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[A Sentient Keyboard]

While we're at it, let's just remove all consequences from games. Why the hell not.

Or redesign the system so that it's fun and interesting to engage with. But if I have to choose between a dull, tedious mechanic and no mechanic at all, I'll take the latter. Encumbrance in it's current form can take a hike.

Cry more.

I see.

 

[Dragon]

I think encumbrance is a necessary evil.
And any way, if there isn't a mod out now, im sure there will be one within the week.

Sweet. Why bother having game developers do anything

 

[Shuggananas]

Same problem in skyrim

Cry more.

lmao

 

[Ziffles]

I'd rather it be a curve than a hard cut-off point.

 

[Metroidvania]

I think the main issue here, compared to previous games, is that you actually need, or at least have a lot of use for, the junk that you pick up. It adds a whole additional element to the weight management system, especially because all of the junk is so critical to upgrading your weapons.

Companions and armor-crafting pocketed-armor pieces helps, but it really does seem like I'm fighting for space more often than in 3 or NV.

Also, don't do setav carryweight, do modav, it'll make it permanent, rather than having to redo it every time you open the game.

 

[EatinOlives]

I find it funny that of all the RPG mechanics Bethesda removed from Fallout 4, encumbrance wasn't one of them.

People like skills, perks managing, deep dialogue system? Fuck that! They hate encumbrance? Keep it in!

On the other hand, I'll be surprised if the next iteration of Elder Scrolls and Fallout will keep it in due to all the bitching. So now they'll have removed even more mechanics in an attempt to streamline and they'll make the games even more brain dead.

 

[Coffee Dog]

Health points add challenge
Weight values (for items that aren't weapons/armor/health recovery) add tedium

What is the difference between challenge and tedium?

 

[Mesoian]

Doesn't this feel like cheating to you?

There should be better options. Craftable backpacks, bandoleers, side and rear pouches, things that make sense and would expand the carry limit without forcing every player to dump 10 points minimum into strength.

What is the difference between challenge and tedium?

Enjoyment.

 

[Kinyou]

Always feels very annoying, no matter what game

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y5C3itd89yY

 

[Fantastapotamus]

Doesn't this feel like cheating to you?

If it makes the game more fun, who cares?

What is the difference between challenge and tedium?

Really?
Challenge is challenging.
Tedium is tedious

 

[WickedLaharl]

Like ammo junk should not be weighted.

 

[MiguelItUp]

As much as I'd love to modify it, I can't bring myself to do it without properly completing the main quest. I will say that it has annoyed me more in Fallout 4 than any of the previous Bethesda games. I'm sure a lot of it has to do with the fact that supplies and typical junk has a lot more use now. Which is great, but the problem is that you just start hording EVERYTHING.

 

[kavanf1]

Doesn't this feel like cheating to you?

Yes, a little. However I justify it like this: Fallout is a huge game, and for me the most enjoyable part is exploring, followed by killing stuff, followed very closely by building settlements, which I think is a fantastic addition. What's not fun to me is making three or four trips back and forth between a location and my base to allow me to collect everything - that's boring, and with limited gaming time I don't want to waste time making multiple trips when I can do it all in one. Additionally, in previous games you could be very selective about what you picked up but now everything has value - I feel like Bethesda missed a trick by not increasing base carry weight to reflect the fact that now people will want to collect everything to help them with modding.

So yeah, that's how I sleep at night despite being cheating scum.

 

[Enco]

I sometimes think this but the alternative is worse.

No hard decision making and lots of useless shit you don't need.

 

[thecouncil]

As it does with most games, I think it boils down to: ""Is it fun? No? Then it shouldn't be happening."

 

[BearPawB]

Sweet. Why bother having game developers do anything

this is one of the dumbest replies I think I have ever gotten on this site.
The developers made their game the way they wanted. If they had wanted unlimited encumbrance they would have made it that way.

 

[keltickennedy]

Reminds me of the old Skyrim Horders video.

 

[PumpkinSpice]

I was tired of encumbrance in Fallout 3.

Actually scratch that I was tired of it about 15 mins into playing Oblivion for the first time.

 

[hlhbk]

Doesn't this feel like cheating to you?

Player weight limit is pointless. This is not cheating, it's bypassing a system that shouldn't even be in place.

 

[Quonny]

That's why you go full strength melee build you pleb.

 

[JackHerer]

Guys, if you use modav instead of setav you shouldn't have the reset issue with power armor.

 

[Rizific]

Doesn't this feel like cheating to you?

nope, not when its something as ridiculous as encumbrance is in fallout. consistently having to drop gear/guns/junk to stay below encumbrance when those items could be sold/scrapped for more materials? or you could just fast travel back to sanctuary every 15 mins too. oh look, a deathclaw. better pull out my fatboy. nope. i left it in sanctuary in favor of being able to carry more materials that im looking for so i can upgrade my weapon/armor. companions also have a limit, and its also pretty low. at least for dogmeat. encumbrance is a nuisance that takes me out of the immersion of exploring. so therefore player.setav carryweight 9001

 

[Orca]

It would be nice if you could use mail boxes or something to send shipments of stuff back to your settlements.

