I have a ton of random keys clogging up my inventory. I have no idea which ones I've used already and which ones I'm still trying to find a lock for. Can we just have keys go away after you use them?

Better still, keys should go on a separate "key chain" outside of inventory. Usable as needed and out of the way otherwise.

I'm fully in favour of all that. Or any other way to similarly solve the problems : (a) I don't know what key opened what and thus what key is now useless, (b) keys are cluttering my inventory.

The descriptions on the keys are so vague, the names so generic, that I can't figure out when I got them and what I used them for. Also, when a key is used by someone with the key in inventory, I don't know which key is used.

I send Keys to the camp-chest after use.
Not like I will ever clean that box up in playthroughs I will never hang with for a longer time anyway.
But indeed, once a Key has fulfilled its purpose, its only in the way.

How about a pet rust monster who eats keys?

Use a backpack to store those keys or drop them after use.

A key ring item that just acts as a bag for the keys would be nice, would keep things nice and organized and convenient. Could make it an easy to find thing at the start and give it a weight of 0.

I do use a backpack right now. It's a pain. And I don't want to then have to dig through that backpack or my inventory to figure out which key I just used so I can drop it. What's the problem with just having them go away?

A key ring sounds great - I like anything that gets junk out of my inventory without having to jump through hoops.

I wish they have "key" items tab so we can put keys in there. :p

It's not part of the main inventory, and we don't have to worry if we threw away an important key.

I think that was the idea of the key ring - just make all of the keys go there automatically and skip your inventory entirely.

Exactly - game simply has to check your "keyring" for appropriate key when you go to open the lock. If it's there, lock opens - if not, says you don't have the correct key. If they want to be detailed, they can have a journal tab for keys, informing you which you have. But the keyring is not part of inventory, not taking up space or weight - no muss, no fuss.

You don't need to dig through anything, keys use themselves, you don't need to manually do anything, just store it or if you know the key has been used, drop it.
And while some may think backpacks are a pain, etc., be assured, once full game release, one of the best used mods out there will be a backpack mod for the various items, etc., just like it was with DOS2.

Are keys still used automatically if you put them inside a container inside your inventory?

I do know I end up with a lot of keys and I have no idea whether or not that specific key has been used or not to know if it is safe to drop or sell said key.

Didn't think it was a problem, I actually collected keys and such in a bag for my first play through.

This.
I don't see why "dead items" should clutter up your inventory when they have already served their only purpose. Just delete them from player inventory like you do with consumable items after usage.

Please stop telling me why you think I'm doing it wrong. If you read what I've written, you would see that I already know what you've said and I'm saying that that system sucks. End of story - Larian gets to respond by making changes or not. If you absolutely have to say something, respond to the question I actually asked: what the problem with having keys disappear after you use them?

Also, as came up on some other thread that I can't be bothered to look for right now, I am assured of nothing about the full game release - all I can play is the game that's in front of me right now. And I have no intention of using mods.

Ultima VII resolved this issue with the Forge of Virtue expansion that introduced the "keyring" (a container specifically made to store all your keys that you can still "open and browse" if needed) almost 30 years ago and plenty of games followed since then.

Somehow Larian missed the memo. OR they are too obsessed with the idea to let players in multi pickpocket keys out of each other's inventory, which is something no one will actually have the need to do, by the way.
Both scenarios are less then flattering, when one of the biggest issues the game has currently (beside the dreaded control scheme) is precisely inventory cluttering.

Nothing, but what is apparently clear is that you have not played any Larian Studios games before? In all their games, keys did not disappear after use, you simply got rid of them.
But hey, there is always a first.




And that is a personal choice, just like using backpacks to sort your inventory and prevent it from being a clutter, yeah?
Why you think Larian placed as many free to take backpacks as they did within and around Druid's Grove, in fact, throughout most of EA Act 1? Just saying.

I've played many of them. Just because a bad design choice makes it into one game doesn't mean that it becomes a good choice in the next one. Things that they've done in previous games are not relevant.

Good design shouldn't be based on the assumption that people are going to rely on third-party modifications. The game should stand on its own. If people want to make modifications on their own, that's on them, but I'm testing the game that Larian is making.

Good and bad is a little subjective and situational, what is good for one game might be bad for another, but I do agree a game should be made as a complete package first before considering mods.
On topic I think keys disappearing could create new issues where only one person goes through the door and the rest of the party gets stuck, or you need that key for multiple doors/containers and by using it once you lock out the other things. Or worse, you somehow relock a door and now that the key is gone you are stuck. Therefor I think its better for them to go into a keyring item so it does "disappear" from your inventory not clogging things up, but is still usable just in case. It would solve the problem without possibly creating new ones.

True... if there would be an option to lock previously unlocked doors or chests again, of which there isn't. Keys are considered simple one-use-items. You unlock something with it once and it stays that way. Hence the used key has lost it's worth. And about the argument that one key might be needed for multiple things, don't worry, that is really no issue to program to make it work without issues.

If they introduced re-locking, I could see vanishing keys being an issue. No idea if they have a plan for that.

Another option is, again, have everything automatically go to the keyring - keys never touch your inventory. And then be able to filter the keyring to see which keys haven't been used yet. So you don't lose them, but you can quickly identify any keys you have sitting around that you haven't matched up with a lock yet. That should handle all of the situations that have been mentioned so far.