Any other players that don't know how to work together.

Money being weightless in games where money is huge chunks of gold or silver is always amusing to me. Fallout had weighted money I believe, and New Vegas does with hardcore mode turned on I think. It's just always kind of an eye-roll when I can't carry another flower for alchemy because of weight but I can pick up 100 more gold pieces.

Don't forget tiny fences blocking your path. I found this one amusing when i was playing the Witcher. You're a mighty monster hunter, but you can't jump over a tiny fence. Fences are Geralt's nemesis. :P

Reminds me a bit of this



Anyway, a rather major thing that bugs me about most CRPGs is money. Money almost always ends up being practically useless. At most it can be used to get a piece of equipment slightly earlier than you would find one of comparable strength in dungeons, and it can be a bit of a hindrance early on if you need to buy healing potions, but as the game progresses, money just loses its value, and from a long-term perspective, anything that gives you a more permanent bonus, like a faction liking you more, is almost always better than taking money, even if the money reward is large.

Switching between sword and shield to Bow - having to move three items around the whole time, especially in infinity Engine games where you have to do it 4 times over, once for each char (who doesn't use a sling one handed i.e. mage and cleric)

When you get a quest from one guy that involves having to ask a second guy for information about it, do the quest, go back and get your reward from the first guy, think you'll mention that you finished the quest to the 2nd guy as well but can only ask him for the no longer relevant information again!

Why can I only wear 1 ring when I have 5 digits on each hand? I could surely get more than one necklace over my head at once too, thinking about it...

Carrying around hundreds of 'Buff' potions, especially strength and dex bonuses that you don't want to use frivolously but then forget about and never use at all

Overuse of the word "quest" for any old task.

Hark! This quest shall take you hi and lo! Behold! This letter must reach my neighbor's house before the settings of the second crescent moon. Begone! And godspeed!

Making you carry loads of stuff just because you don't know if it is an important (sub)quest item, or if that rusty +1 sword you are carrying around can later in the game be upgraded to a kickass +7 diamond sword... if only you had not sold it to some guy who you don't recall anymore.

Like in the first Baldur's Gate, I had misplaced some dagger that some person wanted, which would had finished one subquest. I thought it was just some generic dagger, so I guess I just left it somewhere to free some inventory room (not sure if it was possible to sell it away).

Or finding out in Baldur's Gate 2 expansion pack that if only you had carried that certain item with you to the expansion pack (instead of leaving it to your stash in the base game, which you can't naturally access anymore while playing the expansion pack), you could have upgraded it to a very useful item. Dang!

Or, in most Infinity Engine games I keep carrying around dozens of writings, notes and books, just in case some NPC I come by needs it.

So either:

- Make it absolutely clear which items are quest items and possibly useful later, OR

- Make the inventory system infinite so that you can indeed carry all the crap with you, just because you might need it later. Sure I can't carry everything with me in real life either, BUT I can always keep them in my storeroom which I can usually access whenever I want. Or at least it is easier to foresee which items I will need (e.g. I am 100% sure I don't need to take my beach mattress with me if I am going to ski in the north, just in case there is some mad Lapland wizard there which will enhance it into Beach Mattress of Burning Fire +5, or give me 500000 experience points and 5000 euros for bringing it to him).

Which also reminds me: if I have already used some item what it was intended for (e.g. a key to a door, or a scroll that some NPC wanted to see), please make it disappear from my inventory, or at least make it clear it is now useless and I can throw it away. It is not nice to carry a couple dozen keys with you just because you don't recall if each of them has served their full purpose already. Infinity Engine games are a bit incoherent with such items: sometimes you do lose them (e.g. some NPC takes the item from you), sometimes they don't, it just stays in your inventory even after use.

This. Plus, soloing when the game expects and is designed for companions and/or multiplayer, and having your lone PC still being referred to in the plural.

"Greetings, friends!"

"Friends? What friends? Me, myself and I?"

"I'm so glad that all of you are finally here. I have a mission that only a group of your size and varied talents has any chance of success..."

"Aargh!"

Actually, this happens in Arcanum too. 'Course, by the second playthrough you know to expect it.

I approve of this post.

I approve even more of this one. :p

Yup yup.

Thinking of The Mandarin, hm?

In fairness, this restriction kind of makes sense to me. One could always claim that the magical laws of that particular universe don't allow such close contact between similar items because of some sort of magical interference. It just seems like an oversight that this is never specifically spelled out* anywhere.

*EDIT: No pun originally intended. But still, turns out it's a pretty good one, eh?

Still doesn't explain why infinity engine games only let you wear one non-magical treasure item ring to save inventory slots though!

Percentages.

"Adds 6% more damage", "your speed is increased by 4%" and all of those things are just tiny boosts that add up to already existing traits that tweak a few numbers in the background. You hardly ever notice the change unless you manage to equip a bunch of stuff that increases a specific percentage by a whole bunch or if you load a very old save file and compare what you have now with what you had back when you started.

I love getting a new skill that has an actual new animation and specific use that's immediately noticeable. When you get a flamesword or something with high stats against undead (and you can tell the obvious difference from attacking with your new sword than with your old one) or a new spin move or attack or escape move that makes it look all flashy, useful and worthwhile.


This minor tidbit annoys me a bit: carrying something that you think is useful but you never know if you'll use it. Like the aforementioned flamesword against undead...while you're playing in a lush green forest and all your enemies are living animals. Will you get to find undead down the road? Dunno, so better keep it in your stash. Woops, inventory full, should I drop it? Ok, not using it so I'll drop it and use this lifesteal sword or whatever. *walks half the map* Huh, What's this? A gateway into the underworld...

I actually meant hack-and-slash characters (fighters, paladins, etc), not hack-and-slash games.

The world is actually full of giant invisible force fields. The residents just put up little fences to warn people so they don't walk into them.

Because you were chosen. (Sorry, Chosen.) By implication, it wasn't your choice.