You know how some games have, or used to have an inventory grid, so big items took up more slots. Might and Magic and Deus Ex come to mind.
In Morrowind and Oblivion for example, you could carry as much as you want if you had the strength, not taking into account where to put it all.
I realize it is a fantasy game, but of course many people still want probable realism. How does one carry 20 battle axes, for example.
Honestly, I kind of like NOT having it. but it in a way, it makes sense to have some sort of encumbrance system.

Poll: Do you want the inventory grid?
or perhaps some other encumbrance system?

Most likely there will not be one, but just wanted to see what you guys thought about this.

I actually was fond of the grid, but it Skyrim's system probably won't be too different than Oblivion's.

I dont really care how other games do it as this is the standard other games should envy.
The old way is fine, its RPG.

Please no.

I like realism and inventory grids. I don't like being able to carry five swords at one time. That's just me though...

This is the point where realism starts to get in the way of gameplay. There are tons of nice items one might want to have but a grid system like in those games or diablo would really limit us. It actually makes more sense to have a weight system if only we could have it retroactively show all the items your trying to carry strapped to you, which just isn't going to happen for a couple of generations due to limitations of course. I would like to slow down a bit once you start getting closer to your carry limit and as you get more and more you finally come to a crawl and stop. It feels more natural that way then 1 weight makes the difference between moving and being stuck.

But yeah, a strong person can carry 20 battleaxes, you just have to imagine them strapped to your character because in this time in game development, it's just too hard to strap so many items to a character and not clip.

My desire for realism has it's limits and a grid inventory is on the wrong side of those limits. I just find them annoying. I don't even see it as being particularly more realistic, because you can still carry more than you really could with those types of inventory.

I expect the carry cap will be some static amount of each race plus some based on perks in mercantile and maybe even a small extra amount for merc skill.

how about you have body slots for weapons and bags and pockets for the other stuff.


like there are 4 weapon slots on your belt for like two one-handed axes a knife and a sword or whatever combination and two back straps for two-handed weapons or a bow and quiver ohh and a boot knife. then you could have acouple satchles or a beltpouches and a backpack for the other stuff. this would make havening a homebase more useful than just rping and hording you could only bring like one armor and a change of clothes and some essential things a few days worth of food or whatnot.

maybe with the more immersive menu system you could choose weapons wnd they would highlight and you could switch them out from your stash same for items, it would highlight your backpack.

wow now that i read that it seems pretty dumb. ohh well some one may like it

My habit for semi-obsessively organizing stuff would never let me get to playing the game from organizing my 30+ alchemical ingredients, 20+ different potions, different soul gems, enchanted rings and amulets, etc. So no please.

Inventory grid? Hmm... I'm really torn on this.

On one hand I like the system. I feel it adds a slight element of realism, and immersion to it. and its essentially a mini-game in its self(Resident evil 4).

On the other hand I hate the system. It gets pretty frustrating at times, that and I don't think it will help in the looting aspect. That and its essentially a mini-game in its self(Resident Evil 4).

All in all I don't know how I feel about it. :shrug:

The game is a little too exploration driven for an inventory grid to work.

To be fair though, I can carry 28 swords in a Duffel Bag, so aside from no visual representation of a backpack-pack there isn't any realism-related reason why someone can't actually lug around a bunch.

I like realism modifications, and play this way myself, but it's self imposed.

As much as I (myself) like the idea, I don't agree in forcing it onto other players that do not like that particular type of playstyle.

If it was an option, like disabling fast travel, etc. I'm all for it.

In respect to this topic, Daggerfall had what I thought was a very effective method of allowing the player to purchase a cart on which to carry extra items.

I have seen a horse in the trailer, and also, a pack mule/horse in concept art. Also if there are going to be carriages, I dont see why there couldn't be a cart or wagon in Skyrim.

http://cdn.zenimax.com/akqacms/files/tes/concept_art/WhiterunCityTundra.jpg.

I saw http://ve3dmedia.ign.com/images/06/94/69484_TheWitcher2AssassinsOfKings-Art-03_normal.jpg in some Witcher 2 type concept art.

Perhaps something smaller for Skyrim, pulled by a horse/mule/ox...etc, or even a push cart.

Having played a lot of the Might and magic games, I really love the grid system.. makes you think about what you take with you a whole lot more, I'd love to see it.

I've grown up on JRPG's, so I'm used to carry the weight of the world on my shoulders.

So, that's a no, conserning the grid system.

I don't want to see encumbrance go completley. You know, it's pretty neat with strenght influence, feather, magic and all that.

I say, let's keep it as it is. I wouldn't mind to be able to walk slower when I hit my limit, a la Fallout 3 though.

It'll probably be similar to Fallout 3 so I'll say no because I like how Oblivion/Fallout 3 did the Inventory.

I really do miss the inventory grid, I think being able to effectively organise and rearange your items within the grid is a skill that is lost from most modern rpgs.

It was good fun playing tetris with your items in Diablo games for example.

Grid system works fine for those games that 1) only drop 1 item per kill at best, and 2) don't have many "tiny" items.

Between the way every humanoid in TES drops all it's gear, and the dozens upon dozens of "tiny" items you can get (like all the different Alchemy reagents you might find while walking the countryside) a grid system would either need to be a massive grid (going against what you're advocating for and being really tedious) or would make you leave waaaaaaaay too much crap behind.




...and grids aren't really all that more "realistic". I can still carry half a dozen large armor pieces or polearms in Diablo 2 (even more in Titan Quest, where they keep expanding your grid with packs); and the Resident Evil example pic that showed up in one of the previous versions of this thread showed a guy carrying a whole pile of longarms, several pistols, lots of small stuff, and a bazooka. Much more than you could "realistically" carry.

I really hate grid inventory - it feels... annoying, for me.
I hope they'll keep something like Oblivion's inventory system.

So being able to smooth talk people makes me be able to carry more?

Awesome, just wish I didn't have a stutter...

I would prefer the inventory grid system of Morrowin over any other inventory system. Oblivion had a really bad inventory system but Deus Ex or Diablo is NOT the way to go. Too much hazzle with item images and whatnot, it's not necessary for an 18+ playerbase. But with Morrowind, you got simplicity, less interfacial redundancy and a better overview.

To me, the better interface is the one that doesn't require as much scrolling of pageturning. Everything is there when you need it and not when you don't, as tightly packed as possible without causing lag.

I suspect they're referring to some of the Barter perks in Fallout:NV, which basically boiled down to "you know lots about being a Trader.... including how to pack your bags more efficiently!"


Morrowind had an inventory grid? (I haven't played that one in quite awhile, but I thought it did inventory like Oblivion - you could keep carrying more stuff as long as you had weight.....)

That sounds neat. I wouldn't mind either way. What really bothers me is managing items when buying and selling in Oblivion. Morrowind made it so much easier. I'll be happy with anything that isn't in a "list" format.