Sensuki's Suggestions #014: Non-Terrible Inventory [Mockup]

[Shevek]

Ya, the system is fine. Its not like put in some kinda crappy Deus-Ex Tetris inventory or something.

[Falkon Swiftblade]

My least favorite feature in any type of RPG is a weight mechanic which immobilizes you for picking up stuff that you need to progress. It's ok for short durations like a quest that's timed, but I'm all in favor of a shared inventory space. I was happy with the way Titan Quest handled their inventory space so as you progressed in the story it eventually opened up more inventory space or added tabs for new inventory. I would like a party based inventory, but admittedly, I'd like a space to organize items too. I think our player house is supposed to allow us to display things also. I sure hope so at least.

[Matt516]

Bump because although the incoming 16 boxes per character change is a welcome improvement, there's still not much point in even having separate character inventories. I'm with Sensuki - remove the per character inventory and just have the stash accessible everywhere but in combat. OR add encumbrance back in and tie it to Constitution (since it wouldn't make sense on Might). But the current system doesn't make sense.

[Anaeme]

I do not like the scrolling witcher inventory that Sensuki is proposing. I think it is a pain to use

[cabal23]

How about a realistic inventory engine that allows you to carry what a real human would carry? I don't care what your encumbrance is, you would never be able to haul around 6 two-handed swords and be expected to fight.  I have yet to see an inventory that makes any sort of logical sense. Maybe a bag of holding helps the argument out, but I can't think of a game to date other than Dark Souls that makes sense out of an inventory system. I understand this is not the most fun not being able to carry everything you find, but it would certainly up the realism factor.  

[Quadrone]

..., but it would certainly up the realism factor.  

 

And what good does that do compared to the frustration these new nano inventories would create?

[BlueLion]

How about a realistic inventory engine that allows you to carry what a real human would carry? I don't care what your encumbrance is, you would never be able to haul around 6 two-handed swords and be expected to fight.  I have yet to see an inventory that makes any sort of logical sense. Maybe a bag of holding helps the argument out, but I can't think of a game to date other than Dark Souls that makes sense out of an inventory system. I understand this is not the most fun not being able to carry everything you find, but it would certainly up the realism factor.  

 

In my opinion, this is precisely where 'immersion' should stop and 'fun' should take precedence. Running back to the town to sell looted equipment 20 times per adventuring day would greatly damage the enjoyment.

[ctdavids]

 

How about a realistic inventory engine that allows you to carry what a real human would carry? I don't care what your encumbrance is, you would never be able to haul around 6 two-handed swords and be expected to fight.  I have yet to see an inventory that makes any sort of logical sense. Maybe a bag of holding helps the argument out, but I can't think of a game to date other than Dark Souls that makes sense out of an inventory system. I understand this is not the most fun not being able to carry everything you find, but it would certainly up the realism factor.  

 

In my opinion, this is precisely where 'immersion' should stop and 'fun' should take precedence. Running back to the town to sell looted equipment 20 times per adventuring day would greatly damage the enjoyment.

 

 

I couldn't have said it better myself BlueLion.  I've been playing through BG:EE recently and was in Baldur's Gate itself before I realized that I could save game edit in a bag of holding.  Spending 30 days clearing out the cloakwood mines because I had to keep making trips to town to sell stuff was horrifying.  And, yes, I realize that I could have left stuff there.  But I don't like doing that.  I play CRPGs for the story/combat/world, not to move items from 1 square to another to find an optimal packing solution.

 

Overall, during my BG:EE playthrough I found that my adventuring day generally ended when my inventory was full, not when I was tapped on spells/health.  There are obvious exceptions around some of the boss fights, but that was the general experience.  And it wasn't a great one.  Don't get me wrong, I still enjoy the game.  But that element was painful.

 

The stash in PoE is amazing.  Being able to dump all the loot I just want to sell in one location and be able to sell it all easily in town is amazing.  Yes, it totally lacks for realism, but I couldn't care less.  It's spectacular.

 

As for the per-character inventory vs. party inventory and number of slots debate, I honestly had no issues with inventory filling up in the beta.  Maybe that would change in a full size game. I'm not sure. But either way, I don't feel very strongly about it so I'll leave it to those who do.  Just leave the cache alone

[J.E. Sawyer]

No idea what they thought they'd accomplish with Stash. Just give characters very limited amount of quick slots (6 is probably too much, make it 2-3) and huge inventory or big inventories for everyone + stash. Make inventory locked during combat. That's it.

