I really couldn't care less about crafting in video games. Anyone else feel the same way?

[Hurrly]

I generally enjoy crafting in games such as Skyrim,Wow and minecraft.
I enjoyed Skyrims system as it allowed me to rename the weapon i had made and to improve upon it and when i get immersed in a game world it helps add to it when i am able to create my own weapons.
Of course some playthroughs of skyrim and WoW some chars didnt craft because it is not what i felt they would do or it wouldnt benefit them.

Its down to how you personally want to play the game at the end of the day but i do find crafting to be enjoyable and yes fun in some situation/playthroughs over others.

 

[BishopofAges]

I can understand your stance for when action-based games seem to require you learn a thing or two about trade skills, it can get annoying. Using the MMO example, it used to be that Trade skills had secrets, things that only people who put themselves through hell seemed to get, but nowadays its more like you cannot enter a high level dungeon or raid without your profession's personal banner flying from your head. Alchemist, where are your trinkets/potions? Blacksmith, where are your epic personalized raiding gear? Enchanter, why aren't you wearing personal high level enchants?

As for games that wrap up the whole concept, they have to make it charming, make it exciting. The reason you learned to build your weapons and armor was to keep your land safe from the wilds. Your town might look better with some kind of wall with trapped pits outside. However, if it ain't charming or part of the fun of the game, I can't get into it. Just last night I was playing Fallout New Vegas and I happened by reloading stations, crafting stations, and the like, finding that my bags are a lot lighter and ready for looting without grabbing each piece of mundane rubbish to hack together a stimpak. (but again, maybe there are secrets I miss out on because I don't feel like crafting.)

 

[MysticSlayer]

I didn't like Skyrim's crafting. You just keep running around to the different crafting stations like crazy, but since crafting takes no more time than pressing a button, it feels more like a hassle than an enjoyable past time to help make the world come alive. Fallout 3 did a better job by just giving you one station to craft at and setting a few of those stations around the world so you don't have to keep going back to Megaton. MMOs also do a better job in that, even though you sometimes have to move between different stations to reach an end goal, it takes time to craft each item rather than just hitting a button and being done with it (well, at least in the one's I've played). It's a little more relaxing, a distraction from the rest of the game, and doesn't feel like you are just running around in circles.

 

[Frankster]

I'd thought I'd be more in agreement with OP but find I disagree with some of OPs examples.

In skyrim, I honestly enjoyed smithing and making my own weapons with its particular looks (this might be mod related though, I use tamriel armory mod so can basically mix and match designs and materials leading to exotic looking gear with basic materials) and having a master smith pc who had a weapons fetish and would craft a new blade every few hours or so.

And I remember an old ps1 game, Vagrant Story, where crafting was an essential part of gameplay as you had to tinker your weapons to be effective versus different enemy types. In that game crafting was seriously fun.

When it comes to town building games, I'm 100% ok with necessity of finding materials, after all towns had quarries and mines for a reason.

However I tend to really dislike crafting in mmos for all sorts of reasons and though have warmed up to minecraft a bit, ultimately unlike town building games where you manage a group of people to do tasks, I find having to explore the bowels of the earth in minecraft or teraria really boring and dreary.

 

[Auron225]

In Skyrim I barely bothered with any kind of crafting at all - I enchanted weapons/gear a fair bit but aside from that I rarely bothered with smithing or alchemy. Mostly because I was so stupidly rich that I never needed to. It got to the stage where I could just forget about looting corpses & chests cus there was quite simply no need to.

In general I like the concept but would only take an interest if I can make interesting/awesome weapons that aren't otherwise available. Other than that, I don't bother.

 

[Ryan Minns]

Being a rather big fan of the Atelier games I can't say I hate it but it can be stupid in some games. Skyrim... hmm not 100% sure. I didn't mind it really but I disliked not being able to use all those gems that would have looked awesome in my weapons

 

[Glademaster_v1legacy]

I don't mind crafting as long as there isn't any RNG involved in it. If you put RNG in my crafting after I just had to level it up to a point and get the materials to make this shit and I can fail you can go fuck yourself crafting system. I don't mind getting more proficient like you can in Skyrim but out right failing pisses me off.

 

[Requia]

Crafting is *awesome*. Skyrim crafting not so much since it's a pain in the ass to grind it to the point it's actually useful.

 

[Grace_Omega]

It depends on the game, I think. I spent most of my time in Guild Wars 2 crafting because discovering the different recipes was fun, but I found it frustrating in Skyrim since it so often seemed to involve wandering around aimlessly looking for specific ingredients.

 

[Combustion Kevin]

I love a good crafting system, as long as it's meant to make things that I can't just pick up off the ground.

for example, in Skyrim or somesuch setting, I can just pick up a sword anywhere, I can take it from a guard, steal it from a shop, or punch a bandit in the face.
The fact remains is that when I upgrade this steel blade with my awesome smithing skills, it will be JUST as good as any other steel blade I created, and only SLIGHTLY worse than swords made from a better material.

however, take like a post-apocalyptic setting where guns are all handcrafted from custom parts, because hey, those factories are gone, remember? THAT is where a crafting system is immensely important, and can feel very rewarding to the player since no two guns would be the same.

