Being stingy with items in RPGs

GawainBS · Post by **GawainBS** » Thu May 03, 2012 2:19 am

I always find myself hoarding all kinds of limited-use items, like potions and wands, but virtually never using them. I'm very compulsory about keeping them all, for "that one tough fight I might need them". However, I always refrain from using them, since "maybe the next fight is a little more difficult."
In Alpha Protocol, I always was toting around several kind of grenades & gadgets, but I virtually never used them, for fear I might run out.
In BG & IWD, and Wizardry, I always have liters of healing potion, but in the end I reload/use tactics which avoid life-threatening danger.
My Might and Magic inventories also suffered from this.
Fallout was probably even worse, with Shovels, Ropes, Antidotes, Rad-X, RadAway, hundreds of Stimpaks, backup meleeweapons,...

Funny thing is, once (second or third playthrough) I decide to be more liberal with the items, I suddenly am hit with how easy the games can be.

Does anyone else suffer from this?

murph · Post by **murph** » Thu May 03, 2012 4:49 am

Same, however I do use them in the final battle, which tends to make them fairly anti climatic. It's kinda why I'm in favor of regenerating health out of combat and having items on a cool down rather than having limited-use items.

LastDanceSaloon · Post by **LastDanceSaloon** » Thu May 03, 2012 4:49 am

OMG, yes, I am totally like this!

I've read the occasional post where someone says 'I sell everything I'm not currently using' and I so wish I could be like this sometimes, but I just can't.

What I do to counter the situation is imagine that all my characters have a life beyond the game and that they are treasure seeking with the purpose of maybe one day having their own shop/museum/clinic/training centre and will require all these extra goodies to help get them started

The worst type of hoarding is quest items, books, random notes/letters, general oddities. I hate when an inventory is so full of rubbish which might... or might not... be quest/alchemy/smithery crucial at some point. The one advancement that Dragon Age 2 made to RPGing was definitely the non-inventory items for these categories.

I still hoarded in Dragon Age 2 though. I regularly kept one wand of each damage type, just in case an end boss was immune to the one I was using. Even though I never once, in practicality, ever remembered/could be bothered to change weapons mid-fight once in the entire game.

GawainBS · Post by **GawainBS** » Thu May 03, 2012 4:52 am

Oh, don't get me started on crafting systems. When those are present, I tend to hoard every scrap I find.

Nymie_the_Pooh · Post by **Nymie_the_Pooh** » Thu May 03, 2012 5:22 am

Unless the item is intended purely as vendor trash I normally don't sell anything. It's rare for me to buy anything either though. I may sell something akin to a fire protection potion if I have a stack of potions that do a better job protecting me from fire. I never use those things, but I never sell them just in case. All of my early gold in MMOs goes to bigger bags and bank space. This is what the majority of my points in games like LotRO and DDO goes to as well. The only "exploit" I use in Dragon Age: Origins is that any new character I play buys two bags while in Ostagar. Even with that I immediately head to the keep after leaving Lothering so I can get access to the storage chest.

GawainBS · Post by **GawainBS** » Thu May 03, 2012 7:12 am

Same here: I barely buy anything, unless I'm very wealthy, or if it's a tremendously good item.

DesR85 · Post by **DesR85** » Thu May 03, 2012 8:39 am

Same here. In most RPGs I've played, I tend to be sparing with the items I collect, be it potions and what not. Reserving it in case of a boss fight or end up in tough situations. I still remember having a lot of potions, equipment, ingredients, books and other items left over after finishing Dragon Age: Origins, and the same can be said after finishing Risen, minus the books.