Poll: Preferred inventory mechanism in an RPG.
- Thread starter cgmetallica1981
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I prefer no limit. Realism can take a hike in this regard as far as I'm concerned. In Oblivion, I always end up with three or four different storage bases: usually the waterfront house, Frostcrag Spire, the Knights of the Nine safehouse, and the Shivering Isles palace. I always end up hoarding items that I would have otherwise sold, and it bugs me. I hate clutter, both in real life and virtual life.
If there must be a limit, then go with the item limit. Dragon Age did this well. You could have 10000 duplicates of an item, but it only counted as one. It was a unique item limit, I guess in that you weren't penalized for carrying redundant items (like if you had a ton of poultices).
That Tetris inventory sounds awful. I guess some people love hassle?
If there must be a limit, then go with the item limit. Dragon Age did this well. You could have 10000 duplicates of an item, but it only counted as one. It was a unique item limit, I guess in that you weren't penalized for carrying redundant items (like if you had a ton of poultices).
That Tetris inventory sounds awful. I guess some people love hassle?
Ohh that's a tough one, cause I like all of them, but if I had to choose I'd say I'd like to see a combination of "Weight" limit and "Tetris" style invantories. You know like Two Worlds did, only in a GOOD game.
Unlimited in linear RPGs, encumberance in open world RPGs
Inventory tetris is just annoying.
Limited by number of (different) items makes little sense, as three herbs will take up as much space as three suits of full plate mail.
Encumberance, while fairly implausible, is the least of the evils and I endorse it in open world RPGs since some limitation needs to be imposed there.
Inventory tetris is just annoying.
Limited by number of (different) items makes little sense, as three herbs will take up as much space as three suits of full plate mail.
Encumberance, while fairly implausible, is the least of the evils and I endorse it in open world RPGs since some limitation needs to be imposed there.
diablo had the right idea, but to date, i still think resident evil 4 had the best one. rotation, several different item sizes and shapes. now if only a game would do one in which the items arent always some sort of rectangle, i would be blissfully happy (and frustrated, but mostly happy)
Unlike those who have gone 'limitless FTW', I'm not that big a fan of it, as it quickly becomes the case that I lose track of what items I have (as ZP put it... trousers). Also, I feel somewhat ridiculous lugging around quarter a million credits, a hundred grenades, two hundred medpacks and several dozen means of killing... well anything, and summing up to encumber my running as though I'm naked (KOTOR, good game otherwise). If games had visible inventories, I'd have been a hulking mass of guns and grenades.
I reckon the mass encumbrance of games like Fallout 3 and Oblivion was the best: a limit, but without needing any stupid shuffling. You can still carry a lot of shit, but not so much that you don't know all of what your dragging behind you.
I reckon the mass encumbrance of games like Fallout 3 and Oblivion was the best: a limit, but without needing any stupid shuffling. You can still carry a lot of shit, but not so much that you don't know all of what your dragging behind you.
Encumbrance is an ass. (So I can't carry more than two weapons?)
Tetris is stupid. (So I can't carry 31 Gems but I can carry 10 swords)
Item Limited is worst (So I can carry 10 matches or 10 rocketlaunchers)
I'd prefer something that just gives you a Hands worth. You can carry a Hand in both hands, one Hand strapped to the legs that lowers speed, and 2 Hands worth over the back. If you're carrying a backpack, you can carry 2 more Hands worth of material in there. Bedroll counts as a Hand. As does a box with any small items in it.
Simple, Effective, Quasi-realistic.
Also, give me a note to tell me what's likely to be vendor-trash, so I don't carry around a blue-speckled egg for 20 levels to find out it heals 5 health.
Tetris is stupid. (So I can't carry 31 Gems but I can carry 10 swords)
Item Limited is worst (So I can carry 10 matches or 10 rocketlaunchers)
I'd prefer something that just gives you a Hands worth. You can carry a Hand in both hands, one Hand strapped to the legs that lowers speed, and 2 Hands worth over the back. If you're carrying a backpack, you can carry 2 more Hands worth of material in there. Bedroll counts as a Hand. As does a box with any small items in it.
Simple, Effective, Quasi-realistic.
Also, give me a note to tell me what's likely to be vendor-trash, so I don't carry around a blue-speckled egg for 20 levels to find out it heals 5 health.
I prefer encumbrance. It's the most realistic, and it makes things a lot more strategic. It also allows for systems within games to allow you to equip any kind of armor on any kind of character, because if you want to have a light and fast 'style' of character you can't rush in with super heavy armor.
I find it works best when numbers are large enough to allow smaller things to be rightfully lighter than other things. It doesn't make sense that a bundle of 10 arrows weighs as much as a suit of iron armor.
I find it works best when numbers are large enough to allow smaller things to be rightfully lighter than other things. It doesn't make sense that a bundle of 10 arrows weighs as much as a suit of iron armor.
Tetris is the least bad because it gives you an impression that what you have can fit in a backpack instead of your character being the incredible hulk dragging multiple sack loads of junk behind him. Inventory clutter is generally a pain. Why have 20 different stacks of potions that do the same thing when you could just have one potion bottle that holds multiple doses. Or what about some pills instead.
Prefer the Tetris style, also seen in Deus Ex(a big gun will take a big chunk of inventory).
Encumbrance is what I hate the most, Fallout just pisses me off with this, there are bizzilions of items out there so when my backpack it full I haveto sift through piles of sh*t comparing value vs weight vs count to work out if I should keep something... it's truly horrid.
This may just be an issue of too many items that have no direct use and all seem vaguely important.
Encumbrance is what I hate the most, Fallout just pisses me off with this, there are bizzilions of items out there so when my backpack it full I haveto sift through piles of sh*t comparing value vs weight vs count to work out if I should keep something... it's truly horrid.
This may just be an issue of too many items that have no direct use and all seem vaguely important.
I liked Resident Evil 4's attache case - so I guess tetris. But I also like oblivion/baldur's gate style encumbrance too...
It really depends on the game. Call me old fashioned, but I actually quite like the grid-style inventory system used in games such as Deus Ex.
I liked the inventory system in Deus Ex because it was limited, so you had to think about what you wanted to take with you on a mission (remembering to save space for anything you had to pick up during the course of the mission as well), but it also had stacking items (like LAMs, grenades and multi-tools), and the 1-10 quick select bar was really useful as well.
An inventory system like that wouldn't fly in an open world roaming RPG like Oblivion or New Vegas, but it was perfect for Deus Ex and similar games. For open world RPGs, an encumberence-based system is probably the best.
I liked the inventory system in Deus Ex because it was limited, so you had to think about what you wanted to take with you on a mission (remembering to save space for anything you had to pick up during the course of the mission as well), but it also had stacking items (like LAMs, grenades and multi-tools), and the 1-10 quick select bar was really useful as well.
An inventory system like that wouldn't fly in an open world roaming RPG like Oblivion or New Vegas, but it was perfect for Deus Ex and similar games. For open world RPGs, an encumberence-based system is probably the best.
