Please reduce the amount of loot

[Sven_]

A long-term solution maybe to let go of that "pack-rat", "item" obsession. The first time I played BG1, I simply ignored the random drops. By BG2, those had become naturally far more sparse, and every location would at least contain two items of Awesome +3. Actually, recently going back to BG1, it's refreshing how many gaming and CRPG "dogma" that games challenges, if back then probably not all on purpose. It's obviously a game that was built by a still inexperienced team, and (for better and occasionally worse), it doesn't cater to the more obvious  "lower" needs and instincts that may (or may not) glue a particular player permanently to the screen. In getting it at all done, the guys probably haven't yet had time to overly think about such. It's less candy and less trash at the same time, and it plays out far more "natural" than a lot games since.... that is, if you resist that urge to pack your inventory with random bolts, leather armor and daggers.

I'm generally oft a "less is more" guy though, which includes other areas as well. I'd rather have ten spells in a game rather than three dozen, but those ten spells to be clearly distinguishable and each have their distinctive purpose. NWN2 too completely drowns you in all kinds of loot - and the supposedly "special" items don't feel any kind of special anymore when you can buy them from any bloke down the street. I'd go as far as arguing that the love for items in general can sometimes borderline onan obsession all itself. Whilst it may be incredibly fun to create all those items, invent names and stories for each of them -- at some point it oft all becomes just a massively Blur Of Insignificance, rather than Any Kind Of Truly Special +3. In Pen&Paper systems, all of those serve their purpose, have grown in numbers and size over years and years of playing, and are meant to remain fun over many many months to come -- in their respective campaigns. In video games though, you're lucky to see them all lasting throughout a single game, let alone two.

Looting to me has oft felt like "busywork" thus -- in particular what happens after it, which is clearing your inventory again so the cycle can begin anew... The process itself is just streamlined by creating stashes, unlimited pockets, etc. What may need challenging is the entire "unlimited pockets" conundrum itself, who knows. Does every encounter need a reward in the form of physical objects? What is a reward, anyway? Etc. There's one recent game that made picking up trash kinda fun, actually. It's Arkane's Prey -- the System Shock successor Bioshock in mechanics never really was (and, which in truly Shock fashion, apparently nobody really played upon release). There's even designated recycling stations for it, crafting done right for once, and "picking up junk" kinda becomes second nature whilst playing.

Edited January 7, 2018 by Sven_

[Boeroer]

One of the best things Torchlight has is the pet that runs off and sells your trash loot, then returns with the money. Great idea, although I was asking myself how that pet communicates with the shopkeeper. My cat can't even tell me that she doesn't want to be petted, instead she has to scratch me. Don't think that shopkeepers respond to that in a very civilized manner...

[Wormerine]

One of the best things Torchlight has is the pet that runs off and sells your trash loot, then returns with the money. Great idea, although I was asking myself how that pet communicates with the shopkeeper. My cat can't even tell me that she doesn't want to be petted, instead she has to scratch me. Don't think that shopkeepers respond to that in a very civilized manner...

I have been interrogating my cat for 2 days now, trying to make her rat out who scratched her nose. Still nothing. I am doing good cop/good cop routine.

[Tigranes]

The Torchlight cat was interesting, though probably best suited for the fact that in the game most of the time you were 80m underground.

[injurai]

I wish the Torchlight devs continued refining their genre instead of doing that weird niche playground game. Now they are dead.

[Lephys]

Looting to me has oft felt like "busywork" thus -- in particular what happens after it, which is clearing your inventory again so the cycle can begin anew... The process itself is just streamlined by creating stashes, unlimited pockets, etc. What may need challenging is the entire "unlimited pockets" conundrum itself, who knows. Does every encounter need a reward in the form of physical objects? What is a reward, anyway? Etc. There's one recent game that made picking up trash kinda fun, actually. It's Arkane's Prey -- the System Shock successor Bioshock in mechanics never really was (and, which in truly Shock fashion, apparently nobody really played upon release). There's even designated recycling stations for it, crafting done right for once, and "picking up junk" kinda becomes second nature whilst playing.

This. Limits have their place, but it's hard to say "unlimited is bad" or "limited is bad" without knowing the context of the game. I think the loot systems in games have just gone the way of the "Well a large drink is only 20 cents more. So even though it's 70 more oz, and I don't need that at all, that's more drink for my dollar!" notion and gotten us used to making sure things don't go to waste. Again, because ANY Xaurip spear on the ground is a potential couple of CP for us to put towards something else. You don't really want the Xaurip spears. You want the value.

 

I like that you mentioned BG and tabletop before that. I'm actually gearing up to play some 5th Edition D&D with some friends, and I was looking at the "selling treasure and valuables" section. It's actually really hard to sell a magic sword, because they're very rare and people don't really know where THEY'D sell them, or who they'd sell them to. You have to actually find a person who's got those sort of connections. Yet, in video games now, everything is always worth some money. I mean, maybe selling it at shop A will get you 100 gold, and at shop B will only get you 52 gold, but that item is ALWAYS able to be recycled back into money for the purpose of furthering financial progress towards a new, shinier thing. That's just how it works now. You're supposed to be able to speed up your gold intake and acquire most stuff via purchases. That, and "well, what if you don't want to do side content? We don't want you to miss out too much, so here's almost equally-cool swords to buy everywhere. Or what if you don't want to fight things? Well, here's equally cool rewards for the diplomatic route. AND the stealth/stealy route. Etc..."

 

I'm definitely in favor of the "trash items are a resource for a means other than money" route. If you can break down old weapons on the battlefield and send them back to your stronghold or something (not in Deadfire, necessarily, since you're on a ship... but this is just an example), then it's no longer just "these are valuable items to me even if I don't want to use them for anything, so I'll make sure they aren't gold lying on the ground going to waste." If you had a cart, or a collective pack or something that you carried around, then could send on a pack mule or something back to your stronghold, or just hide somewhere and send a message to your agents to come retrieve it, then you could eliminate the whole troublesome inventory management thing. And if the stuff was only useful for salvage, for your blacksmiths to have scrap metal to refine and them make into useful equipment, they wouldn't need INFINITE of it. They'd only need certain amounts. So it wouldn't be just this overarching "THAT'S ALL MONEY ON THE GROUND GOING TO WASTE! ALL OF IT!" thing. Heck... if you had a bunch of spare money from something, and you needed resources really badly for La Resistance or something at your stronghold, you could even just go to a shop and buy a bunch of trash stuff, and just have it sent straight to your stronghold.

[SonicMage117]

I wish the Torchlight devs continued refining their genre instead of doing that weird niche playground game. Now they are dead.

Same.

 

The sad thing is that they said they made their newest game that way because they were basically sick of Torchlight. They were just acting really really weird before it's release... but most of the peeps who made Torchlight 1 and 2 left before anyways.