History Main / BagOfSharing

* Averted in the ''VideoGame/{{MOTHER}}'' series, whose gameplay is based off that of ''VideoGame/DragonQuest''. Each character has his own inventory of up to 14 items (which don't stack). When a party member is [[NonLethalKO "unconscious"]], the text of the actions is also changed to reflect that the character can't access his inventory by himself. It is played straight in the fangame ''[[VideGame/CognitiveDissonance Mother: Cognitive Dissonance]]'', where all the party's gear is in an unlimited storing space.

* In the ''Franchise/RatchetAndClank'' series there are occasional segments where the two eponymous characters are separated, yet still manage to share any collected [[GlobalCurrency bolts]]. This can mostly be overlooked considering how short these periods of separation are -- Except in ''VideoGame/RatchetAndClankFutureACrackInTime'', where they're apart for almost the entire game.

** Also played straight in all the 'main' ''Franchise/ResidentEvil'' games before ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil4'' -- by the Magic Boxes that appeared in save rooms. Everything placed in any Magic Box was accessible from any other Magic Box in the game, even if it's the first time you've opened a particular box. (Admittedly, a post-game-clear option in the [[UsefulNotes/NintendoGameCube GameCube]] remake of the first ''Resident Evil'' had each box only carry it's own contents -- like normal boxes, in other words.) The peak of the Magic Box ridiculousness came in ''Resident Evil: Code Veronica'' right after Clare's game stops and Chris's begins. Chris can access anything Claire had in her Magic Boxes ''despite the fact that the two of them are on different continents.''

* Like in ''VideoGame/AttackTheLight'', everyone uses the same items from Steven's Cheeseburger Backpack in ''VideoGame/SaveTheLight''. This is {{subverted||Trope}} when [[spoiler:the team is forcibly split in the Pyramid Temple: Connie picks up the Backpack, allowing her and Peridot to use it, while Greg, Amethyst, and Pearl are forced to go without items, but they can still collect them for later when the whole team reunites.]]

* ''{{VideoGame/Mabinogi}}'''s use of this trope is complicated. Each player has their own personal inventory, as well as a bank inventory (banks are available in every city, village, and camp). Players with paid subscriptions can share bank inventories between all the characters on their accounts; while players with free accounts cannot. However, pets have individual inventories and are available to all characters on the account; so can be used to share items between all characters on the account, even for free accounts. Currency is shared between all characters on an account via the bank system, regardless of account type. This is further complicated by certain items; some of which cannot be shared through pets, but can be shared via the bank for those with paid subscriptions, and some of which cannot be shared at all.

* Completely averted in the [=PS1=] RPG ''VideoGame/ShadowMadness''; When the characters are forced to split up at certain points in the story, the game makes the player divide the inventory AND money up between the groups.

* Averted in ''VideoGame/ShadowHearts 2''. When playing as Anastasia, you have your own separate inventory and equipment, and can't access any of the normal cast's items (with the exception of still being able to see the Inventory option, which lets you view items but not use them).

* Averted in ''Franchise/FireEmblem'': Every character has an individual inventory (in the GBA games, of only five items!). There is a supply caravan, but how, or if it can be accessed in a battle differs depending on which game in the series you're playing.
** And if you don't have it yet, you might be forced to toss away items to make room for new ones.
** One of the older games (''[[VideoGame/FireEmblemGaiden Gaiden]]'') and the tenth entry in the series (Radiant Dawn) had separate parties with separate inventories (until they united). In Gaiden, however, holding Start and Select when beginning a new game would enable easy mode, which allowed free sharing of items between the two parties on opposite ends of the continent, allowing for LevelGrinding with the Angel Ring in both parties.
*** However, ''VideoGame/FireEmblemRadiantDawn'' plays this straight when the parties team up, as they proceed to split again right afterwards and anything in the inventory is shared among the 3 parties, even though they're all far away of each other. [[spoiler: [[AWizardDidIt You are, however, working for a goddess at this point.]]]]
** Even worse, ''[[VideoGame/FireEmblemGenealogyOfTheHolyWar Genealogy of the Holy War]]'' gave each character an individual bag of money with very limited options for transferring cash between characters. Also, items had to be transferred via a pawn shop with the customary markup. Combine with BreakableWeapons (including staves) requiring regular repairs and this game has some serious logistics issues for characters who can't use the Arena well.
* [[AvertedTrope Averted]] in ''VideoGame/ShiningForce'', each character can only hold four items. The remake of the first game has a shared bag for extra items, but they can't be accessed during battles.

