** itemization, like The Witcher 3. Games with good itemization usually find a way to keep 'legendary' items still viable by giving them unique properties.

[wndrbr]

Dragon's Dogma allows you to upgrade pretty much every item four times (one star, two stars, three stars, dragonforged). Certain 'bad' pieces of equipment even get bonus effects after upgrading - for example, rusty weapons apply torpor status effect.

Another interesting thing about DD is that unlike other RPGs, instead of dedicated upgrade materials Dragons Dogma demands you to use the various trash items lying around. Which means there are no useless items in the game at all.

[Tadeusz]

You can combine any two identical pieces of gear to get a stronger version. Spell cards too.

It's a cool system though it has a downside of having multiple equipment pieces of approximately the same grade for the same slot that can be upgraded. It's possible to stick for one item but you lose upgrades for others when they come up in loot.
I prefer disassembling old equipment or using it to repair the new one like in FNV.

[rusty_shackleford]

Need an rpg where you can use your old equipment as a reward for quests you send younger adventurers on

[J1M]

I don't like carting around items to sell to the vendor. It also breaks immersion that a shop keeper would want everything the player is selling or have enough currency for the transaction.

The only sustainable solution is for the player to drop their unwanted arms in random places in the dungeon. If those that came before didn't do the same, there'd be nothing for the player to pick up!

From a gameist perspective, I like the idea of disenchanting unwanted magic items into a currency (magic dust) that is then used in crafting. I'm also fine with a magic item that sends your unwanted items to a shop in exchange for gold.

[rusty_shackleford]

I don't like carting around items to sell to the vendor. It also breaks immersion that a shop keeper would want everything the player is selling or have enough currency for the transaction.

The only sustainable solution is for the player to drop their unwanted arms in random places in the dungeon. If those that came before didn't do the same, there'd be nothing for the player to pick up!

From a gameist perspective, I like the idea of disenchanting unwanted magic items into a currency (magic dust) that is then used in crafting. I'm also fine with a magic item that sends your unwanted items to a shop in exchange for gold.

Always hate how little thought is put into economics in rpgs. If anything, you'd probably be giving most gear to the local militia.

[Oyster Sauce]

https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecial ... mods/32197

Ever wonder who buys all those weapons and armors you sell to Belethor? The bandits, of course!

This mod adds a chance that when you sell a weapon or armor to general goods merchants, that item may find its way into the hands of the bandits around Skyrim by chance.

This works for custom enchanted and tempered items, too! I wonder what kind of enchantments you'll sell...

GAMEPLAY
~=~=~=~=~

Weapons you sell may come back to bite you, but if you're able to kill the bandits wielding them, you can cash in selling the item twice. It's like recycling, but bloodier!

In terms of immersion, this will cause the items you sell to have a chance to not simply disappear after being sold. Instead, they may find their way into the hands of bandits! The chance that a merchant 'stows' an item away is generally around 50%, which means items will filter out of existence on average after 1 or 2 sales. Rarely, you'll find an item that you've wiped the blood off of several times.


HOW IT WORKS
=~=~=~=~=~=

There is a chance for certain merchants to 'stow away' weapons and armor you sell to them. Stowed items are put into a 'possible bandit gear' chest, which is shared by bandits across Skyrim.

This applies to vanilla-enchanted and unenchanted items only (such as a Glass Sword, or the Masque of Clavicus Vile). Player-enchanted or tempered items will not have a chance to be stowed away. (See Details below)

When their cell loads into the game memory, Bandits have a chance to choose an item from the 'possible bandit gear' chest. Bandits choose according to their weapon class; fighters draw weapons & armor, mages draw staves & robes, archers draw bows & light armor.

Certain merchants are more/less likely to 'stow away' wares. Most merchants have a 50:50 chance of selling gear that ends up in the hands of bandits, but this is different for trustworthy / untrustworthy merchants. (See Merchant list below)

Fences will stow every weapon or armor sold to them and always make it available for bandits. You may use this to your advantage, to push more deadly or valuable weapons into the hands of the bandits in Skyrim.

Quantity matters, so if you sell 62 enchanted rings, and the merchant stows them away, then you will eventually find those 62 enchanted rings on bandits. When the supply is empty, they will no longer draw them.

Most bandits have around 1 in 3 chance to draw a piece of equipment from the chest. Bosses have around 8 in 10 chance. It's frequent enough to be a solid game dynamic, but not so often as to take the whole game over. You'll notice it changes how you sell your loot, and how you think of bandits.