 

We were trying to balance what I saw as competing desires among backers for per-character inventories, reduced hassle in picking up items over the long haul, and some nod toward realism/strategic decision making in personal carrying capacity.  The last element has always seemed like the least important to me, but that is what the Stash restrictions were meant to accomplish.

 

If the overwhelming vibe from people is that they don't like the Stash access restrictions, I am a-ok with removing them entirely.  E: Except for in combat, of course.

[wickermoon]

To be honest, I grew really fond of the Wasteland 2 inventory system. It's a per character, weight-based system with theoretically endless space and the only thing that's missing is an easy access to the stash.

 

edit: Plus, you can switch through the separate inventories by clicking on the character portraits (as has been suggested in this thread, iirc).

Edited September 22, 2014 by wickermoon

[aeonsim]

 

No idea what they thought they'd accomplish with Stash. Just give characters very limited amount of quick slots (6 is probably too much, make it 2-3) and huge inventory or big inventories for everyone + stash. Make inventory locked during combat. That's it.

 

We were trying to balance what I saw as competing desires among backers for per-character inventories, reduced hassle in picking up items over the long haul, and some nod toward realism/strategic decision making in personal carrying capacity.  The last element has always seemed like the least important to me, but that is what the Stash restrictions were meant to accomplish.

 

If the overwhelming vibe from people is that they don't like the Stash access restrictions, I am a-ok with removing them entirely.  E: Except for in combat, of course.

 

 

I do like the concept for the stash, will have to see how it feels in play once the OSX beta is out. From what I've seen though it looks like the return to 16 slots pp in normal inventory will work wonders.

[Fiebras]

I think a restrictive stash is fine provided you have enough inventory slots on your characters so that you arent relying on your stash to store your loot after every single fight. Having only 8 slots ends up being rather restrictive considering the sheer amount of weapon, consumables and the like that are available.

 

 

16 inventory slots per characters seems to fix this. Maybe.

 

"Quest Only" item stash is brilliant and I hope it never leaves. "Restrictive stash" can be good or bad, even OP. You could replace it with "item holder" items. Not a "bag of holding" per se but things like BG EE gem bag, scroll case and potion stash.

 

Or you could have a "restricticted Stash" but with limited storage or storage limited by party atributes or have it be the party "bag of holding" that you get at some point in the game or have it expand in size at certain story points. Hell, you could even have it be your Morte. The semi-sentient companion cube of the party that stores all their things and will only allow things to be taken out at resting or inns because it has "standards".

 

I rather like the idea of the "restrictive party stash", though it may need to be toyed around with.

 

Oh man. Now I want a talking bag of holding with attitude probles to take the place of the stash. You can justify every mechanic by having it say "because I want to".

Please make it a companion bag of holding pleasemakeitacompanionbagofholdingpleasemakeitacompanionbagofholdingplease....

 

[illathid]

 

No idea what they thought they'd accomplish with Stash. Just give characters very limited amount of quick slots (6 is probably too much, make it 2-3) and huge inventory or big inventories for everyone + stash. Make inventory locked during combat. That's it.

 

We were trying to balance what I saw as competing desires among backers for per-character inventories, reduced hassle in picking up items over the long haul, and some nod toward realism/strategic decision making in personal carrying capacity.  The last element has always seemed like the least important to me, but that is what the Stash restrictions were meant to accomplish.

 

If the overwhelming vibe from people is that they don't like the Stash access restrictions, I am a-ok with removing them entirely.  E: Except for in combat, of course.

 

 

I'd rather just have the stash and quick slots myself. I really only used Individual inventories (Edwin carries all the scrolls, etc.) for organization in IE games myself. And with the loot interface as it is, I'd rather it all go in the stash.

[MasterPrudent]

Just dropping in to say that I really like the system as-is. I really like the combination of convenience (take whatever you want) and restriction (figure out what your must-have items are before you go adventuring).

[adam77]

Disagree with this.

I love when each player has his own invertory because it is so neater and clearer.

 

And what is such a big deal to click once more with a mouse?!?

People are becoming too lazy.

[IndiraLightfoot]

To be honest, I grew really fond of the Wasteland 2 inventory system. It's a per character, weight-based system with theoretically endless space and the only thing that's missing is an easy access to the stash.

