Ečstatica and Dreamweb vs... everyone else

[Harvester]

Have you noticed that in (almost) EVERY SINGLE adventure game you can pick up only those objects that are necessary to finish the game? (Okay, not in ALL games, but certainly the vast majority, including the most famous ones). So, you're stuck and you keep walking around with a key, a rope, a bucket and a credit card, thinking "Now, just where am I supposed to use this bucket? Or, where's the door that this key unlocks?" Basically, your gaming philosophy is changed from "How can I solve the problem I face right now?" to "Where can I find a problem to solve with my objects?". And that's something that makes a... how should I say... "gap" between adventure games and real life (well, not REAL life literally, otherwise it would appear I'm against fantasy games or something, but you get my meaning). Like, in real life you probably wouldn't visit every single location and try your key on every single door you see. And you would definitely not carry any buckets with you.
Now, here's where Ečstatica kicks in. I got stuck in it numerous times not knowing what to do (and the fact that you could carry only two objects at a time didn't help). For example, one of the first locations in the game contained this key. I spent hours and hours trying to find the door that the key unlocks and guess what happened? I had absolutely NO NEED for the bloody key! The same goes for an armor on a wall, a broom and lots of similar stuff. Actually, I had some ideas about what to do, but I was thinking "This can't work, the game can't be over this quickly, I haven't even used half of the items!". Naturally, one day when I decided to carefully explore the surroundings, I finished the game pretty quickly.
It's pretty similar in Dreamweb. Your inventory is limited (fortunately, not only to two items) and, just like in real life, you can pick up almost everything that isn't nailed down. You can take empty soda cans, trash, pieces of clothing, useless papers, CDs and various other junk. There are even some items that appear useful (like some wires on the floor) but actually they are not. So inventory management gets a very important role. Not to mention that it absolutely kills the notorious get-everything-that-isn't-nailed-down-and-try-using-everything-on-everything method that works so well in Sierra games.
Well, just thought to mention this. Of course, I'm not bashing the classic adventure games or something, just thinking that this "freedom" to pick useless objects kinda increases the quality of the gameplay and forces you to think the way you would think in real life. Bah, I'm boring...

[m0ds]

Ahh Ecstatica! I've been trying to remember the name of that game for ages - I really want to play the full version of that. In some games you can pick up objects that you'll never use, but I don't see any fun in having an inventory stuffed with too many useless items. A few makes it more open to using inventory items on other inventory items but having lots of similar soda cans and stuff could get confusing!

[Paper Carnival]

Well, having unnecessary items is ok to me as long as they don't overdo it. Monkey Island had a few unnecessary items too, if I remember correctly.

[DoorKnobHandle]

Yeah, I'm completely with Guybrush Peepwood here.

I remember the chainsaw from Maniac Mansion. It never had a purpose for all I know, but it sure excited me as a kid.

[Redwall]

IMO those items were different as they were intentional red herrings.

[IM NOT TEH SPAM]

I'm not so sure I get what you're saying.  What gives a game freedom is not the inventory--Having lots of extra items seems more like it would confuse you than anything else.  For me anyway... The way i play adventure games i overthink the items I pick up.  If I played Maniac Mansion, I would die trying to figure out what to do with the chainsaw, and utterly devote myself to finding out how to make it work.  If I had an entire inventory screen filled with entirely useless items, it would kill me.  Also some of the sierra "get-everything-that-isn't-nailed-down-and-try-using-everything-on-everything"
puzzles were based on the characters common sense--as he would care weather or not he carried around a bolder, but the player wouldn't.  I can't remember how many times I played one of the sierra games and heard that announcer guy say something  along the lines of "You don't need it" or "It might be useful, but you can't carry it" messages.

[Huw Dawson]

Actually, I feel that the useless items in the MI series were for comic relief. The whole prosphetic parts bit in MI 4 was pointless, yes, but hearing Guybrush scream

"IT'S ALIIIIIIIIIVE!!!"

at the top of his squeaky voice still cracks me up six months on

PS: Someone should do a topic on the best monkey island quotes. I have a top two already

[2ma2]

It is all about gameplay. Having a specific set of inventory objects may (and should) give a hint about the actual puzzle solving. A game where you couold basically pick up anything shouold focus it's game design in such a way that the aspects of puzzle solving is not inventory based or you could use several inventory objects in the same way (like picking a lock with a pin, fork, knife or bent spoon)