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[-tetsuo-]

And I just explained, with limited ammo on hand, having a hundred guns won't make it "easier" if you have no bullets in 90% of them. Fallout doesn't exactly drop Fat man ammo like candy, after all.


It almost would feel like a satisfying REWARD for being so thorough in scavenging the world you explored, right? I know. I agree. If you take the time to go off the beaten path and stumble upon a stash of grenades, I'd be thrilled and happy to use them. Good job on me for finding all those good items and saving them for a particularly hairy encounter.


I had an encounter with a nasty fight in Fallout 3 that would have been WAAAAAY easier with my fatman or my mines, but I unloaded them all against Deathclaws in a previous encounter. And tossing screws and gears at them certainly didn't help me.


As it happened, I managed the fight and it was a long and challenging encounter, one of the hardest I had been in in a game that had been incredibly easy as it so happens. I'm glad my Fat man didn't have ammo to trivialize it.

lol@ this

I have max str and all 4 points in the perk itself and even I have to go back and drop loot multiple times, I can see why the general audience might not be a fan of it.

Jesus do you literally pick up everything you see? I have 10 str and I usually never have to make special trips to unload stuff.

 

[Enigmatic Rainbow]

Game design doesn't have to be reworked/balanced, just add some skills.

 

[Kenstar]

Yes, but imagine how much MORE challenging and enjoyable it would be if your character couldn't move after holding 100 swords and tufts of moss?

... Nobody wants that game.

I don't think anyone would care to mod encumberance if the junk you needed was weightless like ammo, so you'd need to think about what you bring and what equipment and weapons you can afford to keep and use rather than how many screws you need before fast travelling to dump and re-loot

 

[Glass Shark]

It's an artificial constraint with no real consequence. If you find yourself overencumbered, here's what your typical process would be:

1. Poke through your inventory and find stuff you can drop on the ground to come back for later.
2. Fast travel to home base.
3. Drop off the lesser stuff in your inventory to free up weight.
4. Fast travel back to where you dropped the stuff on the ground.
5. Pick up the stuff you dropped.
6. Fast travel back to base again.
7. Drop off extra stuff again.
8. Fast travel back to where you originally were and pick up where you left off.

There's nothing challenging about it. It's just time-consuming busy work. I feel bad for Xbox and PlayStation players who can't just pop open the console and give themselves 9999 carry weight.

Encumbrance really only needs to be a feature in a hardcore/survival difficulty mode like New Vegas had.

 

[Old Gimlet Eyes]

Ok some of the posts in this thread are straight jokes. Not having encumbrance does not make the game easier? Carrying unlimited amounts of everything doesn't make the game easier? Fucking really?? And for those saying that maybe you can carry various weapons but you might now have much ammo! Yeah you might not have 20 mini nukes, but you still have 20 weapons in your inventory. No encumbrance is babby mode.

 

[Wickerbasket]

Its been like this ever since Oblivion. I dont see why its a huge problem all of sudden. You can specc your character to make him or her be able to carry a ton.

It's suddenly a problem because all of a sudden they expect you to collect a whole bunch of junk, weapons and armor to outfit your settlement, yet the system has stayed the same.

They're basically forcing every character to spec into strength and take the carry more perk or it's a huge hassle.

 

[Doc_Drop]

This is why I won't play any RPGs on console anymore. I can't imagine playing Witcher 3 or Fallout 4 without modding out weight limits. It's such a pointless mechanic. Dark Souls lets you carry as much as you want and it's still challenging as all get out:

Off-topic: Re: Dark Souls - You'd like for there to be no weight management in Fallout. I'd like for there to be a difficulty option, but I've been told that I should be playing as the game intended. Options amirite?

On-topic - For those who don't like the mechanic they should absolutely play on PC as it does offer more choices

 

[Filben]

Pro tip: Don't loot that much. It's not like this game is so freaking hard you need everything you can scrap...

I dislike those mechanics, though. Either you do it realistic like back then in Jagged Alliance with weight AND space or you do none of this. Space-only like in Diablo is garbage since you can still carry bunch of weapons no matter their weight. Weight-only is garbage too because you can carry ridiculous amounts of ammunition, potions or what-so-ever no one could ever carry in his pockets.