 

edit: Plus, you can switch through the separate inventories by clicking on the character portraits (as has been suggested in this thread, iirc).

Me too. That system serves all purposes, and it is easy to use (I get a Titanquest-vibe from it, design-wise) for your entire party. As one of those people that think some encumbrance is fine and going back to town and selling is somewhat meditative and a nice break, I can only hope we'll get to see something similar to WL2 invo system in PoE.

[Sensuki]

Titan Quest had a fantastic inventory system. One of my favourites of any game.

Edited September 23, 2014 by Sensuki

[Clean&Clear]

To be honest, I grew really fond of the Wasteland 2 inventory system. It's a per character, weight-based system with theoretically endless space and the only thing that's missing is an easy access to the stash.

 

edit: Plus, you can switch through the separate inventories by clicking on the character portraits (as has been suggested in this thread, iirc).

 

I'm all for per character inventory with encumberance system tied to Constitution as Matt516 suggested. PoE already has the improvement that you can see all the character inventories at once, which makes using it a lot easier. Make the inventories much bigger, maybe even slot unlimited as suggested above (just don't know how to technically combine potentially limitless per character inventory with the possibility to see all of them at once, but that's for devs to think out ). Just make crafting resources easily separable from "normal" items.

 

And make stash only a regular box that you have at your stronghold for potentional long-term storing of items, to sustain immersion and add potential what-to-pick choices.

Edited September 23, 2014 by Clean&Clear

[Fiebras]

The most annoying thing about Per-Character inventories in games is having to switch windows every time you want to move items between diferent characters. Im extremely grateful PoE has all the character inventories in a single window. Hope that doesnt change. I dont want to be moving gems from Imoen to Minsc without seeing how its being auto-organized and having to switch windows 4 times every time I want to equip an item in the inventory of a character that has a full inventory, among other very annoying IE design quirks. And I love inventory managing.

[Sensuki]

I actually don't find the PE window any better than the IE window because it still takes the same amount of clicks to move an item around. I have 15 years of muscle memory from moving items around the IE way as well, so I prefer it.

 

Personally I think the easiest way to do things would probably be to just have the stash and no per-character inventory.

[Fiebras]

Cant say Ive counted the amount of clicks it takes to move things around in IE games compared to PoE but I will say I find having all the slots you are moving things around in visible at the same time is infinitely better than moving it around inventories you have to click individually to see.

 

Of course, this means that what you have is basically one big segmented stash. But I think it would be best to keep this big stash segmented per-character simply because it -feels- better that way and it is a rather quaint way to organize your items (Potions and scrolls on the wizard, armors and weapons on the fighter, food on the plumb chanter). Of course, a check, tab,  and filter system would probably be better for organizaton, but wouldnt have as much character even if you have no real reason to give one character all your items of a certain type as there is no encumberance mechanic (which at this point I would assume would be governed my Athelics or CON if one would even think of implementing it).

I feel it feels better to have segmented spaces rather than one huge inventory space. Feel what Im feeling?

 

It all depends on the presentation and subjective opinions and experiences. at least the way I see it.

[Guest 4ward]

i’d like to suggest to cut off the edges of  the inventory screen and expand it full screen size to allow to fit in 24 item slots per character. I like Sensuki’s idea to delete the chest and quest pics and replace them with the horizontally quest listing inventory. Since I understand the game requires you to return for healing and also later gives you a stronghold i think the inventory stash is not necessary. Ideally the stronghold has missions for us waiting so that it’s not just about stashing items upon return.

Edit: i'd actually add quest items as a filter next to the portraits together with the other filters and add ground items listing inventory where the stash and quest pic are. Also 24 item slots per character is probably not possible but 20 per character could fit in by expanding to the sides?

Edited September 24, 2014 by 4ward

[Matt516]

Titan Quest had a fantastic inventory system. One of my favourites of any game.

 

Is there anything special about the Titan Quest inventory? I looked it up, looks like every Diablo-esque inventory I've ever seen (jigsaw). Which isn't a bad thing, though I don't think it'd be suited for PoE.

[Sensuki]

Titan Quest's inventory system was perfect for that style of game. Loot bags = great improvement over Diablo 2, upgradable stash = great improvement over Diablo 2, Caravan system = great improvement over Diablo 2. Auto-sort button - best feature.