Potions and consumables

[endtherapture]

Who else goes through entire games not using their potions, consumables and best weapons because you might "need it later", until you're suddenly at the last boss and have loads of potions, and you've just realised you've blagged through the game without using any?

How can games make hoarders like us actually use our potions?

 

[RedEyesBlackGamer]

Me.
"I'll save this full party heal for a real boss."
"This guy is tough, but he isn't restore all of my MP tough."
"This boss isn't worth my full party resurrection item."
I then finish the game with all these items still in my inventory. >.>

 

[DoPo]

Yeah, I have the same problem. Especially pronounced when I play Morrowind, so I have to monitor myself VERY carefully. To explain, since there are a ton of magical effects, keeping some on hand is not a bad idea. But if you're not a spellcaster...or even if you are, mana can be an issue, you can stockpile potions, scrolls and even enchanted items. Which turns into "let's haul half of my max weight capacity in effects I MAY need". Yeah, to be honest, I don't think a potion of slow fall is that good - I mean, come on, I can count the number of times I was stranded mid-air and needed slow fall or I'd die. The number is 1. And cure poison? Would be good except, I can't remember how many times have I been poisoned, or if I've been poisoned. Cure common disease? They are minor annoyances at best but may develop into more severe thing unless get treated...however, as I'm going back to the towns all the time, and you can get cured in town, it's not an issue. Restore is for when something damages one of your attributes and you are stuck there at the reduced amount until you get cured. It's pretty much the same as common disease, though - it's rare and you can get cured in town. At most, I would get a potion or two of restore strength, just because that determines your max weight and damaging it can root you in place. Or I can carry some strength increasing stuff (Sujamma FTW) which I usually do for the times I find too much loot to carry. And so on and so forth.

I think the Witcher did potions good - you need them to win a fight. I think that has the winning formula - potions are a major influence of the game, not just something you may or may not need and can easily avoid using. You can skip potions in the Witcher but it's much better to not do it. Also, since potions aren't rare, you don't say to yourself "well, I'll just keep this for later, I may need it more" - you just prepare whatever potions you need FOR the purpose of using them.

 

[piinyouri]

Yep, all the time every time just about.
It's a symptom from older games, where things could be so hard, they expected you to have certain items or so many of a certain item to even make it through.
I got stuck on a number of games that way where I simply could not progress forward.

So after a point I started hoarding hardcore, because I never wanted that to happen again.

These days, thanks to better game design, that doesn't happen near as often, if at all, but the habit is already etched into my brain, so I always have 30 elixers, or 15 scrolls of resist fire.

 

[Euryalus]

I have a worse habit of simply forgetting I have them... At least in games where it takes more effort than a push of the button (dark souls and others).

It's probably the reason I loved the fairies from Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask so much. I would die and be like "Nooo... Oh wait... Awesome, I'm alive!"

The real place I have problems with hoarding is in Fallout 3 (and New Vegas though less because there's no Outcaste stimpak "shop" XD).

I always hold on tighter than white on rice to my mini-nukes because they're so rare, but I never end up using them because of it. I have like 100 or something crazy just stored away in Megaton house... along with my alien blaster and EVERY single blaster ammo I've found as well. >.>

I also tend to hold on to fucking everything expensive that can make me money (or stimpaks) and am always having to rearrange things and prioritize dropping... It's so sad when there's no easy choice to drop T^T

Basically a buriden's ass paradox.

 

[Bertylicious]

I hate potions & consumables. If a resource isn't basically infinite then I am loathed to use it.

It will come as no suprise when I say that I am a tight fisted scrooge in real life also. To me, spending more than ten pounds is like cutting off a limb. My family was not well off when I was a child and I think this is where the attitude comes from.

When you think about it; games that feature heavy use of pots/consumables reinforce the concepts of profligacy and are directly marketed it at a wealthy elite with the underlying tone that all other types, the NPCs or mobs who do not have the consumables, are inferior. Thus they can be argued to be indirectly related to the financial crash, damage to the environment on a global scale and, ultimately, the destruction of the entire human race.

 

[EscapeGoat_v1legacy]

I'm quite bad for this. It's worst in games like Fire Emblem, where I hoard all the good weapons and all the vulneraries even though doing so can make the games even harder than they already are. I'm pretty similar in most RPGs - I stockpile all the potions and other healing items and only use them if I absolutely must. Then, when I find more of them, I berate myself for saving them in the first place... before doing exactly the same thing all over again >_>

To be honest, I think the only RPGs I've played where I haven't had this attitude have been Kingdom Hearts, because you never really need to use them, and Skyrim, where I'm constantly necking potions in between attacks.