* In ''VideoGame/AnimalCrossing,'' each player has his or her own storage... but said storage can be accessed from ''any'' storage-type item in your house, regardless of where it is, and it always goes to the same storage space. In ''City Folk,'' this gets even more absurd, as the Gyroid Lloid in the Auction House can ''also'' access the same storage space, even though you're miles and miles away from your house. ''New Leaf'' takes it even further; you can access your storage from friends' towns, even though you have to take a train just to get there (and if it's over the internet, the game flat-out says the town is far away).
** This was originally averted in the first game in the series, in which each storage item held three other items and all the storages were separate.
* ''VideoGame/{{Minecraft}}'' introduced ender chests. Each occurrence of those chests have the same inventory (for the same player). So two players opening the same chest see different inventories, but each player can open any of those chests anywhere to see the same inventory in all of them. This inventory is still safe, even if the very last chest is destroyed. Highly useful for servers where theft can be an issue.

* ''[[VideoGame/BanjoKazooie Banjo-Tooie]]'' has Banjo and Kazooie with access to the same items when separated... even though Banjo can't use them, he can still collect them for Kazooie.

** Justified in main series ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'' games, where the items are all owned by the player character, who gives them to the party as needed. In the Mystery Dungeon titles, though, it gets a bit more questionable...

* [[AvertedTrope Averted]] for the first half of ''VideoGame/YoKaiWatch3'', as Nate and Hailey-Anne have their own inventories and Yo-kai roster. When they meet halfway through the game, a Yopple tour robot combines their inventories, much to Nate's chagrin.

* [[LampshadedTrope Lampshaded]] in ''VideoGame/{{Borderlands 2}}''. When you get access to your shared stash, Claptrap starts to give some awkward, [[{{Handwaved}} hand-wavey]] explanation before giving up and saying [[BreakingTheFourthWall "It's for twinking items between your characters, okay?"]] In ''Videogame/BorderlandsThePreSequel'' however, Moxxi just straight-up tells you that it's for sharing stuff among your characters.

* Averted in the ''VideoGame/{{Fallout}}'' games. Each party member has his own inventory, though the player character can use his own supply of healing items on them at any time and he is the only one to interact with shopkeepers.

* Averted in the first ''Suikoden'' -- each playable character (all 108 of them) has their own inventory. Also averts BagOfHolding since each person's inventory does have limited space, with slots being taken up by equipped armor as well as items.

** By Wizardry 8 there were individual inventories, subject to weight restrictions appropriate for the character, and a party inventory, in which you could store as much as you wanted. During combat you could only use items in the characters personal inventory, or waste a turn accessing party inventory.

** Also played straight in all the 'main' Franchise/ResidentEvil games before VideoGame/ResidentEvil4 -- by the Magic Boxes that appeared in save rooms. Everything placed in any Magic Box was accessible from any other Magic Box in the game, even if it's the first time you've opened a particular box. (Admittedly, a post-game-clear option in the [[UsefulNotes/NintendoGameCube GameCube]] remake of the first Resident Evil had each box only carry it's own contents -- like normal boxes, in other words.) The peak of the Magic Box ridiculousness came in ''Resident Evil: Code Veronica'' right after Clare's game stops and Chris's begins. Chris can access anything Claire had in her Magic Boxes ''despite the fact that the two of them are on different continents.''

