A unique blog about game design and development, by a 40yo professional game sculptor.

"After the fight is over, watch the next handful of scenes, until you get dumped inside your bedroom. You'll also get a TRAINEE'S WEAR armor and a ROYAL KNIGHTS CHARTER (key item). With the talking over, kick your bed to get an ANALYSIS BALL. Kick the lone desk in the room for a CURE DROP, Exit outside.Also, try going around Leonard on his chair to kick the back bed for 10 Dagols.  If you want, kick the guard outside your door up to 400 times to get a single Dagol(the currency of the game) each time. Head right, and enter the first door you see. In here, kick the second chair on the right desk for a CURE DROP, then exit. Back in the hallway, go left down into the next hallway."  - Radiata Stories walkthru from www.gamefaqs.com

Does this excite you?  I know this collection sub-game is designed for achievers, and I'm more of an explorer.  But still.  If I make a game with 1000 chairs for you to kick, is it a fun game for anyone?  A lot of Japanese CRPG traditions come from seminal American games, so I'm not going to pin this on the Japanese, but why, in every CPRG, are we expected to ransack every house we come to?  With no consequences!

Oblivion, Jade Empire, Fable, and other recent games try to buck this trend, but they still leave you with 1000 dungeon chests to ransack.  Is this collection game just a relic, or am I alone in being sick of it?