Incline Icon-based inventory vs List-based inventory

[rusty_shackleford]

Which do you prefer and why?

List-based inventory:

Spoiler

Example game is Caves of Qud

Icon-based inventory:

Spoiler

If you don't know what the example game is please avoid voting in the poll

Honorable mentions:
Whatever the fuck Ultima 7 was

Spoiler

inventory tetris

Spoiler

the example game is NEO Scavenger

 

[Gregz]

Color coding goes a very long way in helping with item organization. lol at the U7 pic

 

[AdolfSatan]

If you gonna make the effort to hire a decent artist then sure, gimme some nice looking items. Otherwise, I'd much prefer a list to an eye-sore.

 

[moraes]

List is superior for presenting and selecting information, but selecting icons + mouse can be good too if the icons help you tell what's what at a glance.

Lists can get tedious to navigate if there are a lot of items, but this can be ameliorated with smart groupings (this can help icons too) and search filters (but would require the use of a keyboard).

Lists can have graphics too, so they don't lose the eye-candy.

The designer needs to consider how clobbered the inventory of the player can get and what is the preferred input for the UI (mouse-centric or keyboard-centric) and then decide from there.

Kingcomrade.

 

[Erikkolai]

Icon-based, unless there's great variety of similar-looking items. In that case I want a list-based inventory with a filter.

 

[Gargaune]

List-based inventories inevitably turn into a nightmare if you can carry more than six items, as Bethesda games easily demonstrate. Icon-based inventories pack much more information into the same space and good art makes it a comfortable choice for CRPGs, but if you're dealing with less clutter-intensive games, Inventory Tetris is the best. With carry weight, naturally.

Spoiler

What's it gonna be, motherfucker? An extra box of 7.62 or that bottle of vodka? Have fun running with the doggies!

 

[DJOGamer PT]

Inventory Tetris all the way baby!!!

Items ocupy actual space that's porpotional to their size

Besides, organizing your stuff to maximize the amount of space you have, and having to make hard decisions on which things you can do with or without can make for an engaging experience

It pisses me off though when a game has this type of inventory but doesn't let you rotate items
Like bitch... what is even the point of having this if you won't allow the player to properly organize his shit

 

[Ol' Willy]

Your icon-based example is outdated. New one has better filtering selection and allows for stacking more than 999.

Spoiler

 

[Lurker47]

Why not both?

 

[V_K]

Another "honorable" mention should go to Fallout, which puts icons in a list, losing the advantages of either system:

A variation of this is Lands of Lore (and if I'm not mistaken, Grimoire), where the list is scrolled horizontally:

 

[Skene’s Gland]

Inventory Tetris cuz it’s not just about weight, you need to store unwieldy shapes just so.

 

[JarlFrank]

Inventory tetris.

 

[Butter]

 

[Borian]

Morrowind killed any interest I had in icon inventories.

This is with Morrowind Code Patch improvements, too. Granted I could get a mod to fix it, but that's for the next playthrough - I wanted to keep it near vanilla for this one.
It's worth mentioning that Morrowind also handled lists poorly with Spells too. That's primarily why I'll try to look for interface mods for my next playthrough, because it will be a spellcaster and I REFUSE to use this UI for spells once again.

I'm fond of inventory tetris with the provided example of Neo Scavenger being a particularly pleasant implementation. The above Skyrim example is a hilarious show of poor ideas even for consoles, but I still side with lists. The beautiful Caves of Qud example above is a fantastic example of a good list. That UI used to suck ass and bug like crazy.

 

[Murk]

Gonna give the copout answer of "it depends on the game", but if I had to err on one side I'd say icons as I personally find them more enjoyable to navigate/use.

Some games are better off with lists (ones where you need more info displayed and have very many items/things to look through), but I prefer an icon that is reflective of their in-game appearance.

The worst, IMO, is lists of icons that are specifically made for consoles and so are not only tedious to go through due to speed/size, but also wasteful of space.

 

[You]

inventory tetris is the choice for supreme gentlemen and scholars

 

[Joined on the 4th of July]

That screenshot doesn't do justice to Ultima 7. Full experience is multiple bags on all eight characters and your torch going out in a dungeon. The UI also goes dark naturally. "Hey, Shamino, did you have the spare torch?"

 

[Mr. Magniloquent]

Icon based.

Betrayal at Krondor did it best. Items didn't have encumbrance per say, but their size abstracted it by restricting how much you could carry of what. Even plot items. For an RPG with many survival elements, this made it meaningful.

Spoiler

The key ring also has its own inventory, which can be displayed when you pick a lock.

Modern games have in some ways improved upon this with sorting functions. These ultimately weren't necessary in BaK though, because the itemization didn't have vendor trash like house wares, or a massive crafting layer.

 

[Silly Germans]

I prefer a good icon inventory over a good list inventory. But the problem is that a icon inventory with unrecognizable symbols is much worse than a mediocre list inventory. It pretty much depends on the icon quality in my opinion. Icon inventories can only work if the icons are immediately recognizable, if they aren't its a nightmare. Lists don't have that problem typically. I like the Fallout inventory since the icons are great. An example with more functionality but horrible icons are the Neverwinter Nights games, which ultimately makes for a much worse experience in my opinion.

 

[Taka-Haradin puolipeikko]

Both systems can be irredeemable shit.

 

[J1M]

Modern games have too many items to pick up. Areas are just littered with garbage. Leads to less distinctive icons and lower quality art.

 

[Funposter]

Morrowind killed any interest I had in icon inventories.

Literally the perfect UI.

 

[Zed Duke of Banville]

Icon-based inventory, as in Dungeon Master:

 

[deuxhero]

Both as options, with the option to search your inventory for certain text strings. Icons only is fine if your inventory is very limited.

 

[Taka-Haradin puolipeikko]

Joking aside good icon based system with possible inventory Tetris is the more pleasing option.
Games that have succeeded in this are:
Might & Magic 6-8
NEO Scavenger
Jagged Alliance 2