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Inventory: Slot Vs. Weight

Posted: Fri Jan 14, 2011 5:45 am
by Woolymammoth
What do you think about the inventory? It is impossible for a man to hold 5 swords. Do you think that TESV should switch it's encumbrance style inventory, where it is weighted, or you do you think there should be a slot inventory system, where you hold so many swords, so many potions, etc, and everything else can be stored at another location?

The way I see it, I wouldn't really enjoy going into the slot system, because it is lame, but the invisible 500 pound bag of a bottomless pit is also, to a measure, unrealistic.

Would you like to see a change in the inventory system in TESV?

Re: Inventory: Slot Vs. Weight

Posted: Fri Jan 14, 2011 5:48 am
by Imperfect
While realism makes a game more fun, there is such thing as blending reality and virtual reality.

One of the best things used to separate the 2 is the IRLVGI. (In Real Life Video Game Inventory).
I can't just pull a 200lb hammer out of nowhere, now can I? And that is how I know I am not in a video game. :)

Re: Inventory: Slot Vs. Weight

Posted: Fri Jan 14, 2011 12:16 pm
by I_am_one
I think it's okay the way it is. Think of it this way. With the slot system, we could only carry (for example) 30 small, lightweight potions, or 30 large, heavy swords. How can we carry 30 swords, but not 31 or more potions?

Re: Inventory: Slot Vs. Weight

Posted: Fri Jan 14, 2011 2:33 pm
by Vardark
I really liked the weight system from Oblivion. That way a hammer actually IS bigger than a potion.

Re: Inventory: Slot Vs. Weight

Posted: Fri Jan 14, 2011 4:12 pm
by The Tourist
Imperfect wrote:While realism makes a game more fun, there is such thing as blending reality and virtual reality.
[angry gameshow buzzer noise, denoting an incorrect answer... ] Wrong (erm, partially!), realism doesn't make a game more fun. If a military FPS was "realistic", the gamer would be permanently bored, with this question on their minds: "Sooooo.... When does the next war start?". And when a war did come along, you'd be bemoaning why your flak jacket doesn't fit, or why your deployment in theatre caused the [non-armoured] patrol Land Rovers to be left at a different staging area... You'd also be sent for a trip to an exciting place like Geneva (well, a court in Geneva), when you contravened the ROE and let off a few rounds out of boredom and/or fear.

So yeah, a blend is what we're all after.

I like a game to be punishingly hard in certain respects, but frankly it's just easier if you have an almost infinite inventory capacity. Worrying about reality in a fantasy world seems a little odd to me. And everyone who's ever played an RPG has had those 'stuck down a dungeon, near the big boss fight, unable to pick up more loot'-moments... worrying about whether or not the game's gonna let you return to this locale to pick up all the stuff you couldn't.

The less of such moments the better, says I.

Re: Inventory: Slot Vs. Weight

Posted: Fri Jan 14, 2011 5:09 pm
by JJSmart
The Tourist wrote:I like a game to be punishingly hard in certain respects, but frankly it's just easier if you have an almost infinite inventory capacity. Worrying about reality in a fantasy world seems a little odd to me. And everyone who's ever played an RPG has had those 'stuck down a dungeon, near the big boss fight, unable to pick up more loot'-moments... worrying about whether or not the game's gonna let you return to this locale to pick up all the stuff you couldn't.

The less of such moments the better, says I.
Oh so many times i've been in that place. But i've never resented the game for it. I mean you don't see Indiana Jones hauling all the columns, statues and gold ingots out of every temple he's desecrated and violated! He knows how to pick the coolest stuff to steal (and in a perfect size to get away with it too).

I don't think realistic inventory space is the way to go. Not because of weapons, i actually wouldn't mind being limited to a maximum of 1 dagger, 1 one-handed and 1 two-handed (and since we're at it, they could be visibly equipped at the same time, damn it!). But because of the other stuff: After you make a dozen potions and pick up some books, realistically, you should be nearing capacity, and that'd be too annoying.

Re: Inventory: Slot Vs. Weight

Posted: Fri Jan 14, 2011 5:15 pm
by The Dog Whisperer
On the blending note:
I_am_one wrote:I think it's okay the way it is. Think of it this way. With the slot system, we could only carry (for example) 30 small, lightweight potions, or 30 large, heavy swords. How can we carry 30 swords, but not 31 or more potions?
If you want "realistic", blend the two systems together.
Items of the same type take one slot, then they stack onto each other, and there's also a weight limit.
Then you can't have 99 swords. (Without binging Feather potions)

Volume isn't really something that should come into game inventories, it's normally something like: Big items take four slots and small items take one.
Reminds me of Drakan: The Ancient Gates, but it reminds me that it was annoying.

