Favorite inventory system in a game?

[DarkSign]

Would it kill you people to post pictures?

 

[cardtrick]

Would it kill you people to post pictures?

 

[Hory]

Would it kill you to look them up?

 

[Jaesun]

System Shock 2 + Recycler. Brilliant.

 

[EvoG]

Ultima VII (and VIII)- it only lacked clear auto-sorting of the stuff in your backpack.
Apart from that, it had it all:
-size
-weight
-no squares to manage (just weight)
-you could use bags to sort your stuff (would be nice if you could have coloured bags tho, so that you know at a glance which is which).

Ha, I'm glad I'm not the only one! I've said it many times here on the codex, but yea I 'really' liked the inventory 'backpack' of U7+. Yes, there was a satisfaction at the backpack not being gridded into squares, allowing for arbitrary stacking of items. Hell it could've been neat if items had a bit of inertia so you could 'toss' them around with quick mouse flicks to 'search' through your pack...they'd glide for a bit then decelerate to a stop.

Either way, organizing inventory feeds my small bit of OCD, so its satisyfing, moreso with this type of inventory. :D

 

[Section8]

I liked Ultima 8's backpack. Hated Ultima 7's, because you couldn't arrange it. The OCD bit of my brain needs things to be exactly where I left them. I'm one of those people who always has a messy room/desk/pantry, but I still know exactly where everything is, because my mind seems to retain that spatial memory. Of course, it all becomes useless if anyone else ever interferes.

As for Diablo and such, I've always wondered - would it kill them to replace your backpack with a constant town portal within an elastic band? Just feed anything you get through it and it waits for you back in town. I've never felt inventory management adds anything when it becomes a regular interruption to gameplay and of no real consequence beyond the price of a town portal.

I have no problem with it in a game where it actually becomes a balancing act until you reach another merchant, but when merchants are so immediate, it seems completely pointless.

As to my eventual preference, I like a combination of the perceived realism of something like Brigade E5, where you actually attach a gameplay dynamic to gear selection, but I'm all in favour of doing away with it the second it means nothing more than extra trips back and forth under no threat, making the activity nothing more than a timesink.

To that end, I like the idea of an unlimited backpack that becomes unavailable in combat, or at the very least, exceedingly dangerous to remove and rummage through during combat, and various hardpoints on the body where you can stow gear. It becomes an interesting system to balance if you were to say give yourself big baggy cargo pants the provide you with 78 pockets to stash your stuff in, but you have no hope of being stealthy, and end up moving slower with tons of stuff weighing your legs down.

 

[Ismaul]

There is no one inventory type fits all. It depends on how the inventory is going to be used in the game. The most important thing is that it's not a chore to use. So filters, auto-sort, drag-n-drop, stacking, easy de-stacking and intuitive using are a necessity.

In a game where you're supposed to hoard a huge amount of items, i.e. loot plays an important part in the game, it's best to have only minimal restrictions. Otherwise you end up with much frustration, like in Diablo. Either have no restrictions, or grant loose ones based on volume. A weight restriction is kind of dumb in that case, because weight is a realistic scale rather than an abstract, and you're obviously not going for realism there.

There's the opposite case where you go for realism. A game like that is either simulationist or has a gameplay reason to restrict your items and goes with a realistic way to do it. Obviously the amount of loot is unimportant in this game, quality is, though. You might also want a transportation method for heavy stuff, if any. Inventory restrictions sould be based on weight and volume. I'd go with slots on your body to carry some easy-access stuff, and a weight+volume based backpack. That would work well with an AP system, easy-access takes a small amount of AP, stuff from the backpack takes a turn.

Then you have the middle ground. But why would there be a middle ground at all? You're clearly shitting on realism, so don't even try on that front. And any harsh restrictions are going against simplicity and ease of use. Therefore, the only reason to restrict inventory in any way is because of the gameplay. That's what many developpers fail to realize, and inventory becomes a hassle. But, for exemple, when having to chose between one weapon or another makes for a fun gameplay, then inventory management is a good thing.

So, either don't restrict shit, or do it in a realistic way, or adapt it as a gameplay mechanic (supposed to be fun). It all depends on the gameplay and needs to mesh with it. Otherwise, your inventory gets on the player's nerves.

