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The fact that Malachi doesn’t want to pick up coat hangers and oil cans just for the sake of it seems perfectly reasonable to me. He doesn’t stricke me as neither a hotel thief nor an oil sniffer by nature.
NP: A Link Between Worlds, Beneath a Steel Sky and Vampyr
Makes more sense narratively in any game. I always found it strange how a character just picks some random object up for no good reason.
Having played the demo in its entirety, I don’t think this game is for me. The story, characters etc just didn’t grab me.
Recently completed: Game of Thrones (decent), Tales from the borderlands (great!), Life is Strange (great!), Stasis (good), Annas Quest (great!); Broken Age (poor)
Yet they grabbed his attention to the point he considered finding a use for them later on 
It’s pointless to judge game characters from real life perspective. “Grabbing everything that is not nailed down” is a good old adventure rule. Which, of course, could be transformed into reasonable situations, like “being aware of the state of Cairo motels, Malachi keeps a bunch of hangers in his trunk”, “Malachi fixes his car and keeps an oil can in case the car breaks again”, etc.
PC means personal computer
I don’t really agree on that one even from a gameplay perspective.
Your inventory in chapter 2 have very few objects (no ridiculously enormous pockets) so it would just make the puzzles easier. Now you stood there thinking until you remembered something you’ve seen that could be useful. Much more in theme with the game and a lot more fun. Otherwise there had to have been a lot of useless objects too which often leads to the point where you try an infinite amount of seamlessly random inventory objects just to see what works. I think that is much less rewarding and makes far worse gameplay.
NP: A Link Between Worlds, Beneath a Steel Sky and Vampyr
Yet they grabbed his attention to the point he considered finding a use for them later on
“Grabbing everything that is not nailed down” is not really how old adventure games work, it’s more like “grabbing everything that the designers allow you to grab because they want you to use it to solve a puzzle.” In Gabriel Knight 3, if you walk into the hotel dining room and look at the breakfast table, there are many items there that in the real world Gabriel should be able to take. But the only thing that Gabriel can actually pick up is the package of maple syrup. Why? Because he magically knows that somewhere in the future he’ll need that maple syrup, whereas those other items are useless. That, to me, is much closer to cheating and breaking the 4th wall than the “modern” inventory approach.
To me, games that only allow you to pick up items when the character actually has a motive to do so is much more realistic and interesting. Plus, it can be even more challenging as the player needs to consider the entire game environment when solving puzzles, and not just items that they’ve already collected in their inventory.
These kind of old adventure game tropes don’t bother me in the slightest. I don’t ever expect my games to be 100% realistic. All a game needs to do is set up a system of rules for itself and then follow them consistently. If it does that, then the design works as intended. I may not like the STYLE of the game, but I’m not going to presume to call it “bad design.”
I agree. I am not really bothered by the “traditional” inventory design. But I certainly don’t think it’s superior to this “modern” approach, which clearly has its merits.
Let’s not forget Malachi puts a long wooden pole in his pocket at one point of the game. And that’s even shown. I can’t think any real reason why they try to prevent picking up obvious puzzle solution items from the start, it adds nothing to the game, expect unnecessary walking back and forth.
Let’s not forget Malachi puts a long wooden pole in his pocket at one point of the game. And that’s even shown. I can’t think any real reason why they try to prevent picking up obvious puzzle solution items from the start, it adds nothing to the game, expect unnecessary walking back and forth.
Because it makes no sense to just randomly pick something up for no good reason at the time. I’m not saying it shouldn’t happen in any game, but I don’t think a game should get criticism for it either. In a lot of games, the protagonist does say why they’re picking it up.
Recently completed: Game of Thrones (decent), Tales from the borderlands (great!), Life is Strange (great!), Stasis (good), Annas Quest (great!); Broken Age (poor)
The more layers you put between the player’s intent and their ability to act it out, the more frustrating games become.
If I try an object on a hotspot and it doesn’t work, that’s somewhat frustrating (if I had a good idea in mind why it would).
If I want to try that combination but the character refuses to pick the item up to begin with, it’s a lot more annoying - is the character dumb and I need to lead them by the hand until they figure out I’m right, or will the interaction not work if I tried it?
To me, that’s less realistic than the alternative. The game won’t let you try something out unless you’re sure it’ll work.
I’m not sure I follow you there. If you can’t pick up an object yet, then you already know it isn’t needed for the puzzle you’re on. If anything, it makes the games puzzles more plot driven and approachable if you already know you have everything to solve it. Where as before it lead to pointless wandering from area to area in a vain hope to find what you could or could not be missing.
Recently completed: Game of Thrones (decent), Tales from the borderlands (great!), Life is Strange (great!), Stasis (good), Annas Quest (great!); Broken Age (poor)
Well, I guess we’ll have to agree to disagree. I don’t find this puzzle approach fun, nor do I look for such “realism” in adventure games (putting an oil can or a coat hanger in your trousers is not that realistic to begin with). As many people, I don’t like millions of useless items in my pockets, but good design will never allow that. Gabriel Knight games usually gave me reasons for picking or not picking up items (Gabriel actually comments his actions in the dining room). There were some ridiculous moments like stealing from a church, but I never felt like my character’s actions were controlled by some other force rather than myself. And that’s the case with “I don’t need smth at the moment” for me.
PC means personal computer
This is exactly why I think that games should have a lot of red herrings in them. Pick up everything that isn’t nailed down, get stuck with a massive inventory of which you’ll use less than half.
Avoids the backtracking by letting you pick up things even if you don’t know you’ll need them yet, but also avoids the “this is the only useful object here as it’s the only one I can take” pitfall.
And it makes brute-forcing a lot harder, so you’ll actually have to think… 
If I’m not mistaken, And Then There Were None had a lot of inventory items for which there was no actual use. 
The truth can’t hurt you, it’s just like the dark: it scares you witless but in time you see things clear and stark. - Elvis Costello
Maybe this time I can be strong, but since I know who I am, I’m probably wrong. Maybe this time I can go far, but thinking about where I’ve been ain’t helping me start. - Michael Kiwanuka
If I’m not mistaken, And Then There Were None had a lot of inventory items for which there was no actual use.
From what I remember, that game had some optional puzzles where those seemingly useless items were actually used. Dreamweb, on the other hand, was a red herring heaven 
PC means personal computer
Well, I guess we’ll have to agree to disagree. I don’t find this puzzle approach fun, nor do I look for such “realism” in adventure games (putting an oil can or a coat hanger in your trousers is not that realistic to begin with). As many people, I don’t like millions of useless items in my pockets, but good design will never allow that. Gabriel Knight games usually gave me reasons for picking or not picking up items (Gabriel actually comments his actions in the dining room). There were some ridiculous moments like stealing from a church, but I never felt like my character’s actions were controlled by some other force rather than myself. And that’s the case with “I don’t need smth at the moment” for me.
I don’t disagree with you. I suppose they need to balance it out.
Recently completed: Game of Thrones (decent), Tales from the borderlands (great!), Life is Strange (great!), Stasis (good), Annas Quest (great!); Broken Age (poor)
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