Do you remember when you could carry more than two weapons in a shooter? It used to be highly entertaining switching between a huge arsenal of weapons, giving you a variety of ways to dispatch enemies and opposing players. It also meant you didn’t really have to worry if you ran out of ammo for one of your guns, you normally had seven or eight others you could switch to.
There was the minor issue in this system that’s it wasn’t really all that realistic. You could maybe imagine a huge battle hardened soldier carrying a huge array of weaponry as he battles the alien hordes, but having Lara Croft somehow pack the contents of a small armoury into her tiny backpack never really made all that much sense. I was never even sure how she managed to fit a shotgun in there, let alone all the other weapons and inventory items she used to carry.
This has gone the way of the Dodo in a lot of games, shooters in particular just give you a primary and secondary weapon. It can be a little disappointing, but not only does it make sense from a storage point of view it makes the control far easier. If all you have to do is hit a single button to toggle weapons it’s far easier than scrolling through a huge list trying to find something that has ammo.
Of course bagspace (that’s right, infinite storage in bags has an actual name) still exists in a lot of games, RPGs in particular. Whilst you don’t have completely infinite space, you do seem to have way more than is practical to carry. Some of the costumes in Final Fantasy are fairly skimpy, where are they even putting it? At least Lara Croft had a backpack.
Which way would you prefer games to go? Do you prefer having pretty much unlimited storage, or is it easier to just toggle between a limited selection of items? Is it harder to manage a big inventory or to decide which two weapons you should be carrying?
cc_star
There’s 8 directions on the d-pad so there’s no reason why you can’t 8 ‘things’ and have the UI sorted so you can rapidly select them without having to look at a menu screen or even a pop-up menu
3shirts
I dunno, the 4 diagonal directions are not so easy to quickly select in the heat of battle; And I don’t wanna accidentally pull out an RPG when someone runs out 3 feet in front of me
Raven336
i hear you on that, or when you accidently pull out a pistol instead of a shotgun in Gears lol for all the times i did lol
Severn2j
Isnt there a similar setup to this in Ratchet and Clank? Although its accessed via the ‘Triangle’ button, you just then point in the direction of the weapon you want..
jikomanzoku
I’m with you on that one CC, in order to solve the “wrong-selection” issue the guys mention it would be quite simple to have the 8 ways on screen with the currently pressed direction highlighted, to finalise selection you just let go whilst the one you require is highlighted.
Severn2j
I quite like the limited inventories, as it forces you to consider the best tool for your approach, although I think the 1 main and 1 sidearm method may be too restrictive as realisticly, you could carry two main weapons (one in your hands and one on your back, and still carry a sidearm.. When Nathan picks up a grenade launcher in UC2, does he really need to put down the M4 thats slung over his shoulder? He could just carry it with him and then drop something to free his hands when he needs to climb. Halo Reach only lets you carry two weapons, why does a a pistol take up the same amount of carry space as a rocket launcher?
LazyBoot
But then where do you put the 2nd main weapon if you need to draw your sidearm?
Juelz345
you don’t wanna know…
*sheds a single tear*
mcduff1979
i think for fps games 1 primary and 1 secondary is enough, i feel big inventorys is good for rpg’s only
BalramRules
uc2 waz terrific and i feel dat it had nearly maxed out da capacity of da blu-ray disc just as mgs4 had.
but now da present max. on PS3 iz 66.8GB
otherwise im not sure bout da quad-layered bd discs =1
Rob92
Eh?
Juelz345
HaHaHaHaHaHaHaHa…
Wait, what? That wasn’t a joke, oh…my bad.
*poor kid*
DrNate86
Gah you were doing so well with the normal postings Balram! Maybe he has a split personality?
TheShepanator
Sorry if somebody has already said this, I don’t want to read 3 pages of comments!! I would like a system like ratchet and clank except have 2 slots instead of the wheel.
Raven336
too many and i usually end up use one or two weapons any how: sniper-rifle (bolt-action) and assualt rifle (M4 preferrably)
justboy
I personally prefer being only able to hold a finite amount of stuff, such as in dragon age as it means I throw away stuff I don’t need. And I’m more likely to try out other weapons / items to find out which is more usefull.
Quinlank
I like the Oblivion/Fallout style of inventory, where the more you carry, the slower and less agile you get, but the moe you bulk up, the more you carry. It’s still ridiculous the amount you can carry, but the system is the best I can think of, plus it forces you to stop and clearout the crap every now and then rahter than just clutter your inventory with so much rubbish, as happens in Japanese RPGs.
hazelam
it depends, for an fps or other fast paced action games an extensive inventory is just not appropriate.
for an rpg however the bigger the better i say, especially now some have taken the crafting gameplay from mmos and brought it into the single player rpg, you need a lot of storage.
and rpgs are about giving the players lots of options, different weapon types and different elemental attacks and then armour and potions and other support materials.
a large inventory is essential for many rpgs.
and given the amount of items and size of some of them showing your character carrying them isn’t practical, i’ve had half a dozen drone cannons in fallout 3, it’d be hard to show how they could be carried visibly, without all the other crap i happen to be carrying too, like a couple of hundred stun sticks.
jikomanzoku
RPG’s need a pack mule!