 

[mondblut]

I hate inventories which force you to play Tetris. M&M6+, Diablow, Dungeon Cleaners, Silent Storm, you name it. The "autosort" function somehow always manages to sort items in worst combination possible, wasting maximum space.

Brigade E5/7.62 inventories are cool for realistic simulation, but hardly fit a generic FRPG where you have to carry a lot of useless junk to sell or to save for that one critical battle for a last chance shot (which will usually never happen). So, the easier is inventory to handle (including issues of size and amount of items), the better.

Having a wagon to carry around 20 spare armors and weapons, like in Daggerfall, helps very much too.

 

[Mayday]

If I made an RPG, most traders would refuse buying stuff from you (as in Ultima). I mean for fuck's sake- they've got their own, long time contracts with good sources- what would supposedly make it worth it to buy a worn piece of armour from a shady adventurer?

 

[Volourn]

1. Diablo style

2. NWN style

3. IE style

4. FF style




1000. ME + KOTOR style.

 

[SuicideBunny]

If I made an RPG, most traders would refuse buying stuff from you (as in Ultima). I mean for fuck's sake- they've got their own, long time contracts with good sources- what would supposedly make it worth it to buy a worn piece of armour from a shady adventurer?

the price, and the fact that armor takes fucking long to make, but much less to repair.

 

[Mayday]

If they've got sources, they should be working on a supply contract from a reliable source, meaning that the trader will already have all the stuff he can manage to sell in a forseeable future.

But whatever! I guess it shouldn't be completely impossible (just not worth it for the player).
I would surely got for a realistic encumbrance (so you'd need a wagon if you want to haul all the stuff).

 

[Lyric Suite]

As long as it's drag and drop i'm usually fine with it. That's actually one of the reasons why i never finished KOTOR (or played an RPG ever since, until MoTB).

 

[Rina]

My vote goes to Ultima VII inventory. Mayday already said what's worth saying about it.

 

[gromit]

Mmm... take an Ultima backback, add a dash each of Shenmue-style manipulation and some physics / evog's "inertial" idea, and suddendly it'd be fun to be a packrat.

I suppose physics are at the point now where we could really just have a bag full of crap. I think most inventory screens could probably spare a few cycles. I'm not sure I'd want to play that if it were implemented in the common rpg, but maybe for something more sparse / survivalistic it'd be a neat touch - but only if coupled with an X-Com-style 'body inventory' (Incidentally my favorite.) The ability for a pack full of crap to go wildly out of control could even serve as reinforcement to use quickslots / pockets and not carry around everything you see, but more likely people would just bitch about it.

 

[Sarvis]

If I made an RPG, most traders would refuse buying stuff from you (as in Ultima). I mean for fuck's sake- they've got their own, long time contracts with good sources- what would supposedly make it worth it to buy a worn piece of armour from a shady adventurer?

I dunno, why not ask your local gamestore?

 

[Deleted member 7219]

NWN1.

 

[BigWeather]

Ishmaul hit the nail on the head. The best inventory system is the one appropriate for the task at hand, based on the gameplay of the game.

If it's a loot rich environment with even rats dropping platemail give me no weight-limit no shape/size-consideration bags I can just toss my crap into (and filters). Or give me the ability to field-sell my loot. Or give me the ability to transmute my loot to gold (a la Dungeon Siege).

Diablo's inventory system was maddening. And just got worse with the expansion and the addition of charms. Unfortunately the "it's in your bag so it's taking effect" nature of charms dictated the slot limits too as a way of limiting inflation of characters due to charms. The problem with games like Diablo, Champions of Norrath, Baldur's Gate DA, etc. is that you have to get to a point to not care about the loot to make any progress in the game. Otherwise you just spend most of your time TP'ing and selling.

If it's a super realistic game (I've wanted to make a super realistic dungeon game where the environment is the toughest part) then you'll want a much more realistic inventory system. Have specialized containers and slots. Shape/size/weight restrictions. What have you. The environment can be loot rich, but the most valuable loot will quickly become the most portable loot (and this removes Mayday's problem with selling ratty old armor to a merchant as most players will realize it simply isn't worth it per-pound). The portable loot is stuff like coins, gems, reagents -- things that have immediate real value and are relatively immune to having to attach a worth based on condition to them -- tarnsihed gold is still gold.

