Advice - Inventory management

[apoc_reg]

Hi Guys,

Play a decent amount of RPGs but mainly your (Modern) Bioware style less hardcore type. Got the witcher in the 50% off deal and am loving it.

Only problem I'm having is constantly filling my inventory as i must admit i pretty much pick up every little thing!

Any tips from the pros on inventory management? What I should keep etc and where to stash stuff!?

Thanks Guys

[game widow]

to stash stuff, use storage in taverns ... but be careful at the end of chapter 4 / beginning of chapter 5

Spoiler

you only get access to storage once in chapter 5, when you talk to dandelion on the dike at the very beginning, so make sure you have everything you need !

otherwise, sell, sell, sell ... the only things you really need are alchemical ingredients 

[apoc_reg]

Thanks thats really helpful, and great use of the spoiler function!

apoc

[McAvelin]

If you are OK with mods, there is

Spoiler

one wonderful mod adding a "shortcut" to the tavern storage right into your inventory, so you dont need to go there so often, link is here if you are interested: http://www.thewitcher.com/forum/index.php?topic=21855.0

[Corylea]

otherwise, sell, sell, sell ... the only things you really need are alchemical ingredients 

Game Widow must be tired today, because here are a number of other items besides alchemical ingredients that Geralt may want.  

You can make a much better steel sword than the one you start with if you collect three meteorites (red, blue, or yellow; any three will do) and take them to a blacksmith.  You can also make a much better silver sword if you collect any three asronomical runes (earth, sun, or moon).  

You will occasionally find temporary sword enhancements, such as diamond dust, grindstones, whetstones, and non-astronomical runes.  Whetstones only increase your damage by 10%, but grindstones increase it by 20% and diamond dust by 40%; if I were you, I'd save every diamond dust I could get my hands on and use them on the relevant sword before boss battles, that or the Perun rune stone or the Svarog rune stone.

You'll occasionally need beer for drinking contests.  Most of these are quite optional, but there's an important quest-related one near the end of Chapter 2, so you'll want to save some beer for that.  You'll also want strong alcohol (anything that isn't beer or wine) as a base for potions.  (Strong alcohol comes in several qualities, but since even the worst quality can be turned into high-quality White Gull, which can be used as a base for any other potion, any strong alcohol will do.)


Also, there a number of items you may want for quests:

Spoiler

There's a quest that starts in Chapter 3 and doesn't finish until Chapter 5 that requires one of most of the kinds of teeth that Geralt will find along the way -- including things that contain teeth, like barghest skulls -- so it's good to keep one of every kind of tooth or jaw in your stash at the inn, especially those kinds of teeth that are encountered once and never again (such as barghest skulls -- they're ubiquitous in Chapter 1 but never seen again after that).  This quest is optional but has a very nice reward, so most people like to do it.

There's a quest near the end of Chapter 2 for which you'll need some rose wine, cherry cordial, and Temerian Rye.  As a follow-up to this quest, you may want some red roses.

Many quests become easier if you have a certain item, and this sometimes varies with the dialogue line that you happen to trigger.  A certain important person might want golden gloves, or she might not.  Another person will help you if you trigger the right line and give her red gloves.  Yet another person will give you some information if you give her a red shawl when she first mentions it.

There's an optional quest in Chapter 3 that will be cheaper to perform if you have a sapphire handy.

There's an optional quest in Chapter 3 that requires either a silver amber ring or a ring with rubies in it.

There are two optional quests in Chapter 4 for which you'll need food -- five loaves of bread in one case or some meat in the other case.

If you're trying to bed all or most of the women, you'll want some gloves, a diamond, a shawl, some tulips....

(There might be a few others -- this is off of the top of my head.)

And of course, you'll want to read any book or scroll before you sell it.

[The Silver]

Well, with the Enhanced Edition I've found that inventory management (at least of ingredients) is easier as they have their own bag department and don't get mixed up with the other stuff. Since Geralt has to make his potions himself, make sure which ingredients you need for which potion! Personally I've always kept enough ingredients to make swallows, tawny owls and something else I can't remember at any given time.
In addition to the advice of Corylea on runes, power-ups and alcohol, you can sell every book (and Kaer Morhen Potion recipe) after reading it. 

Also, many weapons used by enemies Geralt can also use, though not as good as his witcher swords. You might want to kept one of them because of a nice coup de grace, but generally you can sell all weapons you find. Some however, such as Harvall, Aerondight or the Moon blade (just a few examples) are better than the standard swords and you might want to keep them.

If there is anything that you want to keep, but you have no space in the inventory, go to any tavern keeper, they have a storage.

