Cooking in RPGs

[AdolfSatan]

The recent update in stoneshart made me think on how often this stupid mechanic shows up, so I’m wondering, does anyone actually like seeing this bullshit in the games they play?

 

[Vic]

fuck no

 

[Eisen]

Not always, in Arx Fatalis, it just works

 

[Modron]

Depends on how life simish the rpg is I suppose. I liked it in KCD, didn't mind it the Eschalon games, and Bloodstained I guess since it was a one and done affair that granted permanent stat boni to your character.

 

[Egosphere]

If there was something more interesting to it beyond just clicking on drawings of different dishes to get stat boosting items, I'd be curious to see it

 

[Zlaja]

I liked making pizza in D:OS.

 

[Iucounu]

In RPGs specifically? Skyrim's cooking seems less useful than making magic potions, but I don't remember if the actual mechanics were that different.

In non-RPGs, The Long Dark has nice cooking/fire mechanics (indoor cooking costs precious time, matches and fuel; outdoor fires at least provide heat and keep predators away, among other things).

In ARK:Survival Evolved cooking food seems to be mostly for immersion, but there are also more complicated (and less fun) recipies for making potions.

I could also imagine a game where smoke from the fire/chimney would attract enemies (of friendly NPCs nearby), or where making mistakes while cooking food lowers your health.

 

[Late Bloomer]

I like to come home and see the ole in-game wife with traditional values, cooking me up something after a long day of adventuring.

 

[Berengar]

I liked making pizza in D:OS.

I remember starting a full on massacre in a tavern because I walked into their kitchen and took their pizza. Good times.

 

[Zed Duke of Banville]

Dragon's Crown (2013) has a food-related game mechanic in which the party occasionally has an opportunity to select ingredients while camping and receive certain benefits for the next level depending on what meals are eaten. The luscious artwork tends to arouse hunger in the player. Though the game is really a beat-'em-up with RPG elements (equipment, character progression and customization), not a proper RPG.

 

[NecroLord]

 

[octavius]

No. In games I like to do things I can't or won't do in real life.

 

[luj1]

fuck cooking

 

[Butter]

At most you assign a character to cooking like Kingmaker. it can be a logistical concern, but if you're stuck on a crafting menu to make soup, the game is probably fucking up.

 

[Hace El Oso]

If someone doesn’t like to see cooking in a game, I’m immediately suspicious that they’re generally too lazy to cook more than the basics for themselves and instead waste large sums of money being spoon fed C-grade food. I also suspect that they can’t wipe their own asses.

Spoiler

I joke. Except not really.

Preparation of food is an important, engaging part of life and if I don't personally do it in a game then overseeing or simply observing it is appreciated.

 

[Alex]

I recently started playing Morrowind with a bunch of mods and one of them, Ashfall, has some nice cooking subsystems (you can grill food, make stew and tea, with tea in particular having a different effect for each herb you can find). I suppose cooking stuff all the time can get annoying, but if the game can avoid this pitfall somehow it is something that enhances the experience, I think.

 

[laclongquan]

If someone doesn’t like to see cooking in a game, I’m immediately suspicious that they’re generally too lazy to cook more than the basics for themselves and instead waste large sums of money being spoon fed C-grade food. I also suspect that they can’t wipe their own asses.

Spoiler

I joke. Except not really.

Preparation of food is an important, engaging part of life and if I don't personally do it in a game then overseeing or simply observing it is appreciated.

Do you know there's a kind of goods call meals ready to cook? Aka they prepare all the ingredients in a package, you just need to bring home and do a simple cooking action?

Expensive as fuck but it's still better than take raw ingredients and prepare them at home.

 

[laclongquan]

Fallout New Vegas has a cooking system (much better than Fallout 3). My sessions currently has 5 mods that has new recipes and new foods, in addition to the TTW recipes.

 

[Busyman]

I voted no, but I like options in games, so I don't mind it being there.