It would make the flare gun useful if you could use it to summon companions to take loot back, something like that.

 

[jim2point0]

Terrible mechanic that needs to go

I feel like it's fine as a mechanic, and often forces you to make choices about what you do and don't pick up. What bothers me is that if you're making a strength based character for melee, you also get the benefit of more carrying capacity. But if you're playing a non-strength character that actually has a reason to pick up a lot of guns, then you probably have less carrying capacity. Grrrr.

I took some a middle-ground and modded my base carry capacity to be that of someone with high strength, but I didn't completely mod it out.

 

[Zombie James]

There should be better options. Craftable backpacks, bandoleers, side and rear pouches, things that make sense and would expand the carry limit without forcing every player to dump 10 points minimum into strength.

You can do that already, though. You can upgrade armor that adds to your carry limit.

 

[dity]

For me it makes me prioritise what I want to carry and makes managing my resources and weapons a proper part of "dungeon" crawling. Anything I can't carry I put onto my companion anyway - they can hold loads of stuff.

 

[Fixed2BeBroken]

It wasn't so much a problem in previous games because the JUNK didn't matter, just drop. Now that EVERYTHING can be used for crafting and settlement building it is becoming a pain trying to figure out what to drop.

yea but we dont have to repair weapons anymore. that kinda substitutes the weight a little cause before, if you had for instance a lincoln repeater, you would always carry/pick up normal rifles to repair it. on top of that this game gives you way more starting weight than before.

lastly, your dog companion can carry a shit ton for you. i use my dog like hes a bramin pack animal

oh yea and you can get a perk in strength that lets you carry 25 to 50 percent more

 

[BanditoMac]

I'm sure there's probably a good middle ground to improve the mechanic, such as the ability to break down components out in the field (which you can in some places that include benches).

Component pieces from salvaged parts could simply weigh 0, while things you don't salvage, like weapons and armor you want to keep whole, can maintain their weight.

 

[Bob White]

I think it needs some tinkering, but it's a good mechanic to have in a game like this. They should do away with AID items having any weight. You'd be surprised how much that shit weighs you down.

Toss those nuke-a-cola bottles and dirty water you've been hoarding, people!

 

[JoduanER2]

Always these weird "I had a friend over and then THIS happened" stories
Don't fiddle around in your inventory for 10 minutes when showing somebody the game. Don't pick up Raider armor and pipes.
In fact, don't bother picking up anything that you don't need, stop wasting time with base building, it's completely useless.

Haha i know right?? Writers, just forget the "friend" writing lol

 

[BibiMaghoo]

It's only of worth if the choices are important. The ideal situation then, is to allow carrying as much unimportant things as the player wants, but have a cap on things they need.

For example, no limit on items but a limit on weapons. Take away the needless micromanagement but leave the choices that alter play and demand a sacrifice more than 5 plates you can sell for a little currency.

 

[Sober]

the skill of scavenging is part of the game. means you start to learn whats worth picking up and things that are too heavy to make it worth picking up. like i stopped picking up most armor and most weapons. you start to recognize junk thats mostly steel which you have an abundance of.

You mean people should be assigning value to items they find rather than what the game prescribes and also maybe calculating value per item weight before deciding what to take, which the game probably doesn't do and is entirely up to the player?

That's asking a lot of someone who's playing Fallout 4.

 

[Last Hearth]

What is the difference between challenge and tedium?

One is actually difficult and requires skill, the other just require time and effort. Constantly going into one's inventory to sort them is not fun, it's just busy work.

 

[Mupod]

I actually prefer the extreme other end of the spectrum. In STALKER you have a pretty low carry weight and you need to take food and other supplies into account. To get around this I'd leave caches of supplies around the world, and bring certain guns when I knew I'd be going after certain factions so that I could scavenge ammo from them. Hardcore mode in new vegas somewhat approximated this and was vastly more interesting to me as a result. Sure, I'm a pack rat too, but the gameplay mechanic of careful inventory management is more fun to me than being able to pick up 300 brooms.

 

[amnesiac]

The thing is, it's not like you can't go back and get the things you can't carry, so it just makes you waste time going back to your junk workbench and back.

 

[Dr. Zoidberg]

What about managing your case in games like Resident Evil 4? Since there is a tetris-like puzzle element to arranging everything, is that okay to keep, or should that go away as well?

EDIT - I've always said that most gamers are hoarders, and from reading these responses I think part of the problem some people have with this is they just can't stand to leave useful things behind. You don't have to take every useful thing you find, and you don't have to quick-travel back and forth to town to grab it all. Just leave it and move along with the game. Your hoarding tendency is part of the problem. This is not a game where you will be "screwed" if you leave things behind.

 

[disappeared]

I sometimes think this but the alternative is worse.

No hard decision making and lots of useless shit you don't need.

