Here’s some more examples of what I mean:
(for any masochists still reading <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" /> )

I am not a completely obsessive hoarder in RPGs. For the first few hours I collect whatever I can and sell it. After that I get more choosy and taper off a bit. And I played up to the end of Act 2 with an un-patched game where the merchants didn’t restock with gold or refresh their stock. So there was very little opportunity to hoard gold or arrows gained from that source.

Mostly I pick up the gold and arrows on the ground, and keep a small selection of the unidentified items or anything that looks like it might be good value to swap. However, I haven’t yet found a single item in a merchant’s stock that was worth buying, except a few potions and arrows early in the game. So most of it ends up thrown on the ground in front of the merchants.

I’m now getting towards the end of act 3 (soon to visit the bishop) and already find that I can ignore almost everything I see.

Potions? Well, there’s at least ten different ones (each in 3 different sizes) but I now only ever bother collecting three (red, white and blue). I do sometimes use them in fights, so I recently checked to see if I was getting low. Remember, I only keep 3 of the 10. Yep, I think I can struggle on – I have 421 in my backpack! (Actual count, not invented or exaggerated).

Arrows? The old DK is looking a bit red eyed, so let’s see what he’s carrying…. Starts tapping numbers into calculator… gosh TWELVE different types of arrows now…. tap, tap.. geez – 7,793 arrows! (Actual count). Will that be enough?? <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/puppyeyes.gif" alt="" />

Gold? Well, I never seem to use it for anything except buying an occasional skill, so I expect the 200,000 plus that I now seem to be lugging around will see me through…

Crystals and charms? A reasonable handful of each, but frankly I've somewhat lost interest in them after seeing how little they mattered. I tested a few fights with and without them and the difference (compared to my main stats) was so small that it had very little noticeable effect on how many hits it took to kill, or how long I survived.

Food? Just a few of the bigger bits of meat now, after throwing out tons of unused McRubbish.

Skills? I have a good crossbow archer (DK) with suitable skills plus a sword-fighter up front who can also cast Hammer on the rare occasions that it takes more than couple of hits to kill. Twang-slash-splat, you’re dead. Next please. I’ve experimented a bit with other skills but not many appeal. I also don’t want to build totally “uber characters” who always win, as that would take any last vestige of interest out of the fights. As it is, we only ever look like losing if my attention wanders off… I have a pile of unused skill points and 20 unspent stats points for each character.

I’ve stopped smashing barrels, and don’t always bother opening chests any more. I still read the books (several times, as keep they keep re-appearing too). And I’m not intending to clear all the battlefields. Frankly, they’re getting a bit like Pacman with better graphics… chomp, chomp, chomp…

I guess a lot of this is a by product of the auto-generated aspects of modern games, compared to the time consuming hand placed methods in the bad old days.

I still remember the old games I played when finding items was genuinely interesting, and spending points a real labour of love. Somehow with games like this it feels more like an endless shower of ... well you know what I mean.. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/sad.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/eek.gif" alt="" />

But I’m still playing it… there might be some more good imp jokes up ahead… and I am a sucker for clearing maps.. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/tongue.gif" alt="" />