this post was submitted on 18 Feb 2025
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They are, you're correct. I don't think it would work in every game either. Inventory management can be a powerful tension and choice device and getting rid of that isn't always a good thing.
Extreme inventory QOL often just turbo charges hoarding behavior and makes individual items feel meaningless. Just pop it in the bag, who cares, it's all weightless anyway!
Don't get me wrong, sometimes easy inventory is great, but I think inventory management gets a worse response than it deserves a lot these days.
/rant
Do you have a good example? Inventory management has always been tiring and annoying for me
One example I like is Dredge. If you took away inventory management from that game, you would basically destroy its whole economy and progression system. It would also get rid of the interesting way they make having tons of equipment mean you can't carry as much at once, creating a tradeoff.
I think one thing people get mixed up is the limitation side of a limited inventory -- which is often a good thing for creating choices, tension, and pacing -- and the physical action of sorting and arranging an inventory. This second one is a perfect place to streamline in my opinion because while the limitations on inventory create meaningful choices, having to spend a while rearranging your stuff to fit something in is very rarely good gameplay. You might already be making this distinction, but I wanted to clarify that just in case.
Inventory size/weight capacity is essentially a resource to manage, and I'm a big proponent of resource management in games (and this is coming from a designer who tried to get rid of and streamline resources for years -- it has some major downsides).
Dredge was incredible. I got the good ending by mistake.Do you know if the dlc is worth it?
The first one, the icy one, is just alright. It gives you another area basically that's about as much content as the 5 base game areas. The new one the iron rig is pretty fun, though I thought. If you really like dredge I'd say get both.
Ty! Haven't played dredge yet, bht I'll get to it one day
In Avowed they focus on management of weapons and armor as a tool for discretionary encumbrance. These items directly effect gameplay and therefore matter more to the player.
The smaller items that are all weightless effect gameplay indirectly and would make managing encumbrance a bit more convoluted.
Seeing as Avowed is more of a boiled-down rpg than what it is directly compared to (Skyrim), that extra time spent managing trivial items in an inventory just seems like a waste when the game itself is really trying to be a streamlined version of meatier rpgs.
Great points! I think you're spot on that a streamlined RPG would benefit from easy inventory management. I'll have to learn more about the armor and weapon system you talk about cause I'm curious to hear how it works.
Yeah it really just works kinda like i said, but the game also does a good job of organizing items so you can easily tell if you have more than necessary.
Another example of streamlining is the stamina system. It is limited in a fight to create a sense of balance and progression as you upgrade it... But when running around the world it is unlimited.
This is nice because it does not hinder traversal and imo worrying about stamina as i explore takes more away from the experience than it adds to it.
That's interesting about the stamina. I agree that having to constantly start and stop sprinting isn't a great solution and it's never felt quite right to me either. The only games where it feels like it adds anything are ones where running out is dangerous. For general exploration it's kind of a chore.
Elden Ring gives you an unlimited inventory, and every item has layers of lore.
It definitely works for some games to do it that way!