 

[Cat Headed Eagle]

In RPGs specifically? Skyrim's cooking seems less useful than making magic potions, but I don't remember if the actual mechanics were that different.

In non-RPGs, The Long Dark has nice cooking/fire mechanics (indoor cooking costs precious time, matches and fuel; outdoor fires at least provide heat and keep predators away, among other things).

In ARK:Survival Evolved cooking food seems to be mostly for immersion, but there are also more complicated (and less fun) recipies for making potions.

I could also imagine a game where smoke from the fire/chimney would attract enemies (of friendly NPCs nearby), or where making mistakes while cooking food lowers your health.

Cooking in both Skyrim and New Vegas has an impact in hardcore mode. In New Vegas it tracks hidration and sleep, and Skyrim adds cold.

 

[VerSacrum]

I recently started playing Morrowind with a bunch of mods and one of them, Ashfall, has some nice cooking subsystems (you can grill food, make stew and tea, with tea in particular having a different effect for each herb you can find). I suppose cooking stuff all the time can get annoying, but if the game can avoid this pitfall somehow it is something that enhances the experience, I think.

Yeah with Ashfall you can just stock up on cheap scuttle and bread in any inn, its mechanics never become intrusive (unlike that annoying weather mod for Skyrim where you freeze to death after standing for a minute in the snow). Really fantastic mod, the tea brewing really fits the Dunmer culture imo.

 

[KörangarTheMighty]

Would be an interesting mechanic if money (or food itself) was ever scarce enough in RPGs for it to be valuable as either a cash sink or as a way to influence companions and other NPCs socially. I always felt that mealtime at camp or the night at the inn serves as the natural spot for the lengthy character discussions and planning. Too often does food just wind up rewarding some retarded stat boost, when a roast dinner at most it should be cheering you up while draining your fatigue.

 

[deuxhero]

with Ashfall you can just stock up on cheap scuttle and bread in any inn, its mechanics never become intrusive

That's the problem: If it's trivial to mitigate the need for food, the system might as well not exist. To make a hunger system worthwhile it needs to actually be a concern when your next meal is, not just a rout of "when hunger low, eat cheap item that you carry for this and this alone" or it's a pointlesss annoyance. I think for food to mater it would need to
1: Spoil. This is a big one that I can only recall seeing in KCD. If food doesn't spoil, there's no reason to not just stock up on the best cost-per-hunger/weight ratio food and ignore the mechanic. Dragon's Dogma also had a spoiling mechanic, but no food mechanic. It does get a note for (mostly) forcing the pick between light food that spoils, or heavy jarred food that doesn't.
2: Require some kind of balanced diet. If there's just one "hunger" bar, the player is encouraged to stuff their mouth with the cheapest food alone. No need to fully simulate a diet, just Calories, Protein, Vitamin C and maybe Calcium are enough to force a varied diet since it's impossible for a single ingredient to give everything in any quantity (you'll need a full kilogram of carrots or half a kilogram of potato to get a day's vitamin c). Also calorie need should depend on user activity instead of flat burn so there's some incentive to not just do jumping jacks everywhere.
3: Realistic weights for food. No quarter pound cob of corn that gives 9 hours of food. Assuming a 2000 calorie diet, deadly low for someone as active as the Courier, and a flat burn rate, since it is flat in NV, the corn on that cob provides 750 calories (and a decent amount of water). In reality a quarter pound of dried cornmeal, with no wasted cob, is merely 410.501122 calories. Don't even get me started on the bottles of water that literally weigh nothing (weight of empty bottle=1 pound, weight of same bottle when full=1 pound). Failure to do this, above all other issues, is what trivializes hunger mechanics. Being chained by how many supplies you can carry, with the unreliable extension of foraging, actually makes hunger interesting. Being able to carry 10 loafs of cheap bread and eat them over a week does not.