* Averted in ''VideoGame/FireEmblem'': Every character has an individual inventory (in the GBA games, of only five items!). There is a supply caravan, but how, or if it can be accessed in a battle differs depending on which game in the series you're playing.

** One of the older games (Gaiden) and the tenth entry in the series (Radiant Dawn) had separate parties with separate inventories (until they united). In Gaiden, however, holding Start and Select when beginning a new game would enable easy mode, which allowed free sharing of items between the two parties on opposite ends of the continent, allowing for LevelGrinding with the Angel Ring in both parties.

** Even worse, ''[[VideoGame/FireEmblemJugdral Genealogy of the Holy War]]'' gave each character an individual bag of money with very limited options for transferring cash between characters. Also, items had to be transferred via a pawn shop with the customary markup. Combine with BreakableWeapons (including staves) requiring regular repairs and this game has some serious logistics issues for characters who can't use the Arena well.

* Dropbox and other similar services are this for computer files. You have a folder on your computer that will sync and update regularly, so that all computers logged into your dropbox account will have those files ready, exactly as they are on your computer.

* ''Manga/TongariBooshiNoAtorie'': The Twin Bootle Magic is a spell that makes two bottles share the same content no matter the distance. It was lost together with the extinction of the {{White Mage}}s.

* Averted in the first ''Suikoden'' -- each playable character ([[LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters all 108 of them]]) has their own inventory. Also averts BagOfHolding since each person's inventory does have limited space, with slots being taken up by equipped armor as well as items.

* ''VideoGame/DayOfTheTentacle'' has the characters in three separate time periods, but they can share items by putting them into the time-travelling port-a-johns that are central to the plot. One of the first puzzles for the girl trapped in the future is how to GET to the port-a-john. You can't pass every item (sometimes requiring a different method of getting them through time), and some of them change when you do this, and you can't pass living things. For example, while you could send a bottle of wine to another character, you don't actually need wine, you need [[spoiler:vinegar]]. The way to get it is to [[spoiler:convince Thomas Jefferson to put it in his time capsule. Then, 400 years later, Laverne can cut open the capsule and get a bottle that now contains vinegar]].

* Non-{{RPG}} example: the Worms from ''VideoGame/{{Worms}}'' have a shared arsenal, allowing (for example) a Worm to use a weapon picked up by a team member on the other side of the battlefield.

* Applies to magic in ''VideoGame/EternalDarkness'': whichever character you play will have access to any runes, spells and power circles that any previous character obtained, despite having minimal knowledge of each other and no training in the occult.

* ''VideoGame/GuildWars'' has the Xunlai Storage chests in every city, town, and mission outpost, that is accessible to any character on your account willing to pay the Xunlai Agent a one-time 50gp fee (plus 50gp more if they want access to the crafting materials storage pane).

* Corporations in ''VideoGame/EVEOnline'' have a communal ISK wallet, and may use communal item and ship storage at stations where the corp owns an office or at the corporation's starbases. Access is granted through the convoluted Corporate Roles system, and being EVE, thefts are not uncommon.
* ''VideoGame/StarTrekOnline'''s Fleet system allows you to be able to share items obtained from your fleetmates. Thankfully, there are a few ways to prevent a fleet member from stealing everything inside, including Fleet ranks and limiting how many items can be pulled a day. ''STO'' also has the Account Bank, which allows you to pass items that are not character bound from one character to another on your account.

* Particularly jarring in the Norad II mission from ''VideoGame/{{Starcraft}}'', where you are trying to rescue a general from downed ship that is surrounded by enemy forces. Periodically, the enemies will attack the ship and you lose if it is destroyed. Luckily, there are [=SCVs=] on hand to repair any damage done to the ship. However, the minerals and gas used to conduct the repairs are taken from your base's supply. Kind of strange, considering there's an entire enemy base between your base and the ship.