Re: Inventory: Slot Vs. Weight

Posted: Fri Jan 14, 2011 5:18 pm
by The Tourist
JJSmart wrote:But i've never resented the game for it. I mean you don't see Indiana Jones hauling all the columns, statues and gold ingots out of every temple he's desecrated and violated! He knows how to pick the coolest stuff to steal (and in a perfect size to get away with it too).
Clearly Indy wasn't OCD about loot... Even the smallest items add up to a whole heap'a'gold. :D

Re: Inventory: Slot Vs. Weight

Posted: Fri Jan 14, 2011 5:28 pm
by Painlee
the current system is find the last thing we need is a slot system were the is a lot of items and places to explore.
Imperfect wrote:While realism makes a game more fun, there is such thing as blending reality and virtual reality.
no it doesn't

Re: Inventory: Slot Vs. Weight

Posted: Fri Jan 14, 2011 7:05 pm
by Rat Kiosk
I like the system as it is.

You could use a slot system where the larger items take up more space rather than weight. There are a few games that have done this quite well. You have an inventory square and the sword will take up four times more than a potion. I still don't want it to change though.

Re: Inventory: Slot Vs. Weight

Posted: Fri Jan 14, 2011 8:16 pm
by ace62394
The current system is fine, but I want a pack of some sort. I don't understand wearing skimpy armor and holding 2 warhammers and thousands of arrows. I'm so bothered by this, that in FO 3/NV I always wore an armor suit/clothing that had some sort of pack.

Re: Inventory: Slot Vs. Weight

Posted: Fri Jan 14, 2011 8:48 pm
by Tsavi
If you think a bottomless bag is unrealistic, what do you say about trolls, minotaurs and all the other unreal creatures? :wink:
Bottomless bags are an old fashion in RPG. And I thank D&D for that! :shock:
I'm ok with the inventory system of oblivion. But I must be honest, the "weight/strength" thing p*** me off some times. :cry:

Re: Inventory: Slot Vs. Weight

Posted: Fri Jan 14, 2011 9:01 pm
by Lindai
Realism can make the game more fun. Imagine a realistic RPG game was made where you could ...

Only carry one sword at a time.
Had to eat/drink/sleep.
Had to rest after sprinting.
Use Fire to cause enemies to catch fire and burn to death.
Use Shock to cause cardiac arrest and death.
Arrow shots to the head caused instant death.
Arrow shots to the chest caused inevitable death after a while.

Try convince someone that a game like this wouldn't be fun.

Slot based inventory wouldn't be fun unless everything else in the game was realistic.

Re: Inventory: Slot Vs. Weight

Posted: Fri Jan 14, 2011 10:32 pm
by JJSmart
Lindai wrote:Realism can make the game more fun. Imagine a realistic RPG game was made where you could ...

Only carry one sword at a time.
Had to eat/drink/sleep.
Had to rest after sprinting.
Use Fire to cause enemies to catch fire and burn to death.
Use Shock to cause cardiac arrest and death.
Arrow shots to the head caused instant death.
Arrow shots to the chest caused inevitable death after a while.

Try convince someone that a game like this wouldn't be fun.

Slot based inventory wouldn't be fun unless everything else in the game was realistic.
Well they could certainly make this happen without forcing it on players who want the old stuff. Just put it in Hardcore mode like FNV, where ammo had weight and you needed water, food and sleep, etc...
I like the sprinting idea, but the arrow thing would be a big, big gameplay problem. I mean you're in the middle of a dungeon and 5 archers start shooting arrows at you. DEAD. Reload, go out again. DEAD... I had this problem with a "1-hit-kill headshots" mod in Fallout NV and it was beyond frustrating. Even worse with arrows to the chest being a death sentence. Imagine finally getting through a bunch of enemies, saving the game and realizing you have a couple of arrows sticking out of your chest!

'Scuse me while I conjure this up...

Posted: Sat Jan 15, 2011 12:05 am
by Dark Spark
Denying the player the chance to haul over 500 'pounds' of interesting things will deny them the pleasure of the scavenger hunt.

Besides, this is a universe where traffic to and from an extradimensional realm is not only possible, it's a common school of learning. Hammerspace never had a more welcome home. :wink:

Re: 'Scuse me while I conjure this up...

Posted: Sat Jan 15, 2011 12:10 am
by JJSmart
Dark Spark wrote:Denying the player the chance to haul over 500 'pounds' of interesting things will deny them the pleasure of the scavenger hunt.

