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Grid Inventory (view source)

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{{trope}}
[[File:DS_KingdomHearts358_01_4424.jpg|link=Kingdom Hearts: 358 Days Over 2 (Video Game)|frame| A rather literal example.]]
 
An alternative to the [[Hyperspace Arsenal]]. Instead of having an infinite amount of generic space to store things, you have a grid to store them in. The size and shape of objects varies; a key may fit into a single grid section, while a box of ammunition takes up a larger square of sections, and a rifle needs a long rectangle. Usually an object must always take up at least one section, no matter how small the object, so one's inventory can quickly become filled up with small things like keys and scrolls.
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{{examples}}
* ''[[System Shock]] 2'', with the variation that the size of the grid varies with your character's strength.
** The first ''[[Deus Ex (Video Game)|Deus Ex]]'' game (although ammo was mysteriously stored elsewhere), the second switched to a list inventory. A bug in the first game allows one to exploit a glitch and stack inventory items on top of each other.
*** ''[[Deus Ex: Human Revolution (Video Game)|Deus Ex Human Revolution]]'' brings back the grid inventory, and even allows you to upgrade inventory space. The game will automatically reposition items for the best fit, though.
* The ''[[Diablo]]'' series. The first also had the rather painful restriction that ''gold'' (in stacks of up to 5,000, though double this with the right and otherwise useless amulet in the unofficial expansion pack) took up precious inventory space. Few items were actually worth more than their gold worth, which made them that much more precious.
** And its [[Spiritual Successor|spiritual successors]] ''Mythos'' and ''[[Hellgate London]]''.
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*** [[Spiritual Successor]] series ''UFO'' does much the same thing. Starting with the second game ''Aftershock'', certain units had larger or smaller inventory grids (humans had the largest, with cyborgs slightly smaller and psychics the smallest). In the third game, ''Afterlight'', the type of environmental suit worn by the soldier determines the carrying capacity, with more protective armors resulting in smaller inventory grids (usually).
* In the ''[[Gundam]]'' spinoff RPG ''[[MS Saga]]'', each mobile suit has a Grid Inventory to determine how many weapons it can carry. Melee weapons are taller than longer, while the reverse is true for ranged weapons, and every MS has a unique grid in order to suit its specialization. That's right, they made the [[Inventory Management Puzzle]] an integral part of the game balance.
* ''[[Might and Magic]]'' ''6''-''8'' (the original RPG, [[More Popular Spinoff|not the]] [[Turn -Based Strategy]] "[[Heroes of Might and Magic|Heroes Of]]") had a Grid Inventory for each character in the party.
* The ''[[Battle TechBattleTech]]'' boardgame (as well as its computer equivalent, ''[[Mechwarrior]]''), did this for 'Mech construction and outfitting. Each part of your 'Mech's chassis had a finite number of slots that you could plug stuff into, each item taking up a varying number of slots. Being that this included weapons, armor, heatsinks (to keep the 'Mech running in battle), sensors, etc. this made fitting out a 'Mech <s>almost</s> a minigame in itself. Where you put things actually mattered in combat, as different areas have different armor, and all of it is tracked. If you put all your guns in your arms, and that arm gets blown off, no more guns.
** Although the strategy game ''[[Mech Commander]]'' only had weight restrictions for adding weapons and components, the sequel played this completely straight- each 'Mech had a grid inventory the represented both size and weight of the weapons added, as well as extra armour and heatsinks (the other limit on components) This system was used somewhat creatively, however, since smaller 'Mechs could have a lot of space but the grid would be made tall and narrow, preventing the addition of heavy weapons.
* ''[[Super Smash Bros Brawl]]'' uses a similar system for its sticker power-ups: you can only use as many oddly-shaped stickers as you can fit on the round base of a trophy.
* Many games fail to account for different sized objects properly. In ''[[Diablo]]'', six sheets of paper take up as much space as a breastplate. ''[[BaldursBaldur's Gate]]'' is even worse, since all items take up the same amount of space, a character with maximum strength could carry sixteen suits of full plate, but they still couldn't hold more than sixteen pearls (unless you get a jewel bag, ''good luck finding one''.)
** Most mods, particularly mods developed by one of the ''game designers'' fix this by allowing identical items to be stacked. Additional mods (of even the same ones) can allow items to be stacked infinitely, making the game ''much'' less annoying for inventory management.
* The game ''[[Darkstone (Video Game)|Darkstone]]'' is annoying in this, as you have a comparatively small inventory grid and are required, among other things, to collect seven magical [[MacGuffin|MacGuffins]] with which to defeat the [[Big Bad]]. It becomes forgivable, however, once you learn that you can place an object ''anywhere'' in the game and it will stay there until you come back for it; thus, all those conveniently abandoned houses back in the starting village become handy places to store the crystal shards, weapons you're not strong enough to use, books of spells you can't master yet, and other things you want to keep but don't want to be lugging around.
* [[First-Person Shooter]] ''Chrome'' is not a [[Role Playing Game]] combo, it's not a stealth game, it doesn't require particularly smart tactics. It's just a FPS. So it wouldn't make sense for it to have a [[Grid Inventory]], right? Well, tell it to the game designers. It's even worse than usual, too, because the inventory is not one large rectangle - it's a medium rectangle, two small ones and a square (or thereabouts). This makes it virtually impossible to carry anything more than two weapons (and even that becomes a problem if you have to wield a rocket launcher) and some ammo.
