Inventory handling

[Cepheiden]

I suggest making inventory space unlimited.

Sorting through useless stuff is no fun and if there is a volume, or a weight limit, there will be useless stuff. Sometimes it is necessary to cut down on realism to guarantee fun.
Its fun to pick up everything that is not nailed down. Take everything and give nothing back.

 

[Pilluminati]

What if 95% of the stuff wasn't useless? I really don't feel like a room filled with useless crap to the point where you can hardly walk around without picking something up is fun.

 

[the0thMonkey]

I suggest making inventory space unlimited.

Sorting through useless stuff is no fun and if there is a volume, or a weight limit, there will be useless stuff. Sometimes it is necessary to cut down on realism to guarantee fun.
Its fun to pick up everything that is not nailed down. Take everything and give nothing back.

I think this goes against what I know about the game so far. The game (including the inventory) is supposed to be realistic and based on physics, so I think any kind of unrealistic inventory (whether infinite or just huge, but finite) shouldn't be included.

 

[cosmo bozo]

May I suggest not picking it up if it's useless crap you don't want.
They've already said items will not disappear into an invisible inventory and I for one am glad of that..
The more real that gameworlds get, the more immersion breaking unrealistic inventory systems get for me

 

[Rob]

Just to clarify, have you read Update 11, which specifies current intentions for the inventory system?

To date, what they're proposing sounds perfectly reasonable to me!!!

 

[Psychomorph]

I guess inventory will be a bit like in Ultima, unsorted like stuff would naturally be in a bag (the more, the messier), but there's probably going to be a limit defined by the size of the objects or their weight. But also the dimensions of the bag and the strength of the bearer could be of importance perhaps.

 

[Cooper Holt]

I suggest making inventory space unlimited.

Sorting through useless stuff is no fun and if there is a volume, or a weight limit, there will be useless stuff. Sometimes it is necessary to cut down on realism to guarantee fun.
Its fun to pick up everything that is not nailed down. Take everything and give nothing back.

It's supposed to be ultrarealistic. So no. :/

 

[the0thMonkey]

If everything is supposed to carried physically, how will backpacks work? I think packs of some kind are essential (for at least one character in your group if you decide to have one). The physically hanging objects off the character might need to be supplemented with a different system if items are going to be put into a bag.

If this is necessary, what would a good system be? It should balance realism with a well designed and intuitive interface.

 

[Rob]

I don't think backpacks have been mentioned so far. But, anticipating Bare Mettle's stance on it, I can imagine that if you've got a backpack on then it will be physically present on your back (or hip, or whatever). If you put things in it, it will visibly fill up and perhaps inhibit your movement, i.e. throw your centre of gravity somewhat. Just guessing.

 

[Tony]

Psh! Bags, backpacks, inventories... I'm going to hire Porky as my squire and he will lug my gear and loot around for me.

 

[unwoundpath]

Psh! Bags, backpacks, inventories... I'm going to hire Porky as my squire and he will lug my gear and loot around for me.

And he can "take care" of people for you!

 

[Cooper Holt]

I hope they don't go all WoW about it and add "ridable raptors", though from what I've seen, they almost certainly will not. As for my stance on inventory, I mostly agree with Rob. I think that backpacks should exist, but should somewhat prohibit movement when full, and should only be able to carry a relatively small number of items.

 

[Tony]

I hope they don't go all WoW about it and add "ridable raptors", though from what I've seen, they almost certainly will not. As for my stance on inventory, I mostly agree with Rob. I think that backpacks should exist, but should somewhat prohibit movement when full, and should only be able to carry a relatively small number of items.

Hmm something like this?

 

[Cooper Holt]

Hmm something like this?

Well... no, actually.

 

[Tony]

Well... no, actually.

Ah, ok. I thought that picture illustrated why it wasn't a good idea to attempt to carry too much in your bag in Sui Generis!

 

[Kale]

I like the stone system of Ultima Online. Carry an amount you're strong enough to carry. Makes sense to me.

 

[Cooper Holt]

Ah, ok. I thought that picture illustrated why it wasn't a good idea to attempt to carry too much in your bag in Sui Generis!

Aha! lol

 

[Xumbik]

I like the stone system of Ultima Online. Carry an amount you're strong enough to carry. Makes sense to me.

The Elder Scrolls franchise utilizes a system where you are able to carry 10 more weight for every point in strength you get. (Numbers could be off here) That's somewhat logical. But I think BM will figure something out that will be awesome!

 

[scurra]

They mentioned that horses were a pretty big deal in this world. So, maybe you can buy horses to go with your play style such as a draft horse for hoarders or a warhorse for explorers. Now in this I have to agree that ride-able raptors would be lame but what if you could finds unique mounts from the underground realm? How awesome would it be to spend like an hour fighting through the underground to stumble upon a lair with an egg or infant that you could then raise to be your mount.

 

[Cepheiden]

Many replies. Thank you.

To give some arguments against certain points:

Realism:
It's a trade off. Realistic features can be really cool, but it also can turn games into tedious work.

Relevance of items:
The funny thing here is, the relevance of every item is influenced by the inventory space that is available. (Of course it is also influenced by other determinants.)
What about that spare equipment you might want to use? Some extra Arrows? Some herbs? Maybe Ore? Some choices are obvious while other choices make you waste a lot of time sorting through all that stuff. Now if you suddenly have twice as much room, more items would be relevant. If you had unlimited room, all of them would be relevant and saves a lot of time.

Immersion:
Did any of you ever play a game of the Gothic series or Risen? They have unlimited inventory. To many people those games are the most immersive RPGs. Personally I never felt any interruption in my immersion in them. Actually thanks to that the gameplay felt so very smooth like nowhere else. Honestly I can't remember any kind of other RPG with a limited inventory space, that didn't turn into a tedious game of "find the most useless stuff and get rid of it".(Baldurs Gate? Yeah annoying. Wizardry? not too many items but still annoying. Diablo or any other ARPG? Don't even start. MMORPGs? Jesus Christ. They even sell you bagspace these days.)

Also... you are raiding the evil Lords dungeon to save the world from being destroyed... every 30 minutes you take a break and run back to some merchant to sell all the stuff you gathered on your way. Some Immersion you got there.



There is always a possibility of compromising. If there is limited inventory space, then there should be other ways to transport more, like a mule.
It also depends on the relations between inventory space and amount and value of items you can find and various other things like the value of items. As I see it, you will always run into some kind of imbalance between the value of money, the value of items, the value of inventory space or game difficulty.


In the end I just hope, that the devs will read this thread and think about those possibilities. I very much like all the plans for this game so far, except for the probably limited inventory space.