Kinda vague title, but I was trying out some of the Atelier games recently and while I do find the crafting interesting, I can’t stand the “slice of life”/CGDCT style they have. Yumia seems to be a bit more interesting but the gameplay is too simple and balancing seems to not take into account the crafting system, which makes it really unsatisfying to play.
Are there any alternatives? SMT/Persona too I feel has similar systems with fusions, but I think I’ve already played enough of the ones I’m interested in. They also lack the crafting of items, which is the main thing I find interesting in the older Atelier.
Have you considered any of the crafting/survival games? There are a lot if good ones!
- Valheim
- Subnautica
- Green Hell
- Vintage Story
- Palworld
Would put Abiotic Factor on that list. :)
Ohhh, good one!
I can vouch for Vintage Story. Crafting in that game ranges from arranging items in a 3x3 grid, like Minecraft to more involved stuff like knapping or pottery where you have to arrange individual voxels to make the shape you want. As an example, here’s someone making a clay pot.
I’m currently addicted to The Planet Crafter, where you start with about 30 seconds of air before you have to duck back in to your landing pod to refill your tanks.
But before long you’re exploring the surprisingly large map, gathering items you need to terraform the planet and build increasingly huge bases. I’m about to hit mammal-era, where I’ll be able to craft mad looking alien animals using a DNA manipulator. But most importantly, you can craft a screen that displays your stats, and when you’re in a groove, number go BRRRRR.
It’s basically No Man’s Sky + Minecraft, and it’s great.
Monster Hunter
Any diablo-like. Path of exile, grim dawn, last epoch, etc.
Disgaea goes a little crazy with items and modifying them.
Disgaea might be what I’m looking for, I think I already have the first game so I might try it later.
I’m not familiar with ARPGs, I’ve only played a bit of PSO, but I thought they were more focused on random loot?
Arpgs do have a big random factor, but many have some element of crafting to offset it. Sometimes as small as slotting upgrade stuff (ie: gems) into armor, sometimes more involved. I’m pretty sure path of exile 1 had some depth to it, but I never went super hard. It’s one of the only free to play games that isn’t abusive, so it’s pretty low risk to try. I like the second game more, but it’s early access and has less stuff.
+1 for the monster hunter games, everything is crafted from monsters you hunt and there are tons of ways to customize your gameplay based on your play style and what you craft.
The Etrian Odyssey series also bases what you can craft on what you can find, but crafting is less in-depth than MH. That said, you also make all the maps which is a huge bonus in my book
I’m a bit burnt out on Monster Hunter, but yea the newer ones in particular have interesting customization options with how skills work from World. Xenoblade 1 and X too have a similar system (although only focused on raw stats) which I find fun.
I’m not sure EO is what I’m looking for. I’ve played most of EO1 (I’m currently stuck on the 4th stratum) and the crafting seems to be more a way to progress the shop than an actual crafting system.
I don’t know why I didn’t think of it earlier, but what about Astroneer? It’s closer to an adventure sim with rpg elements to it, but it’s entirely about exploration and crafting all of your adventuring gear and your home base(s).
I’m not really into survival (or otherwise “sandboxy”) games, although I was looking a bit into Astroneer recently because of the coop, but I was worried about there being too much procgen. Is there enough handcrafted stuff?
I’ve been playing the coop online with a buddy and having a blast; from what I can tell the procgen is pretty much for raw material placement and the layout of some of the ‘naturally’ occurring tunnels and caverns.
Everything else feels stylized and I happen to like the art style, so it all feels handcrafted to me. If you’re referring to the pool of craftable items, there’s a slew of things to make but they’re all very similarly themed which makes sense given that they’re all 3d printed planetary exploration tools.
I was going to say Mana Khemia, but I think technically that may actually take place in the Atelier series universe. Best crafting-centered RPG imo.
I’m not against the series itself, I just find a lack of motivation with how they are structured. Since Mana Khemia looks to be structured more like a traditional JRPG I might find it more interesting.
This is a stretch because it’s an ARPG, but Path of Exile 2 is all about chasing after gear and crafting (or you can buy from other players.) The crafting is very deep with many different ways to modify items, but it does rely on good RNG.
Some other options are the rune factory games, specifically Rune Factory 4. I really enjoyed its crafting system, and for the most part you can ignore the farm life in that game and just go through the dungeons/explore.
Legend of Mana is another option, and pretty much any of the Monster Hunter games (Rise is my personal favorite.)
Biiiiiig stretch here, but Final Fantasy 14!
It does require actually playing the game as well, but the crafting/gatherer system has always been fun. Besides all the combat classes, there’s a bunch of different crafters (Carpenter, leatherworker, alchemist, Weaver, etc) and gatherers for actually going out and finding the materials you need.
Not exactly sure the vibe you’re going for since I’m unfamiliar with the games you mentioned, but hopefully this might be interesting!
I’ve leveled a few crafters and yea it’s pretty close to what I mean. I like the crafting/gathering itself, but what kinda ruins it for me is that unless you’re crafting the latest set, gear is kinda meaningless in the game.
Maybe Rune Factory? The later games let you min/max your equipment by adding nearly any item to them.
Fallout 4 maybe? The main gameplay loop is gathering junk to get parts to improve your equipment.
Arknights: Endfield is kinda rooted in a factory/crafting thing. It’s like Genshin Impact had a baby with Satisfactory. It takes a while before the factory and crafting aftually become useful and the focus of the game tho; it’s free to play gatcha shit so it has HORRIBLE pacing.
Someone also mentioned Fallout 4 already, which is also a good choice IMO if you wanna craft and build, while not being the entire game (ie something like Factorio or Satisfactory where the building is 100% of the game). The crafting and building isn’t too deep, but it is satisfying.
RuneScape maybe?
