So Darindel has reached the exalted heights of level 20, and is now poking around on level 9 of the dungeon. However, nothing very exciting has happened since the last post, so now is a good time to look at an annoying feature.
The magic system in ZTK is cumbersome. There are seven “realms”, and each has four spellbooks. Depending on class, the character can know none, one, or two of those realms.
Darindel, being a Ranger, has two realms. The first is Nature, which is required. He had free choice of the others, and took Chaos. So he started with one book for each realm. Later, he bought the second book of Nature magic. At the moment, therefore, he has three books.
As he goes up in level, new spells in the books become available for “studying”. A studied spell is one he knows, and can cast any time if he has enough mana. So far, so good.
The problem is, he has to keep lugging those books around with him. Even if he knew every spell in a book, he’d have to have it with him. If he ever gets high enough in level – and is lucky enough to find the two high-level books for each realm – that means he’d be hauling eight spell books all the time.
And inventory space is far from infinite. Right now, he has only four slots open for picking up new items. The rest are filled with the three spellbooks, ammunition, potions, scrolls, wands, rods and a staff. Food he doesn’t need anymore, as he has a spell now that can fill him up when he gets hungry.
I think it would make more sense to learn the spells and leave the books at home, consulting them only when you wanted to pick up some new magic. It would free up more inventory space, for one thing. Hey, if you know the spell, why would you need the book?
Of course, that isn’t going to change, as ZTK is an old game and no longer supported with updates. Too bad about that. So Darry will just have to carry those tomes with him. Yeah, it’s annoying.
I find that in a lot of games, or something similar. I am playing Fallout 3 currently and it’s inventory is based on the amount of weight you can carry, but you are still more or less forced into carrying things you don’t really need, taking up some of your allotment. For example, to repair something you might need parts from another identical item, requiring you to carry two of them. Another example, some weapons are better than others against a particular enemy so you end up carrying an entire arsenal instead of a favorite weapon or two.
The problem becomes what can you safely discard when you run into those limitations. I know you have wrote about your issue with Elvira and I had similar problems with Dungeon Master – using an item before you really need it.
ZTK has a weight limit, too, but most of the stuff I have isn’t heavy. Even adding in equipped items, I’m nowhere near the limit.
Yeah, what to keep and what to leave behind is often a problem. Sounds like it may be worse in FO3 than in ZTK. Sheesh.
Inventory is one of those game features where realism generally conflicts with fun. (Although, in ZTK, it’s not actually realistic, either.)
OK, it’s realistic that you can’t carry an unlimited amount of weapons, armor, and loot on your back, but is constant worrying about your inventory really fun? Not for me.
Now, I generally like it when weapons have trade-offs – advantages combined with disadvantages. But if you need to carry different weapons for different foes, shouldn’t it be a party-based RPG, where you can take that into account when designing and equipping several characters? Otherwise, it seems like just a hassle.