What RPG has the best durability/repair system?

[rusty_shackleford]

I'll start with KCD, which lets you repair your equipment yourself. For example, sharpening a sword on a grindstone:


Or you could pay the blacksmith(or cobbler, or …) to do it for you if you suck at it.

[wndrbr]

Not sure if KCD fits the bill. It's good from the immersion standpoint, but at first becomes a chore (grindstones are free to use anyway), and then a non-issue once you're powerful and rich enough.

Are there any games that utilize durability by interweaving it with other gameplay systems? I'd say Dark Souls 2, but then rusty will answer that it's not an rpg.

[Vergil]

I think the system in New Vegas is perfectly fine. You can use the same/similar items to make repairs or collect tools to craft kits to repair the item and it's based around your skill in repairing. Only change I would really make is adding kits to repair weapons and make it to where you don't have to have the item equipped to repair it.

[rusty_shackleford]

Not an RPG but I liked how you can clean your guns in RDR2.


Not cleaning them reduces their effectiveness, can't remember if they can jam or not tho.
Rather good wild west simulator, just ignore the story as soon as the map opens up because it's awful in both writing and mechanics.

[Lich]

Cataclysm: Dark Days Ahead has a more elaborate durability system than most RPGs. To fix your equipment, you need to have the right materials, tools and proficiencies. You need to find a safe place to repair items, as repairing can take a long time if your character is not proficient and fast enough. You need to plan ahead before visiting dangerous locations, and carry spare weapons that aren't too large and heavy that you could use if your weapon breaks in dangerous situations.

[Tweed]

Anomalmeme's repair system is p.gud. If you keep your gear in shape you'll only need to use cheap and easy-to-find stuff to fix your gear, but the more damaged it becomes the more extreme and expensive it gets until finally you either need to find new guns and armor or canabilize similar gear in order to piece yours back together. The process usually involves stripping guns and armor for spare parts and then repairing the parts themselves (if they can be salvaged) and then taking said parts and using them to fix your ruined equipment.

[Dorateen]

Might & Magic VI and VII. Repair was a character skill, and you could make one member of the party the repair guy and pass all broken equipment to him to fix. The more points invested in the skill, the more powerful items could be repaired. There was also durability earlier in the series, but in those games the party had to return to a blacksmith to fix broken items.

[Oyster Sauce]

Clothing in Project Zomboid is patched up with the tailoring skill. You'll need to cut other articles of clothing into cloth, denim, or leather strips to sew into your torn gear. A hole in your jacket can be the difference between life and death of a single bite gets through.
There's also the maintenance skill for fixing weapons, although you can never repair a weapon to 100% and there's only so much you can do before you'll need to replace it.

[Tweed]

Might & Magic VI and VII. Repair was a character skill, and you could make one member of the party the repair guy and pass all broken equipment to him to fix. The more points invested in the skill, the more powerful items could be repaired. There was also durability earlier in the series, but in those games the party had to return to a blacksmith to fix broken items.

And only now do I realize how awful the old system was. Constantly having to town portal back to Vertigo/Castleview to repair because someone got knocked out sucks, even with Lloyd's Beacon.

[Anon]

Cataclysm: Dark Days Ahead has a more elaborate durability system than most RPGs. To fix your equipment, you need to have the right materials, tools and proficiencies. You need to find a safe place to repair items, as repairing can take a long time if your character is not proficient and fast enough. You need to plan ahead before visiting dangerous locations, and carry spare weapons that aren't too large and heavy that you could use if your weapon breaks in dangerous situations.

Yeah I think it's the best approach because it makes repairing an actual system that brings real implications to gameplay.

The other approaches mentioned reduces repairing to being an annoyance, and skills in it serve as QoL.