* The ''Dark Sun'' games had an inventory system similar to ''[[BaldursBaldur's Gate]]'' (which owes ''Dark Sun'' a lot in terms of UI), where each item took one slot and there was also a weight limit. However ''Dark Sun'' had a lot of chests and bags which you could use to multiply inventory size several times.
* Basically every single game made by Level-5:
** ''[[Dark Cloud (Video Game)|Dark Cloud]]'': You have a finite amount of space on each of your inventory grids (items, weapons, weapon attachments, Georama parts, warehouse). The maximum amount of items you can carry can be increased with "Pocket" items obtained as rewards for completing Georama events; unfortunately, you STILL run out of room quite often because like items don't stack--if you have ten Premium Chickens, that's ten slots on your grid filled up.
** ''[[Dark Cloud (Video Game)|Dark Cloud]]'' ''2'' was quite a bit more generous with grid space, as it's extremely difficult to completely max out your inventory grid. Helpfully, like items stack this time around. However, it only has ONE inventory grid, unlike the previous game, so '''everything''' you have--recovery items, key items, weapons, outfits, weapon upgrade items, robot parts, Georama elements, fishing stuff--'''all of it''' goes on one huge-ass grid.
** ''[[Dragon Quest]]'' VIII was developed for [[Square Enix]] by Level-5, and also features a grid inventory.
** ''[[Rogue Galaxy]]'' has a grid inventory which is divided into 7 pages, six of which hold 40 items each, the seventh of which is designed specifically to hold the game's rarest items. The warehouse is also gridded. Like items stack, like in DC2. It's still possible to cram most of your inventory panels completely full of the ridiculous amounts of crap you collect in this game.
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* [[Titan Quest]] also sport a grid inventory, plus extra grids in the form three magic bags. The expansion add a sort button and has a much smarter inventory auto-management.
* ''[[Silent Storm]]'' has a grid inventory, but due to the shapes of some items it is very prone to [[Inventory Management Puzzle]] syndrome despite its auto-sort feature. And to survive properly you pretty much have to loot every battle map before leaving for home, making things even more difficult. And yeah, weight is meaningless.
* The main gameplay mechanic in ''[[Kingdom Hearts: 358 Days Over 2 (Video Game)|Kingdom Hearts 358 Days Over 2]]'' everything, including weapons, spells, skills, items, accessories, backpacks (the amount of mission-found items you can carry) and even levels take the form of panels, which you need to place into an ever-expanding grid to make use of them. There's also multiplier panels that multiply the effect of all panels of given type by up to 4 and a lot of skills can be enhanced a variety of ways in the same manner. The varied shapes and sizes of panels creates a far more [[Tetris (Video Game)|literal]] form of [[Inventory Management Puzzle]] than most games.
* ''[[Fate]]'', a [[Diablo]][[Roguelike|like]], featured this in all its irritating glory. There was nothing more fun than warping home with an inventory "full" of six double-bladed axes, and about 33% of your grid actually empty.
* [[Eve Online]] has a grid system. A display option is for inventory items to show icons in a grid pattern of the same size. However, Each item has an m^3 associated with it. So your ship can only hold so much.
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* [[Minecraft]] has a grid system for your character's inventory. 40 slots, including 4 for crafting and 9 available for use/hotkeyed. One slot can hold up to 64, 16, or one of an item, depending on the type. You can also build chests, which have 27 slots or 54 for the big chests. While there are no objects larger than one slot, one often has to rearrange inventory just to put what you need in the use row, to be able to find things in it, or to combine multiple stacks into one 64-stack to free up slots.
* [[Legend of Mana]]: The Logic Blocks that go up into making your [[Robot Buddy]] are arranged on a grid, with more powerful Blocks taking up more space. Where they are arranged also affects the behavior of said robot.
* ''[[Dead Space (Videovideo Gamegame)|Dead Space]]'' and ''[[Dead Space 2 (Video Game)|Dead Space 2]]'' have a simple system of inventory with most things taking up on square but ammo and stasis refills stack. Weapons have their only separate section, as do plot items. Getting better suits increases you storage space.
** Though in ''[[Dead Space 2 (Video Game)|Dead Space 2]]'' weapons go int the same inventory as the rest of the items, and only take up one space like everything else.
* ''[[World of Warcraft]]''. You start off with a 4x4 backpack. You also have 4 slots for bags, which each add anywhere from 4 to 22 additional inventory spaces. There are also specialized bags which can hold even more items (up to 32), but only of certain type. (These originally included quivers and soul shard pouches, at least before Blizzard [[Bottomless Magazines|phased out the systems of "Ranged Weapons Use Ammo"]] and "Soul Shards Take Up Inventory Space". Now the only specialized bags are for crafting supplies.) Items stack depending on type; some as few as 5, others over 200, and weapons and armor do not stack. There was also a separate inventory section for keys that grew as you found more of them, but this is also about to be phased out.
* ''[[Solatorobo]]'' allows the Dahak to be upgraded with modules slotted into a grid, but the entire grid isn't available at first. Finding Power Crystals to unlock new slots is one of the main reasons to search areas thoroughly! The modules come in all shapes and sizes, including some of the classic Tetris blocks. Once you get the Mk 2, the total unlockable space increases as well, allowing for further enhancement.
* ''[[Kid Icarus: Uprising]]'' uses this for equippable powers.
* ''Runescape'' has an inventory of 28 spaces, no more, no less. However, some small things like coins or feather stack (meaning you can have a large amount of them only taking up one inventory space), but other small things you think would stack (herbs and other items), don't.
 
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