What is your preferred RPG inventory system?

Is inventory management a part of gameplay? I suspect it's more a side effect of randomized loot, than an intentional premise of the fun. In which case, minimize it's impact so the player can maximize time spent killing mobs hoping for dat Epic Phat LUTEz.

Gigi

 

Why not 127/128 or 255/256

I prefer weighted systems against slotted (which if you have a limit of slots could be called a weighted system...), because I find reordering slotted systems generally annoying and because it allows the developers to include list based interface of the items which I prefer.

 

@khanstruct - Reminds me of a thing my family used to do in Skyrim. We would take turns hunting/stealing and bringing STUFF back to our small house. We got it knee high before the novelty wore off.

Gigi

 

The simpler the better.
D3 has an excellent inventory system. An extension is the chest that can be used to stash stuff in town and is even upgradable. Together the two work very well.

 

We always always always keep the core gameplay in mind and how the inventory supports it... especially to what the target audience expects. Inventory systems don't usually get the spotlight, but players throw tomatoes at the games which core systems feel "broken" or which feel counter-intuitive to the primary gameplay.

It sounds like the inventory in question is dealing with the conventional RPG inventory with several items, but let me submit that inventory reaches many more possibilities. A D&D memorized spell list, trading cards purchased, powerups waiting to be activated, etc...

Consider how often the player expects to be in action and how much low-intensity time the player has to themselves. Low intensity times give great opportunities to ponder how to optimize and theorize what to do with what you've got. Managing inventory needs to feel like a fun activity so use care when making it "realistic" unless the game itself is something very realistic.

A child audience / casual gameplay / FPS would probably do well with a limited easily accessible items in an "inventory". Something probably bound to the keyboard (##'s 1-9 perhaps)
An item based MMO does great with a slot/bag combo limited inventory such as World of Warcraft where the focus isn't the items, but rather what you can do with them.
A midcore / RPG could do well with a list and weight total like Fallout 3 where players can horde plot clues as items and objects for later use in extended quests and puzzles.
A hardcore / simulator could do well with turning the inventory into a mini-game all to itself. Encumbrance that collides with rocks might hamper an exportation game where moving and shooting/dialog is the primary gameplay. But a robot combat simulator where the inventory can collide with another bot's weapons and get damaged from the gameplay could be very interesting to figure out how to protect the engine, gyro, life-support.

 

I believe you have forgot that all rpg Diablo style games for pc have a grid based inventory, I don't even know how people can forget so easy and omit such a thing, inventory is the most important part of a game, is integrated in almost everything.

 

That would be what they called "slotted". Also, this thread is 4 years old.

 

my prefered is this:

 

Weight and slot hybrid system. Just like in Baldur's Gate game series.

 

It depends on the game really but I voted weight based. I liked how in the Long Dark, inventory management was an integral part of the game, and hoarding the wrong items can lead to death. In other games where inventory management is an aside from the game focus this could just end up as annoying.

 

I liked the divinity 2 inventory best where your strength stat would enable you to carry more by weight and almost nothing was more than 3 kgs.

 

Weight based. Especially when you can drink a potion to boost your str and let you get back to your house with all the phat loot in just one trip. But then I tend not to play squidgies .

Although, The deadspace slot based one was pretty awesome in design, and the later Mass-Effect, hard-point based ones with a streamlined inventory just for mods and stuff IIRC, and they were interesting too, from a gameplay POV as I didn't spend so much time messing with my inventory and just got on with the game. The amount of times I was a slave to my OCD in Oblivion, not wanting to leave any loot behind probably stole my best years.

 

My preferred system is one where you have the equipment you start with but you can upgrade it later. The exception is spell casting supplies (stacked), crafting supplies (stacked), and food (also stacked), with stack limits upgradeable as you go. With that said, options should be there to change a weapon/armor enchantment as long as the player has the means to do it. It's minimal, but still allows you to have better stuff. This does not mean that players can't find treasures or useful items; it just means there's no unnecessary management of weapons/armor.

 

The preferred inventory system is different for each game I play. I am partial to a slotted system as well as a weighted system. The Idea about the physics based inventory system is dope. It is completely unique and out of this world. I love it honestly

 

Depends on the game.

 

I love how in this 2015 post, people predicted Death Stranding