Cool, thanks for the tip Ichthyic. Makes me feel a bit better about the crafting system, but now it seems a bit too easy. I'd still prefer it if that didn't work, but there were more convenient training recipes: for example, a ring made out of only gold.
It would be nice if you didn't end up with a bunch of materials you can't use because you're forced to buy everything in the category at once, and the only recipes that use them also call for rare materials, which you're also forced to buy in packs (and these ones are ridiculously expensive), so by the time you use up all your extra gold bars for example (if you can ever grind enough to afford it) now you're stuck with a bunch of extra rare components and it just
goes on and on in an infinite loop. :S
So yeah, more recipes that only use one or two basic materials would be great if the next game/chapter is going to keep the "buy everything in packs" system.
Also, is there any way to sell items created with the carpentry skill, or even get rid of them? If not, how can anyone stand to train the skill when it clogs up your house inventory with barrels and junk?