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what is the best inventory system in crpg?

  • Monocled and best of all text-based list inventory

  • Shitty grid icon-based inventory

  • Worse of all absolute dogshit tetris grid icon-based inventory


Results are only viewable after voting.

RobotSquirrel

Arcane
Developer
Joined
Aug 9, 2020
Messages
1,943
Location
Adelaide
Minimal Tetris fuckery while still preserving size differences between items, clearly visibly different icons for each item type, everything on screen at once, quick and easy to manipulate.
That's... actually is a really damn good point. Maybe this is superior to Deus Ex's approach on account that the space is only in one direction and it takes up less screen real estate.
The negative though is the equipment slots leave a lot to be desired so naturally adopting something similar to say JA2 and Arma would be good for equipment. Really having the equipment separate from inventory would be ideal, especially if they were undockable.
But you've definitely given me something to think about there. Maybe even take the Xcom approach.

inventory.png
 
Last edited:

Beans00

Augur
Joined
Aug 27, 2008
Messages
930
As long as it's not gothic 1(and I like that game) I don't really care.


Deus ex, ss2, bg, siege of avalon, diablo, fallout, dungeon siege, bethesda pip boy, underrail, ja2, thunderscape ect. I seriously don't think it's ever taken me more then 20 seconds to organize an inventory.


As long as it doesn't lag or glitch and the information needed is available I've never seen any problem with any system.
 

Kabas

Arcane
Patron
Joined
Feb 10, 2018
Messages
1,258
Best inventory system is the one that doesn't expect you to hold twenty swords and a couple of refrigirators in your backpack.

I remember thinking that the first witcher's inventory was pretty fine.
Kinda liked Brigand: Oaxaca hard limit on how many items you can hold
 

Serus

Arcane
Patron
Joined
Jul 16, 2005
Messages
6,680
Location
Small but great planet of Potatohole
So who is the one "purposely misconstruing" here?
The person using a non-rpg in a thread about rpgs?
Also stop with the "graphic whore" nonsense, it's retarded when used in relation to small 2D pictures. In games that have a lot of other graphics at that. Not that i would expect a better "argument" but one may dream.
"stop using the argument that's effective against me!"
no lol
you guys prefer icons because you like pretty pictures and hate actual information, simple as
What game is not an crpg? I lost you here for a moment.
Also, that was not what you wrote, this was: "...he's purposely misconstruing how the game's inventory actually looks".
So you don't even remember what you wrote, interesting.

This not an argument, it's called "insult". Grow up, for fuck's sake. And it doesn't make sense even as an insult in this context - i already explained you why as well.

Last but not least, what is this "you guys"? What guys you are talking about? I doubt anyone "hate actual information". A graphic based inventory can convey information. As your own screenshot from JA2 shows. The part on the left, not the right, as i mentioned. Stop being so childishly black-and-white. I play(ed) games with text based inventories where text based made perfect sense (Cataclysm DDA) and games where it was really poorly (oldie but goodie, Darklands). Same with tetris-like inventories. Who needs a lot of information at first glance if the game is relatively simple or doesn't require you to access this information often? And the information that is needed can be conveyed by picture? Play Betrayal at Krondor if you haven't already and explain me what additional information would text based inventory add that is not available already in the game as it is now? Knowing you i already suspect the answer so i only say: no, try again this time stay on subject.
you seem upset
And that's your answer? Really? You think it's what? Smart? Funny? "An argument" probably, judging by your posts in this thread.
You still don't grasp what the word "discussion" means. Actually you always seemed to struggle with this, be it in games or political part of the forum. Hint: You are supposed to tell others WHY you think something works or is in a certain way. No simply repeat WHAT you think. Opinions are not arguments. Nor are insults.
Hope that wasn't too long for you this time.
 

