Yeah I have no problem with encumbrance in these games. Don't just pick up every random thing you find. Dark Souls had to get rid of encumbrance because most of the items in that game will disappear if you drop them and leave them, but everything in Skyrim can be replaced. Just pick up the weapons and armor you are going to use, and some alternates. I found that I was carrying too many alchemy ingredients, so I just dumped them all in a dresser in my house, same with crafting materials. I agree that the encumbrance limit is unrealistic, but there needs to be some limit.

Plus, there are so many ways to increase your encumbrance if you want, mine is around 500 now with stamina and other bonuses, which is perfectly fine for what I need. I barely bother picking up dragon bones and scales anymore, that weight is not worth the money, and I won't need that stuff until I can make Dragon Armor, which I probably won't even use since I go light.

I really don't mind it, i'm playing the PC version and haven't even used the command. I'm like 20hours in and think I only had too much stuff like 5-10 times. It really doesn't bother me, especially now that I have a amulet and other enchanted items that give extra boost to how much I can carry, also have the pickpocket perk that give me a boost. So now I can carry up to 470 weight and still haven't found that stone.

I don't find myself over encubered that often. I used to loot pretty much every salvagable weapon in Fallout 3 but in Skyrim, not so much. Only things that drag me down are dragon bones and scales.

Yeah its a bit annoying, but in someways I kinda like it because I'm less worried about picking up everything I come across

I see both sides of the issue, but actually kind of like the idea behind Encumbrance. Especially in Fallout 3, it made me feel as if I really was some Wasteland scavenger who had to decide between carrying more weapons, carrying useful items, and carrying junk that had a decent sell value. By game's end, I could instantly tell what I wanted to be carrying around to sell and was utterly cutthroat in my weapon arsenal.

However, I know it's annoying, especially early in the game, to want to try out a ton of weapons AND armors AND feeling like you should be carrying tons of items and ingredients, yet constantly being told you're overencumbered.

It looks like you should have bought the PC version. Use the console, install a mod, use a trainer.

Your companions can die? I use mine as damage sponges and they get the crap knocked out of them but they get back up after I kill everything in the area.

Actually like encumbrance in this game. And the only time that I was over encumbered I used my awesome +35 carry shoes.

I think I've learned myself to pick up less stuff.

there are ways around encombernce though. i think it helps to be judicious in what you carry with you.

increase stamina, the standing stones. also in alteration therr are spells to increase your encumbrance by a lot. though it would be nice if your companion could sell stuff torchlight style

The entire idea of encumbrance is dumb, it's bad design and it doesn't add anything to the experience. Nothing else in this game tries to simulate reality, it's pure fantasy. Encumbrance does nothing but detract from my enjoyment of the game.

The fact that I had to buy a house when I didn't want one just so I could store dragon parts so I could use them for crafting later is fucking stupid.

Steed Stone + Lots o Stamina = No Problem, I like encumbrance gives items a tangible feel.

Though balance arguments are usually what many people bring up, I see it as a way to help you not to have such a messy an bloated inventory. That way you wouldn't have to scroll through a never ending list of pelts and goblets.

I can't find much reason to complain. Since they got rid of items wearing down, now we don't have to carry extra weapons for repairs out in the field. I'm finding that encumbrance isn't much of an issue at all. Either I sell off what I loot, or I drop it off at one of my homes for later in between quests and dungeon crawls. It hasn't been an issue at all for me.

Just store your stuff in your house. You don't need to carry every potion, book, weapon and food item with you at all times. You should be planning your trips and only carrying with you what is essential or most suited to the particular area you are going to. It only take a minute or less to organise this every now and then.

In a game where there are literally tens of thousands of objects that one can pick up, there needs to be some way to limit the player from carrying everything he comes across. Sure, it might be annoying if you're a penny pincher who needs to sell literally every single piece of loot he finds, fast traveling back to town every five minutes because you can't bear to drop some of your garbage, but comparing Skyrim to Dark Souls in this aspect is kind of ridiculous. The encumbrance in an Elder Scrolls game is not there for the sake of realism, either; it's more of a "save you from yourself" system, to make players prioritize instead of bogging themselves down picking up everything they see, and spending hours scrolling through their inventory menus while looking for a specific thing.

Skyrim is already barely an RPG when compared to the likes of Morrowind and other earlier Elder Scrolls games, why make it even worse? Encumbrance has always been a part of TES, and it adds yet another way to customize your character. If you don't like that you can't carry much, then focus on raising your stamina (which, let's be honest, would be a pretty pointless stat to level if it didn't let you carry more, anyway).

