The Artisanal Cycle

In the future, resources will be so abundant that all the cool guys will have hand-crafted gear that will make stripping corpses worthwhile again. Then, the fights over the stripped stuff, and a new epoch of heroes.

The Parable of the Basket

Once upon a time, there was a weaver of baskets who brought his art to perfection which amazed everyone, fellow weavers most of all. He worked in wood, he worked in copper, he worked in fabrics and hides. Emperors sent him gold and jewels; they received jeweled golden baskets more suitable for the thrones upon which they sat than they were.
One day when a man walked by the basket weaver in the street, he shook a bundle of common rushes he happened to be carrying and said, "This must be the only thing you haven't turned into a basket yet!"
The weaver blinked. "You're right. Will you give me those?"
He set to work right away. He bent and he wove the rushes, and before long he was setting the last in place. When he completed that basket, his final basket, its perfection caused it to contain the entire world, and never has anyone found a way to release it yet.

Moral: Get just good enough to get by.
Secondary moral: Don't let anything happen to this basket. It has people in it.
Finis

More Like Tales of Put It Back Down

The Tales of Arise demo is the perfect modern game, full of petty annoyances to increase player engagement. Cooking after battles? I think not, my friend. Go back to this campsite that's just sitting in the middle of a regular RPG area for no reason. You deserve to rest after watching cinematic animations kill all the enemies for you and pressing the X button on items they had to make sparkle because they don't stand out from the dull green and brown terrain in any way. Then enjoy some ugly models standing still like they were in a cheap Spider-Man game while they discuss their single personality trait each. It has a crafting system, because not including one incurs a hefty fine or possibly prison. What an unpleasant mess.

Arts and Crafts

How do you make a magic compass, anyway? Dropping your enemy's heart in there is a good start so the compass can point toward the futility of vengeance. Other options? Put a single tear from a dying god in, look where it points, and moonwalk the other way.