Is there anything worse than destructive item combination in RPGs!? Seriously

[Kalibakthegreat]

So I'm playing through Persona 3 FES last night just to check out the new stuff, and I was reminded of something that always drove me nuts in that game - destructive item and monster combining. It seems like this is getting more and more and more popular in RPG's, but it drives me insane. I'm talking about, you know, "combine sword A and sword B to make sword C," or "fuse this monster and that monster to create a new one," or "add these three items together to get a mystery fourth item."

The problem is that, besides being destructive (you must save before in case you get some sort of bum result), the systems are usually ridiculously arcane and confusing, with seemingly (or just plain) random results. Persona 3's monster fusion mechanic is like this - you never know what you're going to get when you fuse two monsters (personas) together; the ability that the new creature has could be significantly better or worse than the ones your two had before, and sometimes he'll also poop out an item for you. BUT THIS IS THE CORNERSTONE OF THE GAME AND IS HOW YOU GET STRONGER

[Autumn Almanac]

I share your annoyance. I can handle the Alchemy Pot in Dragon Quest VIII because it's simple and optional. Anything more complex than that and I just don't feel like putting in the effort to memorize creation trees and farm for rare items and worry about wanting to reset if I get screwed.

Final Fantasy XII had something similar (the bazaar) but I liked that it was relatively hands off (you just sell a bunch of stuff and the game figures out whether you've hit on any actionable combinations), and you didn't really have to worry about a "bad result" because most loot wasn't useful outside of the bazaar anyway.

I ordered FES because of all the accolades it's received (and the awesome price) but I am wary about this aspect of the gameplay.

[furryman]

I was playing one of the Persona games (Shin Megumi Tensi I think) and was thinking the same thing. I think the worst part is the randomly generated powers for the demons. I sometimes had to spend 30 minutes or more combining then refresing monster combos before I could get all the powers I wanted. Sometimes I never did get all the powers I wanted. Very annoying to say the least.

[dotchan]

Ugh, agreed. I remember doing this in Star Ocean 2 and being very irritated by it. If you're going to have this kind of system, at least let me know what chance I have of succeeded so I can decide whether or not the waste of time is worth it.