Poll of the Day > It bothers me that "Steal" is largely useless in RPGs

(+) Yeah! (+)

Playing through FF7 now. Gave Tifa Steal because her DPS was frustratingly low compared to Aerith and Cloud spamming magic, and she cant even do anything!

FF9 has the MC with the Steal skill, but steal rates are SO low to the point where youll be stalling battles so he can get a thing with a .5 percent steal rate.

Vesperia did it right. Stealing with Repede is both easy (just spam the input you put Steal on) and simple (When you get it, have Repede use Gale Dog so nothing can hit him and he can steal between enemy attacks)

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Steal makes no sense in most RPGs anyways... why do you need to steal something from something you're gunna kill.

I guess it makes sense if the enemy runs away

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You could give tifa magic in ff7

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And you basically steal stuff that you can buy like a half hour later anyways.

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JOExHIGASHI posted...

You could give tifa magic in ff7

You could give everyone everything.

Im planning on making my Aerith my physical DPS somehow, with Cloud on support. Maybe Yuffie or Vincent in there too because I never used them. (I understand Vincents limit sucks)

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Steal is either completely useless or the only way to get certain very useful items, the latter of which is an annoying mechanic because it means building your party to include stealing if you don't want to miss out on them. There's very little middle ground.

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Don't most Final Fantasies have mug which also damages the enemy?

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Vesperia did everything right when it came to steals and drops. Overlimit Gale Dog + Steal with his accessory and long Fatal Strike chains and you can get whatever item you want in the game with ease. That and Kingdom Hearts 2 are the only games I don't mind farming items in.

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Final Fantasy X makes stealing a 1 hit KO on robot enemies.

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Some items are only obtainable with steal.

Sometimes you can get certain weapons or armor pieces early by stealing them from a boss instead of waiting to buy it from a shop two towns down the road.

http://www.ff7.info/steal-guide.htm


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Steel gets replaced by mithril way too early

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It depends on the game. But basically, if Steal is TOO valuable than you'll have to always have someone with it in your party. Conversely if you can't get anything worthwhile with it there's no reason to use it. Some games put valuable loot drops on the steal and it results in people either resetting the fight if they fail or becoming bonkers OPed if they succeed.

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adjl posted...

Steal is either completely useless or the only way to get certain very useful items, the latter of which is an annoying mechanic because it means building your party to include stealing if you don't want to miss out on them. There's very little middle ground.

Pretty much.

It's always pretty dumb how you can steal stuff from an enemy, but they often/never will drop said item if you just kill them. It's like the item only exists if you steal it; it was never there if you don't.

The closest to a middle ground is something like FF Tactics, where it still has the weird Schrdinger's Bounty issue (unlikely/can't get the items off the corpse), but at least you're stealing their weapons/armor and they lose the use of said items once you swipe them, giving you an advantage in the fight.
(Of course, then you get into the logical query of "why don't they carry back up weapons?")

How else am I supposed to get Gilgamesh's gear?

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lol, I remember my friend taking like over 3 hours to rob Elmdor of all his stuff and how dreadful it was (no way to interim save and come back later back then)

I trained my entire freaking team as master thieves; went in w/ 3 of them w/ steal as primary or 2ndary, and got all his crap and the Ultima spell in under 40 minutes. I was so damn proud

Not in Chrono Trigger.

I feel like steal is pretty good in most rpgs. Was super useful in FFTA and some of the tales games.

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Llamachama posted...

Some items are only obtainable with steal.

Sometimes you can get certain weapons or armor pieces early by stealing them from a boss instead of waiting to buy it from a shop two towns down the road.

http://www.ff7.info/steal-guide.htm

Yeah there are some really good weapons and armor you can steal pretty early in the game which are better than what you will be able to get for quite a while. Problem is they are rare steals. For example, Eligor in the train graveyard is a rare enemy from who you can eventually steal a really good weapon for Aerith.

Some games I find it useful. Others it's pretty meh. DQ XI it's really only worth it if you use itemized kill. Octopath traveler is really weird when it comes to stealing. In battle, there is little point. Steals and drops are identical. Out of battle? Therion can steal better equipment from random npcs than you can buy from stores. Mind you, you can choose to have Tressa buy that equipment instead, but stealing is cheaper so...

Otherwise nothing specifically standing out either way for me.

Edit: right, Tactics steal was useful. And I feel like I used it some vs bosses in Ni no Kuni.

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There's a ton of stuff that is good to steal in FFVII with some of it only being obtainable from stealing.
You should read the FFVII Ultimate Guide.

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Lokarin posted...

Steal makes no sense in most RPGs anyways... why do you need to steal something from something you're gunna kill.

This so fucking hard. At best, it shouldn't be a battlefield skill.

Lokarin posted...

I guess it makes sense if the enemy runs away

Or if your party is going to run away.

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I've always kind of thought it was stupid to level up steal to mug. If you're close enough to pickpocket a werewolf, you're obviously close enough to crit-stab it while you're there.