* In the ''Franchise/RatchetAndClank'' series there are occasional segments where the two eponymous characters are separated, yet still manage to share any collected [[GlobalCurrency bolts]]. This can mostly be overlooked considering how short these periods of separation are - Except in ''VideoGame/RatchetAndClankFutureACrackInTime'', where they're apart for almost the entire game.

* In ''VideoGame/SkiesOfArcadia'', the party becomes separated at one point. The main character Vyse is carrying all the money and items (including massive ship parts -- don't ask), but the other characters can still use the Moon Stones to change the color of their weapons. In addition, one party can find Discoveries, and the other party can report them, even though neither knows where the other is.

* HandWaved in ''VideoGame/AtelierIris2TheAzothOfDestiny''; [[TheHero Felt]] and Viese spend the majority of the game isolated from each other in different worlds which have been sealed apart, but can still share all items and alchemy ingredients thanks to the very useful Share Rings that they equip just before being parted from each other. They're even able to communicate by sending letters to one another this way. Sealed away indeed.
** Of course, once she inevitably joins the party for the last stretch of the game, the FridgeLogic of [[HyperspaceArsenal where they're now storing everything]] kicks in, given that the house in which the two lived acted as a perfectly justifiable storage unit up to that point...
* ''VideoGame/{{Stonekeep}}'' lampshades this by giving the protagonist a magical scroll that can shrink items into a picture on said scroll. Therefore you can pick up every single rock, bone and other pointless object in the game. You can pick up a huge stone blocking your path and later use it to press a floortile.

* Especially ridiculous in ''[[VideoGame/WildArms3 Wild ARMs 3]]'' - the four player characters can share items and money between each other in the prologue, ''up to fourteen days before they meet one another for the first time''. Now think about this: The player can play the four prologues ''out of chronological order'' and it still works. Also appears in ''[[VideoGame/WildArms Wild ARMS]]'' and ''[[VideoGame/WildArms2 Wild ARMS 2]]'', though not on such a ridiculous scale.
* When the party splits up in ''VideoGame/TalesOfSymphonia'', both groups can still access the same inventory even if they're on opposite ends of the dungeon.
* Special mention goes to ''VideoGame/EternalSonata'' where the characters already share inventory before they've even met for the first time. Obviously they never comment on how weird it is that money and items spontaneously appear and disappear in their bags.

* In ''VideoGame/{{Anachronox}}'', at one point Democratus[[spoiler:, a planet that was shrunk to join your adventure party, suddenly becomes full size.]] Boots, El Pu?and whichever other party member you had with you are scattered [[spoiler:across the planet's surface]]. You then follow Boots as he does the first half of his mission, then El Pu?then whoever else you brought, before returning to Boots and being rescued. Yet you all have access to the inventory, and can even use stuff that the previous person picked up in their scene.

* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIII'' lets you use any item you've acquired, unless its equipped on a character you're not currently controlling. The parties also share a ManaMeter, and LeakedExperience will make its way to every party member no matter where they are. This is very noticeable because the party is in various stages of split up for well over half of the game.
* Present to a point in ''VideoGame/DragonAgeOrigins''. You can swap armor and equipment in and out on anyone who is currently with you. You can access everyone's gear in camp, but on your actual adventure, you can only see the gear of the people with you. This can get awkward, as it's possible to give a gift to someone mid-battle, [[TalkingIsAFreeAction have a nice little chat about it]], and then get right back to murdering everything that's still moving.
* ''VideoGame/{{Dubloon}}''. [[AndNowForSomeoneCompletelyDifferent When you take control]] of Riley, he retains all the stuff Russel and Anne acquired. The game {{handwave}}s this with Anne "sending all the stuff to him", apparently in some sort of [[HyperspaceArsenal Hyperspace Invisible Bag]].
* In ''VideoGame/AlterAila'' Genesis you actually spend some time playing as characters who are working for the lead villain. But apparently being your mortal enemies doesn't stop them from sharing their items with you.
* ''VideoGame/MassEffect1'' had this in spades, [[HyperspaceArsenal as you were not only carrying around a large number of guns with no visible carrying device, but also upgrades to those guns and various suits of armor as well]] that all of your party could take from as needed. ''VideoGame/MassEffect2'' streamlined this, as now there is no armor, just attachments that Shepard (and Shepard alone) can put on his armor to give it various bonuses. Everyone else retains the outfit they wear on the ship except for helmets or breathing devices in areas lacking oxygen. Guns are also kept in the ''Normandy'''s armory and can be switched out either between missions or before you go out on them, during the prep phase.
* ''VideoGame/ForeversEnd'' has a lot of this. Your original party gets split over several continents, and Lee doesn't meet the rest of them at all in the first chapter, yet they can all use the same inventory. Heck: Alexander's quest takes place centuries before, and accessed through Epoch's [[DreamingOfTimesGoneBy dream sequence]] but that doesn't stop them using up your Extracts.
* ''VideoGame/DiabloIII'' uses mechanics similar to ''VideoGame/GuildWars''' Xunlai Chests: anything one of your characters puts in a chest can be retrieved by your other characters.

* [[VideoGame/{{Sacred}} Sacred 2: Fallen Angel]] has special chests allowing player to exchange items between various characters.
* ''VideoGame/PathOfExile'' has a ''chest'' of sharing: while each character attached to your account has their own InventoryManagementPuzzle, anything they put into the storage chest in the town is accessible to all of them.
* Sora and Riku share their inventories and money in ''VideoGame/KingdomHearts3DDreamDropDistance'' despite being separated from one another. The only thing they don't share are their Keyblades. [[spoiler: This can be potentially explained due to the fact that Riku is actually travelling inside Sora's dreams, rather than on an entirely separate adventure.]]
* In ''VideoGame/MarvelAvengersAlliance'', the player character Agent has a SHIELD chest of useful stuff which any character can access on his/her turn -- unless the Agent is [=KOed=], when it becomes inaccessible.
* In the fangame ''[[VideoGame/CognitiveDissonance Mother: Cognitive Dissonance]]'', instead of everyone having their own inventories like other games, everyone just shares one.

* Boxes of weapons in ''VideoGame/BattlefieldBadCompany 2'' share between themselves and your own hands - pick up a weapon from a dead enemy for even half a second and there's immediately a copy of it in every box you come across.
* [[LampshadedTrope Lampshaded]] in ''VideoGame/{{Borderlands 2}}''. When you get access to your shared stash, Claptrap starts to give some awkward, [[{{Handwaved}} hand-wavey]] explanation before giving up and saying [[BreakingTheFourthWall "It's for twinking items between your characters, okay?"]] In ''Videogame/BorderlandsThePreSequel'' however, Moxxi just straight-up tells you that it's for sharing stuff among your characters.

* Non-{{RPG}} example: the Worms from ''VideoGame/{{Worms}}'' have a shared arsenal, allowing (for example) a Worm to use a weapon picked up by a team member on the other side of the battlefield.
** Later versions tended to feature optional modes where each worm would have its own inventory. In one instance, there was an option for a specialist mode where each worm could only use specific types of weapons.

* The SNES strategy RPG ''VideoGame/OgreBattle'' has only one inventory ''across an entire army.'' The N64 sequel averts this by having each squad carry its own inventory.
* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyTactics'' has a variant: Your inventory is shared across your entire party, but only the characters who have learned the requisite abilities to use the items can do so.
* ''Franchise/{{Disgaea}}'' features a communal "Item Bag" of stuff taken into battle with you, and any character can access it. This allows one character to move all the way across the map using an item with a huge movement bonus, unequip it, and then another character to immediately put it on and do the same.
* ''VideoGame/BleachThe3rdPhantom'' uses a single battle inventory that automatically carries over all unused items in it, even after the TimeSkip puts you in control of Ichigo, Uryu, Chad, and Orihime, who have not yet met the player character.