And if you can't do something right it's better to leave it.

 

[-tetsuo-]

Ok some of the posts in this thread are straight jokes. Not having encumbrance does not make the game easier? Carrying unlimited amounts of everything doesn't make the game easier? Fucking really?? And for those saying that maybe you can carry various weapons but you might now have much ammo! Yeah you might not have 20 mini nukes, but you still have 20 weapons in your inventory. No encumbrance is babby mode.

But you already used everything the fight before that. Or before that. Or the fight before that one. At some point, you have used everything in your inventory so in reality it actually doesn't matter at all.

It's an artificial constraint with no real consequence. If you find yourself overencumbered, here's what your typical process would be:

1. Poke through your inventory and find stuff you can drop on the ground to come back for later.
2. Fast travel to home base.
3. Drop off the lesser stuff in your inventory to free up weight.
4. Fast travel back to where you dropped the stuff on the ground.
5. Pick up the stuff you dropped.
6. Fast travel back to base again.
7. Drop off extra stuff again.
8. Fast travel back to where you originally were and pick up where you left off.

There's nothing challenging about it. It's just time-consuming busy work. I feel bad for Xbox and PlayStation players who can't just pop open the console and give themselves 9999 carry weight.

Encumbrance really only needs to be a feature in a hardcore/survival difficulty mode like New Vegas had.

Or you can just not pick up everything and go on your merry way.

 

[Wickerbasket]

Or you can just not pick up everything and go on your merry way.

The game encourages you to pick everything up to build your settlement, and then punishes you for it.

It's just poorly thought out.

 

[Glass Shark]

Or you can just not pick up everything and go on your merry way.

It's a valid suggestion. Just as valid as mine. But in a game that encourages you heavily towards crafting, picking up junk is natural. By "solving the problem" of making junk have a purpose, Bethesda created a larger problem in encumbrance.

The game encourages you to pick everything up to build your settlement, and then punishes you for it.

It's just poorly thought out.

Bingo. Encumbrance is a filler and a time-waster. Again, save it for a hardcore or survival mode. It's totally meaningless otherwise.

 

[dity]

The game encourages you to pick everything up to build your settlement, and then punishes you for it.

It's just poorly thought out.

Settlements are also completely optional.

 

[Easton Dark]

It's suddenly a problem because all of a sudden they expect you to collect a whole bunch of junk, weapons and armor to outfit your settlement, yet the system has stayed the same.

They're basically forcing every character to spec into strength and take the carry more perk or it's a huge hassle.

They absolutely do not. I have a max carry weight in power armor of 330. Strength of 4, no perks for carry weight. I sell most stuff I collect. Yet I still have more than enough copper, circuitboards, and crystal, some of the rarest material in the game, to build anything, anytime. Don't even talk to me about steel, I'm drowning in the shit.

You do not have to pick up everything you see. That's a compulsion of the player.

 

[Wickerbasket]

Settlements are also completely optional.

So is playing the game, what's your point?

 

[Pilgrimzero]

Wouldn't be an issue if I didn't carry one of every weapon per ammo type, well short of the big weapons, like the minigun, fat man, and missile launcher. I only take them out of home storage when im in the Power Armor.

 

[dity]

So is playing the game, what's your point?

They're completely optional. You don't actually need to do them if you don't want to.

 

[Wickerbasket]

They're completely optional. You don't actually need to do them if you don't want to.

Playing the game is also completely optional.

However, if you're going to introduce a system into your game that encourages player to collect junk, then don't be surprised when they collect junk.

 

[dity]

Playing the game is also complete optional.

However, if you're going to introduce a system into your game that encourages player to collect junk, then don't be surprised when they collect junk.

You know how the game gives you optional objectives in a mission that do not need to be done and there's no consequence to not doing them? Settlements are exactly the same. You can fuck them off if you're not interested without consequence.

