Poll: Character Backstories and Items

[Toriver]

So in some games, especially RPGs, you might have some items, such as weapons, armor, or special items, that are related in some way to a character's backstory or personality. These items may take up an item slot in your inventory, and will likely be eclipsed at some point, maybe even soon after in the game, by better-functioning items and/or items with better stats. Perhaps, at the point you receive your character's special item, this has already happened. Or maybe the item isn't right for the type of build you want that character to have. For whatever reason, the item has become outdated or obsolete for the character compared to what he/she could have at that time, and in practical terms, merely just eats up space in the inventory. But at the same time, that item means a lot to that particular character. Perhaps it's a family heirloom, or a treasure that the character has been fighting long and hard to obtain. Maybe it's an important status symbol for the character or a really good expression of who that character is in some way.

So, my question is, what do you do with such items? Do you eat the drawback of using that item and continue to use it as an expression of who your character is? Do you put the item away, acknowledging sentimental value, but knowing that with it, you can't take on the next big boss? Do you sell it for money to afford the next more powerful weapon, putting it to at least some use? Or don't you concern yourself with such things and you just have to let it go to make room for items you need to advance?

As for me, I'm mostly the "keep it but don't use it" kind of player. I can't bring myself to sell or toss such items knowing the character's backstory and motivations, but at the same time, these types of items can become obsolete pretty dang quickly and those enemies I'm fighting don't get any easier to take down. I need all the help I can get from my equipment and I can't be bogged down by my dad's sword if it's blunt and rusty compared to the nice, sharp sword sitting in the shop.

 

[Eponet]

It depends on the item, and the character really. Generally I'll keep anything unique and rarely use it, but sometimes just toss it if said character turns out being to sentimental about the past.

 

[Avaholic03]

Sell them if they're worth it...otherwise just store them away and forget about them. Hard to be sentimental about 1's and 0's.

 

[Midnight Crossroads]

I like to keep them if their is some way to store them(banks in WoW) or the inventory is unlimited(Final Fantasy.) In the city elf origin in DA, I usually act like a complete asshole and trade the girls for money and insult the people around me, but I will keep the ring. I like to make my character be a complete jerk ass until Duncan dies.

 

[TheNewDemoman]

Borderlands


I kept my first pistol for a long time.

Fallout New Vegas

I kept my Varmit Rifle for a long time.

 

[Fenring]

In Morrowind, once I built the manor in Raven Rock, I stocked that house with everything with a proper name (and oodles of gold, ebony, and other precious things). Before the manor, I used my Telvanni fortress I had built for me, and before than, the whole of Dren Plantation, since you can kill everyone there without getting a bounty.

 

[AgDr_ODST]

I hoard items when I can so that if I want or need an item I can go to set place and retrieve it

 

[badgersprite]

I kind of like it when you have to keep those items as plot items. They usually don't take up any space or anything. If I remember correctly, you could never get rid of Cloud's Buster Sword or Barrett's Gatling Gun, despite the fact they could be replaced. It also made sense since they invariably used them in cutscenes.

So, yeah, if it's significant, in a way, I always hold onto it. If it's just a random thing that there are X-ty million of out there that I pick up in the tutorial, then not so much. It doesn't really belong to the character; they just found it.

Example of the difference: I never kept the weapons I found in the dungeon in Oblivion, but I never sold the standard issue Onyx armour (or whatever it's called) from the beginning of Mass Effect, or the armour Ashley first showed up in. Always kept it.

 

[NeutralDrow]

You kidding? There's a reason my hunter in WoW wore cloth armor for the longest time (and my rogue still does). I just loved the Sleeper's Robe and Robe of the Keeper, and how they look on my characters.

For that matter, my hunter still carries his Shadow Goggles, Moonsight Rifle, and telescope, even though they're rarely used. Sure, they're inferior to other head armors, other guns I've made, and one of my own hunter spells (Eagle Eye), but they were among the first engineering pieces I created (ever), and carry quite a bit of sentimental value. I tend to keep them in my vault and consider them formalwear.

 

[Drexlor]

I usually store items like that. I get pretty sentimental in games. After 40 hours of New Vegas, I still have the varmint rifle and the 9mm pistol is my main weapon. I also used the Jefferson Provincial that Vito gets in chapter 2 of Mafia II throughout the entire game.

 

[Ghored]

If whatever my character starts out with can be sold, I probably would have sold it as soon as I got something else.

Unless my starting item(s) was (were) in some way useful.....Or rare.

Like the BB Gun of Fallout 3.

 

[Gigano]

I'll generally try to keep onto such items for their uniqueness, but if inventory/storage space becomes too limited, and the item is useless, then it'll have to go.

Never let nostalgia get in the way of progress.

 

[Ice Car]

In Fallout New Vegas, I kept my Varmint Rifle for the longest time until near end-game when I found the Ratslayer. Rendered my VR obsolete, as it was basically the full upgraded VR with a better color, more damage, lower weight, but more AP Cost. Worth it.