[game widow]

nope, i'm not tired in the least, i stand by my earlier statement

the OP asked what he should hold onto, not what he might want for a short period of time or for a particular purpose and quest items (real quest items) stay in their own slot, not cluttering your inventory

[Corylea]

nope, i'm not tired in the least, i stand by my earlier statement

the OP asked what he should hold onto, not what he might want for a short period of time or for a particular purpose and quest items (real quest items) stay in their own slot, not cluttering your inventory

You told the OP to SELL EVERYTHING except alchemical ingredients.  It is this advice that I believe not to be in the OP's best interests.  Most players want a three-meteorite sword at the end of Chapter 1, which means that they shouldn't sell off their meteorites.  Most players want to make potions, which means that they shouldn't sell off their strong alcohol.  Most players will want to drink with a certain character in the Hairy Bear in Chapter 2, which means that they'll need some beer.  And so on.  There are many things that it's wise not to sell.

Also, it costs a lot more to buy rose wine or cherry cordial or a sapphire when you need them than one would get from selling them, so it's far more cost-effective to stash things like those at the inn until they're needed.  And some items can only be used when the dialogue line is triggered, which it isn't always; it's more convenient to have those things in inventory than to buy them or get them from the inn stash once you know you need them, then redo the dialogue over and over again, hoping to trip the right line.

I'd actually be surprised if you yourself sold everything but alchemical items when you were first playing the game.  You might do that now, after 30 plays-through, to make the game more challenging, but the first or second time?  Tell me you never bought a three-meteorite sword.  There are lots of things that highly experienced players do, to vary the game or make it more challenging.  Those aren't the things that brand-new players usually want to do during their first time playing the game, though.

[Mad Bohemian]

One thing to be aware of is that the "Ingredients", Plant extracts, Monster extracts, and Minerals / Liquids may have the same substances in them, so one doesn't need to keep the "Ingredients" that have the same substances in them. I sell off the ones that duplicate.  DC

[Corylea]

One thing to be aware of is that the "Ingredients", Plant extracts, Monster extracts, and Minerals / Liquids may have the same substances in them, so one doesn't need to keep the "Ingredients" that have the same substances in them. I sell off the ones that duplicate.  DC

And the monster parts you need for a contract are just in your regular alchemical inventory, not in your quest inventory, where non-contract quest stuff is kept.  So it's entirely possible to accidentally make potions with monster parts you were keeping for a quest.  But you can change ingredients in the potion maker, so it's quite avoidable; you just need to pay attention.

[Petra Silie]

Basically and essentially... as a beginner I would keep everything I find in the game and check the environment what is in demand and what is secondary use. Important at any rate are herbs and monsterparts and alcohol for the creation of potions. Other unknown items like basic ingredients to prepare oils I check the vendors how much the sell it and how much they buy it from me. If the price is low and I can afford it I sell it (and think, if it's cheap there is plenty of it to find).

Books about herbs and bestiary, precious stones, jewels,etc. I keep in the inn's storage (except books). but honestly not every tiny item just in case I may need later in the game. If I stuff all in the inn's storage then I'm going to have there a problem with inventory management and survey.

Keep the items with common sense 

[Tlazolteotl]

My first game, I randomly threw stuff away (mainly 'cos I was playing v1.0, and there really wasn't any room in the inventory).
Didn't care about being potentially disadvantaged later, either.

Losing doesn't bother me, incompetence does.
(For example, when I played Morrowind, the first time I got the message that continuing with the action could mean not being able to finish the game, I kept going anyway. Turns out I had to finish the game the really hard way, and to this day I approve of the availability of that backup plan. In contrast, Oblivion just flags NPCs essential and unkillable ... which I guess is what happened when Bethesda decided to casualify Oblivion for consoles)

[Felix42]

Generally i find that few things are worth keeping. Alchol for potions, a little bit of fat for greases and one-shot items (potions, oils, whetstones, runes, 10 flint).  Ore and runes for making new swords i generally keep in the inn keepers storage untill i got 3 i want to use. I generally go for either high quality or at least stackable alchohols, greases and potions (f.ex. all my swallows are made with nigredo bonus effect making it one stack).
There's little need to carry beer around, since most drinking contests are in taverns. Food is more or less useless beyond the start. Rings, jewelry and clothes etc are mostly for selling, though they can occasionally be used to unlock a card, so i don't carry them around.
Reagents stack to 50, so i have few problems there, although i very occasionally drop a single worthless and useless reagent when my inventorys full.

[game widow]

i never just 'drop' anything, i always sell it if i don't need it 

[Seeker]

i never just 'drop' anything, i always sell it if i don't need it 

Trust me you dont want to see my chest in the Inn GW  I  just hord everything