 

[Ploid 3.0]

From my experiences of the other Bethesda games, and knowing how useful junk is in this game, I'd just want Bethesda to balance the weight system to make up for all of that stuff, not totally get rid of the weight and encumbrance. Let's face it, Bethesda isn't geniuses or masters of game design, a lot of their stuff is horrible, but their games are huge, and allow for some ok exploring. They really shine at providing a tool for modders to make a challenging game out of their base game with redone mechanics, or major gameplay tweaks.

It really sound like Bethesda slapped on this junk crafting thing and did little else to compensate for the added weight. Sure there are perks and pockets in crafting, also the power armor which needs energy. But that seems like that should be extra on top of a change in the weight system so you could carry even more. Junk weighing stuff should be saved for survival mode, or some hardcore thing, like the bullets in Fallout NV and needing to drink, eat, and sleep.

 

[-tetsuo-]

The game encourages you to pick everything up to build your settlement, and then punishes you for it.

It's just poorly thought out.

It's a valid suggestion. Just as valid as mine. But in a game that encourages you heavily towards crafting, picking up junk is natural. By "solving the problem" of making junk have a purpose, Bethesda created a larger problem in encumbrance.



Bingo. Encumbrance is a filler and a time-waster. Again, save it for a hardcore or survival mode. It's totally meaningless otherwise.

I don't come anywhere close to picking up everything and I have so much of the basic stuff I can't see myself ever wanting for it. That leaves plenty of space for the rarer stuff like circuits or gears that I have marked. I also know now which weapons yield mats I need so I glance at bodies and pick up what I know.

The game is much more manageable than people think or make it out to be. This might be different for someone trying to build a huge settlement before they advance anywhere in the game but hey, that comes with the territory. As you play and move on you will get more and more stuff, and access to ways to make getting more stuff easier without having to haul the entire wasteland.

 

[Wickerbasket]

You know how the game gives you optional objectives in a mission that do not need to be done and there's no consequence to not doing them? Settlements are exactly the same. You can fuck them off if you're not interested without consequence.

Practically the entirety of Fallout 4 is optional, you don't have to do like 90% of the game.

The settlement system is going to affect the way people play the game because Bethesda have put emphasis on it.

They actively encourage you to collect extra crap.

It's great for you guys who have enough materials to do what you want, but I haven't been having the same experience and I'm constantly over encumbered.

 

[BouncyFrag]

I recently stopped bothering with settlement management and only picking up of loot if it's an upgrade and the game is a lot more fun as its no longer tedious as fuck.

 

[PseudoViper]

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

Ahaha, funny, cause I was actually out in the wasteland looking for mail boxes like in NV. Didn't find any, pretty disappointed... would have been a neat little feature.

 

[dity]

Practically the entirety of Fallout 4 is optional, you don't have to do like 90% of the game.

The settlement system is going to affect the way people play the game because Bethesda have put emphasis on it.

They actively encourage you to collect extra crap.

And it's a completely optional part of the game you do not need to partake in. I'll say it 100 more times if I have to. If you're still collecting crap willy nilly like you're contractually obliged to after figuring out you don't need to do the part of the game then it's all on you. You can't say Bethesda mind controlled you into having a shit time while playing.

 

[Kamina777]

This is why I won't play any RPGs on console anymore. I can't imagine playing Witcher 3 or Fallout 4 without modding out weight limits. It's such a pointless mechanic. Dark Souls lets you carry as much as you want and it's still challenging as all get out:

Because its an action game first and foremost, you aren't buying homes, and using junk for crafting, its more zelda than fallout, be consistent dude.

 

[Garlador]

Its been like this ever since Oblivion. I dont see why its a huge problem all of sudden. You can specc your character to make him or her be able to carry a ton.

It's been criticized since Oblivion as well. Mods that fix encumbrance were some of the first mods I recall being made available for the game and one of the first mods I ever used on PC ever.

It's become more problematic, however, because junk in Oblivion was just that: junk. It had no use, no purpose, no point. But everything in Fallout 4 can be crafted or recycled into something useful.

The crafting system is a major new addition to the game and yet it still carries the dead weight (heh) of the old encumbrance system with no tweaks or refinements to compensate for the new mechanics.

lol@ this

Thank you for your insightful rebuttal.