 

[Glongpre]

Always. I ended the Witcher 2 with like 30 bombs of grape and dancing fire, and I never used any mutagens because I was waiting for better ones.
It is really bad in Drakan if you have played that, because weapons lose durability but repairing them lowers max durability. Ugh.
Final Fantasy, I never use elixirs and stuff.

 

[BodomBeachChild]

I just try to keep par levels of everything. So, depending on weight/space available I try to keep like 3 of everything and I'll restock after I go on my excursion. That way I know I'm covered for almost anything that'll happen. Doesn't always work out, and sometimes I come home with 10x more than I started with but it is better than dying.

 

[CardinalPiggles]

After playing games like Tomb Raider back in the day, I always think to myself that I must hold onto consumables for as long as possible because you never know when you might need them.

But then compare that to the new Tomb Raider and that element is lost because there is loot everywhere. Even so it's a hard habit to kick.

As has been mentioned, giving the player the option to set up automatic usage of items when X is Y is a great way to do it. The first game I played with this system was Final Fantasy 12. Say what you want about 12, but the combat was simply amazing. Best Final Fantasy in terms of combat (the most prevalent feature) in my opinion.

 

[lRookiel]

Baldur's gate, I try not to use healing potions as they're pretty uncommon (Later on anyway). I try and rely on my cleric/druid to heal my party and just rest alot to get their heal charges restored.

However the game does throw fights that are hard enough to finally make me cave and start using my potions (Especially on max difficulty)

 

[Comocat]

I always end up with 99 elixirs in Final Fantasy games because "I'll use them when I really need them."

 

[Summerstorm]

I have finished Deus Ex: Revolutions with like two or three TUBS of the energy-stuff, and a few boxes... and a few dozen energy-bars.

So yeah... also i found a laser somewhere in the game, so i began hording the energy-ammo. Used it for the last bossfight. It was total crap (The boss somehow took 1200 units of ammo to the face) and way not worth blocking 1/3 of my inventory with it.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

Every fucking time.

I let HP and MP regenerate automatically, if that's an option.
I wait for the next checkpoint/save point to heal.
I stash away status-affecting items I never end up using.
I always leave at least one item of a kind in the inventory. Just in case.
I think I'm about to use one of my mega potions and the boss fight ends.
Which is fine, because I hate healing seconds before a fight ends and the party heals automatically.

 

[Euryalus]

-snip-

-snip-

>.>

<.<

N..No... of course not. Don't be ridiculous! ...You can't prove anything anyway :|

It was those crazy Children of Atom people.

 

[crimson sickle2]

Any game where the player may not purchase mp restoration items is the exception to my hoarding tendencies. The idea is that mp is much more valuable, so potions are used after every other battle to avoid using healing spells. I still tend to hoard whatever the mp restoration items are, but it's more akin to making certain I always have around ten of them.

 

[Miyenne]

I always end up with 99 elixirs in Final Fantasy games because "I'll use them when I really need them."

Same. I never use rare potions if I don't absolutely have to, and when I do I try and use a lower tier to save the better ones for later.

There never is a later.


In more modern games where potions are unlimited, I use as much as I can afford.

 

[GundamSentinel]

Yep, that's me.

Be it potions, grenades, ammo for the best weapons or other consumables, I'm always hoarding them. A lot of game allow you to have health regen or affliction immunity or something similar, so I always go that way. I hate the hassle of having to manage my potion use and I like games that automate that.

 

[Halfie2]

This thread reminded me about the fact that I've got atleast 500k worth of potions and poisons in Lydias room in Breezehome
[font color=gray][small]Goddamn merchants and their limited gold[/small][/font]

OT: Never really cared for potions or such things, I was playing Max Payne 1 a month or two back
And instead of hitting the painkillers I just quick saved before fights and quick load every time I got hit
[small](mostly because you can easily get one shotted by every enemy at close range even at the easiest difficulty and trying to save full 8 for boss fights)[/small]

 

[AgedGrunt]

I think that describes more people than we realize. It depends on the game but difficulty can suddenly ramp up and items that can be found early on might dry up later on, or a vendor might not be available for a long stretch of difficult play, that sort of stuff.

But I even do this in MMOs which are repetitive and open-world, letting my inventory swell with useful items and stashing things away for a rainy day that never comes. All that useful stuff stays perfectly safe in the bank where I can't access it when I need it.

Truthfully I can get over it, as it means I didn't rely on the items and it ends up being more of a challenge.