I've come up with yet another long term project that (hopefully) has lower resource requirements than my previous suggested project, but the key to most of that is the use of the game's customization/equipment creation system (which does not have pre-made equipment for player use; it instead allows you to create your own armor and weapons in specific patterns that are partially pre-ordained.)
What I mean by this is all equipment used by the player is created by them using different materials that determine what the weapon will be, such as a hilt for swords and daggers, a shaft for spears and halberds, different stock and barrel lengths for guns, etc. The same is done with armors, with lamellar, laminar, scale, plate, and splint (among other) patterns available.
However, the question I came to ask was if having all the equipment pre-made and "set in stone" would be easier to do than the reversal I had just described above. The reason being that I have noticed that no other game has used the system I have described, and I wonder if there is a good reason that nobody has tried the system I proposed yet.
There are other reasons the game could be complex, but one way to cut down on the resources necessary while still having a customization system with a significant degree of depth would be to use the method described above (or is it?)
Anyways, what do all the professional game developers think of this system? Would it be more complicated that using pre-created gear?