Elysian Shadows

So, every once in a while, I have some idea in my head, and like to try and make a discussion about it. And I feel that this particular board is a little underused, with how much it encompasses of what we do. My recent pondering has been over equipment in games - specifically armor and the like, and how it affects your character's look. This mostly concerns RPGs I suppose. As I have done previously, I'll present a couple examples of systems as they relate to this pondering. These are mostly MMO titles because the changes are a bigger deal in this case, thus the systems used are the extremes of their type.

1) Final Fantasy XI - Okay, so there are plenty of other (and possibly better) examples, but this is the one that sticks out in my mind, probably because of the huge variety, and since it's an MMO, it matters not only for you, but for others around you.
System: Most of the gear you get affects your character model in some way, often in a pretty big way. It's very obvious at higher levels what job (class) someone is from pretty far away.
The Good: It probably gets you even more involved in choosing gear, and working towards getting it. It can also make you feel more like you have gained power in this virtual world - when you look bad ass, you feel bad ass.
The Bad: Because there will always be one "best" piece of gear for a class, everyone around your level that is currently the same class will probably look exactly like you. Combined with the small character choices you have in FFXI (I mean, hey, the game is like 7 years old by now), it's not uncommon for someone to have exactly the same character model as you. This is of course more of a problem with online games, but the same applies to any game of this system. Give as many choices as you like, but if there's one "best", it's going to be the one everyone will have.

2) Champions Online - The polar opposite to FFXI
System: Not a single piece of gear makes the slightest difference in how you look. Your character model is based entirely on your choices in the character creator, and later when making or editing alternate costumes.
The Good: Because of the insane amount of customization in the character creator/editor, chances are not a single other character looks remotely like you. I've passed hundreds if not thousands of other players in this game, and not one of them looked anything like any of my 6 characters. A+ for personal expression.
The Bad: Maybe I was just so used to FFXI, but it was disappointing to get a new piece of gear, equip it, and not notice it, until I got into battle and hit a little harder or something. And to gain so many levels and not look any different/better than I did when I started. You can make alternate costumes, sure - but nothing I couldn't have just made originally. You don't look like you progressed, and that does make a difference.

3) Runes of Magic - Perhaps a good middle ground?
System: Gear makes a difference on your character, and for a monetary in-game (sort of) fee, you can change its color.
The Good: You get better, and generally cooler-looking gear, so your character often displays its level. Your gear can have a personal touch by having a different color from those who might also have that gear.
The Bad: Mostly the fault of the implementation (and the fact that it's a free-to-play MMO), this is generally done through purchasing crystals with real money, and using that for services such as color changes to your gear, mount, etc. As a result, most people didn't do it - this is to be expected. Furthermore, the changes are limited (also to be expected) - not all parts of the gear were subject to color change. And each different color you chose cost you more; there was no flat rate for changing the color of a single piece of equipment. And really, a simple color change didn't do too much to make it less obvious when someone had the same gear as you. Overall, it was a good idea though.

4) Fable II - Oh, Moleneux...
System: There is no gear (just guns and swords), clothing is entirely optional (within reason), and only affects how you look, and thus how people view you.
The Good: True to its desire to be a "casual" RPG, there's no micro-managing of gear, and you wear what you want with no worry about something else being better for your stats.
The Bad: There's really just not that much to choose from to feel as though your character is really "personalized". And if you were doing the whole role-playing thing and getting married and such, you had to care about what people thought of you, which in part was determined by your clothing and its "attractiveness" quality, and a few other stats. Needless to say, there is a best choice for these things, so you are pushed toward certain choices to do certain things. It was a well-intentioned idea that fell a little flat.



So, I don't blame you if you didn't read all that, but regardless if you did or not, I'd like to hear your thoughts on any equip-able items changing your character's look. How would you do it?

excellent post.

i always liked having teh ability to "modify" gear. like mounting gems and so on that made it change color some what. i think also having gear show wear is nice.
i think having like 2 or 3 colors you can associate with your char is good, and that gets translated as the decals on the gear.

it would also be pretty cool if you could "build" gear.
a. either by choosing the pieces like blade, gard and handle.

b. if you had some easy to use nurb curve editor or something. they could give you a designated region to make the gear. like drawing the outlike of the blade or armor.

IDK if this has been done, I would like to see custom armor in RPGs, not just the stats but the appearance and everything about it

Personally, I like seeing changes to my character as my equipment changes. I remember first seeing games that, if you selected a new gun, in the next cutscene your character would actually be holding that same gun vs whatever generic weapon you had at the beginning. There's nothing more depressing then getting some bad ass thing and making yourself look as awesome as the cheap graphics could do back then, but when the highly detailed cut scene would play, you'd see your starting gear on the character model.

I do think that it's important to see, video games are about assaulting your senses... sure I love seeing my stat numbers rise, but that's only rewarding when the bad guy goes down faster or when I'm in a text based menu, but the other 98% of the game, I have to look at something.

One game comes to mind is Army of Two, I rather enjoyed that game. One reason I enjoyed it, was to upgrade my weapons and it's one of those games that you see the weapons/armor change as you select different things. I spent 100,000 on a tricked out Gatling gun, so if I have to use my spare shotgun for whatever reason, it's nice to see that golden beauty strapped to my back, just to let you and everyone else know that it's there and not just a bitmapped image on a menu.

Something should show your character's status... Batman Arkham Asylum is another example... how did it change? As the game progressed, the more beat up and torn you look. It made me feel like a bad ass because you could plainly see the bullshit I went through to get there. It clearly showed the game's time progression and that's a short lived game compared to a RPG. So you want me to play your game that lasts 20+ hours? Let me see the fruits of my labor, proof my hardships, or something that separates myself from your normal NPC.

I think a system like the one in guild wars is pretty cool. There are max armor and max dmg. wepons wich are pretty easy to get, but there are also cool looking max armor and wepons wich are hard to get. Futher more you can upgrade your wepons with different upgrades. There are also max versions of all the upgrades, but since there is a varity of different upgrades, players dont always have the same. This makes the game really balanced, while there still is varity in both stats and looks of gear.

I always liked an idea of loading in sprites for every part of your character's body, or using built-in sprites that you could use an RGB editor to make your own colors for. I had an engine for this made in Game Maker a long ass time ago, but lost the file.

Obvious problems:
Someone could load in a kirby sprite for their hair, now they run around with a kirby on their head.

I think WoW does a good job of a middleground... I mean I don't see EVERYONE running around liek that, sure when something new comes out everyone picks the best, but then stuff gets nerfed, oh and some people can get different loot from the same instance so not everyone can get the same thing...

I always liked optimizing my gear in WoW and looking at other peoples things, and I had different outfits for different situations because some items have the ability to lessen damage or raise speed, it all depends on your needs.

That's all I have to say

Edit: WTF is up with borderlands... They made it sound so awesome and customizable, but it was really lacking I think... The vehicles were supposed to be epically customizable but there are 2 vehicles, and you can choose between like 8 colors and 2 weapons... WTH? (me using ... is getting on MY nerves... that's sad (dammit) )

eatcomics wrote:I always liked optimizing my gear in WoW and looking at other peoples things, and I had different outfits for different situations because some items have the ability to lessen damage or raise speed, it all depends on your needs.

Imo that is the key to a good equipment system.

I like how Diablo 2 handled it's Equipment and inventory.