Thus a modern day Bioware RPG.

 

[Baleoce]

Pretty much every criticism with this game I've heard discussed since its release, the inevitable rebuttal has been "there'll be a mod soon enough".

I mean, I get it. It kind of goes with the territory with Bethesda. It's expected. Always has been. I just can't help but notice it with regards to general game-play grievances.

 

[peanutbutterlatte]

I'm impressed they managed to make this stretch to an article to be honest. I have to give kudos for that.

 

[wanderjahr]

I kiiiind of see the point with a limit. The game has a built-in level system to reward those who want to carry more weight. At the same time I have to return to my base all the fucking time just to dismantle my junk—junk I need if I want to mod my weapons/armor. The process is a bit tedious. I think the limit should be doubled or tripled so it doesn't feel like inventory management simulator 4.

 

[pablito]

Yeah encumbrance bothers me in FO4 more than it did NV, Skyrim, etc. In the beginnings of these games, I start looting everything. But after a while I pretty much only loot ammo or health items. But in this I can't help but to loot every piece of garbage I can find, because there will be some weapon/armor mod or housing development that can use it. It's cool that they made trash useful, but with the same weight limitations, it feels like it hurts more.

Since I'm on PC I have workarounds, but console fam doesn't.

 

[shandy706]

Or redesign the system so that it's fun and interesting to engage with. But if I have to choose between a dull, tedious mechanic and no mechanic at all, I'll take the latter. Encumbrance in it's current form can take a hike.

It would be neat if you could send a companion off to drop things off at your base.

Have them disappear for 5 to 10 minutes, then show back up.

 

[chris121580]

Cry more.

You should be permanently stuck as a junior just for this stupid comment. The writer is not wrong...I understand some people want the ability to have to determine what to bring with them and leave but at least give the more casual gamers the option when playing the game for there not to be a limit on how much you can carry.

 

[EatinOlives]

If it makes the game more fun, who cares?

Does it really, though?

I used a non encumbrance mod for Oblivion and the tedium didn't go away, you just kick the can down the road for when you inevitably spend tons of time browsing through and attempting to organize your gigantic inventory.

It should be overhauled but not removed. Then again, it's Bethesda. They always dumb down mechanics to avoid having to put any work into rebalancing them.

 

[Lunar15]

I mod this out of every game that has it immediately.

I get why it's there, but I personally don't want it. I don't want the anxiety of choosing what I do and don't take. I've always had a much more enjoyable time once its removed.

If they only want you to be able to carry so many weapons, then put in a limited number of weapon slots. That, to me, would make more sense. Otherwise, the game telling you to collect all this junk and then limiting how much junk you can carry serves literally no gameplay purpose whatsoever.

 

[dlauv]

Peer pressure and/or blaming game designers for poor impulse control. I mean I get it, it's a game -- fun is more important than any "Ye Olde Honorable RPG Checklist." But role playing games are about choices: choose wisely, up your strength, wear power armor, or make sure you keep your inventory clean before venturing out. They could probably streamline it or find a more elegant solution, sure, but nitty gritty number juggling is fun for some people and it influences the way you play in nuanced ways that can make a player more involved. Sure, it very well might not be for your friend, but your friend might not think it was so bad if he played it for himself from the beginning and had more context going in.

 

[Mesoian]

You can do that already, though. You can upgrade armor that adds to your carry limit.

They should expand the weight limit more than 5 or 10 per armor piece, it's a bad solution, especially considering you can be giving up better more combat useful perks.

When the only way to double your carry limit is to just dump into strength or take lots of drugs, you don't have enough options dealing with carry limits.

 

[Tranqueris]

I feel like the problem is also that weapons tend to get heavier the more you upgrade them. I'd like to try the other armor upgrades besides "Pocketed" but I can't because I have to deal with the fact that I'm carrying more and more weight.

 

[ultron87]

If it is super easy to fast travel back to your base and unload it really is just an annoyance. The encumbrance isn't forcing you to make hard choices about your priorities while wandering the wasteland, it is just adding a mandatory "travel back to base, empty your inventory" step to the game.

 

[CybernatonEvolution]

Learn how to manage weight properly; prepare for every trip/quest/whatever. Use companions. Learn how to "stash and retrieve"; you can do it fast by stashing items near a fast travel spawn location.

Yeah it is annoying, and part of the problem is the lack of options that the game presents for looting and scavenging The problem with having no carry weight is that it affects both the balance of the game and immersion/survival aspect. Having some kind of a portable storage like a companion or a vehicle would solve the problem, as well as implementing a stash that you can build or choose; the latter could be implemented by giving the player the option to tweak a general container into a safe stash using some kind of material.

I am thinking of making an "immersive stash" mod LMAO. There was a cool bike mod in Fallout 3 that allowed you fast travel ONLY using the bike, and the latter allowed you to carry more stuff i.e if you were over-encumbered, you can use the bike and it would still allow you to fast travel since it increases your carry weight limit.