And it's a completely optional part of the game you do not need to partake in. I'll say it 100 more times if I have to. If you're still collecting crap willy nilly like you're contractually obliged to after figuring out you don't need to do the part of the game then it's all on you. You can't say Bethesda mind controlled you into having a shit time while playing.

It's a bad mechanic.

A huge new addition to the game is rewarding you for being thrifty with all the junk and scrap you've collected, yet it also punishes you for trying to go out of your way and collect junk and scrap to craft with. It's a counterproductive design choice that doesn't complement the other design choice.

EVERYTHING is optional in a game, but the key issue is there is a mechanic in place that prevents a player from having a better time than they would otherwise.
"A good game lets players play the way they want to play it, not always the way a developer intended them to play it."

EVERY mechanic in a game is a design choice, and you aren't obligated to like all of them, but don't pretend that he should somehow accept or enjoy a mechanic he DOESN'T accept or enjoy, optional or not. It's possible to criticize a portion of a game and enjoy the rest, or tolerate a bad mechanic for the greater good, or love a game in spite of the annoyances they cause.

But it doesn't have to be "optional" to be unenjoyable, especially if that mechanic gets in the way of something he WOULD enjoy, and it sounds like he'd be thrilled to explore the crafting and recycling mechanics without the harsh penalty of inventory restrictions. That's his prerogative and I think giving players the CHOICE to do so would be a huge positive.

I played previous games without encumbrance active and it certainly didn't make me enjoy the game LESS. On the contrary, playing that way made the games far more enjoyable than they ever would have been for me otherwise.

 

[Wickerbasket]

And it's a completely optional part of the game you do not need to partake in. I'll say it 100 more times if I have to. If you're still collecting crap willy nilly like you're contractually obliged to after figuring out you don't need to do the part of the game then it's all on you. You can't say Bethesda mind controlled you into having a shit time while playing.

You can say it however many times you want, it doesn't change the fact that the game encourages you to collect junk.

If you have to avoid part of the game to avoid tedium, then something about the game isn't designed right.

 

[Easton Dark]

Sure there are perks and pockets in crafting, also the power armor which needs energy. But that seems like that should be extra on top of a change in the weight system so you could carry even more. Junk weighing stuff should be saved for survival mode, or some hardcore thing, like the bullets in Fallout NV and needing to drink, eat, and sleep.

There are perks that make literally the only negative to going over encumbrance being that you use action points to move just as quickly as when you're not over encumbered.

Your power armor gives you carry weight. Buffout gives you carry weight. Pocketed armor gives you carry weight. Your companions can carry as much as you. There are mods to make weapons weigh less. You can mod power armor legs to increase carry weight. There are merchants and outposts all over where you can store things.

I think they've done quite a lot to make it easy to carry things to where it needs to go.

If you have to avoid part of the game to avoid tedium, then something about the game isn't designed right.

It's not tedious for me because I never go over carry weight and do fine. Don't blame the game for yourself.

 

[ironcreed]

I hate weight limits in any RPG, but I am also kind of used to it. Once I upgrade enough it becomes less of an issue.

 

[Kenstar]

just make junk weightless like ammo and lower the max carry weight to 75

 

[blankempathy]

encumbrance is just a way to force the player to waste time having to manage their items, transfer stuff or make a trip back to their base to unload stuff. I know some people say it feels more immersive because they have to be careful what they choose to pick up but most people simply are going to make a trip back and pick up anything they missed. Overall its just a waste of time. I'd rather be doing something else then managing my inventory/making trips back.

 

[Sblargh]

I am getting to the conclusion that the culprit here is fast travel. But then I start to redesign the game into something that is not.

And maybe that's part of the problem. What are those Bethesda games trying to be? Yeah, they are open world RPGs, but what is the challenge that defines them? Since much of this debate is about the game being easier or harder, what is FO4 trying to challenge you to do?

If it is resource management, survival and planning before leaving town, then fast travel does not fit, because as have been pointed out, you can bypass that challenge by the power of willingness to sit through loading screens.

