Whiny-Butthurt-Liberal
Guest
Specifically, armor should always be one item, rather than four/five/twenty. Not only does it remove the tedium of juggling different armor pieces, but it also makes sense from a both gameplay and graphics perspective. Nobody wants to walk around wearing a golden chestplate, red wizards skirt, barbarian foot wraps, Edward's scizzor-hands, Mexican sombrero, and a ragged cloak. Not only do you look like a retard, but you also miss out on those sweet set bonuses.
Which is why all armor should always be one piece - in 3D games with AAA-level graphics, preferably, with a toggleable helmet invisibility option (just a matter of making the helmet model invisible for those who want to see their character's face).
Additionally, armor should be mostly decorative, to prevent an internal dispute between making your character look awesome, and making xem strong enough to solo the ironman mode. The biggest impact of your choice of armor should be heavier armors reducing your character's mobility at the cost of extra protection.
As for weapons - they should affect gameplay in terms of different mechanics for different types of weapons, - a longsword should not swing the same way as a staff, axe, or club. And no, it shouldn't be just longswords - other types of weapons are just as fun, and variety is a big plus. Witcher 3 comes to mind as a grievous offender, where 90% of weapons are swords, and the other 10% are garbage-tier blunt weapons that Geralts swings to slash the enemies somehow.
All the real bonuses should be on rings/amulets/belts/earrings/other invisible equippable items, as well as potions/scrolls/spells/etc that add an effect to your armor'weapons. Here, you can go apeshit with the complexity, and have multiple parallel categories with several items in each.
In other words, instead of having an obsidian longsword of fire +3 that swings the exact same way as a celestial club of virgin power, you should have a longsword (that you crafted from a block of obsidian you found in an ancient mine), a ring of +3 strength (and -2 intellect as a trade-off), and a flask of fire that, when activated, adds a flame effect to your equipped weapon.
P. S. Yes, making your character look awesome is an important part of playing an RPG.
Which is why all armor should always be one piece - in 3D games with AAA-level graphics, preferably, with a toggleable helmet invisibility option (just a matter of making the helmet model invisible for those who want to see their character's face).
Additionally, armor should be mostly decorative, to prevent an internal dispute between making your character look awesome, and making xem strong enough to solo the ironman mode. The biggest impact of your choice of armor should be heavier armors reducing your character's mobility at the cost of extra protection.
As for weapons - they should affect gameplay in terms of different mechanics for different types of weapons, - a longsword should not swing the same way as a staff, axe, or club. And no, it shouldn't be just longswords - other types of weapons are just as fun, and variety is a big plus. Witcher 3 comes to mind as a grievous offender, where 90% of weapons are swords, and the other 10% are garbage-tier blunt weapons that Geralts swings to slash the enemies somehow.
All the real bonuses should be on rings/amulets/belts/earrings/other invisible equippable items, as well as potions/scrolls/spells/etc that add an effect to your armor'weapons. Here, you can go apeshit with the complexity, and have multiple parallel categories with several items in each.
In other words, instead of having an obsidian longsword of fire +3 that swings the exact same way as a celestial club of virgin power, you should have a longsword (that you crafted from a block of obsidian you found in an ancient mine), a ring of +3 strength (and -2 intellect as a trade-off), and a flask of fire that, when activated, adds a flame effect to your equipped weapon.
P. S. Yes, making your character look awesome is an important part of playing an RPG.