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Hi guys, I believe inventory management should be effortless. Here are some ideas:


#1 Use character tags for inventory management

In the same way characters have "tags" which help define their dialog, a tags can be used for inventory management. These tags allow for items picked up by the party to automatically go to the most-suited character, not the person who picked it up.

For example, by default all lockpicks and disarm kits to the Scoundrel. Enchanted arrows are automatically shared among the Huntsmen. But then you can also add standard tags like "alchemist" - which then assigns all potion ingredients to that person. Or "librarian". Or "keymaster". When you pick up an item it's for the benefit of the party, so it makes sense to sort items appropriately and automatically among the characters.

#2 Your party shares the spoils of war, so all sales should automatically go through the person with the highest bartering regardless of who's backpack an item is in.

#3 Have a shared loot bag for the party
The loot bag is not a communal bag of stuff - it's items specifically for sale. You should be able to right click items (or a group of items) and add them to your party's shared "loot" bag allowing for one-click selling at the next weapon shop.

#4 Automated inventory sharing

When you pick up items for the party they could be automatically assigned in several ways:

Default - things with no use for crafting like plates and paintings should automatically go into the "loot" bag for immediate sale.
Intuitive - You just crafted 16 health potions? Those should be split among the party (along with those dragon stews).
Intelligent - That potion of intelligence? It goes to your mage. Lohse has no boots? Be a gentleman. Found a ring of strength? That should go to your strength build, not your finesse huntsman.
You could even use tags to share a bit about how you plan to develop your character. Plan to have your scoundrel become a necromancer? Tag him as "necromancer" and the necromancer skill books you find will go to his inventory, even though they don't have that skill yet.

#5 Hover and Sparkle:
Hover your mouse over that two-handed sword and the most-suited character for it sparkles.

#6 Relative junk.

In addition to "one-click" consolidating and selling of junk (mentioned above) you could implement "relative junk". Sure, that axe was great when you were level 2, but now that everyone is packing epic enchanted gear it's considered junk for sale. Just like making an internet purchase, you get to review your junk before completing the sale to make sure you dont sell something you wanted to keep.

Cheers,
Straydog

http://steamcommunity.com/id/straydog/


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It's not that your suggestions aren't worth to be considered, but they simply can't be a applied to a game that is supposed to work both in single player and multiplayer, with a drop-in-drop-out logic and a slight competitive nature (A.K.A. conflicting oringin stories).

Many of the most uncomfortable aspects of the UI are ascribable to the dual nature of D:OS

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They could be applied easily, multiplayer is not a barrier.
If anything, what you suggest is that there is an even greater need to improve inventory management in multiplayer.

When you play MP, would you rather sell a great item for 20gp or give it to your comrade who will win the party more success with it? I support my party. Not everyone is a scoundrel IRL.

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Originally Posted by straydog
They could be applied easily, multiplayer is not a barrier.
If anything, what you suggest is that there is an even greater need to improve inventory management in multiplayer.

When you play MP, would you rather sell a great item for 20gp or give it to your comrade who will win the party more success with it? I support my party. Not everyone is a scoundrel IRL.


Ehmmm... no. Allow me to disagree.

Looting/buying/selling stuff in a multiplayer game (especially in a competitive campaign), only to have the aforementioned something shared with the rest of the party or - even worse - automatically assigned to another party member, would piss lot of people, me included. Pretty sure about that...

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...which means you need to have different concepts for single and multiplayer. Clear?

Good design is possible in both. Multiplayer needs are not an excuse for a design that gives a poor singleplayer experience. If you believe that there is no way to have both a good design and multiplayer, that's really sad. Perhaps you can suggest some eloquent solutions as opposed to being a negatron?

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Search option would be nice, everything that doesn't fit the search just turns grey.

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Originally Posted by straydog
...which means you need to have different concepts for single and multiplayer. Clear?

Good design is possible in both. Multiplayer needs are not an excuse for a design that gives a poor singleplayer experience. If you believe that there is no way to have both a good design and multiplayer, that's really sad. Perhaps you can suggest some eloquent solutions as opposed to being a negatron?


Which means that you CAN NOT HAVE different concepts for single and multiplayer, since this game has a drop-in-drop-out feature.
Anything that works in single-player HAS to work in multiplayer, and vice versa, given that a single-player game can become a multiplayer one at any moment, then return single-player and so on, so forth.

In light of the above, any hypothetical improvement to the UI has to be intended for both kind of experiences.


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