If the challenge are individual battles or arenas or moment to moment action, then emcumbrance is a non-entity regarding challenge, because it does nothing related to the actual battle.

If it is both, then of course the game is easy; fast travel trivializes resource management and encumbrance doesn't make fights more challenging.

If it is neither, then the game is basically a sandbox, which is what a lot of players want out of these games, which is cool, but then encumbrance just gets in the way of the sandbox experience, since it adds a time sink with no challenge to it.

Encumbrance without fast travel would be challenging and meaningful, but the game would have to be redesigned so travelling is actually challeging, otherwise it just becomes boring beyond belief.

Emcubrance with fast travel is meaningles, because fast travel reduces all resource management to loading screens.

(sorry for the ramblings, it just means I'm interested in the subject, but you have to option to not read every single post)

 

[Devilgunman]

The game encourages you to pick everything up to build your settlement, and then punishes you for it.

It's just poorly thought out.

No, not really. You don't really need to make a gigantic settlement to complete the game. I'm 60 hrs in and I'm still staying in the starter house. You craft what you need. When you run out of supplies, you can highlight them so that when you go scavenging you would know what you need to pick up.

The game never encourage you to collect all the coffee mugs and raider armors. It's the player 's choice to be a hoarder.

 

[Kamina777]

The weight limit is already large and completely unrealistic, so really it's a game mechanic.

Maybe you could have a robot run trips for you and he only carries crafting junk back to a settlement of your choosing?

Or just skip in game logic entirely and have items flagged as "junk" all appear in designated spots. Or in their own inventory with its own pool?

If you dash encumbrance entirely you cut out yet another limit on how much time you can spend wandering the world before needing to go back to some kind of home base or safe city. If you're carrying 600 guns with varying states of ammo, that is not only wildly unbalanced, but also tedious as fuck to sort through anyway and doesn't really solve the problem of the tedium of dropping stuff. It just moves the tedium to a slightly different task.

Maybe some of you feel better about that type of tedium because it results in you keeping your precious shit? But then that means you should take tedium out of the equation when discussing this and say what you really mean: you WANT things. All the things.

Which is all the people setting their encumbrance to 9999 are doing. Unbalancing the game and moving the tedium to longer sorting sessions, while encumbrance generally means you glance at an object, make a split second decision whether to pick it up, and move on.

You hit the nail on the head, when all is said and done they're hoarders, and are pretty much coming up with excuses for their affliction. Taking out the weight limit is cheating, and that is fine but don't try to justify it with nonsense about fun factor and attempting to liken a reality of existance as a design flaw in a role playing game of all things.

 

[dity]

You can say it however many times you want, it doesn't change the fact that the game encourages you to collect junk.

If you have to avoid part of the game to avoid tedium, then something about the game isn't designed right.

And how does it encourage you? By having things you can collect? If you see stuff to pick up and just pick it up on impulse - all on you. Sure it's all "be nice and make settlements" but you only get to that stage if you do optional settlement stuff first.

Something's wrong with the game because there's a part of it there that you have to "avoid" (psst, you don't need to avoid it - no one's on your case about it)? That's stupid. Plenty of games have had optional side things you do in them that can be "avoided". Minigames, collecting, you name it.

 

[Wickerbasket]

It's not tedious for me because I never go over carry weight and do fine. Don't blame the game for yourself.

The same could be said for you, just because you find it ok doesn't mean everyone will.

He's telling me I should be avoiding crafting and settlements because having to go back to town after every area is tedious.

I'm saying I think Bethesda should have taken into account the fact that they're encouraging players to collect junk in their new inventory system.

And how does it encourage you? By having things you can collect? If you see stuff to pick up and just pick it up on impulse - all on you. Sure it's all "be nice and make settlements" but you only get to that stage if you do optional settlement stuff first.

Something's wrong with the game because there's a part of it there that you have to "avoid" (psst, you don't need to avoid it - no one's on your case about it)? That's stupid. Plenty of games have had optional side things you do in them that can be "avoided". Minigames, collecting, you name it.

