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Auto pickup gold on opening ground container

TrentOsterTrentOster Administrator, Developer Posts: 433
Why does the player not automatically pick up the gold in ground containers? Is there a scenario where you wouldn't want to auto pickup the gold?
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Comments

  • TanthalasTanthalas Member Posts: 6,738
    Maybe I just like rummaging through people's stuff but not taking anything? Gets annoying when people keep calling the Flaming Fist on me though. Could you guys fix that?

    But on a serious note, gold is something that you'll always want to pick up, just add some kind of visual notice so players can see how much richer they're getting.
  • AliteriAliteri Member Posts: 308
    edited June 2012
    Maybe I just like rummaging through people's stuff but not taking anything? Gets annoying when people keep calling the Flaming Fist on me though. Could you guys fix that?
    And that's why charisma isn't a dump stat.

    'Oh sorry master peasant, I was just rummaging through your piss poor life savings with my hands, you don't have to jump into any conclusions'

    -stat check succeded!:crisis averted-
  • TheudipaldTheudipald Member Posts: 30
    I'm as conservative as they get and I apologize for that, but I for one wouldn't want that feature implemented. I want the option not to pick up the gold as kleptomania doesn't become my goody-two-shoes paladin who is just going through a container in search of a sorely needed healing potion.
  • TanthalasTanthalas Member Posts: 6,738
    edited June 2012
    @Theudipald

    My comment probably threw the discussion a bit off, but I think that when Trent mentions "ground containers" he means gold that is dropped from dead enemies and not our characters rummaging through actual containers.

    Though I guess that a Paladin may also refrain from looting bodies maybe.

    On the other hand, between refusing rewards and no body looting, by all rights, Paladins should die from starvation.
  • AliteriAliteri Member Posts: 308
    edited June 2012
    I'm as conservative as they get and I apologize for that, but I for one wouldn't want that feature implemented. I want the option not to pick up the gold as kleptomania doesn't become my goody-two-shoes paladin who is just going through a container in search of a sorely needed healing potion.
    I am a bit torn though. For one I can't imagine many good reasons not to ehh pillage evil lairs of doom. For another I may not always want to pillage when opening a container, such as when I am at a city and 'open' (read:look at) a bookcase. For yet another, what are the odds of being at Baldur's Gate and opening a chest whose items I don't want to take for myself?

    There's so much doubt here that I might as well as be a conservative and agree with you.

    EDIT: If its just dead enemies, then I can't see why not.
  • BhryaenBhryaen Member Posts: 2,874
    For an example of auto-loot-collection, try the game "The Bard's Tale" (the later one). It doesn't even bother with selling items: everything you would come near would auto-translate into gold in your pockets free of effort. It's ultra-convenient, but... entirely lacked the experience of actually performing the "I search through the kobold's pockets." Enemy creatures start to look like walking gold-convertible pork chops rather than organisms, and in a game like BG where there are so many different creatures and enemy NPCs with their widely varied ecosystems and story relations, such porkchoppiness is more than a little homogenizing.

    That said, I love "The Bard's Tale..." very fun game... And I do find inventory management one of the most tedious and belaboring aspects of BG, including adding clicks for acquiring gold... It's just that I'm repulsed by the thought of such involuntary behavior scripting in BG enough to suggest that manual loot collection- including plain GP- is canon.
  • TheudipaldTheudipald Member Posts: 30
    @Tanthalas

    Ah, my bad, that's perfectly clear. Though I still prefer the choice, even when it comes to looting bodies.

    Also I'd like to believe that paladins don't need solid food, they sustain themselves from their own sense of self-satisfaction.

    @Altieri

    I agree there is no good reason not to pick up the gold, but I still want the option for role-playing sake.
  • TanthalasTanthalas Member Posts: 6,738
    @Theudipald

    Since I made my last post I've actually been thinking that it would be neat if you could starve your Paladin to death due to his reluctance in accepting rewards. That or his fellow party members could murder him in his sleep.
  • TheudipaldTheudipald Member Posts: 30
    @Tanthalas

    First I thought of writing something about paladins always being on the prowl for evil and never sleeping, but I'll refrain from that...
  • smeagolheartsmeagolheart Member Posts: 7,963
    Yon Paladin could be collecting the gold and then go donate it to the nearest temple. No reason to not do autopickup. I like @Tanthalas idea of a visual cue that it is happening like maybe floaty text and icon or whatever.
  • AliteriAliteri Member Posts: 308

    @Altieri

    I agree there is no good reason not to pick up the gold, but I still want the option for role-playing sake.
    You won the thread.
  • TanthalasTanthalas Member Posts: 6,738
    @Theudipald

    Death by starvation it is then!

    But to stop the sillyness, how do adventurer Paladins make a living anyway? If we use IWD2 as an example, they refuse quest rewards from helping people, so they're basically stuck with what they find while adventuring. From a role-playing view do Paladins really abstain from looting the corpses of their enemies? Wouldn't that same view also prevent them from doing basic adventurer stuff like exploring ancient ruins (which often times is more similar to grave-robbing)?

