Thoughts and Ideas General

[PeasantDavid]

I had an ideea that i wanted to share as to the inventory. It goes like this. The idea of having unlimited inventory is just ilogical like..i can believe in magic in games and undead but i need logical stash to be able to become the character right? So you being able to wear a lot of stuff and carry potions its silly to have stashed on you like 999 weapons and stuff even if u dont see them because they staked on one another, but how about the idea of being able to carry a limited amount of stuff like 2 sets of weapons that can be switched and a backpack if u want while sacrificing the roll ability..but you being a thaumaturgist or being able to have companions , why not be able to revive one as a zombie or undead that would carry stuff you give him, like a portable stash mule for life ..or give to a companion items to wear and maybe he wouldnt want to give it back to you because you did something he didnt like ..haha! and i did like the idea of the portal piramids in divine divinity if your going to be able to have a house..just a sugestion that i thought might be fun to think about.

 

[Bullethead]

Welcome aboard, PD

I think the "unlimited" inventory is more perception than reality. While there might not be a definite limit on the number of items or "slots", there are practical limits on space and weight. There's really not that much room in the inventory area of the character portrait. Sure, you can stack items on top of each other but that means you can't access the lower ones very easily. And the accumulated weight of all your junk slows you down. So really, there's a practical limit to how much stuff you can carry and it's not that much.

So, the real question I think is whether a player would want to carry more stuff than the space and weight limits. In most RPGs, money is very important and everything has value, so players grab everything they can pick up and sell it, always finding a buyer regardless of market conditions. But IIRC, the devs said somewhere that money isn't going to be as important in SG as usual for RPGs, so that removes a lot of the incentive to hoard everything you come across.

Another reason RPG players hoard stuff is to have weapons and armor for all occasions. But in games where you have to invest skill points for specific types of gear, this is less of an issue. Eventually, to remain competitive, the character has to specialize, at which point stuff outside his specialty becomes useless to him.

Also, SG is supposed to be low fantasy. I take that to mean magic items are rare, and that there's little real difference between mundane items of the same type. IOW, a sword would be pretty much a sword. Maybe one has less weight and impact but more balance than another, but only by 1/2 a dot each way, the choice between them being more a matter of taste than anything else. So, no real reason to care which one you have, or obsess over losing the one you have if you die. And if you ever find magic sword, you'll never use a mundane one again (at least until you die).

Anyway, I get the impression that SG will be rather easy come, easy go. Possessions would be tools that are only valuable if you can put them to use and are relatively easily replaced. If you can't use the thing, you lose nothing by leaving it lying there. Hence, no need for much inventory or pack mules.

 

[PeasantDavid]

Yes BulletHead you are right in most ways! But i was thinking that if the items are not so important as to what u already wear and u just want to replace them with find something better.(in Exanima for example u just staack lore and keys because if u find something better you just replace it)Why not make it so u cant hoard stuff and what u have you can see on your char like if u have a set of two swords and another set of a sword and a shield that is automatically put on ur back and you can swap between them, depending on the circumstance. What if you find, lets say..a magic two handed swords and a magic two handed Hammer that u want to carry because they are better in different circumstances like the sword is better versus multiple oponents and the hammer is better versus a heavily armored unit or just say u find the same item with different propertyes like you said but for example one is imbued with fire and the other can kill ghosts. its more of a hastle to do that in a fight swaping between fight mode and switching them in the inventory while you are atacked. And relatively to the inventory space stacking its logical and you are right again but i just thought would be fun to have a companion or something to be able to do that on him too and maybe let him carry all that lore and stuff that would slow you down ,let him have a crossbow or something ranged and that way u wont have to sacrifice mobility versus hoarding important lore and stuff.

 

[PeasantDavid]

Sorry for being iliterate, i was hasty.

 

[NachoDawg]

@PeasantDavid It was funny reading that out loud and only breathe on punctuations, haha

 

[Greenbrog]

But having more than one weapon ready to be used in real life would be cumbersome and difficult. Just carrying a big two handed weapon in real life is awkward and difficult enough but having to manage more than one because of "min/maxing" would be absurd. The inventory is always going to be an "issue" in any rpg. Balancing a concept of realism (volume, mass, quantity, fragility) and functionality (actual game mechanics). Continuing with the "flavour" of this game, immersion, fluidity, and function the current system mechanically handles a difficult issue somewhat elegantly, and with a significant simplicity. Trading weapons with a uncluttered inventory is mostly easy, but as you accumulate stuff that becomes increasingly difficult.

On a completely personal note, I think having a "companion" in this game would be a huge injustice to the spirit of the control you have over your charecter. Unless your companion was a dog or a hawk, and I'm not a dog lover, but having another person under your control wouldn't "feel" honest.

