Adventure Pouch: Yea or Nay?

[Heros Temporis]

As we all know, Skyward Sword uses a new system for storing items that were previously "givens" in Zelda games. These include bomb bags, quivers, seed pouches, shields, etc.



Personally, I'm not a fan. In fact, I find the adventure pouch concept quite annoying. I lean more towards 100% completion style-play with Zelda games (even on the first time through) and so the fact that at some point I won't be able to hold the fruits of my labor due to lack of space is quite irksome. Bottles are the prime example. I rarely find myself having to use bottled items, but still, I like having them around. Also, the limited space is quite annoying. Sure, you can upgrade (slowly, and, for the most part, expensively) the amount of space in the pouch, but in the meantime you are stuck with a sub-par inventory, and, finally, you can only upgrade to eight.
When it comes to optional Zelda items, hearts are #1 for me. So the fact that I have to waste two spots just to have full hearts (I just finished the Fire Sanctuary, and I have eighteen hearts, including the Life Medals) is very annoying. I would much rather there be eight additional heart pieces instead of these two medals.

On the other hand, though, I do seem some good in this. The Adventure Pouch, because of the limited space, forces players to make decisions and allows players to customize their inventory in such a way that it will enhance their overall experience. For example, someone who loves using the Bow will be able to hold many upgraded quivers; this is something that, previous to Skyward Sword, Zelda did not do. You were simply given an item with a certain capacity (most likely with 2-3 upgrades available) and if that amount wasn't enough for a person's style of play, well, that was too bad. I don't think this has been too much of a problem, though in recent Zelda games (being able to hold up to 180 bombs in Twilight Princess, or 99 arrows in The Wind Waker) though it may have been more annoying in the past, for example Ocarina of Time, with a quiver capacity maximum of 50 and a bomb bag capacity maximum of 40.

All in all, I'm not biting my fingernails to see this concept return in future games. It does provide some interesting game experiences, but this is only as entertaining as far as it goes. For me, I hope it was just an experiment to see how it would turn out, and not a permanent thing.

Thoughts?

 

[A Link In Time]

I really enjoyed the idea of the Adventure Pouch. Above all, it lent a greater sense of realism to the game. Despite its more cell shaded style, Nintendo once again proved that darker, more "mature" graphics aren't what make a Zelda game great and neither do they make the game completely believable. The Adventure Pouch is a lesser example of this, however, along with the sentimental and gracious Zelda, the conceited Groose, the 1:1 gameplay, and the upgrade system, Skyward Sword more closely modeled the world in which we live in. For that advancement of the franchise formula, it shall certainly allow be remembered. Despite my current stance, the item system as was before Skyward Sword, better fits the fantasy air of the franchise.

Also, I think you were getting a bit too overprotective here. :xd:

 

[Seth]

I love it.

For one it creates some challenge and makes you think more. Instead of being able to bring your insanely massive inventory every where you go you have to make choices for your journey and it creates a little strategy with how and what you decide to use. I think it increases the value of said items. Also I LOVED all the items you could buy for it and the upgrades because it actually gave us something to spend Rupees on. I have always said before SS that the one major flaw in Zelda games is how incredibly easy it is to get Rupees and how useless they became because there is so little to buy. I would usually have a full wallet through an entire play through but with all the items, upgrades (and yes even the super-expensive pouch upgrades), you actually had lots to spend money on. I found myself thinking about how to spend my money wisely and even having to go search for Rupees several times unlike past games were it was ridiculously easy.

I think the adventure pouch was easily one of the best features incorporated in SS. That and the ability to buy upgrades for your items and just all the little side items you could get like life medals. It really added to the depth of the game and for you 100%ers, it made even more items for you to collect! I really hope this is a series mainstay. I will be honest, even playing classic Zeldas like ALTTP, WW and OoT (my favorite), I actually find myself missing these features!

SS had it's problems, but they hit a home run here.

 

[MW7]

For me it's simple. It makes the game harder; therefore, I love it. Like Seth said it makes you think more, and for me Skyward Sword was the most strategic Zelda since Adventure of Link.

 

[Beckira]

Yeah, I'm not a huge fan, but I understand why it was put into the game. It certainly added a level of forethought that didn't exist in previous titles. I personally didn't care too much for it, but I appreciated the extra level of challenge.

