One thing in the Elder Scrolls series I don't see a lot of complaints about, though often see for many other games that incorporate it, is the over-encumbrance system. There is a certain degree of separation when using it but, at the same time, a sense of immersion when you realize you can't carry all four of your two handed swords. I think it's a really interesting way of getting past the whole modern idea of carrying a limited amount of weapons sense you can choose your options rather carefully in such instead of being told that "two is the max, there are no exceptions". What I find silly about this system though is my ability to carry twelve watermelons or more arrows than a quiver of a recently escaped prisoner could hold.

As I stated in a previous post, many of my elements that color my RPG experience come from Diablo II because of its simple yet great design philosophy. Elder Scrolls, of course, is based on complete complexity in order to deliver the closest to life experience possible so many of the routes they take are very different. One thing I will remember forever though is the bag space used in Diablo II. It was also present in Deus Ex where it got the term "Tetris Inventory" banked onto it. The most prevalent use of it though in terms of mainstream gaming was Resident Evil 4, where the inventory was Leon's attache case. Thus, as one could probably tell, I would love to have this sort of inventory system in Skyrim.

Though I'm usually not a fan of inventory management, it's only when I'm carrying more stuff than I could ever realistically use that I get annoyed. When you limit the capacity of an inventory (perhaps by both over-encumbrance and inventory space?) the choices in what to sell, drop, store, or keep become more meaningful. I understand that it is too much for some people, but I personally think it would add a whole lot of choice to the game without taking away too much. Thoughts?

I'm for simplicity so what Oblivion had inventory wise and what Fallout 3 had with the ability to walk at a craw if overencumberenced is what I would pick.

My answer is "No", but I can't use either of the options you gave, because they don't match my reason...... I just don't have any problem with MW/OB/FO3's inventory system.




This thread popped up a couple weeks ago, and someone showed the RE4 tiled inventory as an example...... and it still had the character carrying way above what a person could IRL. Several longarms, several sidearms, a rocket launcher, and piles of assorted other stuff. So, still no "realism" there.

An additional thought - the Elder Scrolls games, due to their "dead guys drop ALL their gear" system (which is more "realistic" than the usual "dead guy drops one random item" most games use), give you amazing amounts of loot. Even with the inventory as it is, you end up leaving lots of stuff rotting on the floor. It'd be very disappointing to reduce the amount you can carry even further.

I agree.

complexity is important, but too much complexity in the wrong area can ruin a game for me. I would rather see complexity go into the quests, skills, NPCs and combat system than the amount of stuff i can hold. I thought that OB inventory worked well. Maybe they could tweak it a little, but it doesn't need an overhaul

No - I'm struggling to remember which game it was that I played with a "tetris inventory" but it was really annoying. And that's coming from someone who actually enjoys fiddling around with my inventory! Just a simple weight-based measurement and a slowing of movement speed (or being unable to move, at a certain encumberance level) as a result when over-encumbered is about as realistic as I can stand.

No - I feel that the traditional ES system is superior. I'm not sure why you didn't think that was a reasonable enough opinion to include it in the poll, but it's going to through off the bias.

The inventory is where I really care the least about realism. Since there is no way I'm actually going to lug around 2 armor sets, a bow, quiver + arrows, my sword... not to mention all of the scrolls and potions etc, and not be extremely slowed down.

I don't want to have to bring a wheelbarrow into a dungeon with me just so I can carry away all the loot I get from it. Though with the current system in place I do decide which items to keep based on a weight/septim ratio. I think it works fine as is.

Most of the "tetris inventory" games I can remember have been the roguelikes - Diablo 1 & 2, Titanquest, Sacred 2, etc.

Deus Ex has one too (the original, I don't know about the sequels).

On topic, strength. Strength provides a good balance of simplicity (just a number rather than having to play tetris every time I loot something) and something that actually makes sense (no horses taking up the same amount of space as a ring like in WoW)

I think they should do a modified version of Fallout's weight system. I agree at some point you should definitly become over encumbered and slowed, like in Fallout. But not stopped abruptly like in Oblivion. I also however, don't believe that if your carrying 1500/300 pounds of weight you should still be able to walk slowly like in Fallout. It should be more like, based on strength and a base number, you have a MAX encumberance, at which point you cannot move. But from about 75% of it and up you are gradually slowed, and at a low percent you are more agile. So maybe below 25% you can move very quickly. from 25-75% you can move normally. Then gradually from 75-100 you go from normal to stopped. So at 90% you would walk somewhat slowly. At 99%, you would crawl. I would love a system like this!

I've always written off the inventory / weight management as part the 'world'. Everybody knows how to cast a simple magic spell (such as Flare). So.... everybody has a Bag of Holding / Dimensional Locker / Flat Space Package.

I do like the idea of incremental encumberance though. Sudden stops when picking flowers are annoying.

Just more warning and discouragment of being 80%+ encumbered. You should get fatigued far more easily and you shouldn't be able to run.

What a pointless thread. Have you even played an Elder Scrolls game? If you want and you got enough strength, you can carry around 10 Daedric Claymores. or 4 (as you seem to want) and have more than enough room for everything else.

For Skyrim, I personally hope they're bringing back the Morrowind inventory systrem. It's both tile-based AND with weight rules.

Other: No, weight determining how much mass you can pack with you is a must, so if anything a cheesy Diablo II type system should exist on top of the weight limit- but absolutely not as the only limit on inventory.

Completely agree...I dont see how limiting it further would make the game any better....but thats from me, a person who loves to collect lots of items.

Yet another way immersion or realism means catastrophe in a video game.

With the amount of knick-knacks and junk that I tend to carry around a size limited, geometrical organization inventory would just be annoying. In addition I would never get around to playing the actual game due to the OCD that type of inventory would give me.

i HATE this idea. i want it to stay the same

No. [censored] no, in fact. It's too much management.

Bad enough we have a limit to begin with.

Yes, and I like both systems of it, thus why I brought it up. Tile based inventory, I feel, immerses me more. It's plainly not a popular opinion but it's one that I grew up on.

S.T.A.L.K.E.R. games used a grid-and-weight based inventory I thought was amazing. You have a large grid that, if you fill up but do not go over your carry limit, simulates your backpack being packed and/or the contents being extremely unwieldy. And of course standard encumbrance on top of that.

Great compromise, in my opinion. You have plenty backpack space to work with, but also have realistic limits. I hated games that limited the number of weapons you could carry. With this system, the character might as well be UPS - if it fits, it ships. xD

:EDIT: For that realism bash up above, I got this to say:

If you don't want realism in your Elder Scrolls, go play Final Fantasy or something else turn based, so all you get is fantasy without any hint of realism, so that way nobody has to burn any extra brain cells doing something like actually thinking.

Fallout style is fine, I want to play the game, the good bits, not spend ages shifting things around a virtual backpack, just to have to do it all again when a bandit leader drops something worth having two minutes later.
And a two dimensional grid based virtual backpack does not, imho, add to realism.

I like this kind of inventory. I never felt like my thief characters were much of a challenge to play with, since I could get way too much loot in way too little time. I mean, go into one dungeon and come out carrying a few thousand septims worth of loot every time? Just 5 dungeons and I've got a house? Sorry, but I like having to actually work for my in-game money, and the TES series has always had a problem with making it too easy to amass huge levels of wealth at higher levels.

Plus, as long as the shapes themselves aren't overdone, it's not like it's difficult to fit everything.

I like this idea. Also, I think it would be cool if there were a perk that allowed the player to carry more....or possibly walk the same speed no matter how much you're carrying.

voted other bc i like the system but i don't think its right for TES. Great for Deus Ex, and supposedly back in the new one!