How the Adventure genre ruined other games for me

[DeadPoolX]

You know how in Adventure games you know to pick up everything? Well, I still have this mentality. That's not a bad thing per se, but... I often -- and quite unintentionally -- apply this logic to other games.

For instance: Morrowind and Fallout 3. In those two games you can pick up ANYTHING and stash it away. Do you like those candles? How about that plate? Need a soda? Well, pick it up! Those who've played these games (and Oblivion, although I don't have that one) will know exactly what I'm talking about.

The problem with this mentality is that in non-Adventure titles, you have a limited inventory. Whether this is dictated by stats or pure space allowable, you can't simply stuff everything you find down your pants. Some RPGs do have an unlimited inventory, but these are few and far between. The only RPG I've ever played that had an unlimited inventory was KoTOR.

So you eventually find yourself full to the brim. Most of the stuff you probably don't need -- even items like armor or weapons since you'll continually come across better and better versions.

I always found myself out of inventory space in Dragon Age. To a lesser extent, I have this same problem in Mass Effect. Yes, believe it or not, there is an inventory cap at 150 items. I even edited the INI file to grant me more space.

But you'll still hold onto them. Why? Because these items might be important! You don't know when or how, but if you sell an item or simply drop it, you make screw up your game!

You know this isn't true, but... what if!? I might need this fork I stole from a tavern way back at the beginning of the game!

[AndreaDraco]

I perfectly understand! I remember, in my first Dragon Age playthrough, I compulsevely hold on to every blank vellum for fear that they might turn out to be important!

[Datadog]

That really pissed me off in Dragon Age. I had no idea what I would need later and it was asking me to get rid of stuff so I could pick up more stuff. How do I know which stuff is better?! Sure this thing says +3 on it, meaning I should get rid of something with +2, but the +2 thing can shoot LIGHTNING! It's a game about magic - why can't we just use magic to store everything? Why does a giant sword take up as much room as a piece of paper?

[Rath Darkblade]

Yes, this is also the case in Oblivion. You don't have a limited inventory space, but you're limited to how much you can carry by your strength score. The stronger you are, the more you can carry. So from time to time I'd pick up a skull or a bone or a ribcage or a fork, just to see what they do. You'd think a painted pot or a shovel would be worth something, right? Maybe just a few copper pieces but you could sell 'em, right? Wrong! Turns out that beautifully painted pot is worth zip-ola! It's just there for eye candy!

Speaking of limited inventory, does anyone remember the limited inventory and how you could never carry enough in... DUM-DUM-DUUUUM! Diablo 2?

[DeadPoolX]

Speaking of limited inventory, does anyone remember the limited inventory and how you could never carry enough in... DUM-DUM-DUUUUM! Diablo 2?

I sure do.

I was always struggling for room. At least Diablo 2 had a storage chest in your camp and you could eventually use the Horadric Cube as additional space. Of course, you needed to be careful with the cube. Accidentally press the wrong button and you might end up with an entirely different item.

I seem to recall Deus Ex using a very similar inventory interface. I think that particular inventory style was popular at the time since both DX and D2 were released in 2000.

It's interesting in that some games base their inventory amount on size or some sort of strength stat. Sometimes games will use both and that's very irritating.

[QuestCollector]

I know exactly what your talking about with Oblivion. I really disliked scrolling through my inventory on that game, I had thousands of items. Remember scrolling through all the keys, scrolls, and transcendant stones? I seriously think I could hold the analog down for a minute and a half till I made it to the bottom.

The last time I played Diablo 2 (about 2 years) they made the stash ALOT bigger which was nice to see. Having the smaller stash before forced me to get rid of a lot of good items unless I made a mule. Even then you were limited because you could only have 8 characters to an account.

[MusicallyInspired]

There's a MOD for Oblivions that replaces the console-like inventory/GUI system with a more Morrowind-type PC-user-friendly interface.