Settlement's and crafting both require you to pick up junk, and you're encouraged to outfit your settlers with items to avoid being overun in attacks.

 

[Glass Shark]

Honestly the whole encumbrance thing is just a symptom of a larger problem with Fallout and games like it. There are so many systems in place designed to limit what you can do. It's almost like open world games these days are saying "We want you to have fun, but not so fast! You need to unlock all the fun first." But then by the time you make your way through the progression, you've already made it through most of the game and you get less of a chance to use that fun stuff.

I got so frustrated with the game within the first 2 hours that I just opened the console and made myself level 250 so I had full SPECIAL and every perk fully leveled. Then I gave myself a practically unlimited amount of every crafting material so I could make cool guns and armor. Now I'm having way more fun with the game.

 

[Zombie James]

Honestly the whole encumbrance thing is just a symptom of a larger problem with Fallout and games like it. There are so many systems in place designed to limit what you can do. It's almost like open world games these days are saying "We want you to have fun, but not so fast! You need to unlock all the fun first." But then by the time you make your way through the progression, you've already made it through most of the game and you get less of a chance to use that fun stuff.

I got so frustrated with the game within the first 2 hours that I just opened the console and made myself level 250 so I had full SPECIAL and every perk fully leveled. Then I gave myself a practically unlimited amount of every crafting material so I could make cool guns and armor. Now I'm having way more fun with the game.

Are you new to RPGs? Sounds like you don't want to play an RPG.

 

[kamineko]

I mean, as the game is balanced now, you can increase carry load by spending points (one per level) on strength or strong back.

Or you can mod your armor for carry weight (instead of, say, light for AP bonus).

So freeing up those points and mod slots buys you more than just infinite desk fan carrying. A lot more, actually, depending on what your build/gear priorities are.

I agree it's a hassle, I visit Sanctuary after ever mission and can't carry every institute rifle I come across. I suppose I could carry more institute rifles if I wouldn't have chosen all those damn luck perks.

Players should do whatever they like, it's their game, but killing encumbrance will make your level up choices a little easier (unless you're a strength/melee build anyway)

 

[dity]

Settlement's and crafting both require you to pick up junk, and you're encouraged to outfit your settlers with items to avoid being overun in attacks.

And you can highlight what you specifically need, and no that stuff about outfitting settlers isn't required. Heck knows I up-keep a bunch of settlements and I've never given a settler new equipment. Where does the game even encourage you to do this? I'm around 60 hours in and I found out about outfitting companions and settlers from the OT.

 

[Glass Shark]

...

(sorry for the ramblings, it just means I'm interested in the subject, but you have to option to not read every single post)

Really great post. Great examination of why encumbrance is a bad mechanic in the way it is implemented. With the right amount of thought, it could be implemented in a way that is actually challenging and meaningful, but in the context of the rest of the game, it's neither.

 

[Garlador]

It's not tedious for me because I never go over carry weight and do fine. Don't blame the game for yourself.

That's an awful excuse.

You could justify every single bad decision in a game as "you're not playing it right". That's what Sony said about LAIR when the critics said it was hard to control. "You're just not doing it right. Play it differently. The problem is YOU. We know other people who played it right."

If enough people have issues with it, and they objectively DO, then the mechanic is problematic to warrant attention, regardless of whether or not other people are fine with it. That's the beauty of CHOICE.

"Resident Evil Remake has new controls!" I heard some purists cry. "Tank controls for life!"
"But I don't like tank controls..."
"The problem is YOU. Don't blame the game for your failings!"

... Yeah, I played Resident Evil for nearly 20 years with tank controls. I'm not going back to them if I have the choice. I'll use the new control scheme, and purists have the choice of using the old one.

But the new control schemes exist because enough people had problems playing the game. It didn't matter if they were perfect for a few people; enough players didn't enjoy them, and that affected their enjoyment of the game.

It's not a player's job to force themselves to play a game in a way they don't enjoy. A good developer can create a game that allows players to play the way the player wants to play it.