* {{ZigZagged}} during the [[Webcomic/{{Homestuck}} Scratch's Manor]] sidequest in the second game of ''Roleplay/DestroyTheGodmodder''. The players had a Group Inventory they could use among themselves. However, the players also had their own inventories.
* Dropbox and other similar services are this for computer files. You have a folder on your computer that will sync and update regularly, so that all computers logged into your dropbox account will have those files ready, exactly as they are on your computer.

* In ''VideoGame/{{Wizard 101}}'', each character has their own backpack storage, but characters can put items in their houses' bank, where characters on the same account can access them from their own houses' banks. Presumably magic is involved.

* ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft'', ''VideoGame/WarhammerOnline'', and many others have it straight when it comes to the Guild bank, but they played with it when it comes to your own characters. Each characters you have has their own personal bank account that are not shared with each other. You can send items to your other characters using the mail system with a small fee. Soulbound items may not be sent, but account bound items may only be sent to your other characters, not to other players. In later patch in ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft'', items sent to your other characters arrive instantly without delay. Player characters of different factions however, may not trade items directly as you cannot buy the items put in auction by your other player characters. Meanwhile everything in your collection tabs (Mounts, Pets, Transmog apperances, heirlooms) is shared among all characters, though they may be limited by your current class or faction (EX: A Warrior cannot transmog their gear to appear as caster robes, while a Horde character cannot use a toy that summons an alliance banner)

* Averted in the ''VideoGame/{{Exile}}''/''VideoGame/{{Avernum}}'' series. Every character has their own inventory, and trading items between characters in battle costs action points. And if a character is required to act alone without the rest of the party, that isn't even an option.

** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyIVTheAfterYears'' goes halfway: the game is chapter-based, and between the nine character chapters, ''nothing'' is shared - no items, no EXP, no money, nothing (except between Ceodore and Kain's chapters, since they primarily feature the same party.) ''Within'' a chapter, however, the Bag of Sharing exists in full force, and in the tenth chapter, your characters (Rydia, Luca, Edge, and the Man in Black for most of it; Ceodore, Rosa, Kain, Edward, and Cid for a few scenes) gain access to all items obtained in all of the character chapters, even before they catch up with characters from other chapters.
* Aversion: ''VideoGame/LunarTheSilverStar'' and its sequel ''VideoGame/LunarEternalBlue'', as well as their remakes, have personal inventories as well as a group inventory; only the personal inventories can be used in battle.

* Aversion: In ''VideoGame/DungeonSiege'', each character not only has their own inventory, but to pass items between characters, the one doing the passing actually has to run over to the other.
* The ''VideoGame/{{Wizardry}}'' series is an example of Western [=RPGs=] using individual and limited inventories as early as 1981.
** By Wizardry 8 there were individual inventories, subject to weight restrictions appropriate for the character, and a party inventory, in which you could store as much as you wanted. During combat you could only use items in the characters personal inventory, or waste a turn accessing party inventory.
* Averted in ''VideoGame/GoldenSun'': Each character has their own separate inventory, and they can only use items that they're carrying themselves.

* ''Franchise/BaldursGate'' averts this completely. The characters have separate inventories and while they can exchange items at will, it only works if they aren't too far apart.
** Gold is shared between characters though, if picked up from ground. Gold acquired through pick-pocketing appears only in the thief's inventory until manually added to the shared gold pool (by clicking on the gold in the inventory).
** Playing ''VideoGame/BaldursGateII'' with the expansion can give you a literal BagOfSharing. If you pick up the BagOfHolding in Spellhold and then the one from Lazarus in ''[[VideoGame/BaldursGateIIThroneOfBhaal Throne of Bhaal]]'', you will find that they all share the same inventory.
** ''VideoGame/BaldursGateDarkAlliance II'', semi-averts this; oddly, gold is shared but not items.
** The original Dark Alliance does indeed fully avert the trope: gold and items are not shared at all. Which created some problems when you needed to share gold (it was possible, but complicated).
* Averted in the ''VideoGame/{{MOTHER}}'' series, whose gameplay is based off that of ''VideoGame/DragonQuest''. Each character has his own inventory of up to 14 items (which don't stack). When a party member is [[NonLethalKO "unconscious"]], the text of the actions is also changed to reflect that the character can't access his inventory by himself. It is played straight in the fangame ''[[VideGame/CognitiveDissonance Mother: Cognitive Dissonance]]'', where all the party's gear is in an unlimited storing space.

