Which RPG got inventory completely right?

[DalekFlay]

All the debates about what should have weight, how much encumbrance should matter, how much "phat loot" should be in an RPG, alchemy ingredients, weapon-swaps, how many armor pieces, etc...

Which classic (or modern I guess) RPG did inventory fucking perfect? Was there one?

 

[Gregz]

Which classic (or modern I guess) RPG did inventory fucking perfect? Was there one?

Bag of Holding

A bag of holding appears to be a common cloth sack of about 2 by 4 feet (0.61 by 1.2 m) in size. It opens into a nondimensional space (similar to a magic satchel) or a pocket dimension, making the space larger inside than it is outside. Each bag always weighs the same amount, between 15 and 60 pounds (6.8 and 27 kg), regardless of what is put into it. It can store a combined weight of up to forty times its own weight, and a combined volume of 30 to 250 cubic feet (0.85 to 7.1 m3).

 

[Yoshiyyahu]

I dunno if it was perfect, but I liked Arcanum's. You were limited both by weight and size, and encumberance wasn't a threshold - you'd lose speed (I think it was speed) the more you were encumbered, which meant you could waltz around carrying 4 plasma rifles and a truckload of MFCs.

 

[Jaesun]

Ultima VII

 

[I_am_Ian]

Wizardry 8 had a pretty good grid-based picture inventory system. Encumbrance was spread out over the entire party. Each character also had their own mini-inventory that would not affect party encumbrance. Also it was a simple task to organize the inventory by item type to find what you needed. Transferring items between characters was easy too. Weapon swapping was done well and it didn't limit you to one long range and one short range weapon, you could put any type of weapon in each slot.

I can't really think of any negatives.

 

[Morkar Left]

M&M 7
Jagged Alliance 1.13
Frayed Knights

My favorite would be JA 1.13 inventory system combined with a party pool inventory. Party pool inventory only accessible outside of fighting.

 

[evdk]

Ultima VII

Please no. I am a terribly disorderly person and I was completely unable to organize the U7 inventory in such a way that would help me find anything. I routinely lost items in my own backpack and that is not virtuous at all.

 

[SCO]

Ultima VII



but seriously, it was a good dumbfuck indicator if you realized in your first play-through that you needed bags-for-categories.

 

[Lady_Error]

I rest my case...

 

[made]

I can't really think of any negatives.

Endlessly scrolling through the party inventory until you find what you need was a major disadvantage.

A good inventory limits or, ideally, eliminates that.

 

[BobtheTree]

Ultima Underworld. Bags within bags within bags. It's like a bagception.

 

[knightley]

I miss wizardry 7, it has done lots of things right on many of levels.
Not sure about Ultima 7, iirc, it rearrange all items. But I did enjoying
carrying a lot of bags.

 

[Surf Solar]

Jagged Alliance 2.

I liked the inventory management in the Icewind Dales too.

 

[Jaesun]

It's like a bagception.

 

[octavius]

Dungeon Master

 

[7hm]

In recent games I like Grimrock. Not perfect, but it uses a carry weight system with encumberence and a hard limit to the number of items you can carry (but you can get around that with bags and boxes that you find).

DCSS does the same thing, but also categorizes items, which is nice.

 

[Thrasher]

Gothic. No encumbrance nor volume limitations. I despise that tedium.

 

[Turisas]

Not that Morrowind's inv screen was perfect by any means, but the fact that you could drag the corners with your mouse and set it to exactly the size and shape you wanted was pretty damn sweet. And of course Bethesda went and fucked it up with Oblivion (and then fucked that some more with Skyrim).

 

[SCO]

Which classic (or modern I guess) RPG did inventory fucking perfect? Was there one?

Bag of Holding

A bag of holding appears to be a common cloth sack of about 2 by 4 feet (0.61 by 1.2 m) in size. It opens into a nondimensional space (similar to a magic satchel) or a pocket dimension, making the space larger inside than it is outside. Each bag always weighs the same amount, between 15 and 60 pounds (6.8 and 27 kg), regardless of what is put into it. It can store a combined weight of up to forty times its own weight, and a combined volume of 30 to 250 cubic feet (0.85 to 7.1 m3).

Bag of devouring

Essentially a bottomless pit in a bag, this bag appears to be a normal sack, like a bag of holding, and seems to be a bag of holding on closer inspection. However, the bag is a lure used by an extradimensional creature; it is one of its feeding orifices. Issue 271 of Dragon[1] featured an article titled "The Ecology of a Bag of Devouring" that discussed the nature of such a creature.
Any substance of animal or vegetable matter put into the bag has a chance of being swallowed over time. Even a person reaching in to retrieve or place an item, after the initial time, has a chance of being completely dragged into the bag and swallowed. The bag of devouring will act as a bag of holding, but every hour it has an increasing chance of swallowing the contents. Any plants or animals swallowed by the bag in this way are transported to the creature's stomach, digested, and lost forever, while inedible items are swallowed and spat into another plane.

 

[Clockwork Knight]

The existence of that thing probably just makes everyone fill any bags of holding they find with shit items for an entire day, to check if it's legit. Because players really need to pick up another OCD habit.

Not that Morrowind's inv screen was perfect by any means, but the fact that you could drag the corners with your mouse and set it to exactly the size and shape you wanted was pretty damn sweet. And of course Bethesda went and fucked it up with Oblivion (and then fucked that some more with Skyrim).

I just left it at defaut size because then you can see everything at once.

 

[bminorkey]

Ultima VII when it doesn't go senile on item positions and you open your bag to find a condensed tower of shit.

 

[Turisas]

Bag of devouring

The downfall of many a lonely adventurer.








If you know what I mean.

 

[bminorkey]

Bag of devouring

If you know what I mean.

I don't. Please explain.

 

[mediocrepoet]

I dunno if it was perfect, but I liked Arcanum's. You were limited both by weight and size, and encumberance wasn't a threshold - you'd lose speed (I think it was speed) the more you were encumbered, which meant you could waltz around carrying 4 plasma rifles and a truckload of MFCs.

Generally speaking this is the sort of system I prefer. Something that takes into account both the size of what you're running around with and its weight. No wondering how your party is hauling around enough arms and supplies for a small army.

 

[Clockwork Knight]

He means a lonely adventurer won't have friends to carry part of the loot for him.