[DeadPoolX]

I think every RPG has had inventory issues. Again, with the exception of KoTOR, I can't think of any RPG that didn't employ limits on your inventory. More often than not these limitations are due to stats (i.e. strength), but sometimes they're strictly about room.

MMOs are particularly bad for "you've run out of room" problems. It's been so bad that people have actually created "mule" characters who can act as a secondary form of storage. That started in 1997 with Ultima Online and has continued to today (even with the implementation of "bank" or "chests" to store items).

In fact, even Sierra created a limit on your inventory in the QFG games. Like many other RPGs, this was based on stats, but the limit was still there. Other Sierra games had no limitations at all.

I guess the idea is to make the player manage their inventory so they can't carry everything around with them. I have to ask: WHY?

What's so bad about carrying tons of stuff? How does it affect the game? Sure, it's not realistic, but neither are most RPGs. Even the so-called realistic ones (mostly sci-fi) take liberties in numerous areas.

I see it this way: if you can die and then load your game (or have someone else revive you), then your argument about realism no longer exists. I know perma-death wouldn't be fun, but neither is micro-management.

[Maiandra]

I find I have had to get over my issues of trying to carry everything around with me in RPGs as well. I've played enough Bioware RPGs that I don't tend to worry too much about getting the exact best item. I usually just pick one or two that are good and hang onto them, then get rid of the rest. I often let the value of the item help me decide which is better, if I'm really not sure. At least Dragon Age kept most plot-related items in a separate inventory area that didn't count towards your total inventory weight (except for the gifts).

When I briefly tried Fallout 3 I certainly caught myself starting to compulsively pick up everything, then my anti-clutter compulsion kicked in and I had to get rid of it.

[Rath Darkblade]

I know exactly what your talking about with Oblivion. I really disliked scrolling through my inventory on that game, I had thousands of items. Remember scrolling through all the keys, scrolls, and transcendant stones? I seriously think I could hold the analog down for a minute and a half till I made it to the bottom.

That's why, after finishing a quest in Oblivion, I immediately go to a town, scroll through my inventory, and weed out everything I picked up that's worth 0 GPs (except for quest items), then sell the rest (unless, of course, I intend to use them for something else!)

I still have too many weapons and armour though... sigh. I'm carrying around about 700 pounds of stuff. Did someone mention realism?

There's a MOD for Oblivions that replaces the console-like inventory/GUI system with a more Morrowind-type PC-user-friendly interface.

Really? I've never seen this. Where is it? And... how do I go about installing it? *blush* Sorry to ask, but I've never installed an Oblivion mod before, so I'm not sure how the process works.

[MusicallyInspired]

I actually don't know lol. I've seen it on websites. I've never installed an Oblivion MOD before either. Google should help, though. Upon reflection, it might just be something more along the lines of smaller inventory icons so you see more on the screen at one time. But then again there's probably other MODs that really do change the whole interface. I imagine it wouldn't be any different than just unzipping files into the game directory. But I don't know for sure. Check it out.

[DeadPoolX]

I guess this ended last night, but I saw Oblivion: GOTY Edition for $8.95 USD on Steam. It's gone back up to it's normal price of $24.95 USD, but even so, that's not a bad price for the main game and all expansions.

I've never been interested in Oblivion due to the horrid enemy leveled up system. I've read tons of complaints about that. I can understand SOME enemy leveling, but when it gets to the point that enemies can consistently kick your ass no matter what level you are, there's a problem.

I know Fallout 3 doesn't do that (apparently Bethesda learned) and even though there is a small out of leveling, the enemies never become so difficult that you're always a weakling in comparison. In fact, I need to get back to F3. I got majorly distracted by Mass Effect and Dragon Age.

[MusicallyInspired]

The enemies in Oblivion were never that hard for me. They were usually always challenging (moreso when you level up sometimes....sometimes less so). But I never felt like I was a weakling. In Shivering Isles, though, it seems like everything is just above your ability to fight than anything in the regular game map. I guess it's because of the custom armour and weapon elements you get in the expansion (which I haven't gotten yet).