User blog:Spinfx/Inventory management

Among the few things I disliked about Dragon's Dogma is the inventory management. When you had a few items it was fine, but a couple hours in and things start to get messy. It's really bad when you go shopping - can I sell this weapon, do I already have an extra copy stashed away? I don't... wait, I do, but it's upgraded. Why does it count differently, then?

I know, logically a bronze sword is different than a bronze sword +1, so you can't stack them. The problem is, from a usage standpoint, they're both the same damn sword. If I already have a +1, I sure as hell want to ditch any unimproved extras I obtain subsequently.

The problem gets compounded when you realize the game doesn't factor in the stuff you're wearing. Inventory and storage says I don't have this leather helmet, great. You finish shopping and keeping stuff in storage 10 minutes later, then when you're doing a last minute gear check before heading back out, you realize your pawn is wearing it. Yeah, that's dumb.

So: items need to stack, or at least be sorted regardless of enhancement level. Don't put my bronze sword at the top of my inventory, then my enhanced bronze sword +1 way in the middle. Or help me out by providing the ability to SORT my damn inventory.

Storage is pretty neat - items are laid out in a grid of images, which allows the game to show far more of them rather than your inventory, which is a couple rows of names at a time. Which is stupid, because you'll easily rack up to dozens, even hundreds, of pieces of gear. So aside from sorting, I should be able to toggle between displaying stuff by name, or by image.

Finally, when talking to vendors like the Black Cat and being asked to hand over an item for duplicating, guess what: you get to pick an item from a tiny grid. This means scrolling forever and ever, and you can't go fast because you might overshoot what you're trying to select. This is stupid. Why can't the grid simply be expanded to cover more of the screen, like storage? I don't need to see the damn vendor's face while I'm rooting through my inventory.

If Dragon's Dogma were a PC game, UI mods would be a huge hit. Seriously, the game has glaring flaws that have rather straightforward fixes. Small things like allowing you to sort your crap - this isn't rocket surgery.