Bay 12 Games Forum

Please login or register.

Login with username, password and session length
Advanced search  

Author Topic: Inventory Management (adventure mode)  (Read 9986 times)

BDR

  • Bay Watcher
    • View Profile
Inventory Management (adventure mode)
« on: August 15, 2007, 03:56:00 pm »

This is very likely already planned, but I feel reinforcing the move towards such can't hurt.  Basically, the way inventory management in Adventure mode currently works sucks.  Let's say you have two backpacks; one to wear normally and one to hold all the stuff you've been looting from a nearby town/ruin for later pickups (this being before you are strong enough or have enough armor skill to carry it easily).  In order to put stuff you've found into the backpack serving as a stash, you have to pick it up, wear it, put the item you wanted to put away in it, then remove it, then drop it.  Worse, if you decide to wear something in the backpack you've got on the ground and save whatever you were wearing for sale later, you have to pick up the backpack, remove the item inside, remove whatever the item is replacing (greaves for chain leggings, as an example), wear the item you want, put the replaced item in the backpack, then drop the backpack.  This is unnecessarily complicated and annoying; why can't I take things directly from containers on the ground?  Also (though this in particular has probably been discussed already) not having a way to simply issue the wear command instead of being forced to remove things before being allowed to wear other items that take the same place is also annoying.  A final request is that it be made clearer to the player a) how much of a given item type they can wear and b) why they can't wear certain things ("You are already wearing the maximum number of lower body undergarments", for example) without being forced to examine the raws and try to draw a conclusion from that.  I feel these issues, unaddressed as they currently are, add to the complexity of the game without adding a significant benefit to realism and (more importantly, IMO) also subtracting a fair portion of fun from the game while you mess with inventory to try and get certain things as you'd like them, which is obviously bad.
Logged
A HREF="http://www.bay12games.com/cgi-local/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic&f=12&t=000218">A Kobold''s Quest

A Kobold''s Quest II

Savok

  • Bay Watcher
    • View Profile
Re: Inventory Management (adventure mode)
« Reply #1 on: August 15, 2007, 06:15:00 pm »

Logged
So sayeth the Wiki Loremaster!

BDR

  • Bay Watcher
    • View Profile
Re: Inventory Management (adventure mode)
« Reply #2 on: August 15, 2007, 08:06:00 pm »

Er, for one thing the suggestion's intent was that the player wouldn't need to go looking around elsewhere for information on what they could and could not wear (I specifically mentioned looking in the raws for the information, but I would also include needing to search for guides as part of the problem).  The other thing is that I know right off the bat an error in the wiki's list; it's possible to wear four sets of chainmail.  I don't know if anything else is incorrect, but I guess I'll find out.
Logged
A HREF="http://www.bay12games.com/cgi-local/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic&f=12&t=000218">A Kobold''s Quest

A Kobold''s Quest II

Savok

  • Bay Watcher
    • View Profile
Re: Inventory Management (adventure mode)
« Reply #3 on: August 15, 2007, 08:57:00 pm »

The wiki is chock full of spoilers. Granted, it is nice to play with the knowledge of them, but games should not be completely spoiler.

Also, it is a wiki. If you see an error in it, correct the error.

Logged
So sayeth the Wiki Loremaster!

BDR

  • Bay Watcher
    • View Profile
Re: Inventory Management (adventure mode)
« Reply #4 on: August 15, 2007, 10:00:00 pm »

You are missing the main point: if this was strategy, or a suggestion for improving your ability to play well, I'd have no problems with it being in the wiki as opposed to being in-game.  This is not, however, strategy; this is much closer to basic usability.  It's similar to how there's a list of material modifiers in-game; I suppose that doesn't have to be there but it'd be very inconvenient for anyone who was just starting to get into the game.  The fact that exceptional items are better than superior items is not obvious IMO without looking at this list, yet is fairly important, and IMO that makes the list a reasonable addition.  How much you can wear and of which types is also not obvious yet important, thus it is also reasonable IMO to want some way to determine this without needing to go to other places.  As for my secondary point about there being an error, that was more to illustrate that sometimes the extra resources are wrong.  My main complaint is that such information shouldn't need to exist elsewhere; it should be available right off the bat because the lack of it detracts from usability and fun.  If I lose the manual for a game, I can look elsewhere on the Internet and probably find an accurate copy of it, but I won't expect to, nor if it turns out to have errors will I have anyone to blame except myself and the people who put out an incorrect version; this is more like when a manual leaves out significant information on how to play and, while I can probably find that information prominently featured in a walkthrough, I shouldn't need to search for a walkthrough just so I can use the damned thing.  I should be able to capably use and understand how things work by either experimenting (in which case, the way things work is intuitively obvious or close enough that I can learn with a little effort) or by reading the manual (in which case they aren't immediately obvious but reasonably comprehensible).  Wrestling can be experimented with in a reasonable fashion, and the stuff that's in so far makes sense; on the other hand, being able to wear four suits of chain mail isn't exactly intuitive nor is it even suggested as possible by the game during normal play.  Instead you just hit w and say "Whoa, I can wear that too?" and go with it.  It'd be a lot nicer if I could find out before pressing w whether or not I could wear something, either because the manual tells me what I can wear or because the game says something like (for example), "You're already wearing too many suits of chain mail/a set of leggings/a set of greaves, do you want to exchange one of them/them for this item?"
Logged
A HREF="http://www.bay12games.com/cgi-local/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic&f=12&t=000218">A Kobold''s Quest

A Kobold''s Quest II