Idea: JRPG without (much) "equipment", but with frequently-changing cast

glennmagusharvey

Y'know how characters unexpectedly leaving or joining the party can make for an exciting story, but a big hassle as far as item management goes?

Well, what if a JRPG made the most of a frequently-changing party as part of its story, but instead of having lots of equipment that you dump back into the party bin when people leave and have people come in naked, or have people take their equipment with them (even if they die), how about not having equipment at all -- or at least, very little in the way of it (maybe hotswapple charms to modify one's attack and defense elements, and that's about it)?

lrdgck

Sounds fun, but there's a risk equipment management will be clumsily replaced with party management, allocation of skills or some other ersatz, or guest star party members inexplicably showing up whenever the plot demands their gear.

Stormtroper

Valkyrie Profile IIRC had simply a weapon, armor and accessory slot, and only five kind of weapons (one and two handed swords, spears, bows (also used by the crossbow and gun wielders) and magic stuff (staves, books, etc.)) and two kinds of armor (fighter stuff and mage stuff). Fighters could also only equip one kind of weapon (two in the main character's case). Though it wasn't for the purpose of storytelling, but because you were encouraged to constantly level a bunch of characters from scratch, then send them to Valhalla semi-permanently.

This was also one of the things that made characters lack diversity, but that's another story.

fourteenwings

JRPG without (much) "equipment"

get out

or have people take their equipment with them (even if they die)

get out

(maybe hotswapple charms to modify one's attack and defense elements, and that's about it)?

That's just swapping one kind of equipment for a system that sounds less like equipment.

Anyways, I'm not too convinced it could be done in a way I'd say "Wow, this is much better than equipment!". In fact, I enjoy spending ten to fifteen minutes at every town to upgrade/downgrade. What I'd like to see is more options at endgame, with not just one ultimate weapon, or at least have a set of viable non-Ultimate weapon weapons that incorporate different strategies.

Outside of that, I like a manageable set of party members (ie Tales games are a nightmare) because then you can tell a story that's fairly bland and still make me like the characters if you try. Also endgame sets of party members that greatly outweigh the number of slots available generally lead to lots of party members getting left behind level-wise (Also who really wants to change strategies once they've found one that works and offers a good amount of diversity/variation?). I know this wouldn't be a problem in this case, but learning to use new people every five or so areas/chapters/wherever would be really annoying.

glennmagusharvey

Well I guess YMMV on the equipment thing; I don't really think it's a core part of the experience -- especially when the characters are gaining experience levels already.

On the other hand, I was playing Black Sigil: Blade of the Exiled, and was really enjoying all the unexpected joins and departures, and was thinking back to the same things in Final Fantasy IV -- the party just kept on changing right up until the very end.  Yet these stories were made more interesting by their volatile party rosters.

DYRE

(Also who really wants to change strategies once they've found one that works and offers a good amount of diversity/variation?)

Me. Basically every RPG I've played (even Dark Souls, which I otherwise have basically no problems with) allows and even encourages/enforces (through things like equipment upgrades [when resources are limited or at least tedious to get a lot of] and giving reduced/no EXP to party members you aren't using) using one strategy throughout the entire game and it makes the game get progressively easier and less interesting as it goes on, which is pretty much the opposite of what should actually happen.

In any case, in a game with lots of party members who rotate in and out based on plot progression, it probably isn't really necessary to have equipment, no.  Usually, equipment in RPGs is just a way of increasing characters' strength at a rate that's dictated by game progression and not so much by how much time the players spend grinding, and I guess you could get basically the same effect by just swapping party members around.

As for personal opinion about party swapping, as always I'd rather have a small, fixed cast than one that changes frequently (or ever, really), since spending more time with characters means I can get more attached to them and the group as a whole, but this is really just an arbitrary personal preference so I don't really think large casts are worse.