The following item types can be trafficked by merchants: Weapons, Staffs, Armor, Clothes, Robes, Ammo, Jewelry
Please note that Crossbows will not be chosen by bandits! (The combat AI doesn't know how to fire them.)

[Tadeusz]

Ever wonder who buys all those weapons and armors you sell to Belethor? The bandits, of course!

It may encourage destroying or dumping equipment as Skyrim's economy is broken anyway. It can be an interesting idea in a solid economy though.

[J1M]

I don't like carting around items to sell to the vendor. It also breaks immersion that a shop keeper would want everything the player is selling or have enough currency for the transaction.

The only sustainable solution is for the player to drop their unwanted arms in random places in the dungeon. If those that came before didn't do the same, there'd be nothing for the player to pick up!

From a gameist perspective, I like the idea of disenchanting unwanted magic items into a currency (magic dust) that is then used in crafting. I'm also fine with a magic item that sends your unwanted items to a shop in exchange for gold.

Always hate how little thought is put into economics in rpgs. If anything, you'd probably be giving most gear to the local militia.

I would be okay with an RPG that starts with the player as a scrapper that collects arms from battlefields/monster raids. Eventually transitioning into a hero in their own right since the best scrap is probably from adventurers that went into the local dungeon and never returned...

[Val the Moofia Boss]

Regarding that comic specifically, RPGs need to be more interactive and recognize if you already have a special weapon, like a family heirloom or a legendary sword you found in a cave or that you embarked on a long journey to craft a magical sword. Once you have one, NPCs should recognize that and should usually not attempt to reward you with another weapon or special sword that you probably will not use.

[logincrash]

Two Worlds is the greatest RPG of all time

I don't remember what it does

I feel like I made this thread already but I couldn't find it so maybe I meant to make this thread but didn't

You can combine any two identical pieces of gear to get a stronger version. Spell cards too.

I swear there was another RPG that does that. I know it's not Two Worlds because I haven't played that one.

[Oyster Sauce]

I don't remember what it does

I feel like I made this thread already but I couldn't find it so maybe I meant to make this thread but didn't

You can combine any two identical pieces of gear to get a stronger version. Spell cards too.

I swear there was another RPG that does that. I know it's not Two Worlds because I haven't played that one.

Two Worlds 2

[logincrash]

You can combine any two identical pieces of gear to get a stronger version. Spell cards too.

I swear there was another RPG that does that. I know it's not Two Worlds because I haven't played that one.

Two Worlds 2

Haven't played that one either. I might be just misremembering and mistaking the whole thing for the Cyberpunk 2077 crafting resources upgrading system where you use 2 units of tier 4 resource to craft 1 unit of tier 3 resource.
Brave gAI search also suggested that it might be the Mystic Forge in Guild Wars 2. But I haven't played that in so long that I can't confirm either way. SWTOR had a crafting system too, but I remember even less of it than I do of GW2's.

[Oyster Sauce]

I swear there was another RPG that does that. I know it's not Two Worlds because I haven't played that one.

Two Worlds 2

Haven't played that one either. I might be just misremembering and mistaking the whole thing for the Cyberpunk 2077 crafting resources upgrading system where you use 2 units of tier 4 resource to craft 1 unit of tier 3 resource.
Brave gAI search also suggested that it might be the Mystic Forge in Guild Wars 2. But I haven't played that in so long that I can't confirm either way. SWTOR had a crafting system too, but I remember even less of it than I do of GW2's.

The Fallout 3+ repair system is similar in that you can combine two damaged weapons to make a stronger one.

[Manny V]

Bannerlord lets you smelt down weps for some of the base materials, which you can then use to try and smith more stuff, but it's kinda meh

Total War Warhammer added the ability to merge two items of the same type and rarity(say, a common weapon), and it'll upgrade to the next tier. Pretty handy when you're getting trash loot up the wazzoo and all your ladz are kitted out already, but you want dat better ****

Dark Souls 1(and maybe some of the other souls games idk) had a system where you could upgrade any ol ****** wep, and as long as it belonged to the required category, you could turn it into a unique Boss weapon using a Boss Soul(eg. using some ****** scimitar you got from killing a skeleton to turn into Quelaag's Furysword). It's a fairly niche and limited way of using your trash weapons, but still

[rusty_shackleford]

The Fallout 3+ repair system is similar in that you can combine two damaged weapons to make a stronger one.