* ''VideoGame/BetrayalAtKrondor'' averts it with separate inventories, to the point where you spend most of the time on the inventory screen shuffling items between characters because one of them has a few free spaces and the others don't. You also have different party members for different chapters, so it's real easy to suddenly lose a dozen items because you left them on the guy you don't control any more.
** Not totally averted, as the inventory for keys is shared across all party members.
** The SpiritualSuccessor ''VideoGame/BetrayalInAntara'' has a shared inventory for food and money, but all other items are held by individual party members.
* ''VideoGame/EyeOfTheBeholder'' has separate inventories, but avoids the above problem since a character who is dead still moves along with the party and is somehow able to carry stuff; and any character leaving will drop everything he's holding on the ground, in case you needed it.

* Averted in the ''VideoGame/{{Fallout}}'' games. Each party member has his own inventory, though the player character can use his own supply of healing items on them at any time and he is the only one to interact with shopkeepers.
* Averted, also, in the ''VideoGame/{{Might and Magic}}'' games. Each character has his or her own inventory, which has grid squares. Though shields are proportional to potions in the way that a large shield covers 4 by 4 and a potion bottle two by one, it's nonetheless a little less nonsensical.
* Averted in the ''Franchise/KingdomHearts'' series, since Sora is ever-present, so he's the default item-carrier. Also, there are limited slots available for items during battle, with each character having their own "on-hand" inventory.
** Averted even in the single player character ''[[VideoGame/KingdomHearts358DaysOver2 358/2 Days]]'' and ''[[VideoGame/KingdomHeartsBirthBySleep Birth by Sleep]]'' - you can have as many potions or ethers as you want in your main inventory, but can only bring a finite amount on missions or use so many per map respectively
* Averted in ''VideoGame/ShadowHearts 2''. When playing as Anastasia, you have your own separate inventory and equipment, and can't access any of the normal cast's items (with the exception of still being able to see the Inventory option, which lets you view items but not use them).
* Averted in ''VideoGame/LiveALive''. Each character has their own inventory in each chapter. In the final chapter, when all characters join together, you get to keep the equipped items for each character when you meet them and all items gained stay with the leader.
* Averted in ''VideoGame/Persona3'' where your party members all had an inventory of items that you couldn't see. One thing they never seemed to have however was revival beads, but revival beads don't work on your character anyway. For a very good reason.
** ''VideoGame/Persona4'' has an interesting example: if the AI is controlling your party members, they'll use their own inventory items (i.e. they won't deplete your resources), but if ''you're'' controlling them, they'll use ''your'' items. The AI is ''severely'' biased against using items, but it does happen on occasion.
** ''Persona 3 Portable'', the PSP remake, adopted P4's approach by allowing you to control the other party members and making them use your inventory when so controlled.
* ''VideoGame/SonicChronicles'' subverts this - all of the characters can access the same inventory, even if they're on different sides of the map, but you can't take/give equipment from/to a character that isn't in the player's current party.
* Averted in ''VideoGame/BreathOfFireIV''. Any items Fou-lu gets will not be available to Ryu's party.
* Averted in ''VideoGame/{{Mardek}}''. Each character has their own inventory. Weapons, armors, and accessories aren't stackable but everything else is.