Fargus

Arcane
Joined
Apr 2, 2012
Messages
2,348
Location
Moscow
Arx fatalis inventory is limited, but simple and good + extra bags you could buy\find to expand it.
Gothic 2 inventory good, but not without its flaws like if there is too many items (Like in Archolos) it gets hard for me to navigate and find the stuff i need. Gothic 1 inventory and trading was a nightmare though.
Morrowind's inventory just overall good. Literally one screen with multiple windows (inventory, character paperdoll, stats and even a map). All windows resizeable. Love it.
Deus Ex. Love the limited inventory and at the same time hate it... because i cant have all heavy weapons and all my other shit at once :-(
 
Joined
Jan 14, 2018
Messages
50,754
Codex Year of the Donut
So who is the one "purposely misconstruing" here?
The person using a non-rpg in a thread about rpgs?
Also stop with the "graphic whore" nonsense, it's retarded when used in relation to small 2D pictures. In games that have a lot of other graphics at that. Not that i would expect a better "argument" but one may dream.
"stop using the argument that's effective against me!"
no lol
you guys prefer icons because you like pretty pictures and hate actual information, simple as
What game is not an crpg? I lost you here for a moment.
Also, that was not what you wrote, this was: "...he's purposely misconstruing how the game's inventory actually looks".
So you don't even remember what you wrote, interesting.

This not an argument, it's called "insult". Grow up, for fuck's sake. And it doesn't make sense even as an insult in this context - i already explained you why as well.

Last but not least, what is this "you guys"? What guys you are talking about? I doubt anyone "hate actual information". A graphic based inventory can convey information. As your own screenshot from JA2 shows. The part on the left, not the right, as i mentioned. Stop being so childishly black-and-white. I play(ed) games with text based inventories where text based made perfect sense (Cataclysm DDA) and games where it was really poorly (oldie but goodie, Darklands). Same with tetris-like inventories. Who needs a lot of information at first glance if the game is relatively simple or doesn't require you to access this information often? And the information that is needed can be conveyed by picture? Play Betrayal at Krondor if you haven't already and explain me what additional information would text based inventory add that is not available already in the game as it is now? Knowing you i already suspect the answer so i only say: no, try again this time stay on subject.
you seem upset
And that's your answer? Really? You think it's what? Smart? Funny? "An argument" probably, judging by your posts in this thread.
You still don't grasp what the word "discussion" means. Actually you always seemed to struggle with this, be it in games or political part of the forum. Hint: You are supposed to tell others WHY you think something works or is in a certain way. No simply repeat WHAT you think. Opinions are not arguments. Nor are insults.
Hope that wasn't too long for you this time.
You seem upset.

I already know I'm not going to convince windowlickers to not lick windows, and I know I'm right. You guys can jack off to pretty pixels all you want.
 

Blutwurstritter

Learned
Joined
Sep 18, 2021
Messages
875
Location
Germany
I said icons can be skimmed quicker than text.
the icons convey nothing, you have memorized the icons and associate them with information in your head
they could have just as easily used numbers or colors for what you use them for, do you not understand this simple concept?

that was the point of this entire exercise btw, wasteland 3's icon-based inventory is absolutely no different than the others -- you just haven't played wasteland 3 and therefore don't know what the icons represent. They are useless for conveying information when you need it.
Here is an example of icons helping to identify items more quickly, especially when scrolling through the list quickly.


inventory-icons.png

Sadly I couldn't find any numerical information. But then a touch of genius has reached me and I had a brilliant idea, inspired by rusty. I removed all the icons!

inventory-no-icons.png

But wtf??? Removing the icons didn't improve the inventory at all, its still missing all the numeric information. How can that be rusty?

P.S. I am trying out the obstinate retard game myself, its beginning to entertain me.
 
Self-Ejected

Lim-Dûl

Self-Ejected
Joined
Apr 11, 2022
Messages
388
A stroke of genius has touched me too, and I got a bright idea. This clearly demonstrates icons convey so much information.
inventory-icons.jpg
 

Blutwurstritter

Learned
Joined
Sep 18, 2021
Messages
875
Location
Germany
Holly molly! That was one sneaky operation, hiding the true intent all along. Now it is clear to me why was so irked by it. It's high time to leave this abominable place for good.
 

Storyfag

Perfidious Pole
Patron
Joined
Feb 17, 2011
Messages
15,893
Location
Stealth Orbital Nuke Control Centre
A stroke of genius has touched me too, and I got a bright idea. This clearly demonstrates icons convey so much information.
inventory-icons.jpg
according to icontards, this is vastly preferable to a list.