I'm going to go ahead and blindly assume that everyone complaining about encumbrance sucks at video games.

Encumbrance adds value to the items that you do choose to take with you. When you can have everything the loot feels hollow, and loot is the reason I love RPGs.

See I see this form the other direction. The biggest issue the game has is the game drops hundreds of tons of worthless loot. In the real world, you would not pick every corpse for every single item to sell…that would get you killed. However, this game drops so much loot in front of you and then provides a ridiculously easy system for selling it all by give shop keeps 10x the amount of ready cash they should have. That just makes the game a slog in the wrong way because people play the game like they are Fred Sanford (Oooo... It’s the Big One... You hear that Elizabeth... I'm comin' to you!)

I think the game should do two things to train people from loot whoring. ONE) Ensure that new characters can old carry 80 lbs at level one and then only slowly ramp up the amount a string high level character can carry by 5lbs increments. TWO) Break 90% or the armor & weapons that drop. If you slay a foe the concept should be most of his armor is RUNIED and his weapon is RUNIED. You can salvage the scrap but the scrap should be having a price set upon it that is very low. In that way when REAL loot drops you pick it up and fee that it is precious not just one more thing in your bottomless bag of Christmas presents.

The game would FEEL better if each item you carried was important to you…if it was a choice that you really thought about. If you had to sit there and say, “Wow, I really want this mace so I will drop this dagger and club the game would feel so much more significant.

@tourgen said:

@chrissedoff

Encumbrance is one of the smartest things to implement in RPG's. It keeps people from carrying a bunch of useless junk just so they can make a few pennies selling crap to a merchant.

Good answer. Just pick up what you need and what sells really well. Forget the rest and move on to the next adventure. You don't need to strip mine everything from a dungeon. It's inefficient and not fun. That's what the encumbrance "issue" you are creating for yourself is trying to spell out for you. The game's way of indicating you are playing poorly or wrong.

I think a better way to do that would be to just give those types of items 0 value. It's strange how some of the useful but nearly weightless items have 0 value while useless junk with higher weight sells for 1 or 2 gold.

I hate mechanics like encumbrance. I feel like I spend more time inventory managing than actually playing, it kills the fun of the game for me after a while.

I really think the best system is to have a system where the longer you fight someone the more ruined their clothing, arms and armor become. In that way the only items worth pilfering off would be gold, letters, and unused weapons. Maybe have a system where items written in RED are damaged beyond repair, BLUE for repairable items, and WHITE for undamaged items. That way when you see Hide Armor, Hide Boots, and Hide Helmet all in RED you know those items are junk you might as well leave them. But, maybe the Steel Sword is BLUE on the list, so it is worth taking if you really need it.

The above syetm allows all items NPCs carry to show up, but a damaged modifier makes the price change and the quality change on the fly. Thus a bandit with a 'superior' sword at the start of a fight has what is rated a 'fair' sword after a fight with all the battle damage on it.

@MonkeyKing1969 said:

I really think the best system is to have a system where the longer you fight someone the more ruined their clothing, arms and armor become.

It would be a cool system, but you'd need a control system like mouse swinging or Move controls for the weapon. Having a lock on system that said, "All hits go to right arm" or whatever would trivialize the system.

Mechwarrior style, if you found an opponent with say, a helmet you really fancied, you'd have to go and bash the crap out of his limbs or chest. If a guy's shielding himself behind a big old tower shield, you'd need to take out a warhammer and slap that shield out of his hands if you didn't want to render the helmet useless scrap metal.

Get over it. Stuff has weight. People crying about stuff like this will only encourage Bethesda to try even harder to appeal to people that don't like these kinds of games with TES6.

My main complaint is that encumbrance basically makes the Steed Stone a requirement. It's great to get the Steed Stone and have 200 extra room between the no encumbrance armor and the +100 base it gives you, but it means that's the only stone to use once you get it, especially if you use heavy armor. I'd love to use the skill improvement or +regen stones, but it's just not worth it if I have to go home after every dungeon or dragon kill to store/sell stuff. And you have to use 5+ perks to get the same effect as the Steed Stone otherwise.

I understand and agree with having encumbrance be in the game, but I think it'd be better if there were less expensive ways of making encumbrance a non-issue later in the game once you're flush with cash and are pickier about what you loot.