[Editor's note: SWPM talks about the fear of running out of items for his Monthly Musing piece. -- CTZ]
It’s the end stretch of the Cliff That Time Forgot. All that stands between me and Giygas is one last Starmen. What should be an easy bout before the big finale is has taken a turn for the worse though. Paula’s HP is starting to trickle down, and Poo is already in a critical state. As the Starman finishes another onslaught, I’m left to decide my actions. I could stay the course and keep on trying to bat him down, or I could finish him off in one turn with one of Jeff’s Bottle Rockets. The correct course of action is obvious, but a nagging voice keeps me from taking it. “But what if I need that rocket for the boss?”
Jump ahead a bit and were in Rapture; Olympus Heights to be exact. An enraged Big Daddy is trying his best to send me to a watery grave. As I weave around the ruins of a dead city, taking post shots with a machine gun. I’m struck with a profound desire to just pull out my rocket launcher and end this with a heat seeking round. I don’t though, because the same voice is back, worrying: “What if I need that to beat Fontaine?”
As odd as this may sound, my greatest fear in gaming doesn’t come from zombie dogs jumping through windows, corrupted data or even from the Ultimate Embodiment of Evil itself. My biggest fear is that I’ll run out of items.
I’m convinced that there must have been some kind of traumatic experience that occurred when I was just starting playing videogames that I subconsciously blocked out, but whose moral still remains firmly imprinted in my psyche: “Save every item till the last possible moment.” It’s the only way to explain this near maniacal packratism I can’t help but display. I’ve reached the end of many a game with an over abundance of ammo and supplies, and yet I continue to hoard and refuse to use. Talking about it now, it seems utterly ludicrous and I laugh at how foolish it is, but for some reason, everything changes when I get into a game. The fanciful threat of running out of goods becomes a very real one, or at least in my head.
About half of these will never be used I wasn’t aware of this unusual quirk until it was directly pointed out to me by a less conservative player. Prior to that I still frugalized my items, but it was far less conscious. Take
Megaman for instance. The thought to use the special weapons outside of a boss fight simply never occurred to me. Same was true in many other games, like
Super Metroid. As I struggled against a particularly nasty patch of Space Pirates in Lower Norfair, a friend quipped: “Why not just use you’re missiles?” I was flummoxed by this, as I knew that there was a reason I wasn’t using them, that I couldn’t express. It didn’t take long for the words to come to me. “Those are for Ridley.” “But you have like 100, you don’t need to save them all.” And then I responded with the fatal phrase, that summarized my prime most fear when playing a game “But what if I run out?”
Special weapon outside of a boss fight? Inconceivable! In truth, I can count the times I ever truly run out of supplies and suffered serious in game consequences on one hand. One finger really. Apart from that particularly disastrous romp in Ravenholm, it’s all been (relatively) smooth sailing, which either proves there’s no threat, or my conservationist techniques prevent it. I’m guessing the former though. But despite this, in my mind at least, running out of items is still a looming threat I always need to watch out for. But, I doubt (read: hope) I’m completely alone in this. Plenty of others have discussed and mentioned this phenomena, and while it my not be commonplace, at the very least it’s not a singularity. Which makes it worthy of at least a little bit of examination.
The hoarding of item stems from the belief that they’ll be needed later. Whether “later” refers to a specific instance like a boss fight, or just to a vague time in the future varies from game to game, and moment to moment. The actuality of this threat may be real, or merely induced by the game itself. In
BioShock, the threat of running out of ammo is actually quite small, what with the abundance of ammo dispensers, and the prevalence of cash. But you don't feel that way when you're trusty Shotgun (nicknamed Winchester) is running low on bucks, and Spider Splicers keep crawling out of the cracks. It's a great design choice, but it terrified me like nothing else and led to me trying to blast every enemy with my not as trusty pistol (nicknamed Erwin) or my even less trusty Wrench (Nickname not given), having barely touched some of the finer guns in the game by the time the credits rolled around.
I’m that guy Not all is bad about packrattery though, the surplus of goods it leads makes final bosses quite a bit more manageable, and it a pretty awesome feeling to unload all you’re bottlerockets and bombs one after another on the that one last guy, especially if that one last guy is a complete asshole, like Porky Minch.
Whether it’s good or bad though, my fear of running out of items is, and most likely always will be a part of me when I game. You may think it’s crazy, and you’re probably right, but you try fighting off Fast Zombies and Poison Head Crabs with just a crowbar, and come out not a raving, hoarding maniac ;)
Contest:
1:55 PM on 11.01.2008
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The problem is compounded in Earthbound, like you mention above, because your inventory itself is severely limited. No way I'd use a Multi Bottle Rocket on anybody sooner than Pokey (or maybe Diamond Dog...), since I can only hold a few at any given time.
In short, you're not alone in this. I'm right there with you.
Glad to hear it :), what makes EB even tougher is that once you reach the Cliff time forgot, you can't go back, so when you use an item, it's gone.
I did the same thing second playthough of Bioshock XD I used that and the god like Crossbow to a great (and very enjoyable ;) effect.
