Johny_X2 said:
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.
I'm right there with ya. Actually, I tell a lie... I still haven't beaten it yet. I
just defeated the Capra demon after 10 to 12 months of creating new characters, getting up to that point, and stopping after getting destroyed by that mean jackass.
I'm somewhere around Slvl 27 or 28, and I'm just going around collecting gear, defeating mini-bosses, and generally running around all over the place. Since I finally figured out parry and backstab, I'm hunting for Black Knights and trying to get their stuff.
Ohhh... the fun and...... the..... feels...
Johny_X2 said:
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?
I can't think of a weight-limiting inventory system that wasn't a chore and didn't almost immediately rip me out of the immersion, especially in your mentioned "dungeon management" scenario. This is one of the things that kept me from playing past Whiterun in
Skyrim. I didn't beat that game until relatively recently (this past November or something) because, among other things, the weight-limit system became too annoying.
"But you can store your stuff in a house," some random advocate would say. Yeah, and too bad there was no design mechanic that'd let you remember which house had what and where. Terrible design, especially in regards to the touted "open world" idea - that you could go anywhere, try any weapon/spell/armor, and build a character to your liking. Nope - one at a time. Shit, to use an already overused, pseudo-meme: ain't nobody got time for that.
I know I sound like a copy of a broken record, but
Dark Souls was one of the best games I'd ever played.
After hearing about
Dark Souls from acquaintences who play far more games than I do, and are very much into games I was never particularly interested in (i.e.
Final Fantasy & the like), and their near-endless appraisal of the game, I decided to pick it up one day when I saw it on sale for $7 or $12 on Steam. It sat downloaded on my hard drive for months before I finally gave it a shot.
I got rocked. All over the place. My poor, soft, innocent butt was at the mercy of monsters and mayhem. I played for 6 hours straight. Haven't done that since I was 13.
I went into the game thinking I probably wouldn't like it.
I came out with cream in my pants.
My cream.
Ok....ok, ok, ok.... sorry about the tangent.
Back OT: I really like the inventory system in
Dark Souls. In a game where exploration in an imperative and the way forth (read: next save point) is unknown, being able to (un)realistically carry everything you pick up is a similar, and I'd say dependent, necessity.
However, one can only
equip (wear/use) so much at once, and depending on one's leveling choices & some special gear, it can be a little bit or a little bit more than a little bit. The burden percentage system on equipped gear was very well designed to me. A character can tank with some movement and stamina penalties, but with some advantages to survival and even stability (i.e. able to withstand a solid hit without being knocked over or one's defense broken), or one can equip lightly and be able to move, dodge, and attack quickly with a quicker stamina regen, but at significant risk (i.e. being 1-hit killed, inability to withstand certain attacks, leaving one open to being finished off, etc.).
But, in their "not currently equipped/used" inventory, a character can still carry gigantofuck shields & weapons, heavy sets of armor, and the inevitable duplicates, triplicates & quadruplicates of crappy drops as you cautiously move from one area to another.
It definitely encouraged exploration, discouraged direct/linear backtracking, and kept me engaged with the game's world and my presence in it.
TTTTFL;DR: Inventory-burden system was excellently done in
Dark Souls, and I haven't found a similar liking to any other game's inventory system. They've all felt limiting for "realism's sake" and seemed to undermine the very design of the game they were in (ex.
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim,
Deus Ex: Human Revolution).