Weighing options.

 Discussing diets.

Role playing games have risen to be some of my favourite experiences ever, for the times when I just want to get lost from the present playing some far flung fantasy, there's nothing more engrossing and enveloping than a fully immerse RPG. You can get so addicted to that style of world, with the character creation, the choices, the personal development, that sense of self-worth, that it can be easy to take every aspect for granted and not really think about the individual elements of an RPG and how they slot together. Or even if they slot together! What if you start to examine some of the independent enfranchised features which make up the typical RPG design front and find them wanting and lacking? What if what you've believed to be the ideal RPG design for so long is no more than a smokescreen fooling you into complacency for a broken cog in a working machine, not enough to grind the whole system to a halt but a flailing and useless extra limb, nonetheless. What if there's literally no good reason for weight systems to exist in RPG games?

My introspection was inspired, as these so often are, by a rant. Not my own, but somebodys. Somebody I don't know, somebody who was complaining about the RPG Encased on Steam Reviews; which got me thinking. 'Inventory management as a game mechanic' he sang, condemning the state of modern RPG as pulling themselves apart under the weight of inventory picking and weight limits. Of course, I wouldn't go that far, and our man himself admitted to having a little bit of a hoarding problem with RPG games. I think it's rather transparent to say that our player here lacks the restraint to prioritise loot gather and has subconsciously thrust blame for his self-control issues upon the designers of these games; but even in his exaggeration he did highlight a interesting topic. Why do we still accept weight limits in our RPG games?

It's the classic question of 'why do we endorse systems that get in the way of the player and the instant gratification that they seek', with the philosophical answer being that the fulfilment of a reward delayed and restricted is far more enriching than the reward easily and readily given. But it's never quite so simple as the bare basic philosophy in matters like this, now is it? Red Dead Redemption 2 ended up being far more polarising than a literal masterpiece should be, simply because people loathed the idea of enduring a narrative that took it's time to tell a complete and blossomed narrative rather than a consistently action packed game. Grand Theft Auto 4 has been memed to high heaven for it's focus on seemingly mundane aspects of a open world simulator. And Death Stranding has been, although largely hyperbolically, been declared as the worst game ever for it's central gameplay loop of delivering instead of something classically exciting like shooting guns.

It's very easy to fall into the trap of assigning the general upset as a symptom of maturity deficits, assuming the maligned are simply those that lack common patience and simply want the world of entertainment to conform to their standards rather than meet it halfway. But in honesty this really comes to a matter of personal taste. I love a full bodied experience that feeds weight and intent behind the action and gameplay so that it lingers and lasts in my heart instead of just tickling my dopamine levels. But by that same merit I get bored of multiplayer games very quickly, because dopamine hits are all they offer. And though we currently flirt with higher topics and ideals of the topic right now, I think the heart of the conversation on seemingly antiquated and played out hold-outs of RPG game design like 'Weight Values' and 'inventory customisation' lies in recognising and understanding this as the background of the conversation.

Weight values are the limits enforced on how many items the player can carry on them at once, and their inclusion creates a system where the player is forced to think about how much they can carry and deposit that which is too much for them. With weight systems, you cannot lug around every tool the game has to offer and merely browse your inventory for the exact tool to solve each job, you also can't pick up everything not nailed to the ground like a greedy magpie. You'll inevitably end up in situations where you're caught short, left without a tool which might have been perfect for this specific fight because you planned for other encounters. You might have to get creative and work with what you've got and you can't realistically expect to power mindlessly through all the action in the game from one set-piece to another without ever stopping to rest until the credits.

And, predictably, those are also most of the reasons why I like weight limits in my inventory systems. Storing useful items in home bases and preparing for an outing is a part of the build-up element of an adventurous gameplay loop which makes the exciting adventure feel more rewarding. Making informed choices about what you want to pick up and what you need to leave behind for carry space is a give and pull concept which encourages sacrifice and imparts extra value upon the loot you choose to keep. Getting caught unawares by a challenge you haven't packed for can be annoying, but it can also spur some of the most dynamic and exciting encounters in the right games. If you can stand a game with more varied pacing, then I don't see why weight values and inventory management is a problem for you.

Of course, there are points where inventory management becomes a problem. Ironically, most modern RPGs know how to create a divide between meaningful loot and random trash, even Bethesda titles are really informed with this; it's more the genres that dabble where they don't belong which screws the pooch with inventory management. Live service games tend to drown players in endless loot drops with insignificant stat improvements that are so inconsequential that they typically come attached with a 'gear value' rating so you can ignore the specifics and just pick the bigger number always. The RPG-fied Assassin's Creed games have come with endless rows of utterly pointless loot systems, where you get clogged up with crappy weapons that are all eclipsed by the Legendary tools you'll pick up throughout the game. Proving the entire loot system to be utterly redundant because you never even engage with 99% of pick-ups. These are the sorts of titles that make me shudder when I hear the words 'inventory management'.

 

In conclusion, I'd say that those who grumble about messing with their inventories in an RPG game, assuming that it's a stop-gap in an otherwise action filled game, might be missing the basic point of what these systems are supposed to be, or are just conflating the worst of this practise with the best of them. I'm not going to pretend that Fallout games don't suffer from rather poor inventory menus, but I'm not going to throw the baby out with the bathwater critiquing them. Besides, I play on PC. Mods are pretty much essential. (Why haven't Bethesda literally just seen SkyUI and make that mods features standard in every game? That can't be too much of a hassle, surely.) I value weight systems and think being restricted in what you can carry is an overall more enriching game experience than the more haphazard, and decidedly messier, concept of 'shove it all in my bag and let god sort it out'. But I suppose this really is an 'each to their own' sort of matter, now isn't it?