I wish Borderlands had a crafting system like that.

 

[CrazyCapnMorgan]

Kinda surprised no one has spoken of Final Fantasy 14: A Realm Reborn. The crafting system is actually quite nice and the benefits start as soon as you can craft actual weapons, armor, accessories and even food. Depending on the quality of the item crafted (either regular [NQ] or high quality [HQ]) it can sometimes outshine gear obtained in dungeons and even into the late game raids.

 

[Drakmorg]

I used to be into them back in the day, but I'm far over crafting systems now. Pretty much no game has ever done it in a way that isn't mind-numbingly tedious. Maybe if there were a crafting system that wasn't just 'Gather these highly specific things and mash them together, then you get this thing!' then I might be interested in bothering, but there aren't, so I don't. Especially when the only benefits they tend to offer are slightly better equipment, or even just getting better equipment early.

Oh, and when they add in an RNG factor, that only makes things worse. Then it's 'Gather these highly specific things and mash them together, then you might get this thing! Or it might suck.'. That's what made me have no further desire whatsoever to do anything with the Tactics Ogre crafting system. Only gonna bother with that again when I absolutely need to.

 

[RedDeadFred]

I liked the way Skyrim did it, it's just you became way too OP if you used any two of the crafting skills together. The only thing that I would have liked is if they had let you customize the appearance of your weapons and armor.

 

[Ender910_v1legacy]

What I like is customization, or add-on components (like in ARPG's like Titan Quest, or the gun-mods in Payday 2), but I've never been a huge fan of full-bore crafting systems, outside of voxel based games like Minecraft. It just grows cumbersome sometimes, and it's a distracting element that takes the focus away from the main gameplay somewhat.

 

[norashepard]

In Skyrim, I don't usually use any kind of crafting, simply because it takes the excitement out of the game. Like, you can craft a full set of daedric armor at level 8 or whatever and then what's even the point of playing any more. You won't die ever unless you intentionally suck, and nothing you find will ever be better so there's no point in exploring. I prefer to find things in the world. Clicking a button in a menu hardly compares to the rush you get when you find a glass bow deep in a falmer cave or a circlet with the exact enchantment you were hoping for. Of course, all of that said, it's a lot more fun when stuff is rarer anyway, usually because of mods. If all the bandits have glass, who cares?

There is only one game I like crafting in, Guild Wars 2. You can get a butt ton of experience from doing it which helps when you don't particularly feel like grinding around for the last few experience points to the next level.

 

[lunavixen]

My enjoyment of a crafting system is wholly dependant on how it's impleneted in the game. If the mechanic is central to the game and well implemented (i.e. the items have use) like Minecraft or the Atelier system, I can get into the game. If the system is poorly implemented or too grindy like Skyrims was, then it does make me want to bypass it if I can.

One crafting system i'm surprised no one has mentioned yet is TLoU, the crafting system there was pretty decent, it gave incentive to explore the area to find things for medkits, shivs or molotovs, and the limited inventory made deciding when to use and craft more consumables (and which ones to craft) fairly interesting.

 

[Cecilo]

I enjoy the crafting system in Sword of the Stars The Pit. Though I could sometimes do with the 99% Chance to craft fails. Especially when I am building that one item that could save my run like an Chitin Plate Armor.

It also allows you to feel like you have a goal to work towards other than just "Hey. 33 more floors to go until you can even think about winning."

However I despise how the crafting system in Skyrim works, no easily seen indication of how close you are to the next level, though the mats were easy enough to find as long as you didn't mind waiting a few days.

I also doubt I would enjoy crafting in say a First Person Shooter. At least not during an actual match, between matches or during a single player campaign it could work.

 

[balladbird]

depends on the system used, really.

the atelier/mana khemia games are pretty much built around item crafting, and they're as addictive as crack to play, but things like skyrim weren't fun to me, either.

My disdain isn't nearly as strong as yours, naturally, so don't take that as a recommendation. XD though in general I do recommend the atelier games to anyone with a stomach for JRPGs, even if they did "moe" the series to hell starting with the PS3.

 

[FPLOON]

If crafting is "anything" like synthesizing, then I hate how you kinda have to either only make one new equipment item or not craft anything at all in order to make sure you have all of the materials needed to make everything the game has to offer... or at least the gear that would help you in the game... It's even worse when the game doesn't hint at certain items either helping you or hurting you in your overall stats...

"What? I can't craft this item because I used up that one particular material making that other item that ended up being useless to me and/or my party members, yet I didn't know that because no one hinted that the item was going to be good or not? ...Glob dammit!"

Crafting is one thing... knowing what I'm actually going to end up having is another thing, and that bothers me to no end when I'm THAT blind going into that crafting section of the game... (unless the game can justify it's decision for leaving me in the dark while I do any sort of crafting...)