 

[smudge]

encumbrance is just a way to force the player to waste time having to manage their items, transfer stuff or make a trip back to their base to unload stuff. I know some people say it feels more immersive because they have to be careful what they choose to pick up but most people simply are going to make a trip back and pick up anything they missed. Overall its just a waste of time. I'd rather be doing something else then managing my inventory/making trips back.

Then do something else, don't spend your time looting everything if you don't want to spend time managing your inventory.
That is the point of encumbrance, it is about choice and consequence. Albeit a trivial time consuming annoying consequence, but that is the point of the system.

 

[Easton Dark]

The same could be said for you, just because you find it ok doesn't mean everyone will.

He's telling me I should be avoiding crafting and settlements because having to go back to town after every area is tedious.

I'm saying I think Bethesda should have taken into account the fact that they're encouraging players to collect junk in their new inventory system.

It's fine to not like encumbrance, but as I said above, you have so many options to raise your encumbrance. I don't think it's the game's intention for you to pick up everything, as evidenced by my not doing that and currently overflowing with resources.

And I dunno, if your method of collecting stuff to craft and build settlements is bad for you, I'd find a new way to get materials. You can buy delivery orders for materials from merchants, you know?

 

[Wickerbasket]

And you can highlight what you specifically need, and no that stuff about outfitting settlers isn't required. Heck knows I up-keep a bunch of settlements and I've never given a settler new equipment. Where does the game even encourage you to do this? I'm around 60 hours in and I found out about outfitting companions and settlers from the OT.

The game actively encourages you to collect extra shit. I don't even know how you can argue against this.

They've given every junk item in the game inherent value as crafting material.

It's not a surprise that players are hoarding crafting materials.

It's the same problem Witcher 3 had before they fixed it.

 

[Mossybrew]

I don't mind it. I like the rhythm of doing missions/exploring in dangerous territory, then coming back to base for a breather, hang out in one of my settlements, maybe build a bit, tinker with weapons and armor, see if there's any new settlers for me to dress up - and of course unload junk and manage my inventory. I've got dedicated containers where I store potentially useful armor and weapons I don't want to carry around.

With companions there to take stuff when I do get encumbered, it hasn't really been an issue for me since I like returning to base periodically anyway. I've taken the heavy back perks and have a couple pieces of pocketed armor, so I can carry a fair amount before I need to worry about it.

I do find myself in Pipboy menus more than I would like sometimes. The interface in general could definitely be better.

 

[Glass Shark]

a trivial time consuming annoying consequence, but that is the point of the system.

Ugh, this is so depressing. If developers want people to spend more time with their game, they should make the games more fun, not add busy work to keep your play time artificially high.

 

[dity]

The game actively encourages you to collect extra shit. I don't even know how you can argue against this.

They've given every junk item in the game inherent value as crafting material.

It's not a surprise that players are hoarding crafting materials.

It's the same problem Witcher 3 had before they fixed it.

The game doesn't encourage you to collect any more extra shit than you need. :/ This is obvious given the options you're given when sorting through said shit.

Hoarding crafting items is a player problem, not a game problem. You can't blame the game for such an attitude.

 

[Wickerbasket]

The game doesn't encourage you to collect any more extra shit than you need. :/ This is obvious given the options you're given when sorting through said shit.

Hoarding crafting items is a player problem, not a game problem. You can't blame the game for such an attitude.

That's a fine opinion to have but the developers of Witcher 3 disagree, and I tend to agree with them.

If you're going to place value on junk materials, players are going to want to collect them. It's the exact same issue Witcher 3 had.

 

[smudge]

Ugh, this is so depressing. If developers want people to spend more time with their game, they should make the games more fun, not add busy work to keep your play time artificially high.

It is intended to be like this to add meaningful choice to looting items. That is the systems intention. Whether it achieves that is well, debatable.
I for one enjoy the system because I choose not to hoard in this game. I have to decide whether to loot something, whether it be junk or a useful item. Bethesda RPGs are a hoarders nightmare.

I currently am level 18 and have a carry limit of 260 with Lone wanderer perk. I don't use Dogmeat and I seldom have to empty my inventory because I choose not to loot everything I see.