In Panel From Hell 8, we learned that the full release version of the game will bring a couple of
improvements to the inventory management system. In particular, it seems that we will have dedicated inventory containers for a few item types. Namely :
- keyrings,
- Camp Supply bags,
- alchemy components pouches.
It's not clear to me whether those will be inventory containers, which we can move from one character to another (like a burlap sack or a backpack), or whether this is more a sort of "equipment slot" and we always have exactly one per character.
Regardless, this solves the tidying/storage problem for 3 types of items : keys, Camp Supplies, and alchemy components (which is new, at least in mechanics, I guess lots of previously useless items we found will be alchemy components).
Which makes me wonder
... what about the rest ?This rest includes :
- potion belts,
- scroll cases,
- book cases,
- ammunition containers,
- jewelry pouches.
One obvious idea to help players tidy and organise their inventory is to create
dedicated inventory containers for different item types (as suggested in the list above). This is clearly what was done for keys, alchemy components and food.
Another idea (which is not exclusive to the first one) would be to
let players rename, dye, and reskin the various inventory containers that they can acquire (backpacks, burlap sacks and other pouches). This way, I could make a pouch blue and label it "Gems", or make a backpack dark green and label it "Books & letters".
Ideally, we'd have dedicated inventory container for all the frequent item types,
and also the option to rename/recolour our inventory containers, in case we want to make our own categories.
It would be really disappointing if the devs looked at a feedback summary during one feedback meeting, realised that "keyring" was again on the list and again a popular request, and implemented it without asking themselves questions like "what to do about the other item types that are, likewise, taking lots of inventory space ?", "what's the fundamental inventory issue this keyring addition might successfully address ?", or "how can we decisively improve the inventory ?". I really hope they didn't just stop at "Oh, keyrings ? That's easy to implement. There, done. Next."