Besides, this is a universe where traffic to and from an extradimensional realm is not only possible, it's a common school of learning. Hammerspace never had a more welcome home. :wink:
I think my one and only problem with being able to carry so many things is that it's not explained. I'd be fine with the explanation being that magic, bottomless bags are a common thing, or anything weird like that. Like you said, TES has so many weird things that this is hardly something you'd consider impossible in its universe. But it -is- unexplained, and it annoys me :shock:

Re: Inventory: Slot Vs. Weight

Posted: Sat Jan 15, 2011 12:25 am
by Dark Spark
Carrying on with my half-insane "You're writing an Elder Scroll" fixation, imagine that your 'journal' bends reality in a way worthy of Schroedinger: you're not carrying everything you own all at once— you're carrying just what you need at that particular moment.

It just so happens what you're holding depends upon what you need at that moment. The Elder Scroll chronicles what you've had before (and didn't sell off or drop on the ground) and re-makes this particular moment at your discretion.

Re: Inventory: Slot Vs. Weight

Posted: Sat Jan 15, 2011 1:00 am
by Vendetta
I vote weight.... its 500x more realistic and I dont have to be limited to what im carying

Re: Inventory: Slot Vs. Weight

Posted: Sat Jan 15, 2011 1:15 am
by JJSmart
Dark Spark wrote:Carrying on with my half-insane "You're writing an Elder Scroll" fixation, imagine that your 'journal' bends reality in a way worthy of Schroedinger: you're not carrying everything you own all at once— you're carrying just what you need at that particular moment.

It just so happens what you're holding depends upon what you need at that moment. The Elder Scroll chronicles what you've had before (and didn't sell off or drop on the ground) and re-makes this particular moment at your discretion.
Gasp! Then i can never know what's in my inventory until i open it! Oh the humanity! :shock:

Re: Inventory: Slot Vs. Weight

Posted: Sat Jan 15, 2011 1:30 am
by Dark Spark
*opens inventory*

Okay. The cyanide, that's mine. Where'd this cat come from?

Re: Inventory: Slot Vs. Weight

Posted: Sat Jan 15, 2011 1:44 am
by Tsavi
...And just imagine if gold weighs: "YAY, I'M RICH! -- And over-encumbered."

Re: Inventory: Slot Vs. Weight

Posted: Sat Jan 15, 2011 2:05 am
by JJSmart
Dark Spark wrote:*opens inventory*

Okay. The cyanide, that's mine. Where'd this cat come from?
Well if it's Schrödinger's, i'm sure he of all people will understand there's no way you could've known!
Tsavi wrote:...And just imagine if gold weighs: "YAY, I'M RICH! -- And over-encumbered."
Actually, i play Oblivion on my PC and it's (very) heavily modded. One of these mods adds a liiiiittle weight to gold (which adds up really fast, as you might have guessed) and another is a bank, in IC's Market district. The bank gives me about 4 or 5 gold per day, per 1000 deposited. So i go to the IC every could of dungeons and deposit most of my gold there. And it's pretty cool, i must say.

Re: Inventory: Slot Vs. Weight

Posted: Sat Jan 15, 2011 2:08 am
by Tsavi
Tsavi wrote:...And just imagine if gold weighs: "YAY, I'M RICH! -- And over-encumbered."
JJSmart wrote:Actually, i play Oblivion on my PC and it's (very) heavily modded. One of these mods adds a liiiiittle weight to gold (which adds up really fast, as you might have guessed) and another is a bank, in IC's Market district. The bank gives me about 4 or 5 gold per day, per 1000 deposited. So i go to the IC every could of dungeons and deposit most of my gold there. And it's pretty cool, i must say.

Why use a mod that adds weight on your money, if you can carry aaaall of you fortune with you!
(I'm just saying this cuz I didn't realized Oblivion had a bank. O.o)

Re: Inventory: Slot Vs. Weight

Posted: Sat Jan 15, 2011 2:11 am
by JJSmart
Tsavi wrote:
Tsavi wrote:...And just imagine if gold weighs: "YAY, I'M RICH! -- And over-encumbered."
Actually, i play Oblivion on my PC and it's (very) heavily modded. One of these mods adds a liiiiittle weight to gold (which adds up really fast, as you might have guessed) and another is a bank, in IC's Market district. The bank gives me about 4 or 5 gold per day, per 1000 deposited. So i go to the IC every could of dungeons and deposit most of my gold there. And it's pretty cool, i must say.

Why use a mod that adds weight on your money, if you can carry aaaall of you fortune with you!
(I'm just saying this cuz I didn't realized Oblivion had a bank. O.o)[/quote]

The bank is from another mod, it's not in the original game.
Aaaand i dunno, it adds a bit of realism that i can't carry 400k pieces of gold in my pocket.

Re: Inventory: Slot Vs. Weight

Posted: Sat Jan 15, 2011 2:15 am
by Tsavi
JJSmart wrote:The bank is from another mod, it's not in the original game.
Aaaand i dunno, it adds a bit of realism that i can't carry 400k pieces of gold in my pocket.
400k? I'm a level 11 Rogue and I only have 6k. Oh, God, I'm feeling terrible. .-.