Summary
AlthoughZoria: Age of Shatteringis a methodical turn-based tactical RPG in the same vein asBaldur’s Gate 3, its loot system bears more resemblance to action RPGs likeDiablowhich offer players a generous flow of loot drops from combat encounters and chests. There are pros and cons to each approach toRPGloot, and inZoria: Age of Shattering’s case, a steady stream of loot rather than infrequent but significant drops appears to have been the best move considering the game’s systems.
In an interview with Game Rant,Zoria: Age of Shatteringproducer Sefan Nitescu weighed in on the team’s approach to the game’s loot and why they prefer games that don’t hold back on providing players with ample opportunity to upgrade their character’s gear. They felt that being too restrained with loot can hamper players' freedom to enjoy building their characters and can limit how much players explore the game’s various classes and playstyles.
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Zoria: Age of Shattering Doesn’t Want Players to be Limited by Loot
There are basically two schools of thought when it comes to loot in RPGs: either give players substantial upgrades on rare occasions likeBaldur’s Gate 3’s loot system, or a steadier pace of loot that leans more toward marginal upgrades that allow players to fine-tune their builds more granularly, as is the case withDiablo’s loot. In Nitescu’s opinion, it’s best to be generous to players so that they can enjoy their time customizing character builds rather than waiting around for the next game-changing drop.
We don’t believe in limiting playstyles through artificial scarcity of loot, like, “We’re not gonna give you much loot and you are going to be so happy when we do.” The point of a game is to enjoy it, it’s to explore. It’s an RPG, you want to explore the story, and you don’t want to do advanced economics to just be able to get through mid-game. I don’t see the point in doing that.
It’s never going to be overpowered because that just gets boring if I get the number one pick, so it’s not gonna be like that. But I don’t want to have your playstyle limited because you couldn’t find the piece for your wizard, so now you’re not taking the wizard because he’s butt naked. So that’s the approach, that’s the reason behind all that loot.
RPGs tend to feature a number of classes to experiment with, andZoria: Age of Shatteringis no exception. Nitescu felt that one of the points ofplaying tactical RPGsis to experiment with classes and builds, and players can often struggle to do so in games where it’s too difficult to find the appropriate gear for their desired playstyles.
Zoria: Age of Shattering Players Need Lots of Loot for Their Many Characters
SinceZoria: Age of Shatteringhas anXCOM-style approachto party members where players can manage a comparatively large number of characters at their outpost, a decent amount of loot is needed in order to gear up each of these characters, as even companions outside the player’s active party have their uses.
When you get to the outpost and you get three more followers really quickly, and then if you do your exploration correctly, and if you upgrade the inn and you upgrade the outpost correctly, you get a few more followers.
When you get to a point where you have seven or eight really early in the game, a lot of loot already makes a lot more sense. If you work the other way around and you get a piece every two hours and you’ve got eight guys you’re gonna start switching pieces. Then you have your classes and your gear types like light, medium, hardened, and heavy.
Zoria: Age of Shattering’s demo doesn’t feature the outpost mechanic, so players don’t quite get the full picture when it comes tothe loot systemand it can initially seem overbearing when a party of three characters is provided enough loot to equip a much a larger contingent. Once the full game is released, players will find themselves making use of these items, and they should have an easy time exploring Zoria’s many potential character builds and party compositions.
Zoria: Age of Shatteringis set to release for PC in Q4 2023.
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