It's not bad at all, but it's not wholly necessary. Some of the earlier fights are actually harder because of the level difference between you and the boss. The Lip Stick and Razors used automatically when you get K.O.ed though, so if you're sure about saving them, make sure you keep them in storage.
The worst games for this tic to take effect are survival horror games--- those are about 75% inventory management when you can't bear to throw anything away. I think I carried a 27 lb black bass in Resident Evil 4 about 3/4 of the way through the game "just in case." There's something wrong with me, and I'm glad I'm not alone. Nice article, SWPM!
Speaking about Mother 3, I gave every Memento to the Item Deposit Guy immediately after I got it, ending up using not a single one.
I'd got into this low ammo mess because I hadn't done that before, and the encounter I was facing was much scarier for the fact that I knew I had very little room for mistakes. It was very tense but the game was better for it, and I have become absolutely obsessed with having enough ammo from that point on.
I wouldn't say I'm at the same level of hoarding as you, but I can definitely understand that compulsion.
@Lordgloom
He was. Pokey was actually just a mistranslation. I use them both interchangeably though, since they both suit him rather well ;)
@Quala
Funnily enough, multiplayer games change everything, and then I chew through ammo and items (especially in Mario kart) like a fiend XP
And in a game like Crysis, if I'm low on ammo, I'll just charge at enemies, punching for my life. :P
I don't think I have used more than 5 elixer/megalixers between the 8 final fantasy games I've played. I only use phoenix downs, and potions in VERY stressful situations, but that's because they can be bought from the store. I'm not sure if I've ever even used an ether in any of the games, though I probably have at least once. I would much rather backtrack 5 minutes through a dungeon and use a tent if I absolutely had to use a restoring item than stay where I am and use potions and ethers to heal myself to full.
Playing Mother 3 just broke my heart, though. I'm generally an over-grinder in RPGs (it goes hand-in-hand with the no items habbit, I think... I grind to ridiculous levels so I don't have to rely on items), and as such, I run out of inventory space while fighting so many monsters, and I'm clogged up with food items. It just destroyed me on the inside, right from the start, using nut breads to restore 20hp when I was only missing 8hp, but knowing if I didn't use it, one would drop straight into oblivion after the next fight, which is even more atrocious. Screw Fallout, Bioshock, or Mass Effect, these are the deep moral choices that plague my conscience more than those games.
I also do this in Doom III, in that I only use the big guns when necessary, everything else gets my pistol or shotgun, and God forbid that I use the BFG outside of a boss fight! That's lunacy!
I went through Operation Winback only using the pistol even though i knew i had other guns. Even the final boss i just got a pistol bonus and headshot bonus. Every game was the same i just saved it up ready for something bigger even on the bosses.
For me it comes back to the game Nightmare Creatures. When I was a kid i used everything when i got it, same as in every other game i played: Alien trilogy, Command and Conquer, hell even in RPGs i had plenty of potions including 99 of each when i stopped suing them. I never even used them in battle. But in Nightmare Creatures i realsied save the stuff and things get easier when you have harder bits.
Lol Fallout 3 i have 5 mini nukes and the chances of me using them expect in exepectional circumstances is low. And if i drop below 25 stimpacks i buy more.
I didn't use the crossbow until the final boss either, when I used it by accident and found the trap bolt to be incredibly strong.
I have this same thing. In Silent Hill 2 (which I'm currently playing), I only use the pistol on bosses, and currently have well over 150 rounds. Also in Resident Evil, I ended the game with over 20 ribbons, because I saved only when I absolutely needed to, because I was worried I might run out.
I simpathize.
This of course is a generalization of people as a whole and is not necessarily true, but is interesting none the less.
I'm like this in every single game. EVERY SINGLE ONE. If there's any single item you could possibly use, I will never use it. In Resident Evil, I always finish with enough ammunition to equip a small army, plus around a thousand ink ribbons.
Also, sylph: that is so very very true. I guess not having a counter in my wallet makes it a bit easier to spend money.
At some point I realized I had it, though, and since then I've been training myself to actually use special weapons and items. You basically want to use the weapon that's powerful enough to win without wasting a bunch of health, but not so strong that using it is overkill.
Like, let's say I'm playing Half-Life 2. I find a small room with 4 Combine soldiers. The really conservative way is to use the pistol, crowbar, or gravity gun - but you'd probably end up taking a fair amount of damage, so it's not actually efficient. Firing off a plasma ball will probably fry all the soldiers with no damage, but then you might (might) have one less plasma ball in a critical situation. The compromise, say a grenade and some shotgun double-barrel blasts, is what I'd probably do now.
I think it really did me in watching my brother shoot wildly at crows only to get maulled by dogs flying through the window, no ammo to defend himself. Never again! I cried! Never...again.
I appreciate the tips :) Had never actually factored in how much I was losing by conserving. Grenades get almost no use by me though, since I'm terrible at aiming with them, and always end up over or undershooting XD
Try playing WoW without using any skill that has a cooldown of more than 3 minutes - Because you might need it a second later.
Got over that now, tough.
*i don't have that many
So eventually I hang on to my gear like a laden mule and shamble off again, you know, just in case.