I think Ultima VII (with an added capability to manage the space -- is that basically Ultima VIII's? -- been so long since I played Pagan) is a decent mix between the two, personally.

Oh, and one of my loot pet-peeves. Can we please get away from resistances?! It is not fun to carry multiple sets of armor for various potential attacks. Isn't fun in single-player RPGs, isn't fun in MMOs.

 

[the_Consumer]

As for Diablo and such, I've always wondered - would it kill them to replace your backpack with a constant town portal within an elastic band? Just feed anything you get through it and it waits for you back in town.

You say that now, but when they do it, everyone will cry out "DUMBED DOWN!1!11!"


Not an rpg, but of all the tetris inventories i think x-com's is one of the best. No ridiculous amount of space ,pretty logical, and with maybe a little tweaking, it could work really well in a proper rpg.

 

[BrokenSymmetry]

This hasn't been mentioned before in this thread, but does an RPG absolutely need an inventory? I've never really enjoyed any inventory system in an RPG. Two recent RPGs without an inventory were the recent Bard's Tale (that converted all items automatically to money), and Jade Empire (only some gems in the inventory). Still, these RPGs felt like something was missing. So, maybe an inventory really does add something to the gameplay?

 

[Lesifoere]

This hasn't been mentioned before in this thread, but does an RPG absolutely need an inventory? I've never really enjoyed any inventory system in an RPG. Two recent RPGs without an inventory were the recent Bard's Tale (that converted all items automatically to money), and Jade Empire (only some gems in the inventory). Still, these RPGs felt like something was missing. So, maybe an inventory really does add something to the gameplay?

Mmm. People are used to having several sets of items, I suppose, and carrying around a lot of clutter just in case item ____ comes in handy in this one specific encounter that occurs only in the sixth hour on a night of blue moon. I liked the automatic conversion into coins in the BT remake, but I felt the game was less an RPG and more like action/adventure with RPG elements.

 

[Claw]

I dunno, why not ask your local gamestore?

I did, they don't take used armour.

More to the point, many don't take used games either. It's just not something they want to deal with.

Yes, there was a satisfaction at the backpack not being gridded into squares, allowing for arbitrary stacking of items. Hell it could've been neat if items had a bit of inertia so you could 'toss' them around with quick mouse flicks to 'search' through your pack...they'd glide for a bit then decelerate to a stop.

Actually, that is something I don't like so much. In that respect, U7's inventory was a bit too "natural" for my taste. I wouldn't mind U7's system upgraded with an invisible grid items snap to, with an autosorting function so you can just drop an item into it as long as there's enough space.
Maybe the best way would be to iconize items so they all take a single slot, and size is handled like weight, although that would take away from the natural feel.

My vote goes to Ultima VII inventory. Mayday already said what's worth saying about it.

I wouldn't say that. I think there's actually alot of room for improvement. For instance, a modern 3D RPG could use the character model itself instead of a paperdoll. It seems to be the logical progression following the improvements from Black Gate to Serpent Isle (items on the doll rather than just on slots next to the doll).

Another thing I'd be interested in is the addition of quickslots. Potions on the belt, different weapons... mapping the number keys to inventory slots on the body, for instance.
That would really work nicely in a game where the game doesn't pause if you open your inventory.

 

[kingcomrade]

Would it kill you people to post pictures?

 

[RK47]

Jagged Alliance 2 ? I never seem to need loot pockets. But I made sure every merc is equipped with a certain role in mind. Heaviest armour to the point man, break lights for night ops, grenades, explosives. It has enough room to play around with and does not allow too much to make the game turn into a loot fest.

 

[Sarvis]

I dunno, why not ask your local gamestore?

I did, they don't take used armour.

More to the point, many don't take used games either. It's just not something they want to deal with.

Gaming stores? Every gaming store I know of trades used games...

However, I think there may be a scale issue here. Large companies like Best Buy and WalMart don't trade in used merchandise, while smaller gaming stores always do. It may simply be that large corporations buying in bulk can achieve better prices than they could buying used games, while smaller companies like Gamestop or local gaming stores can get better prices buying used games. Just a theory...

If correct though, no merchant in a fantasy setting would likely have the kind of buying power to make used merchandise too costly.