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Lokarin posted...

Steal makes no sense in most RPGs anyways... why do you need to steal something from something you're gunna kill.

I guess it makes sense if the enemy runs away

This is exactly what endeared me to morrowind when I first saw it. It blew my mind you could loot literally everything off a enemy you killed.

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PK_Spam posted...

her DPS

It's not called DPS in a turn-based game dummy.

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Zareth posted...

It's not called DPS in a turn-based game dummy.

you've 7'd even?

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Lokarin posted...

Steal makes no sense in most RPGs anyways... why do you need to steal something from something you're gunna kill.

I guess it makes sense if the enemy runs away

Because you destroy the monster which means you would be destroying the item you want to steal.
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Revelation34 posted...

Because you destroy the monster which means you would be destroying the item you want to steal.

To an extent. If your character is a fencer, archer or other precision hitter, all enemies that are humanoid should still drop all armor, weapons and any personal items. If you double cast a bahamut blast on a caterpie im not sure you should get gil much less exp from that.

So yeah steal shuld be useful if you are packing auron(x), dagger(ix), vivi, and riku in a hypothetical party because the three attackers would obliterate any items held by the enemy. However if you are using the monk, ninja, redmage and geno as long as no over the top skills are used you think your characters would be rolling in money and spare equip

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Loot never made sense in most JRPG's kill some random wolf and get 100 gold or something. What on earth would a wolf be carrying gold around for? Where would he put it?

Monopoman posted...

Loot never made sense in most JRPG's kill some random wolf and get 100 gold or something. What on earth would a wolf be carrying gold around for? Where would he put it?

Lenny face.
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Lokarin posted...

Steal makes no sense in most RPGs anyways... why do you need to steal something from something you're gunna kill.

So then you can use the thing you steal on said enemy to kill it?

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I think Light Ball and Toxic Sludge are the only good things you can steal off trainer Pokemon.

Haven't played the newer games though.

If there's something else, please tell me about it. I can't roleplay my TR fantasy.

*ponders*

I remember Steal being very useful in vanilla FF6, but correct me if I'm wrong.

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You can steal an early deathbringer in FF12.

I have fond memories of setting up my gambits for that one.

I remember steal was okay in FF tactics advance

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In Bravely Default the Steal Ability netted me an essentially bottomless fortune for which I could buy everything at all times.

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NeoSioType posted...

I think Light Ball and Toxic Sludge are the only good things you can steal off trainer Pokemon.

Haven't played the newer games though.

If there's something else, please tell me about it. I can't roleplay my TR fantasy.

I remember in Ultra Sun/Moon, you can steal the Totem Marowak's Thick Club to give yourself an easier time fighting it.

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things like this, are why I feel star ocean 2 was great, with all the customizations, ok?

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I play a game called Disgaea and some of the best equipment you can get in it are only obtainable through stealing them from non story bosses.

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but ya gotta steal that genji set from elmdor in muh tactics

what i want to know is why do npc's let you go in there home steal all there crap and loot there belongings and don't get pissed off about it.

if some protagonist went into your home would you let them take everything not nailed down or do something about it?

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BlazeAndBlade posted...

what i want to know is why do npc's let you go in there home steal all there crap and loot there belongings and don't get pissed off about it.

if some protagonist went into your home would you let them take everything not nailed down or do something about it?

I think FF7 is the only game where somebody mentioned anything about that.
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Revelation34 posted...

I think FF7 is the only game where somebody mentioned anything about that.

Lost Odyssey. A lot of npcs blatantly tell you to take stuff in their homes.

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mooreandrew58 posted...

Lost Odyssey. A lot of npcs blatantly tell you to take stuff in their homes.

I meant somebody asking if you took something.
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Steal i only ever found good in FFIX

ClarkDuke posted...

things like this, are why I feel star ocean 2 was great, with all the customizations, ok?

Stealing in SO2 has its uses, but it wrecks your character relationships.

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I_Abibde posted...

Stealing in SO2 has its uses, but it wrecks your character relationships.

Why would they care if you steal from monsters?
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havent played 9 in a long time, but isnt steal a huge thing on that game?

BlazeAndBlade posted...

what i want to know is why do npc's let you go in there home steal all there crap and loot there belongings and don't get pissed off about it.

if some protagonist went into your home would you let them take everything not nailed down or do something about it?

NPCs in some Bethesda games will attack you or call for guards if they catch you stealing. Same is true of other RPGs.

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Zeus posted...

NPCs in some Bethesda games will attack you or call for guards if they catch you stealing. Same is true of other RPGs.

Well those styles of rpgs are different. You have more freedom to be a bad guy. In jrpgs thats generally not the case yet its like the expect you to loot peoples houses anyways. Guess its a safe the world by any means mentality

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Revelation34 posted...

Why would they care if you steal from monsters?

Not monsters. You can steal from your party members in town. (One party member has some very high-level armor when you do, too.)