I am unreasonably angry at the inventory management system.

[l-l]

Why is it like this throughout the entire souls-like series?
It even carried over to Elden Ring.

Why do I have to press a button several times to cycle through items and spells?
And if I press the button one to many times, I have to cycle through the items all over again.

Why do I need to equip a separate item in another hand to cast spells?
I have to put away the spell casting item every single time, if I want extra damage from two-handing a weapon

Why do these types of games burden you between switching between weapons and utilities?

Don't even try to convince me that this is good game design. It's not going to happen.

Instead, you are better off informing me of the reasons used to justify it's continued existence.

[juicy]

Get used to it dingus.

[l-l]

Originally posted by Liquid Juicy:

Get used to it dingus.

Whatever man.

[Whatever]

Probably because of the series' console legacy. Your anger is totally understandable but there's obviously no way of dealing with this issue besides getting used to it as the other person said.

[l-l]

Originally posted by Whatever:

Probably because of the series' console legacy. Your anger is totally understandable but there's obviously no way of dealing with this issue besides getting used to it as the other person said.

I have a few ideas already in my head of a potentially better system, that could also be worthwhile for console gamers too.

I've already done all that I can to get used to it. I've done a lot of lifting on my end. And I'm tired of lifting.

[★ Moonlight ★]

Equipping an item to cast spells makes sense though, since its how you make spells scale up in damage through the game

[l-l]

Originally posted by ★ Moonlight ★:

Equipping an item to cast spells makes sense though, since its how you make spells scale up in damage through the game

Why not just have a magic-casting trinket scale up in damage with your stats as an alternative? So people don't have to switch between weapons just to cast a spell.

[★ Moonlight ★]

Originally posted by l-l:

Originally posted by ★ Moonlight ★:

Equipping an item to cast spells makes sense though, since its how you make spells scale up in damage through the game

Why not just have a trinket scale up in damage with your stats as an alternative? So people don't have to switch between weapons just to cast a spell.

The game wants you to make a choice. You can't have your cake and eat it too

[l-l]

Originally posted by ★ Moonlight ★:

Originally posted by l-l:

Why not just have a trinket scale up in damage with your stats as an alternative? So people don't have to switch between weapons just to cast a spell.

The game wants you to make a choice. You can't have your cake and eat it too

What choice?

What do you even mean by that?

What makes it a meaningful choice to begin with?

[★ Moonlight ★]

Originally posted by l-l:

Originally posted by ★ Moonlight ★:

The game wants you to make a choice. You can't have your cake and eat it too

What choice?

What do you even mean by that?

What makes it a meaningful choice to begin with?

There are weapons and shields that act as catalyst so you can have both, but at the cost of neither part of the equipment being as good most of the time. You can only have so much at one time, thats what leads to build diversity and making interesting choices in what to use.

[l-l]

Originally posted by ★ Moonlight ★:

Originally posted by l-l:

What choice?

What do you even mean by that?

What makes it a meaningful choice to begin with?

There are weapons and shields that act as catalyst so you can have both, but at the cost of neither part of the equipment being as good most of the time. You can only have so much at one time, thats what leads to build diversity and making interesting choices in what to use.

How, does my suggestion conflict with what you just said?

Shouldn't sacrificing a trinket slot be in order to cast spells, a choice in of itself?

I don't see how it's going to lead to less build diversity.

You can take a spell-enabling weapon and use it in melee.

Or you can sacrifice a trinket slot to cast spells.

These are choices a player can make.

[Edgarek]

Originally posted by l-l:

Why not just have a magic-casting trinket scale up in damage with your stats as an alternative? So people don't have to switch between weapons just to cast a spell.

Because if you do that, its would be impossible to guess who is wizard in pvp. And its a lore established rule - you need a stick to do pew pew.
Inventory management is a part of most rpg systems.

There also chest in bonfire, where you can store all items that you doesnt use at that time.

[exchaby]

Originally posted by l-l:

Instead, you are better off informing me of the reasons used to justify it's continued existence.

skill ceiling.

You can equip Pyromancy Gloves in one hand, Black Witch Staff the other, Flynn's ring, Ring of Blades +2, Clear Bluestone Ring+2, Southern Ritual Band +2. Attune the desired spells, and you can deal all kind of damage. It kinda sucks, but here you go. Low effort jack of all trades.

You can also softswap/hardswap weapons, spell casting tools, rings, armor pieces. It is absolutely not required in order to have success in the game, but it does extend the potential of how deadly someone might be

Originally posted by l-l:

I have to put away the spell casting item every single time, if I want extra damage from two-handing a weapon

false. You can have a weapon/spell casting item in both of your hands and two-hand one of them.

Originally posted by l-l:

Why not just have a magic-casting trinket scale up in damage with your stats as an alternative? So people don't have to switch between weapons just to cast a spell.

I get your point that you want to shoot thunderbolts and blue/black/red balls out of your ass, but that would be an oversimplification of an advanced mechanics that you might just not like.

When you try to visualize a "wizard", what comes to your mind?

I'd say its a safe guess that most of us mortals think of an entity with a characteristic pointy hat, maybe a beard, and a magic wand in its hand. Even if there is no wand/staff, there is a clear indication that something is happening with that hand (like how pyromancy gloves looks like in the game)

Gears like Blue Flame, Disc Chime dont fit this narrative, but exception proves the rule.
Also, just as it was mentioned before, they come with certain compromises as they are not great neither as a melee nor as a casting tool.
The same goes for Black Witch Staff: you can use it for almost all type of wizadry, but with less damage output, slower casting speed, more weight...

[Call Sign: Raven]

Are you talking about the hot-bar menu on the lower left, with weapons, spells and items? If so, that's a concession that's probably been carried over due to the fact the games were originally produced for consoles. You get used to it, no need to rage over it.

[Backstabba]

Originally posted by l-l:

You can take a spell-enabling weapon and use it in melee.

Some weapon's special abilities is that they are both a primary weapon and a spell catalyst.

Weapon's like the Pilgrim's Spontoon (Spear) can cast both Hexes and Sorceries while also giving them the Spontoon's counter damage!

Plus dark/magic weapon enchantment spells work on it unlike normal catalysts buffing the respective spell types the Spontoon casts in addition to the melee damage.

So a spell enabling melee weapons do exist but as a special trait rather then it being a baseline effect.

[Koros Antavo]

Inventory scrolling is that way because it was designed for a controller's d-pad. To get your desired backward scroll, it would have to sacrifice two equipment slots, which is obviously less than ideal. Later games have improved the situation somewhat by allowing you to hold the button instead of pressing it, which would move you back to the start of the list.

You equip catalysts because catalysts are the things that allow you to use magic in the first place. You seem to think they are some special type of equipment, but they are they same kind of thing as any other weapon, like swords, spears, bows, shileds etc. "Why would my shield disappear when I want to two-hand my weapon?" Doesn't make much sense, does it? So why do you think your statements make any sense?

Besides, two-handing is not just a marginal damage increase, at least in ds2. It completely changes the moveset of a lot of weapons, and your left-hand bumper and trigger gain new functions when two-handing. Most weapons allow you to block and parry in addition to more standard attacks when two-handed, and some even have special attacks tied to the left-hand trigger.

This is not some random inconsistent game. Everything here abides by the same rules, which allows you to experiment with new things with confidence if you know those rules.