User blog:Spinfx/Loot plz kthx

Why do pawns hate picking up drops?

I often feel like I'm playing an MMO - grouped with a bunch of lazy snots, who make me pick up after them. Even though I actually enjoy a support role this is not what I signed up for, especially in a singleplayer RPG. Bad enough that Capcom actually felt we needed a specific Inclination for this (see: Acquisitor)- not to mention how crappy it is to have to sacrifice one of your only two pawn inclinations just to make them pick up the god damn loot.

I'm not saying I want pawns to auto-hoover loot like vacuum cleaners... wait, actually I do. If the player is standing around after a kill, long enough for the pawns to wander and walk over dropped items several times, then I dunno, maybe they should pick them up?! Come on. Look, I can understand the AI not stopping to take stuff if the player is speeding through an area. But this is ridiculous. We just killed our first golem after a grueling 15 minute battle, awesome... oh let's ignore those items it just dropped. wat. LOGIC, DO YOU SPEAK IT.

[ blood pressure intensifies ]

Gotta wonder how the hell the AI for picking up stuff is coded. You're not in combat, you're not running after the Arisen: why not freaking check whether there's something near your feet you can pick up? I mean, seriously, you can test it for yourself. Kill something like a Cyclops that drops multiple items, then watch your pawns walk over the drops. Move your camera around and take a step or two, that tends to make your pawns rearrange themselves around you. I've confirmed this behaviour often enough that it isn't a fluke.

Hell, with multiple items they'll pick up one, then stop. I don't even... I mean, WHY? You just picked something up, why would you ignore the other two items right beside it? Sometimes they'll pick up another item after a short pause. Sometimes. But most of the time you'll have to move your Arisen and the camera again. Oddly enough, several times when I got fed up and walked over to the remaining drops to pick them up, the pawns FINALLY decided to pick them up too. What the shit. You piss me off by making me wait until I notice you're not picking up the items, then you race me to them?

It's micromanaging bullshit like this which really takes you out of the game.