    I haven't read many novels with Paladins, but they never really go into detail about where their living expenses come from.
  • KoreKore Member Posts: 245
    I imagine for most of them the living expenses come from donation to their churches and orders. Solo ones though.... who knows.

    On topic, I like the idea. I can see the issue from an RP perspective, but if you think about it this way, if the paladin leaves the gold there then he is almost certainly directly funding bandits if the bodies are out in the wild. He can't be doing that!
  • AliteriAliteri Member Posts: 308
    I just get annoyed picking up one gold at a time. Later in the game I often don't bother. I'd like to keep the sound effect and give you a cue, but when you open a body, it auto takes the gold.
    -Trent
    Well, I can live with auto-loot specifically off of bodies.
  • MoonsongMoonsong Member Posts: 36
    I personally, enjoy both the feeling I get when I see gold in the pile of loot on the bodies, and manually picking it up myself.
  • BhryaenBhryaen Member Posts: 2,874
    I just get annoyed picking up one gold at a time. Later in the game I often don't bother. I'd like to keep the sound effect and give you a cue, but when you open a body, it auto takes the gold.
    -Trent
    Later in the game I don't bother collecting regular large shields and bastard swords and longbows either... but when that stops is my choice rather than a mandatory auto-feature. After all, gold is an always-viable swipe as opposed to cumbersome regular large shields, so later pure gold is actually more fun to pick up than such things comparatively. I suggest adding this suggestion to the Advanced Options. >:-)

  • lansounetlansounet Member Posts: 1,182
    Would be nice as an option. Sound and visual cue when the auto-loot gold option is selected.
  • IgneousIgneous Member Posts: 368
    Heartily disagree with this one.

    Manually picking up the gold (i) gives clear information to the player on how much gold they're getting, (ii) provides verisimilitude to the game-world by clearly indicating the gold is actually being taken from the container, and (iii) gives an intuitive audio/visual feedback to the player by means of the additive click-clink mechanic.

    And, yes, granting the player the agency to choose not to pick the gold up is empowering.
  • TanthalasTanthalas Member Posts: 6,738
    edited June 2012
    Manually picking up the gold (i) gives clear information to the player on how much gold they're getting, (ii) provides verisimilitude to the game-world by clearly indicating the gold is actually being taken from the container, and (iii) gives an intuitive audio/visual feedback to the player by means of the additive click-clink mechanic.
    None of that would be lost by implementing this feature besides mouse clicking. Auto-picking gold from the ground can be done with a visual cue showing you the amount of gold being picked up resolving (i), a visual and sound cue would resolve (ii) and (iii).

    I get why people would like to not auto pick-up gold from the ground, but I do think people are giving a little too much importance to how "awesome" manually picking up gold is.
  • DeeDee Member Posts: 10,447
    I agree - the worst part for me is when the gold is the last thing in the inventory list, and I have to scroll all the way down (past the mace, and the flail, and the morning star, and the shortbow, and the three leather armors...) just to see that there's...4gp waiting for me.

    I'm totally fine with an Auto-Pickup feature.
  • AndreaColomboAndreaColombo Member Posts: 5,530
    The only problem I can see with this is that I wouldn't know how much gold was picked up, and knowledge is power ;) Otherwise, it would be a handy automatism. I'm fine either way, really.
  • CadrosCadros Member Posts: 253
    I would certainly like to leave in picking up gold, annoying for small amounts maybe, but I still get a certain satisfaction from opening up a chest or corpse and thinking Wow! that is a lot of gold! I agree with all above who advocate having greater choice in your actions. If it is something in the options screen that can be toggled on and off then everyone will be happy, who knows i may even try it, like it, and never look back.
  • KharadorKharador Member Posts: 215
    I believe it's essential that the autopick is added. It's really tedious to have to loot all the enemies when they are 15 dudes. In this case destroys the gameplay and makes it bored.
  • TanthalasTanthalas Member Posts: 6,738
    @AndreaColombo

    I think Trent's suggestion includes adding a visual cue so you know what how much gold you're picking up.
  • CadrosCadros Member Posts: 253
    @Tanthalas I would find it very immersion breaking to have floating gold numbers appear over my characters head, but maybe that is just me.
  • TanthalasTanthalas Member Posts: 6,738
    Floating numbers would be a minor thing to me, but they could always have this visual cue appear in the battle log.
  • AndreaColomboAndreaColombo Member Posts: 5,530
    they could always have this visual cue appear in the battle log.
    Indeed, my friend. They could (and probably should).
  • BhryaenBhryaen Member Posts: 2,874
    edited June 2012
    And they could make it optional to make the text not appear the way other "over the head" feedback text can be toggled off in the regular Settings options, but... There is something to manual gp collection that keeps BG closer to its PnP equivalent and adds to BG's charm- not something "awesome" necessarily but part of the essence of the game. I don't think there even is such an auto-feature for anything else in BG, much less one that turns CHARNAME into a living vacuum cleaner. Ultimately this bit of a convenience feature just doesn't sit well with me, another conversion of one's character into a metagamed automaton. Oh, where's caruga when you need him?
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