Originally Posted by Wormerine
Originally Posted by Count Turnipsome
Point being BUSY WORK IS what defines RPG and immersion. In my book, the more the better.
There was an interview with the maker of Weird West (ex-arcane Dev), where he said that he likes making systematically consistent games, as from small stuff like inventory, containers, physical items eventually gameplay comes out. What BG3 lacks is…. gameplay.

Yes, BG3 has inventory, containers to search with no gameplay or expression to it. It is JUST a busy work. It is possible that if another studio took Larian engine and systems, they would find a role for box searching. Maybe Larian will get there before 1.0. As it is now, it is just a bit tedious, though I would blame it primary on inefficient UI, rather than the amount of boxes.

I think you've hit the nail on the head here. The real problem is that no aspect of BG3s inventory is fun or even interesting to interact with. It's only a chore. Choosing not to interact with chests and stuff isn't an interesting decision. The decision is "do I feel like checking these boxes to see if there's anything interesting?" The only thing really in question is how in the mood you are to deal with looking. The way loot works in the game, it's rare that you're in a position where the loot you find in the wild will be all that useful in the event you're in dire straits. You might have to dig through chests and stuff if you're really broke, but odds are you're not going to find much that's really worth anything. You'll just find little one or two gold items that you'll eventually sell in bulk. And since the contents are randomized, it's not even like they're typically all that flavorful in their contents either.

From what I played of BG1, I would say that actually handled items a little bit better. You were very limited in what items you could carry, moreso than in BG3. So you actually had to make interesting choices about what you would or wouldn't keep in your inventory. Those choices aren't present in BG3. You end up just accumulating stuff that you'll either forget about, keep so you can use later by navigating the tedious inventory menus, or sell via a tedious merchant system. To Turnipsome, the reaon busywork in RPGs is immersive and entertaining is because it actually serves a higher purpose. It's not the busywork itself, it's the fact that you're in a position to have to do it. It's interesting because you need ingredients to craft with, new gear to equip. Ultimately the busywork enables you to interact with another interesting system. What's the interesting system that searching crates and boxes in BG3 leads you to interact with? Instead it leads you to interact with an inventory system that's at best passable and at worst frustating and dull.