Silk Games

Ever since the original Diablo I've been a huge loot hunt fanatic. There is just nothing cooler in an online RPG than the feeling of finding a rare or unique item and then being able to use or to trade that item to other players. Even though the loot hunt is a concept from modern RPGs, it fits incredibly well into NEStalgia's 8-bit console RPG formula.

A chest drops at the end of battle.

The player has found a random stat drop item.

Loot drops in NEStalgia are pretty straight forward. At the end of every battle there is a chance that the enemies will drop a chest. If you're in a party with other players, the chance for a chest to drop is calculated separately for each player. Therefore, the odds of finding loot do not change based upon the size of your party. The probability of every drop obviously varies, but chests can contain the following types of items:

• Normal Items - Basic items, weapons and armor that you can also purchase from NPC Mercants in the area
• Random Weapons/Armor - Weapons and armor similar to what can be purchased from NPC Merchants in the area, but with random stat modifiers applied to them (Strength, Intelligence, etc.)
• Special Items - Interesting and unique usable items that can't be bought or found anywhere else
• Unique Weapons/Armor - Named, unique weapons and armor that are incredibly powerful (predetermined stats) and sometimes bestow special abilities

The pool of items that can drop is based upon the larger area that you're in. For example, the overworld map surrounding a particular town and all of the dungeons etc. linked to that town are usually considered an 'area'.

You can also find loot in chests hidden all over the world, although the contents aren't random. That's not to say that there aren't useful items in chests - particularly those located in secret passages.

Note the two dyes this player has found.	The player uses a dye.
This dye is a vivid blue.	...and the other dye is black.

One of the types of special usable items that will drop in battle are dyes, which can be used once to recolor your character sprite. Dyes contain colors and color combinations that are unique in that they aren't available to choose from during the character creation process. If you want a very distinct looking character, you'll be wanting to get your hands on dyes.

Check out the stats on this unique weapon drop!

Unique weapons and armor are very powerful. Get lucky enough to find a unique item and you likely won't need to replace it with another piece of gear for 7-10 levels. Furthermore, some unique gear has special powers when used in the overworld or battles. As pictured here, the "Fiery Orb of the Phoenix" allows Conjurers to cast the spell "Redeem" in battle (a 50% chance revive spell).

There is actually a bit more ground to cover - particularly how boss loot drops function in the 'end game' dungeon for each content patch... but I'll likely explain all of that post-release. It won't be long now ;)