Of all the RPG problems I've seen, this is by far one of the most egregious. However, ironically, some players like this. So what is it I'm speaking of exactly? Well, it's very simple. It's managing your party. Specifically their inventory and their class build. You see, I don't mind doing this for my own character at all really. In fact, in some aspects, I enjoy it. However, when I have to manage a party, I immediately start getting bored.
What can make this even MORE of a headache are the Diablo-style loot systems. You know what I'm talking about. The loot system that FLOODS you with vendor trash but you have to go through every fucking equipment piece just to make sure that it isn't a couple points higher or whatever. It's dumb. It breaks up the pace. It's freaking boring. It needs to stop. Now, I don't actually have a problem with auto-generated loot. What I do have a problem with is spamming me with equipment that, quite literally, 90% of the time is only good for the gold it gets you when you sell it. The loot that you get should at least 50% of the time have some good use other than getting sold. If it's less than that, you need to redesign the system.
But as we were saying. The thing is, when I make my character in character creation, it's my character. I have an emotional investment in that character because he/she is me. As such, I am interested in building up me. When I have to babysit another character and make sure they actually get through battles along with everyone else, it's boring. It's like being forced to play a game of D&D but you have to play four different people's characters at once. And if any one of them die, you can't progress. That's awful.
And this is part of the reason why I like Elder Scrolls as an RPG. You are expected to build up and play yourself. That's all you're expected to do. Don't want a party member? That's perfectly fine. You can ignore them literally your entire playthrough of the game. As opposed to something like Tyranny or Dragon Age... Don't want a party member in those games? TOO BAD. Babysit them or you don't go any further.
So how can we fix this? Well, it's actually kind of easy. Just allow the player two options once they get a member into their party. They can have the game manage that party member automatically or the player can do it themselves. Simple as that. That way, you're not forced to comb through equipment for your party. You're not forced to play them the correct way or any way at all. You can do whatever you want.
What can make this even MORE of a headache are the Diablo-style loot systems. You know what I'm talking about. The loot system that FLOODS you with vendor trash but you have to go through every fucking equipment piece just to make sure that it isn't a couple points higher or whatever. It's dumb. It breaks up the pace. It's freaking boring. It needs to stop. Now, I don't actually have a problem with auto-generated loot. What I do have a problem with is spamming me with equipment that, quite literally, 90% of the time is only good for the gold it gets you when you sell it. The loot that you get should at least 50% of the time have some good use other than getting sold. If it's less than that, you need to redesign the system.
But as we were saying. The thing is, when I make my character in character creation, it's my character. I have an emotional investment in that character because he/she is me. As such, I am interested in building up me. When I have to babysit another character and make sure they actually get through battles along with everyone else, it's boring. It's like being forced to play a game of D&D but you have to play four different people's characters at once. And if any one of them die, you can't progress. That's awful.
And this is part of the reason why I like Elder Scrolls as an RPG. You are expected to build up and play yourself. That's all you're expected to do. Don't want a party member? That's perfectly fine. You can ignore them literally your entire playthrough of the game. As opposed to something like Tyranny or Dragon Age... Don't want a party member in those games? TOO BAD. Babysit them or you don't go any further.
So how can we fix this? Well, it's actually kind of easy. Just allow the player two options once they get a member into their party. They can have the game manage that party member automatically or the player can do it themselves. Simple as that. That way, you're not forced to comb through equipment for your party. You're not forced to play them the correct way or any way at all. You can do whatever you want.