Games where loot is meaningful?

[Plumpodrome]

PLEASE read this paragraph, as I don’t want to be smacked by 4 Path of Exile recs.

Hear me out. I was 13 when I first played my first ARPG, Torchlight (diablo clone). I was at first fascinated by the equipment system, following up growing with just a few JRPGs, so the variety of equipment was overwhelming in a good way, at first.

Then everything lost its meaning after the abundance of loot became commonplace.
Fast forward 15 years - I either encounter games where loot doesn’t really matter and has no visual impact, or is flashy, yet 0.003% better than my previous sword.

I’m looking for games (any RPG subgenres) that measure out their equipment drops in meaningful ways, with strides in power. I miss the feeling of actually being excited to open a chest - and I miss seeing chests once every 30 minutes, instead of every 2.
I own a gazillion games and I have a backlog of 3000. However, I need help in regards what to choose to move to after I’m done with Chrono Trigger, FF7r, and FFX.

Examples of what I like/don't like

- SMT Strange Journey
Finding forma was cool because it actually meant I was aiming for certain special weapons and whatnot, but obviously it came with no mechanical or visual feedback changes.

- Grim Dawn
I enjoy the gameplay loop but there’s just simply so much all the time, that I start caring very little about changing equipment or optimising my build. Feels inconsequential.

- Skyrim
I actually think the timing in this game for cool gear handouts is good, but it’s a shame it comes strapped to that game. It’s a very okay game.

- New Vegas
Loved how they handled special gear acquisition here. The rate allowed you to get attached to previous stuff, and it all came with visual+mechanical feedback.

- SOTN
Game might be unbalanced to hell and back, but it being fun to use the abilities from the new gear with genuine changes to visual effects, and power accordingly of course - left me with no regrets.

 

[Tonberry]

My first thought (since it's been on my mind alot lately) is Baldur's Gate 3 (but also 1 and 2).

There aren't like a million weapons, but every weapon type has several mundane upgrades, and interesting uniques with cool effects. It's the kind of game where there might be a piece of equipment in the first act (out of three) that's the very best for your build the entire game simply because it jives so well with the rest of your playstyle, which kind of makes you grow really attached to the good stuff you find.
And the +1/2/3 etc upgrades of the mundane weapons and armor get more intricate and cooler looking designs so getting them as upgrades still feels very good.

This example is trusty ol' Ring Mail, then the +1 and +2 variants. So you'll still feel more powerful even when finding mundane gear:

 

[ATenderLad]

I absolutely feel this one, SOTN having a ton of gear with actual different uses really spoiled the concept going forward.

Sure, I don't MIND a five percent increase in strike damage, but I'm not exactly doing a fist pump over it. I'd be happy for some recommendations myself, off the top of my head I'm not thinking of many.

You have stuff like Baldur's Gate, with a toolset that's almost intimidating. (Scratch that, it *is* intimidating, but I also don't play D&D). The Souls series - Elden Ring in particular - offers a huge variety of gear and items, though they aren't really my jam. Most of the "Ivalice" Squaresoft games have a big emphasis on interesting items, in the Tactics Advance games they're the actual source of your abilites, meanwhile Vagrant Story makes acquiring and training gear sets for different situations a huge part of the game. (It's also fucking GREAT. To me, at least).

I think if Cyberpunk ditched allllll of the millions of random items, and your inventory only consisted of the interesting variety of guns and weapons, I'd probably really enjoy it! (I know, this one is just a gripe).

Borderlands is both good *and* bad at this? There's been tons of instances where a cool new weapon changed how I'm speccing my character for a time, but you *also* get an ocean of garbage. I know that "all killer, no filler" would make the best drops feel less special, buuut I also don't need a video game to feel like a slot machine all the time. Bitches have gambling problems!

 

[Big Finger Jim]

Please, dude, for God's sake, change your font color. I can barely read it.

 

[Plumpodrome]

My first thought (since it's been on my mind alot lately) is Baldur's Gate 3 (but also 1 and 2).

I’ve had a BG3 run before as a Warlock and you’re correct in that - I just didn’t happen to think about it much recently because my experience with it was, well, alright.

Act 1 is extremely linear (and ruins replayability to me), Act 2 was great, but Act 3 is where I dropped it because of the pacing taking a nosedive. However I’m considering a durge playthrough now that the new classes are here.

I absolutely feel this one, SOTN having a ton of gear with actual different uses really spoiled the concept going forward.

Sure, I don't MIND a five percent increase in strike damage, but I'm not exactly doing a fist pump over it. I'd be happy for some recommendations myself, off the top of my head I'm not thinking of many.

You have stuff like Baldur's Gate, with a toolset that's almost intimidating. (Scratch that, it *is* intimidating, but I also don't play D&D). The Souls series - Elden Ring in particular - offers a huge variety of gear and items, though they aren't really my jam. Most of the "Ivalice" Squaresoft games have a big emphasis on interesting items, in the Tactics Advance games they're the actual source of your abilites, meanwhile Vagrant Story makes acquiring and training gear sets for different situations a huge part of the game. (It's also fucking GREAT. To me, at least).

I think if Cyberpunk ditched allllll of the millions of random items, and your inventory only consisted of the interesting variety of guns and weapons, I'd probably really enjoy it! (I know, this one is just a gripe).

Borderlands is both good *and* bad at this?

Yeah I’ve played all the BL games, and unfortunately had to drop the last one because of a game breaking unfixable bug in co-op in 2025. For God’s sake. Aside from the pacing and writing, they’re fun games, and you’d be right about the gear. Senseless and abundant, yet good variety in visual+mechanical feedback despite the loot system. Still not what I look for obviously.

However, you’ve awakened my curiosity with Vagrant Story and FFT. I was thinking of first watching out for Square popping out FFT remaster this year, as all signs point towards that. If they do and it has those abysmal AI upscaled backgrounds - ill be emulating the PSP ver on my Flip 2 since I’d rather avoid the black bars.
Regarding cyberpunk2077 - not my thing. Almost bashed my head against the monitor after the second cinematic “Press W to crawl” section in one hour.

Looking at my completions - rapid fire recs from me:
Unicorn Overlord (getting anything that increases turn actions feels like crack)
CV LoI + HoD (no Aria bc I’m doing them chrono)
Sunless Skies (best CRPG I’ve ever touched)

Unfortunately, despite all the other RPGs I’ve greatly enjoyed, their loot is a nothingburger for the most part.
However I’m definitely doing Vagrant Story and FFT this year.

Please, dude, for God's sake, change your font color. I can barely read it.

Apologies brother, didn’t know it was that bad.
_______________

For reference, here’s my completion list for anyone that might wish to take a look.

Completed Games - iksdistek's Playthroughs | HowLongToBeat

View iksdistek's playthroughs on HowLongToBeat. See what games they are playing, their recently completed games, and more.

howlongtobeat.com

 

[rugal]

morrowind elder scroll 3
oblivion elder scroll 4