I’m a hoarder, too. I’m especially bad about hoarding consumables.
“Aren’t you ready for the final battle?”
“No! I only have ninety-eight Megalixirs!”
When I finally gave in and finished my first play-through of Diablo, every square of space in town was filled with either a stack of gold or a high-ticket magic item that I wasn’t willing to give up.
I’m also prone to abusing stat systems and overleveling. I mostly do it to get silly outcomes, like the healer one-shotting the final boss with a stick (or one shot per form, anyway).
Oh, you too? I even have trouble with per-day things like the spells in many systems. This applies to games other than RPGs, too: For instance, in Myth II, I almost never end up using my dwarves’ satchel charges, except in cases where the obvious use for them is right at the end (like the graveyard level or the second secret level).
And I used to be a compulsive picker-upper, taking everything that wasn’t nailed down, but Diablo II cured me of that. If you try to play that way, you’ll never make it out of the Blood Moor.
If it doesn’t negatively affect my alignement, I always take anything that isn’t bolted down.
I always talk to NPCs who don’t have a generic description as their name. “Townsperson” probably won’t give me a side quest to complete, but “Geralt” just might!!
I kind of consider it a failure if I don’t max out my character’s level in one playthrough of the game, so I usually try to do every quest that’s given to me.
I hoard consumables unless I know they are available in an unlimited quantity.
I play “jack of all trades” characters, with a focus on “rocket sniper” tactics in combat - in Vampire: Bloodlines my character’s preferred method of dealing with chimeras was stealth and an automatic shotgun.
I tend to prefer physical weapons over spells and the like. Even in City of Heroes, most of my characters have guns or swords or hammers rather than shooting fire blasts or telekinesis. Playing Bioshock, I have to remind myself that I have my Plasmid powers rather than just shotgunning everything even when it’s smarter to use something else. I’m even bad at using things like grenades or rockets.
I also tend to pick a female character is available under the notion that it’ll offer expanded opportunities. I usually go human the first time around though over fantasy/sci-fi races. I don’t want to have to learn the details of the in-game Elf/Dwarf/Xrghian culture on top of figuring the basic game out.
-I am the total opposite of a hoarder. If there’s too much stuff in my inventory (i.e. half-full), I start using or selling stuff.
-If there’s a sidequest centered around knowledge, like, say, taking a picture of every monster, I always go out of my way to finish it. Other sidequests–eh.
-I never play with the sound on when I can help it. I’d rather be listening to a podcast. You can do that in RPGs more than you can with other genres.
-If there’s a skill/item that lets you get more experience points, I always spend all of my efforts to get that thing before I do anything else.
I usually play a new RPG with the same habits each time. The first go-through, I’ll usually:
[ul]
[li]Play the knight/paladin/warrior class, or the closest approximation thereof[/li][li]Be the good guy if given moral/ethical dilemmas[/li][li]Explore every corner of every map[/li][li]Take the least direct route to finishing the game (e.g., completing all sidequests I can find first, or finding the Holy Weapon of Awesome +9000 for every member of my party)[/li][li]Min-max every member of my party[/li][li]Read every line of text or watch every cutscene without skipping through[/li][li]Not use a guide or GameFAQs unless I’m really stuck and have been trying to figure something out for hours[/li][/ul]
For some reason, I have a really tough time playing an evil character. I promised myself I would play a lawful evil Nameless One on my second go-around of Planescape: Torment, but alas, the game crashes on my computer after the end of Act I.
I’ll generally look online before I have even started playing to find out if there is any form of infinite or easy money trick. I will then take advantage of it. I don’t like having things in RPGs restricted by the money you have in your pocket.
It is fun to play the warrior. Early in the game you can beef them up and win battles. But later the magic users are more important. If you want to win, it is wiser to be a cleric or sorcerer.
I don’t understand why anybody would go around poking things with a sharp stick when they could be casting fireballs. I play the mage – Chaotic Neutral.
I usually start with a warrior/hit-things-with-sticks class, then at some point make a ranged class, then do a pet class (if any) third if my interest is still there.
I’ve done much of this. If there’s something that can summon something, I WILL use it. Minions! Hell, I haven’t even gotten very far into D&D TOEE because I can’t decide on an alignment. Also, magic is awesome, but if I can I’ll likely be a “balanced” class. Bah, elves. Gimme trolls or dwarves (sadly you cannot be a dwarf mage in Dragon Age).
I guess I relate more to “real” weapons than to magic/pseudo-magic.
I also do the “good” path although sometimes I hit the end of the game and do the whole “Haha! Shotgun to the face, random shopkeeper! Oh, a guard?! Eat fragmentation grenade!” thing before turning it off and moving on to a new game.