(Games like Tales of and Bloodstained where characters don't actually need to eat but food is a source of stat bonuses aren't the same thing)

Would be an interesting mechanic if money (or food itself) was ever scarce enough in RPGs for it to be valuable as either a cash sink or as a way to influence companions and other NPCs socially. I always felt that mealtime at camp or the night at the inn serves as the natural spot for the lengthy character discussions and planning. Too often does food just wind up rewarding some retarded stat boost, when a roast dinner at most it should be cheering you up while draining your fatigue.

Arguably Kenshi does the money sink and scarcity part. Food security is the main logistical hurdle to expanding your party since hires are a one time fee or unreliable rescues. While the cost is bearable (mostly) for a solo adventurer, it quickly balloons for a small gang, especially as vendors don't have a huge surplus of food. Unfortunately it's over entirely once you have any kind of self contained farming and cooking setup.

 

[Reinhardt]

in atelier games half of the time result of your "cooking" can obliterate dragons.

 

[VerSacrum]

with Ashfall you can just stock up on cheap scuttle and bread in any inn, its mechanics never become intrusive

That's the problem: If it's trivial to mitigate the need for food, the system might as well not exist. To make a hunger system worthwhile it needs to actually be a concern when your next meal is, not just a rout of "when hunger low, eat cheap item that you carry for this and this alone" or it's a pointlesss annoyance. I think for food to mater it would need to
1: Spoil. This is a big one that I can only recall seeing in KCD. If food doesn't spoil, there's no reason to not just stock up on the best cost-per-hunger/weight ratio food and ignore the mechanic. Dragon's Dogma also had a spoiling mechanic, but no food mechanic. It does get a note for (mostly) forcing the pick between light food that spoils, or heavy jarred food that doesn't.
2: Require some kind of balanced diet. If there's just one "hunger" bar, the player is encouraged to stuff their mouth with the cheapest food alone. No need to fully simulate a diet, just Calories, Protein, Vitamin C and maybe Calcium are enough to force a varied diet since it's impossible for a single ingredient to give everything in any quantity (you'll need a full kilogram of carrots or half a kilogram of potato to get a day's vitamin c). Also calorie need should depend on user activity instead of flat burn so there's some incentive to not just do jumping jacks everywhere.
3: Realistic weights for food. No quarter pound cob of corn that gives 9 hours of food. Assuming a 2000 calorie diet, deadly low for someone as active as the Courier, and a flat burn rate, since it is flat in NV, the corn on that cob provides 750 calories (and a decent amount of water). In reality a quarter pound of dried cornmeal, with no wasted cob, is merely 410.501122 calories. Don't even get me started on the bottles of water that literally weigh nothing (weight of empty bottle=1 pound, weight of same bottle when full=1 pound). Failure to do this, above all other issues, is what trivializes hunger mechanics. Being chained by how many supplies you can carry, with the unreliable extension of foraging, actually makes hunger interesting. Being able to carry 10 loafs of cheap bread and eat them over a week does not.

(Games like Tales of and Bloodstained where characters don't actually need to eat but food is a source of stat bonuses aren't the same thing)

Would be an interesting mechanic if money (or food itself) was ever scarce enough in RPGs for it to be valuable as either a cash sink or as a way to influence companions and other NPCs socially. I always felt that mealtime at camp or the night at the inn serves as the natural spot for the lengthy character discussions and planning. Too often does food just wind up rewarding some retarded stat boost, when a roast dinner at most it should be cheering you up while draining your fatigue.

Arguably Kenshi does the money sink and scarcity part. Food security is the main logistical hurdle to expanding your party since hires are a one time fee or unreliable rescues. While the cost is bearable (mostly) for a solo adventurer, it quickly balloons for a small gang, especially as vendors don't have a huge surplus of food. Unfortunately it's over entirely once you have any kind of self contained farming and cooking setup.

I get you, but in KC:D you can also easily trivialise the mechanic by just keeping a reserve of wine, because that doesn't spoil and fills you up without getting drunk. Same with dry meats, it even gives you a "balanced diet" buff if you manage to not become hungry for a week iirc. I exclusively played the game in hc mode and never had to worry about food.