Developer Feedback For The Crafting System

[DasUberFisch]

The overwhelming consensus that I've heard online and from my friends is that hardly anybody actually uses the crafting mechanic, despite how prolifically it's pushed on players. Personally, I think I've only crafted 3 times in over 400 hours, so I very much agree with this. I don't think it meshes well at all with the FromSoft model, and so it feels tacked-on in Elden Ring because the devs probably thought "all open-world games have crafting, so we should put it in our game too." Unfortunately it also introduces something that I found to be one of the biggest sources of annoyance in that it MASSIVELY undercut any enjoyment I used to find from exploring interesting maps, because half of the reward items found from exploration ended up being useless crafting resources that I could find elsewhere. With this in mind, I figured it would be a good idea to start this discussion to help bring up constructive criticism and feedback for the devs to (hopefully) make use of in their games going forward.

1) NEVER make crafting resources (or easily-crafted items) found in the wild have the same item glow as weapons, armor, spells, etc. Finding these types of items are by far the biggest source of feelings of reward during exploration, so if I see an item glow and it ends up being a crafting item, it really feels like more of an insult and waste of my time than if there were nothing there at all. Crafting resources should only be things that have in-game models (flowers, bushes, insects) that the player can see as part of the environment, OR alternatively be drops from killed enemies.

2) If you really want to keep having a crafting system exist in your games, give players the option to unlock ways to purchase them from vendors instead. One idea I had was that you could have merchants in each major area of the game. They can sell crafting recipes to the player, but also give players a small side quest to gather X amount of different regional crafting resources for them to refill their stock of supplies. Once the player completes a merchant's side quest, they now sell unlimited quantity of the craftable items (NOT the resources to make items, but the items themselves). This would give players the option to "live off of the land" if they want, but also just save time and just buy items that they otherwise would never want to spend time farming and crafting themselves.

[Fineous🔥]

Greetings, OP.

Originally posted by DasUberFisch:

The overwhelming consensus that I've heard online and from my friends

I doubt a few randoms and your "friends" can actually overwhelm anything.....But who knows? Maybe im just wrong.

Thanks for sharing your hot take about the magnificient Elden Ring crafting system. I made a guide and a thread where we share knowledge about how to get the best of it, take a look if you want, im sure you will find something useful there.

Goodbye, OP.

[Talilover]

Didn't take long to get hit with some clowns and wiseass comments huh? I don't think the crafting system is "pushed on players" because you have one guy mention it at the start and that's pretty much it but I do understand your overall misgiving with the system.

Your comment about the resources being treated like normal items with a glow on them is definitely warranted tho, I member when picking up a glowing item in the distance meant a weapon or piece of armor not a leaf

[DasUberFisch]

By "pushed on players" I mainly mean it from how frequently the item glow items are crafting resources or cookbooks, not really from NPCs or pop-ups directly telling the player to do more crafting.

[Morton Koopa Jr.]

Originally posted by DasUberFisch:

By "pushed on players" I mainly mean it from how frequently the item glow items are crafting resources or cookbooks, not really from NPCs or pop-ups directly telling the player to do more crafting.

This sounds like you're suggesting it's pushed on players for just existing.

[Talilover]

Originally posted by DasUberFisch:

By "pushed on players" I mainly mean it from how frequently the item glow items are crafting resources or cookbooks, not really from NPCs or pop-ups directly telling the player to do more crafting.

Well I mean in that case it's pushed on players the same way spirit ashes are pushed on people who don't care about summoning, spells for people who aren't doing doing a caster build, multiplayer items for people who don't care about multiplayer, or consumables for people who don't care about buffing.

It's an option for the part of playerbase who does care about it (there are some out there) and the occasional eyeroll for those who don't

[Don Lobo]

Originally posted by DasUberFisch:

By "pushed on players" I mainly mean it from how frequently the item glow items are crafting resources or cookbooks, not really from NPCs or pop-ups directly telling the player to do more crafting.

Other than a few in early catacombs and such, most of the white shinnies that are crafting mats are there 100% as indication or to get the player to a vantage point where they can see what the devs actually want them to find.

Also, while I do think the system could be overhauled greatly, it works for what it is, and as someone who beat the game the first time as a Belmont chucking consumables and whipping things, I greatly appreciate the fact that I don't have to stop and go buy or farm for anything by simply picking up the mats I see while riding with Torrent and taking a sec to craft all my needs as I move along.

And as far as your second point goes, the bones, meats and fowl feet are among the most annoying to get. Don't know about the fowl feet, but bones and meats you can get the bell bearing for. Everything else you can find in stupid quantities at the right spots, and anything that you normally can't represents the few purple shinnies you find that are mats.

I think most of your critique is fair, and I think From should take heed of it moving forward. Not trying to say the game wouldn't benefit from some of your suggestions being taken into consideration. Rather that the problems aren't as significant as you make them out to be.

EDIT: Oh and, I agree Talilover. They give you options to use. In the case of crafting, think of it as the alternative between using buffs or status healing / applying through skills or incantations and instead doing it through consumables. Some will find use for it rather than adding incantations they don’t want to invest on at all, or (for instance) eating the rot head on.