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Whatever studio comes up with the solution to "you should really use those consumables/spend that gold" without the solution inducing anxiety will be a complete

Whatever studio comes up with the solution to "you should really use those consumables/spend that gold" without the solution inducing anxiety will be a complete hero in my books.

Night_Thastus 3y ago
The latest DOOM games avoid this problem, but with ammo. There's no reason to save ammo for later because you have a very limited pool and can constantly get more with the chainsaw. It prevents hoarding for later. So that's what I'd suggest for consumables. Give a limited number so the player can't hoard and aren't too powerful, but make getting more of them easy and frequent.
- Waterluvian 3y ago
  Oh yeah that’d totally do it. “I have 5/5 BuffPotions so if I don’t use them, I’ll be leaving more on the ground.”
- Tyr42 3y ago
  Estus flasks basically.
- jabroni_salad 3y ago
  That's a hallmark of Doom in general, not just the recent one. They keep ammo limited so you have to switch weapons frequently and vary your gameplay. However, one nice thing with Doom is its commitment to the "fps chess" system. Chainsaw ammo might be scarce but the decision to use it is intuitive and requires no second thoughts. With BG3 every opportunity to use a limited item tries to awaken my latent save scummer and it feels like you can never make a good decision without first knowing how the story will play out.
ace32229 3y ago
The latest Cyberpunk update changes health items from collectable, consumable items to an item with [2] rechargeable uses that gets stronger as you play.
- Waterluvian 3y ago
  Oh that’s true. Dark Souls solved it with the estus flask in the same manner.
bpicolo 3y ago
Making potions infinite with a cooldown usually does the trick. After that, it's a space scarcity and balancing act - how many potions can I have on hand? How powerful are they for my character at their current level of progress? I think WoW's move also kinda works. It's a question of economics and you should mostly always be using them.
- ajkjk 3y ago
  WoW totally compromised its economy over time because they never solved inflation, but in vanilla before everyone had tons of money (and I guess in each expansion I played also), the fact that mounts and epic mounts took legitimately hard-to-obtain amounts of money was very fun and made them very rewarding to finally obtain.
sotix 3y ago
The original Resident Evil games required consumable ink ribbons to save the game at a typewriter and also limited gun ammo availability to great effect. It does introduce anxiety, but that fits the game’s atmosphere perfectly. By the end of my playthroughs, I have usually used most of the items in my inventory due to their scarcity and limited nature.
- Waterluvian 3y ago
  agreed. That’s one time anxiety is fitting. You know what also induces anxiety? When I rented this game as a kid but forgot that I didn’t have a memory card that weekend.

Whatever studio comes up with the solution to "you should really use those consumables/spend that gold" without the solution inducing anxiety will be a complete hero in my books.

Night_Thastus 3y ago

The latest DOOM games avoid this problem, but with ammo. There's no reason to save ammo for later because you have a very limited pool and can constantly get more with the chainsaw. It prevents hoarding for later. So that's what I'd suggest for consumables. Give a limited number so the player can't hoard and aren't too powerful, but make getting more of them easy and frequent.

Waterluvian 3y ago
Oh yeah that’d totally do it. “I have 5/5 BuffPotions so if I don’t use them, I’ll be leaving more on the ground.”
Tyr42 3y ago
Estus flasks basically.
jabroni_salad 3y ago
That's a hallmark of Doom in general, not just the recent one. They keep ammo limited so you have to switch weapons frequently and vary your gameplay. However, one nice thing with Doom is its commitment to the "fps chess" system. Chainsaw ammo might be scarce but the decision to use it is intuitive and requires no second thoughts. With BG3 every opportunity to use a limited item tries to awaken my latent save scummer and it feels like you can never make a good decision without first knowing how the story will play out.

ace32229 3y ago

The latest Cyberpunk update changes health items from collectable, consumable items to an item with [2] rechargeable uses that gets stronger as you play.

Waterluvian 3y ago
Oh that’s true. Dark Souls solved it with the estus flask in the same manner.

bpicolo 3y ago

Making potions infinite with a cooldown usually does the trick. After that, it's a space scarcity and balancing act - how many potions can I have on hand? How powerful are they for my character at their current level of progress? I think WoW's move also kinda works. It's a question of economics and you should mostly always be using them.

ajkjk 3y ago
WoW totally compromised its economy over time because they never solved inflation, but in vanilla before everyone had tons of money (and I guess in each expansion I played also), the fact that mounts and epic mounts took legitimately hard-to-obtain amounts of money was very fun and made them very rewarding to finally obtain.

sotix 3y ago

The original Resident Evil games required consumable ink ribbons to save the game at a typewriter and also limited gun ammo availability to great effect. It does introduce anxiety, but that fits the game’s atmosphere perfectly. By the end of my playthroughs, I have usually used most of the items in my inventory due to their scarcity and limited nature.

Waterluvian 3y ago
agreed. That’s one time anxiety is fitting. You know what also induces anxiety? When I rented this game as a kid but forgot that I didn’t have a memory card that weekend.