Why would a list be vastlu preferable to a list? It is still a godawfull list that needs scr*lling through.
 

Valdetiosi

Scholar
Joined
Apr 18, 2016
Messages
215
Location
Finland
So what about, icon inventory, but when you hover mouse over it, tooltip containing all information about item?

Something like Dragon's Dogma inventory, but not made in mind with arrowkeys.
Dragons-Dogma-Dark-Arisen03282021-035838-46922.jpg
 

Denim Destroyer

Learned
Joined
Mar 20, 2021
Messages
425
Location
Moonglow, Britannia
I don't mind icons provided item descriptions exist. From my limited experience, games with pure text-based list inventories are much faster to navigate as they rely more on keyboard buttons than the mouse.
 
Self-Ejected

Lim-Dûl

Self-Ejected
Joined
Apr 11, 2022
Messages
388
Someone mentioned Windows UI - something like that or Excel spreadsheets would be pretty good in an RPG, if the visuals were changed a bit to look more thematic. The presumption that images are necessary lower the quality of inventories even before they begin developing properly. Even the Xcom inventory above, while visually appealing somewhat, has so much wasted space that could've otherwise been used to display pertinent information.
 

Trithne

Erudite
Joined
Dec 3, 2008
Messages
1,191
Someone mentioned Windows UI - something like that or Excel spreadsheets would be pretty good in an RPG, if the visuals were changed a bit to look more thematic. The presumption that images are necessary lower the quality of inventories even before they begin developing properly. Even the Xcom inventory above, while visually appealing somewhat, has so much wasted space that could've otherwise been used to display pertinent information.
Like what? Listing all the stats of every weapon would just show values that never change, and aren't that necessary to know at all times. If you need to know you can query the item.

The X-Com inventory screen does exactly what it needs to do: give you an at-a-glance overview of what the soldier has, and what's in range for them to pick up, how much more they can carry, and how many TUs they have taking encumbrance into account. It is exactly what it needs to be and nothing more.

In games where you can pick up 2 visually identical swords and they have different stats, then sure, you want something that makes that visible immediately. Those games are shit.
 
Joined
Jan 14, 2018
Messages
50,754
Codex Year of the Donut
Someone mentioned Windows UI - something like that or Excel spreadsheets would be pretty good in an RPG, if the visuals were changed a bit to look more thematic. The presumption that images are necessary lower the quality of inventories even before they begin developing properly. Even the Xcom inventory above, while visually appealing somewhat, has so much wasted space that could've otherwise been used to display pertinent information.
Like what? Listing all the stats of every weapon would just show values that never change, and aren't that necessary to know at all times. If you need to know you can query the item.

The X-Com inventory screen does exactly what it needs to do: give you an at-a-glance overview of what the soldier has, and what's in range for them to pick up, how much more they can carry, and how many TUs they have taking encumbrance into account. It is exactly what it needs to be and nothing more.

In games where you can pick up 2 visually identical swords and they have different stats, then sure, you want something that makes that visible immediately. Those games are shit.
damn almost like x-com isn't an rpg and it doesn't have an inventory designed for an rpg

never knew so many codexers were allergic to numbers, sad!
 

Ninjerk

Arcane
Joined
Jul 10, 2013
Messages
14,323
Best experience I've had in an inventory system was JA2 1.13 once you got the two piece systems.
 

Nikanuur

Arbiter
Patron
Joined
Mar 1, 2021
Messages
1,484
Location
Ngranek
Gothic's. One of the most revered RPGs has got the best inventory interface. The best inventory interface to infuriate the players and to make them ragequit in the first few minutes.
 

Blutwurstritter

Learned
Joined
Sep 18, 2021
Messages
875
Location
Germany
Gothic's. One of the most revered RPGs has got the best inventory interface. The best inventory interface to infuriate the players and to make them ragequit in the first few minutes.
I don't think it is fair to give all the credit to the inventory interface. The ingenious control scheme also did its best to make Gothic 1 such an unique and memorable experience.
 

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