Why is the inventory system so annoying?

[Brigadeos]

Why is the inventory space so freakin small? I am barely 4 hours into the game, in the mine dungeon, and every single time i open a chest i have to discard something from the inventory. This is more annoying because you dont know what is in the chest before discarding something, so yeah, you discard some healing herbs to get antidotes. I realize there is a lvl for the inventory and i suppose this upgrades the capacity at some point, but my question is why tho? I feel that this is something just to be annoying. Why some items are packed in 6 but others in groups of 2? why?

[Koryiaki]

It's a love letter to older games, limiting inventory space made it so you have to think about what you lug around is a part of that. Some flawed mechanics are there to impose limits and force creativity and consideration.

[SeraphLance]

This is one of those things where it feels like they only did it because the original Suikoden games did it. The tiny stack sizes also don't help, nor does the fact that runes share the inventory space.

The UI does suggest that the bag gets expanded later on (it shows as "level 1") but I'm not far enough to know if it's substantial enough not to be annoying.

The worst part, IIRC, is that you don't even know whats in a chest if your inventory is full, so you don't know if it's worth going back to town to make space. I could've sworn the old Suikoden games auto-moved stuff to your storage if you were full.

[tankanidis]

Originally posted by Koryiaki:

It's a love letter to older games, limiting inventory space made it so you have to think about what you lug around is a part of that. Some flawed mechanics are there to impose limits and force creativity and consideration.

They left it to a 'character' to fix the bag stuff, you are stuck crippled on inventory space until you find them

If you want help to find them, they are here:

https://www.gamespot.com/gallery/eiyuden-chronicle-hundred-heroes-recruit-characters-guide/2900-5278/

'Nell'

[Koryiaki]

Originally posted by SeraphLance:

This is one of those things where it feels like they only did it because the original Suikoden games did it. The tiny stack sizes also don't help, nor does the fact that runes share the inventory space.

The UI does suggest that the bag gets expanded later on (it shows as "level 1") but I'm not far enough to know if it's substantial enough not to be annoying.

Lunar did it, SMRPG did it, elder scrolls series and many others do it via weight limit, diablo series and path of exile do it basically via tetris placement. It's super common in a lot of genres.

[StValzy]

Its really bad yes. One you unlock the shortcut by moving the mine cart, you can go back to the town to store items in the warehouse. It doesn't really get any better until you recruit an NPC or upgrade to increase inventory size but now you know to store as much as possible before leaving for ANYWHERE.

[Pheace]

Basically, this is something that solves itself as you get further into the game. It's that way with a lot of things. Same with transportation getting better.

[Raelic]

I suspect it's because when you have 100+ characters you start trying to get creative with things on why those recruits are more impactful than just another face in the crowd.

[SeraphLance]

Originally posted by Koryiaki:

Lunar did it, SMRPG did it, elder scrolls series and many others do it via weight limit, diablo series and path of exile do it basically via tetris placement. It's super common in a lot of genres.

Not all limited inventory systems are the same, nor are they in place for the same reason, nor are those reasons always good. EC doesn't play like Diablo, and frankly nobody should be basing their gameplay systems off of Lunar.

Heck, even Suikoden recognized the issues with Suikoden's inventory management, which is why they changed it multiple times. It just doesn't make sense for the game it's trying to be, which is a JRPG with static chest loot and linear narrative-based gameplay.

[tankanidis]

Originally posted by Raelic:

I suspect it's because when you have 100+ characters you start trying to get creative with things on why those recruits are more impactful than just another face in the crowd.

Yes, instead of an options or paragon unlock menu we have characters who each add 1 option

[KingUrameshi]

I like it when games use limited inventory space as a way of difficulty control. Legend of Dragoon did it!

[Koryiaki]

Originally posted by SeraphLance:

Originally posted by Koryiaki:

Lunar did it, SMRPG did it, elder scrolls series and many others do it via weight limit, diablo series and path of exile do it basically via tetris placement. It's super common in a lot of genres.

Not all limited inventory systems are the same, nor are they in place for the same reason, nor are those reasons always good. EC doesn't play like Diablo, and frankly nobody should be basing their gameplay systems off of Lunar.

Heck, even Suikoden recognized the issues with Suikoden's inventory management, which is why they changed it multiple times. It just doesn't make sense for the game it's trying to be, which is a JRPG with static chest loot and linear narrative-based gameplay.

No one said they were the same, I said they exist, typically as a means of control. Short of a 1 on 1 with the design team we will never know why, but odds are, as a throwback piece, it is as a means of controlling your difficulty so you can't just endless potion chug and spam revives. I am willing to be wrong but that is just my opinion.

[SeraphLance]

Originally posted by Koryiaki:

No one said they were the same, I said they exist, typically as a means of control. Short of a 1 on 1 with the design team we will never know why, but odds are, as a throwback piece, it is as a means of controlling your difficulty so you can't just endless potion chug and spam revives. I am willing to be wrong but that is just my opinion.

Agreed that we can't know for sure without asking the dev team, but given how the inventory system changed from S1 to S2, I think it's more likely the reason they had it originally was that it was "realistic" for people to pack around items, and not based on any gameplay incentive.

If you want to encourage restricting item use, you can make a system like SMRPG where inventory is unlimited but stack size is limited. If you want to encourage people to consider what items to pick up during their travels, you limit inventory size, either by tetris or by weight capacity. Suikoden and by proxy EC has this weird system that's kinda-sorta both and neither at the same time (stack-limited, inventory limited, except you can carry multiple stacks of the same item) that ultimately ends up kind of annoying for no reason rather than pushing a gameplay model.

Look, I love the Suikoden franchise, and S2 is my favorite game of all time, but I can definitely sit back and look at the things the series didn't do well. Inventory management is one of those things, and that's far from an unpopular opinion.

[Melodia]

Originally posted by StValzy:

Its really bad yes. One you unlock the shortcut by moving the mine cart, you can go back to the town to store items in the warehouse. It doesn't really get any better until you recruit an NPC or upgrade to increase inventory size but now you know to store as much as possible before leaving for ANYWHERE.

The worst part about that is mine got full RIGHT before I unlocked the shortcut so I had to go the long way around to get back. Was for sure not a fun time.

[Stoibs]

Same place in the mine for me.
What's even more bizarre is that the game doesn't even let you know what's in the chests when you're trying to open them? Have to randomly ditch an item and gamble on what the heck you're trying to pick up.

What in the archaic 90's bad game design hell was this design decision??

Hope to see an inventory mod on Nexus or something honestly.