Being overburdened with materials and valueless items is like a rite of passage in Dragon’s Dogma, making managing its inventory system a frustrating experience. Imagine a game world teeming with things to gather, and almost every 20 minutes, you’re diving back into your bag to shift stuff around. Even worse, if you’re like me and can’t help but pick everything up, the inventory system will drive you mad. Alongside impactful changes coming in Dragon’s Dogma 2, the sequel needs to fix the original’s cumbersome inventory and make managing it far less of a headache.
I’m not alone on this, either. Some players who’ve thoroughly enjoyed Dragon’s Dogma over the years have argued juggling its inventory system was overwhelming. One of those players even claimed that managing items and the carry limit was “absolutely ruining” the RPG game for them.
All players could do was stop picking up random items and monitor what pawns were picking up. You had to regularly dump your inventory after quests to stave off getting encumbered and losing speed and stamina bonuses. From my experience, there’s no sidestepping this fact, and ignoring this will only work against you in combat situations.
Inventory management was a substantial part of the game’s difficulty and, simultaneously, a harsh learning curve for curious players and those who primarily played specific vocations. This lesson does more harm than good, though.
Mindlessly wandering and gathering objects led me to find rare equipment, quest items, and vital item combinations. Not gathering stuff randomly because of the carry limit means you’ll be less inclined to be adventurous and won’t learn what benefits arbitrary items can have. To that same point, the inventory system unknowingly makes being a Mage or Magick Archer difficult since they can’t improve their carry limit like a Fighter could. Due to this, players (and myself) have rolled a Fighter at some point to get a passive skill that increases carry weight before hopping back on a different vocation.
The inventory is a core element of the gameplay and adds a sense of realism in Dragon’s Dogma, but it’s also a tiresome system that makes the game feel more restrictive than enjoyable. Dragon’s Dogma 2 has the opportunity to remedy this.
Instead of a weight limit, the sequel should implement an inventory system with limited spaces to stay faithful to the fantasy realism characteristic of the series. Additionally, players need more control over what pawns are gathering, better ways to filter inventory, and more incentive for picking up random objects.
Dragon’s Dogma 2 is already trying to reinvent the wheel based on its latest gameplay trailers, from improving AI options for pawns to making exploring less of a slog by instant traveling on a carriage. It seems like a given that the inventory will see a massive upgrade to meet modern times, but it’s unclear to what extent and if players will again have to deal with the awkward features that came with it. Capcom might stick with the old system, for better or worse, but I’m certain it wouldn’t be received well by today’s players.
The clunkiness of inventory management in the original was a statement of its time and shouldn’t be an element that drags Dragon’s Dogma 2 down. After so many years, Capcom can blow our expectations and smoothen the rougher parts of this underrated series. And more than any other aspect of the original, inventory management is, by far, in need of the most change for the sequel.
If you’re hyped for Capcom’s latest open-world RPG, check out our in-depth rundown of all the Dragon’s Dogma 2 release date details.