RPG Maker Forums

When playing through traditional JRPGs like the 'Final Fantasy' series or the 'Tales of' games, loot is distributed a few different ways:

• No clear tiers of items

• No level restrictions

• Monsters - Random item pools

• Treasure Chests - Specific items

• Shops - Specific Items or 'hidden tiers' per region/town

• Bosses - Random loot pools and/or specific drops

On the other hand RPGs like Diablo or World of Warcraft handle their equipment a little differently:

• Clear tiers of items (different colored names/levels like epic or legendary)

• Level restrictions

• Monsters drops - Random loot pools

• Treasure Chests - Random loot

• Shops - Random loot tiers (based on region/town)

• Bosses - Random loot pool

What are your favorite types of systems? What would a hybrid system look like?

I'm currently developing a hybrid system for my JRPG:

Level restrictions for MOST gear

• T1 Common (white) LVL1-50
• T2 Magic (green) LVL 5-50
• T3 Rare (blue) LVL 15-50
• T4 Epic (purple) LVL 25-50
• T5 Legendary (orange) LVL 30-50
• T2-T5 Crafted (brown) LVL 5-50
• T5.5/6 Artifact (gold) LVL 50

Each tier progressively receives better stats, multiple stats, skills, bonuses, etc.

Random Common, Magic and Rare items have a chance to have a prefix and/or a suffix added to the base item name which gives it extra base stats.
Examples: Fiery Warbow of the Ogre, Frozen Stiletto of Wizardry, Reinforced Battleplate of Courage

Epic and Legendary items have all preset names, stats, skills and bonuses that have a random variance (+/- X)
Example: The Bloodletter, Lightningdust, Ancient Dragonbone Rod

Crafted items are made by finding the synthesis recipe and combining a base Common item, gem(s), rune(s), or other reagents.
Example: Doom Touch, Shadow Mantle, Silent Fortune

Artifact Weapons are essentially one-of-a-kind 'ultimate weapons' that are acquired through a class/character specific quest chain
Example: Nihilim, Phantasmagoria, Kusanagi

• Normal Monster Drops - Random Common or Magic item based on region & item level (low chance/small pool)

• Rare Spawn Monster Drops - Random Rare, Epic or Legendary item based on region & item level (high chance/medium pool)

• Town Shops - Levels of Common gear per region based on item level

• Chests - Crafting items, potions, augments, 100% random Magic, Rare, Epic or Legendary based on item level & region (having a Rare chest somewhere and an Epic chest somewhere else or a Legendary chest at the end of a dungeon)

• Bosses - Random Epic & Legendary Pool based on item level (medium chance, medium pool)

• Crafting - Unwanted gear can be dismantled to craft something specific

• Side Quests - Story specific Magic, Rare, Epic & Legendary equipment

• Artifact - Ultimate Weapons (one per class build)

• Traveling Merchants - Random reagents, potions, augments, one-time buy Magic, Rare, & Epic equipment (low chance/based on level and region)

Is this coherent? How would you create a working hybrid system?

I'm mainly attempting to create unique play-throughs, highly emphasize gear customization and synthesis, create a layer of gear depth and sense of progression based on visually-pleasing upgrades, and reward player exploration with sweet loot.

The game features 8 main characters and 4 secret characters (all separate classes).
4 Characters in the party at one time.
Armor is divided into Light, Medium and Heavy (Mage uses Light, etc.)
Each character can equip their class weapon.
Some weapons are cross-class (Swords/Staves)

(P.S. Common gear would be bought at the shops if the player has found nothing better through exploring up until that point. All gear found in the field/dungeon will be slightly to exponentially better than the gear found in the next town. Common gear is also the base item used in crafting recipes. Crafted gear would have the bonuses of a Rare, Epic or Legendary item of the same level.)