I remember when I learned about something being to awesome to use: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/TooAwesomeToUse
I think awareness has helped a ton and now I’m constantly running low on materials in my DnD campaign.
Really, though, it’s only rational – especially if it’s your first playthrough in a game and you don’t know what the future holds. You never know if this is really the final boss, or if it’s a fake-out and the real final boss will be coming up next. So it makes sense to hold your best stuff in reserve, in case you absolutely need it to get through the final final boss. So it’s perfectly reasonable to always only use the minimum items that will get the job done, saving the best stuff for later if you don’t absolutely need to use it now.
That’s especially true for one-of-a-kind or limited items that are irreplaceable if used.
For all the game devs out there: if you want players to actually use your awesome item you gave them, make sure you give them some method to obtain another one if needed.
This has haunted me since resident evil 1. I got acid rounds and was like “fuck yeah! This is great!” Only to find out they’re specifically there for you to kill the snake. This didn’t sit well with 13 yo me, so I had to start a new playthrough, and I’ve been saving weird ammo ever since. I wanna say my last fallout 4 playthrough, I had like 17,000 .45 rounds for the spray and pray by the end.
According to Lemmy, this is like boomers hoarding money for their retirement.
Oof no series was worse for this than Fire Emblem
You make a good point: you can buy potions, so I have to finish the game with 99.
The worst is when money is limited and you can’t get all the good gear you want, but potions can also be bought. Not only could I get more potions, I’ll feel like it’s a trap option to use them at all lest I need them or need to sell more than I have
Exactly what I do. I fucked up long ago and had to grind an end boss for weeks to not replay the entire game (saved with basically nothing in inventory).
Now I rotate save files, always keep stacks of consumables, etc. and absolutely never use awesome or unique items. Because you never know.
The sad part is I’m much better at games now, having had 30 more years to practice, so I rarely even need those crutches… unless theres an easy to use hotkey for it, I probably wont use them much. The situation that convinced me to be abundantly cautious has literally never happened, or come close to happening, again, and not at all because I changed strategies.
My character is going to live a long fulfilling life after this final boss and they might need them then.
This is a game design problem, and it’s on the game to solve it.
Humans are loss-averse and we’ll hold onto rare items forever - if the game allows it.
Make them farmable, at least.
Even better, make them extremely limited in quantity but automatically refreshing when you rest, like an estus flask.
That way not only is there no punishment for using them, but you asolutely should use them - and in fact it’s bad strategy if you died without using them.
No need to bother with those potions when cheese is plentiful.
They might carry over to the sequel, you never know.
It is one of my favorite broken mechanics that in the middle of a fight I can guzzle 99 potions to get me back up to 9999 health. You know so I can save all those 99 elixers for just in case.
New Game Plus
Get good. Then it doesn’t matter.
