Buildcrafting In RPGs And Why Players Not Focusing On It Is A Missed Opportunity

If you’re unfamiliar with the term “Buildcrafting,” let me give you a brief rundown. While it’s partially infamous in the Destiny 2 community these days, it’s literally what the term is self-explanatory; Crafting an in-game build comprised of weapons, armor, or whatever RPG skillset element it possesses.

A few weeks ago, I discussed how Power Fantasy was the ultimate element of escapism in games, but what if I told you that certain games could only allow that to happen if you actually dabble in their buildcrafting aspects? By that, it’s important to understand that not everything in a game can be streamlined with your desired choice of in-game equipment or abilities.

Sure, you can brute-force your way through, no questions asked, and get a skill or weapon that floats your boat but you have to understand that different games incorporate buildcrafting as an engaging catalyst of their gameplay. Once you take a step to understand it, trust me, you’ll appreciate the overall structure and gameplay loop even more.

The Art And Appeal Behind Buildcrafting

Believe me when I say that most procrastinate over the mention or idea of developing a build for their characters or parties in RPGs. And hey, I’ve been there; I understand that you just wanna complete and be done with it, but hear me out here: is that really fun? For me, the main appeal behind crafting builds in games is that they become your compass for witnessing beauty in destruction.

To be less philosophical here, an example is the Diablo franchise, that series defines what buildcrafting means since the whole gameplay loop revolves around crafting an endgame build for your class and character so powerful that it can clear countless hordes of enemies quickly and melt bosses with relative ease.

Even in single-player RPGs like Assassin’s Creed Odyssey and Elden Ring, sure, you can go ahead selecting whatever skill you want for Kassandra or any Talisman that matches your current favorite armament for the Tarnished, but the only downside is that you’ll end up missing half of the intended purpose here, in this case not exploring your build options.

A Leap Of Faith For The Average Joe

Jumping into Buildcrafting can be a daunting experience, as much as I’ve preached here about how it’s one of the most fundamental components of an RPG, it’s also the most complex one to understand at times.

And I’m saying that from firsthand experience because even I’ve felt overwhelmed with the amount of options present in a given moment for a build to work towards especially in such a rich RPG like Baldur’s Gate 3 with its multiple multiclass options and gameplay skillsets.

What's your favourite game for creating your own builds and trying to "break" the game and become an invincible god?
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I mean honestly just look at the countless Elden Ring builds Fextralife’s put up on their YouTube channel, now I’d probably wanna try them all out if I had the chance and enough in-game resources but my takeaway with this is how there’s so much variety and creativity in high abundance to be enjoyed here.

Still, I’ll wager that many casual audiences out there, including a few of my friends I know, would end up looking like that one scene of Homelander being stressed out in The Boys Season 3 if they considered learning about creating proper and coherent builds in video games.

Thankfully, that’s not the case, in fact, just having enough of your attention span intact with a side of patience is all you need to understand buildcrafting in most RPGs. You can get a basic idea of whatever build you want to work towards with a skill tree calculator present for games such as Borderlands 3, or even a few videos from popular Youtubers of a particular game can yield all the information you require.

It even became my most anticipated thing to do in JRPGs such as Octopath Traveler 2 and Like A Dragon Infinite Wealth, slowly building up all the party members with their high-end equipment, and gear as well as maxing out the stats of their jobs/classes to destroy secret bosses and other endgame encounters.

It’s Not A Loop, It’s A Spiral

Destiny 2 was the game that kickstarted my desire for crafting builds in my RPG titles. This slowly led me down a rabbit hole of wanting to play more games where I could mercilessly destroy everything, and feel rewarded for investing my time min-maxing everything. Oh and let me tell you, if you manage to test these builds out in post-game or any challenging activity later on, the dopamine rush you get hits like a truck.

It’s fine that you might not want to try out this whole gig within games due to time constraints, but after everything that I’ve said so far, once you discover the creative joy behind this element in your favorite RPGs or the ones that you’re looking forward to playing, it’ll be that much sweeter to finish them and experiment later with what else you can do to appreciate it’s gameplay fundamentals.