So here's a thought. After finally finishing Dark Souls (yes, I know, I know, I'm sorry), I concluded that it was the single best RPG I've played and therefore every other game should take examples from it (again, sorry). And it wasn't until I decided to give Demon's Souls another shot and started playing Elder Scrolls again before I started comparing. And analysing. And judging.
Now I know Dark Souls has been the main topic of just about every discussion in the past two years and most of you are getting sick of it by now but please, hear me out. This thread is not about Dark Souls. It's just that only after playing Dark Souls I noticed that some of the mechanics that have grown to be the staple of the RPG genre, things that every single RPG has to include without giving it a second thought, are actually not that great an idea. RPG design has become standardised to a large degree and only after playing a game which purposefuly left these mechanics out was I able to see just how much better it made the game as a whole.
Let's talk about inventory weight systems then.
First of all, I get why they exist. The idea makes sense. There should be a limit to what a human being can carry on their person at all times. I mean, you can't be expected to be able to handle ANOTHER small health potion on top of five suits of armour, 35 swords and a sizable collection of rocks you were already carrying, right?
What it often boils down to, however, is excessive inventory management. Which is, for most people at least, not fun. Why do I have to stop playing halfway through a dungeon and start sorting through the inventory? Why do I have to throw out half my loot to be able to make room for more loot? I don't see the point. Especially if it's just there for its own sake. Just because, as I said earlier, it's expected of an RPG to have limited inventory space. But honestly, if a mechanic serves no purpose and it's only effect is that it interrupts the flow of gameplay and annoys the fuck out of the player, isn't that just... well... bad design?
Now I do not condemn the mechanic itself. I mean, it's just another tool in a designer's box, isn't it? It even makes sense in games in which resource management is a major focus. survival horror is a great example of this. The thing is, I just don't see what point it has in most RPGs. It seems to only serve to put hurdles in the way of exploration.
Case in point: Demon's Souls. A game, in which you are driven to explore every nook and cranny of every level. A game in which everything you find while exploring is in some way useful and/or important. The inventory weight cap in this case undermines all other mechanics. When you become overburdened, you can not carry any more items. there is no indication of this other than the number displayed in menus. of course, when picking up loot, you are given no indication of what the loot is, how much it weights, and whether it would overburden you when you pick it up, and if it would, the game does not let you take it. However, if you have already attempted to take it, you have to throw out other shit from your inventory otherwise the loot is going to disappear and will be lost forever. Oh, and should you decide to run back to the last archstone and clear out your inventory in the nexus, you lose all the progress you've made in the level as well as all the items you couldn't carry back. This becomes especially infuriating in the Archstone of the Burrow King area where all loot are heavy upgrade stones and there are fucktons of them everywhere.
Thoughts? Do you also find weight limits infuriatingly useless and annoying in most RPGs? Can you actually think of examples within the genre where they actually have a place and serve to make the game better?
Discuss
Now I know Dark Souls has been the main topic of just about every discussion in the past two years and most of you are getting sick of it by now but please, hear me out. This thread is not about Dark Souls. It's just that only after playing Dark Souls I noticed that some of the mechanics that have grown to be the staple of the RPG genre, things that every single RPG has to include without giving it a second thought, are actually not that great an idea. RPG design has become standardised to a large degree and only after playing a game which purposefuly left these mechanics out was I able to see just how much better it made the game as a whole.
Let's talk about inventory weight systems then.
First of all, I get why they exist. The idea makes sense. There should be a limit to what a human being can carry on their person at all times. I mean, you can't be expected to be able to handle ANOTHER small health potion on top of five suits of armour, 35 swords and a sizable collection of rocks you were already carrying, right?
What it often boils down to, however, is excessive inventory management. Which is, for most people at least, not fun. Why do I have to stop playing halfway through a dungeon and start sorting through the inventory? Why do I have to throw out half my loot to be able to make room for more loot? I don't see the point. Especially if it's just there for its own sake. Just because, as I said earlier, it's expected of an RPG to have limited inventory space. But honestly, if a mechanic serves no purpose and it's only effect is that it interrupts the flow of gameplay and annoys the fuck out of the player, isn't that just... well... bad design?
Now I do not condemn the mechanic itself. I mean, it's just another tool in a designer's box, isn't it? It even makes sense in games in which resource management is a major focus. survival horror is a great example of this. The thing is, I just don't see what point it has in most RPGs. It seems to only serve to put hurdles in the way of exploration.
Case in point: Demon's Souls. A game, in which you are driven to explore every nook and cranny of every level. A game in which everything you find while exploring is in some way useful and/or important. The inventory weight cap in this case undermines all other mechanics. When you become overburdened, you can not carry any more items. there is no indication of this other than the number displayed in menus. of course, when picking up loot, you are given no indication of what the loot is, how much it weights, and whether it would overburden you when you pick it up, and if it would, the game does not let you take it. However, if you have already attempted to take it, you have to throw out other shit from your inventory otherwise the loot is going to disappear and will be lost forever. Oh, and should you decide to run back to the last archstone and clear out your inventory in the nexus, you lose all the progress you've made in the level as well as all the items you couldn't carry back. This becomes especially infuriating in the Archstone of the Burrow King area where all loot are heavy upgrade stones and there are fucktons of them everywhere.
Thoughts? Do you also find weight limits infuriatingly useless and annoying in most RPGs? Can you actually think of examples within the genre where they actually have a place and serve to make the game better?
Discuss