This was a good system, so was the FO4/76 system of stripping parts off of gear to put on your gear(or combine to upgrade parts, etc.,)
Dunno who was responsible for it but they're both rather similar and good ideas.

Repair one is probably an example of a game mechanic that is specific to a game setting, I like those.

[UltraFan123]

Neverwinter Nights 2 has stores with finite money so there's a limit to how much junk you can sell to a merchant, on top of a crafting system that allows you to craft and enchant any weapon except for the McMuffin silver sword.

I remember how during the prologue of the original campaign I always liked to swap my weapon with Bevil's sword because his sword has a unique model that no other longsword has, so as the game progressed and I gained the levels and materials required to enchant Bevil's sword I liked to imagine that my character drew comfort and strength from the weapon of his life-long friend.

Pathfinder Wrath of the Righteous also has a "self-enchanting" relic sword that you get early game which starts as a generic cold iron longsword, but as the story progresses the sword keeps getting upgrade after upgrade until it becomes the best sword for a paladin near the endgame.

[rusty_shackleford]

I rather dislike the idea that most merchants are even interested in buying things let alone buying random junk.
Unless it's an excessively good deal, I guess.

[TKVNC]

I rather dislike the idea that most merchants are even interested in buying things let alone buying random junk.
Unless it's an excessively good deal, I guess.

I always liked the idea of vendors only buying specific items. Arnourers buying armour, alchemists buying ingredients etc. Yes it's a little more legwork, but it improves immersion significantly.

[rusty_shackleford]

I rather dislike the idea that most merchants are even interested in buying things let alone buying random junk.
Unless it's an excessively good deal, I guess.

I always liked the idea of vendors only buying specific items. Arnourers buying armour, alchemists buying ingredients etc. Yes it's a little more legwork, but it improves immersion significantly.

Even then, unless it's excessively rare or being sold for a tiny percent of its value, I doubt they're interested. Especially if it's some guy in a backwater village.

[Orvas Dren]

imo:

Merchants should only buy goods that they would reasonably find viable and offer feasible prices.

Selling also doesnt have to be the only way to exchange loot, donating spare weapons to the local militia, religious items to local cults, and so on in exchange for reputation, blessings and services.

Player weight should be (mostly) feasible to force the player to pick and choose what they want to prioritize in bringing back. Ideally, you are going to focus on low weight high value items first, and then go from there based on your characters priorities.

I find scrapping items incredibly tedious and not very feasible, and combining items outright immersion breaking and most often gamifying.

[TKVNC]

I rather dislike the idea that most merchants are even interested in buying things let alone buying random junk.
Unless it's an excessively good deal, I guess.

I always liked the idea of vendors only buying specific items. Arnourers buying armour, alchemists buying ingredients etc. Yes it's a little more legwork, but it improves immersion significantly.

Even then, unless it's excessively rare or being sold for a tiny percent of its value, I doubt they're interested. Especially if it's some guy in a backwater village.

Very true. How to counter balance it though? Less gold, I suppose.

I slightly liked Morrowind in that almost no vendor could ever afford to buy a piece of Daedric, so you had to trade.

The problem there is that if a random nobody now has Daedric, why are thieves or assassins not targeting him?

[rusty_shackleford]

and combining items outright immersion breaking and most often gamifying.

It works in a post apocalypse setting, but would be silly most elsewhere

[DecadeRiptide]

What games handle old equipment in ways other than "sell it as junk for pocket change to the vendor"?

I'm a bit fond of games that at least let you break equipment down into components.

destroy bazooka get 2 scrap metal
fun.

[Norfleet]

Need an rpg where you can use your old equipment as a reward for quests you send younger adventurers on

That was in old MUDs. You'd give your old stuff to newbies in exchange for them doing stuff. A formalization of that into a system would see players being able to issue quests in the same way as NPCs, so you'd code triggers for every possible relevant action a player could take and then allow players to post quests that newbies can accept for the reward.

But really, the problem is that "useless equipment exists". If the item is useless, it was a complete waste of time for developers to put it in the game in the first place. Every item should be relevant, otherwise, why even bother wasting the time to create it?

[Tadeusz]

Every item should be relevant, otherwise, why even bother wasting the time to create it?

An item may be relevant for certain levels or for certain builds. If it goes out of its window of relevancy then it becomes irrelevant for a player. It's hard to image a system where every item is relevant for every player at any moment.