Perhaps it'll grow on me.

 

[Vanilla♥Hero]

I honestly really liked the adventure pouch a lot. Really, I just thought that it added a good new depth to things, and for some reason I just always enjoyed getting to pick and choose my extra things each time I set out. I liked having to really think about where I was going next and what provisions to make in that regard, what items I’d be taking with me to help me in the area. It was also pretty satisfying to start out with only a few places to keep things and then expand that as the game goes on. It was another thing for me to upgrade, and so I enjoyed that. I certainly wouldn’t mind if we saw that sort of thing again in the future, although it wouldn’t work as well for some games. It made sense in Skyward Sword since you were pretty frequently traveling back to Skyloft where you could swap out your items and such.

...Also, the Adventure Pouch gave me a reason to see Peatrice, when switching out and storing my items~! :>

 

[Batwing]

Cool idea and name but i didnt like it at all.
I hate how you were limited to how many items you could carry, especially bomb bags/quiver/seed satchels.
It was fine limiting the medals because it would get pretty cheap allowing you to have all of them at once, but they shouldnt have included the shield in the adventure pouch. Its like having your sword in the pouch.

 

[Honorable Hero]

I didn't mind it.

 

[papermaz]

Cool idea and name but i didnt like it at all.
I hate how you were limited to how many items you could carry, especially bomb bags/quiver/seed satchels.
It was fine limiting the medals because it would get pretty cheap allowing you to have all of them at once, but they shouldnt have included the shield in the adventure pouch. Its like having your sword in the pouch.

I have to agree about the shield, when I complete the Thunder Dragon's Lightning Round, I either have to have a spare slot in the pouch for the Hylian Shield (which I keep forgetting to do lol) or fly back to Skyloft and talk to Peatrice to replace them. Also if you have the Life Medals in the pouch when you start the Lightning Round, they don't show up because you can't use pouch items, which is a bit annoying.

 

[Jaffar_Anjuhal]

I personally don't really mind the adventure pouch. While I found it annoying that I had to choose between having more bombs or more arrows on the one hand, I really enjoyed just that about this system on the other hand. I really like completing Zelda games 100%, and therefore it was a little frustrating because I couldn't have like maximum bombs and arrows at the same time, for example. But I could carry so many arrows with me that I'd never run out of them (I don't use bombs when I don't need them, so...). And I really liked that feeling of preparation it gave me. The feeling of going to new a new, undiscovered land, and therefore taking only the things you think you will really need with you was pretty epic.
So, while I somehow don't like it, I somehow do like it. I don't like the medals that give you hearts though. That's something they certainly shouldn't have changed.

 

[Wolf Sage]

I barely even noticed it. Never been one to max everything so by the end of the game I had 3 spaces empty and I still had two more spaces to collect. Even without upgrades the game is fairly simply to complete and I only found myself upgrading the occasional adventure pouch item. I do probably prefer it to the old method of carry everything you find simply because after a while playing OoT or TP you feel way too overpowered once everything is maxed. Whereas on SS, even with everything maxed, you're limited to how much firepower you can have with you at any one time. This is a plus for me as I've never liked the idea of being able to do everything all the time. I much prefer having to continually adapt in a game despite having all the collectables.

I agree with ↑, and if I posted my thoughts here, I'd be repeating what has already been said. What I'll add, though, is that I think the adventure pouch was a response to some fans' opinion of how Link has the "magical" ability to carry all his items, equipment, and weapons in one small pouch. Said fans seem to be unaware of the concept of "hammerspace" or "magic satchel" in fictional media, but I digress...

 

[linkbeatmario]

I liked it, it gave the gave a sense of realism and strategy. I also loved that we finally got something to spend our 1000 rupees on.

 

[Legendary Goron]

Not a fan. I like to be able to carry all of the items and stuff.

 

[Mariley]

Eh, I honestly wasn't much of a fan of the adventure pouch. As an MMO player having a limited amount of inventory space makes more sense, but in a single player only Zelda game I like to be able to not have to worry about that kind of stuff. There are so many other major things about Zelda (and video games in general) that are super unrealistic that endless carrying capacity wasn't something that took me out of the game.

 

[TrueChaos]

it was good but find it weird that your shield is in your pouch even though it's on your back. there was just enough space but a couple more spaces would have been nice.