I also read they Are getting rid of the paper doll and making you unable to move with your inventory open. Both things will increase things like immersion and difficulty of "changing" on the fly, unless you're having soothing of the floor and pouring it right on.

 

[ZaratanCho]

Things in your inventory do not slow you down. The inventory will however have a limited capacity in future.

 

[Lyle "Chip" Chipperson]

In Exanima dungeons, every time I fight, I drag a weapon from my inventory to my character and then click-drag the torch from my inventory to the ground near me. I think it would be useful to have a key bound for both of the these. it would work like this: I press "Q" and the torch would be dropped at my feet and i would equip the weapon that I had equipped last.

sometimes I get jumped while managing my inventory because it takes me a few seconds to do these 2 tasks separately.

 

[Greenbrog]

you could always use a one handed weapon and the torch together. This is what I do until I get the

Spoiler

secret item

 

[NachoDawg]

I kind of hope that there will be alternatives to even the

Spoiler

Spoiler

super secret item

so we dont have to wear the same hat for the rest of the game starting with level 3

 

[Yaar Podshipnik]

I don't think that having any kind of quick weapon slots would fit (what I understand of) the vision of Sui Generis/Exanima. Hotkeys for equipping weapons just feel very gamey, and kind of diminish the feel of physicality present in the game.

However, I think that it is possible to both improve user experience by providing some hotkeys and not reduce the nice feel the game has. Having a hotkey for dropping anything you hold would ok by me. With weapons I imagine that having sheath/unsheathe weapon hotkey would also be acceptable. Of course that should work only for weapons that you can carry in a scabbard (so 1h swords), on your belt somehow (hatchets, small exes, etc.), or having them concealed under clothes (daggers). Carrying a long polearm, or a zweihander should always make one of your hands busy IMO. Not sure how that would work with shields - were people carrying them on their backs? Unsheathing still should be handled by a physical action taking place and not just stuff magically popping into your hands.

With this system you still would have only one weapon prepared, and readying it would actually take time, so it would be more realistic than the current inventory mechanic.

Having sheath mechanic would allow you to roleplay movement in safe areas like cities better, and look cool if scabbards are visible on the character.

EDIT:
As to weapon/torch combo: isn't there a thaumathurgy discipline (is that how it's called?) of light?

 

[NachoDawg]

@Yaar Podshipnik Haha the sheathe thing, it's been descussed in detail here (http://www.baremettle.com/forums/index.php?threads/weapon-sheath-on-the-character.2229/), though ultimately I bet BM has concluded one way or the other already. What you do with your hands is not a small matter in this game after all

 

[Yaar Podshipnik]

The joys of being new to a forum

 

[Greenbrog]

You will have 2 weapon sets, the mechanics haven't been explained yet. other that a keybind to switch.

 

[Greenbrog]

And to have a torch and weapon equipped, just equip one and then the other, it'll automatically move the torch to your off hand. Though if you unequippe a weapon you don't move the torch back it'll stay in your offhand and can't be used as a weapon without unequipping it and reequipping. You can do torch and shield too, but torch is kinda lame as a weapon. I basically equipe the torch right away and don't move it until I get the above mentioned item. Using a short sword and/or a sword, until then. Sometimes if I haven't found a sword yet I'll use a war-hammer or flanged mace until I do.

 

[Yaar Podshipnik]

@Greenbrog, thanks for the info. I eagerly await details on how this will work mechanically.

 

[Tyon]

I'm not sure if this is too "casual" of an idea, but I think some sort of replay system for arena would be nice. Once you either win or lose a match, you could see a replay of it, and the game would tell you via some text in the corner whether or not you hit your enemy and how hard the hit was. I think this would be useful for many people and help them improve their play style and know what not to do and how to swing if they wanna score a hit.

Also, a cuirass would be a cool thing to see but I'm pretty sure that's already planned by the devs since they're making separate plate armor for arms (saw it on the stream when they showcased the big ogre thing).

 

[Orlacktherof]

Also, a cuirass would be a cool thing to see but I'm pretty sure that's already planned by the devs since they're making separate plate armor for arms (saw it on the stream when they showcased the big ogre thing).

Well, we do already have a chest-plate, seems reasonable that they would add the rest of the torso covering armour.

 

[Raelmic]

This game looks fantastic and i love the physics based combat, but the lack of a standard save game makes this a frustrating game for me, i am not great at games and play them for fun, i don't want to play for many hours then cause i am tired i get killed in combat and have to do the same things all over again. Perma-death seems like a great idea, but i never have fun when it is implemented in a game, it just feels like i am constantly being punished. Maybe split the game into two modes , a normal one for people like me and a hardcore mode for people who want bragging rights. I think it would open the game up to a lot more casual gamers.

 

[Greenbrog]

There will be another checkpoint on the first level among others added later in the game.