* Averted in Skyrim you can give things to your followers to carry but giving and reclaiming both involve direct dialogue with the character.
* Averted in the first ''Suikoden'' - each playable character ([[LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters all 108 of them]]) has their own inventory. Also averts BagOfHolding since each person's inventory does have limited space, with slots being taken up by equipped armor as well as items.
* Averted in ''VideoGame/AtelierAyeshaTheAlchemistOfDusk'', where only Ayesha ever has access to her handbasket. Her function in battle actually revolves around this, with items completely replacing magic on her battle menu. Though considering this is an ''Atelier'' game, with the iconic item crafting system being as deep as the Grand Canyon, it works perfectly.
** This generally holds true for all the ''Atelier'' games. Your alchemist's special function in battle generally revolves around being the only one with access to her basket of specially-prepared goodies.
* Averted in ''VideoGame/ArcanumOfSteamworksAndMagickObscura'', where each party member has his/her own inventory, [[GridInventory Grid]], weight, and all. The AI is fairly generous about using healing items on you, up to and including resurrection items, with the caveat that it never accounts for any technology/magic conflict.
* Averted in ''VideoGame/ResonanceOfFate''. Only the character holding the item box can use items. The same holds for the magazine case and special ammo, and the grenade box and grenades. Choosing to equip two guns means the character can't access the inventory at all, even if they're not dual-wielding.

** Also played straight in all the 'main' Franchise/ResidentEvil games before VideoGame/ResidentEvil4 - by the Magic Boxes that appeared in save rooms. Everything placed in any Magic Box was accessible from any other Magic Box in the game, even if it's the first time you've opened a particular box. (Admittedly, a post-game-clear option in the [[UsefulNotes/NintendoGameCube GameCube]] remake of the first Resident Evil had each box only carry it's own contents - like normal boxes, in other words.) The peak of the Magic Box ridiculousness came in ''Resident Evil: Code Veronica'' right after Clare's game stops and Chris's begins. Chris can access anything Claire had in her Magic Boxes ''despite the fact that the two of them are on different continents.''

* ''VideoGame/KnightsOfTheOldRepublicII'' does the same thing ''VideoGame/{{Final Fantasy VI}}'' does. At one point, three party members are dispatched on a mission, while the player and two other party members are dispatched on another mission. After completing the first mission, the player takes on the role of the second team, which has access to items collected by the first group, even though not only are the two teams on different ''planets'', but the events are happening simultaneously from a chronological standpoint, allowing Team 2 to use items Team 1 hasn't even collected yet.

** The ''VideoGame/DragonQuest'' games are the same way.
*** Sort of. Later installments have a universal, bottomless 'bag' for storage, shared between all characters (in addition to what they have on-hand in their limited personal inventory); retrieving an item from the bag takes a character's full turn in combat, so it's not ''that'' weird to think that they pass it around.
*** In addition, the main character is ''always'' in the party in every ''VideoGame/DragonQuest'' game, meaning that it's feasible and likely he just hangs on to the bag the whole game. No splitting up to worry about. The one exception (''VideoGame/DragonQuestIV'', where you can even rename the Bag) has all the characters with their own unique inventory bags, that then get combined when they join the main character later (which allows you to do nigh-GameBreaker things like buy a whole bunch of very expensive items just before the end of a chapter that can then be sold by the hero for truly ridiculous amounts of cash).

*** In addition, the main character is ''always'' in the party in every ''VideoGame/DragonQuest'' game, meaning that it's feasible and likely he just hangs on to the bag the whole game. No splitting up to worry about. The one exception (''VideoGame/DragonQuestIV'') has all the characters with their own unique inventory bags, that then get combined when they join the main character later (which allows you to do nigh-GameBreaker things like buy a whole bunch of very expensive items just before the end of a chapter that can then be sold by the hero for truly ridiculous amounts of cash).

** The SpiritualSequel ''VideoGame/BetrayalInAntara'' has a shared inventory for food and money, but all other items are held by individual party members.