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7->'''Nate: (panicked)''' Waitwaitwait, wait a sec...! [...] We can't just suddenly share everything!\
8'''Hailey-Anne:''' Hmm, I dunno, Nate... Sounds kind of convenient to me! What's mine is yours, what's yours is mine... Everybody wins, right?\
9'''Nate:''' Uh no, I feel like I just had all my stuff taken away from me...
10-->-- ''VideoGame/YoKaiWatch3'', after both [[PlayerCharacter player characters]] had their inventories merged
11
12A common situation in video game {{RPG}}s; there's a single inventory, but the inventory is shared by multiple characters. This greatly simplifies the work required to manage items (both for the player and the programmer), as there is no need to keep track of who picked up what, distributing items among the characters and so on. This makes the trope an AcceptableBreakFromReality, because having to repeatedly pause to micromanage the inventory would likely be extremely annoying to the player.
13
14Most of the time, this is easy to overlook. Since you don't know who is carrying that Mega Healing Potion, you may simply assume whoever ends up using it had it all along. On the other hand, some items may be used multiple times, by different characters who obviously had no opportunity to pass it over, especially if you're allowed to change the characters' equipment mid-battle.
15
16It becomes silly when [[LetsSplitUpGang the party splits up]] and the inventory remains shared, allowing characters to use items that someone else picked up on the other end of the dungeon. In some extreme situations, the characters can be on different continents, believed dead, not even have met each other yet etc., but you can still use equipment from the single inventory on any of them, or even transfer equipped items between characters via the inventory or even directly. Apparently, the inventory is [[MemeticMutation a series of tubes]]!
17
18Early {{Western RPG}}s rarely did this, but with the influence of {{Japanese RPG}}s, this has become so common that a list of modern games which do ''not'' use the trope would be much shorter.
19
20See also HyperspaceArsenal. Contrast InventoryManagementPuzzle.
21----
22!Played Straight:
23[[foldercontrol]]
24
25[[folder:Adventure Game]]
26* ''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 Laverne 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]].
27* 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.
28* In ''VideoGame/SecretOfEvermore'', the boy and his dog share an inventory no matter how far they are separated. This is most noticeable at the start of the second world when the boy and the dog are separated. The boy can buy a new collar for the dog, and when the game switches to the dog's location all the way across a vast desert, the dog can equip the collar.
29[[/folder]]
30
31[[folder:Hack and Slash]]
32* In the second ''[[VideoGame/FistOfTheNorthStarKensRage Ken's Rage]]'' game, all characters share stats, experience, and scrolls in Legend mode, no matter how many times or to whom the perspective switches. The game actually treats Legend mode progression like a single, separate character; none of this progress transfers to Dream mode and scrolls have to be offered and received like they are between individuals.
33* In ''VideoGame/HyruleWarriors'', all of the rupees and items you collect (except Heart Containers) are placed into a single pool to be used by all characters, even those on completely opposite sides of the battlefield. This is most prominent with the normal Zelda items (bow, boomerang, and so on). As soon as you get one, ''every'' character in ''every'' game mode can suddenly use them, even if you're replaying a level from before you had it. Why would Ganondorf be using the heroes' Hookshot? Well, when an Argorok appears, just be glad he can.
34[[/folder]]
35
36[[folder:[=MMORPGs=]]]
37* 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.
38* ''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).
39* All characters sharing an account in ''VideoGame/LaTale'' can access the same banked items and items stored in the Astro Store.
40* ''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.
41* In its 1st expansion, ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft'' added the Guild Bank, which anyone in your guild (with the proper permissions from the guild leader) has access to. It allows a common pool of resources, but can only be accessed when your character is at one of the few Guild Vault locations in the game (all of which are inside major cities, well secluded from the adventuring areas).
42** They later added a spell which gives you access to the bank for a few minutes, no matter where you are.
43** Mail sent to you can be pulled out of any mailbox in the game, regardless of what zone, continent, or '''planet''' you're on.
44[[/folder]]
45
46[[folder:Real Time Strategy]]
47* 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.
48* ''VideoGame/WarcraftIII'' averts this with actual items, as each HeroUnit has their own inventory to store items. On the other hand, it's played straight with general resources. In one mission in the campaign mode, you control Tyrande and Malfurion, who needs to reach Maiev's base while she needs to defend it. Along their way, the former two can pick up gold coins, which can immediately be used by Maiev to build troops. Despite the fact that there's no way for the gold to reach her before Tyrande and Malfurion do.
49[[/folder]]
50
51[[folder:Platformers]]
52* ''VideoGame/BanjoTooie'' 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.
53* 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.
54[[/folder]]
55
56[[folder:Role-Playing Games]]
57* 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.
58* 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.
59* ''VideoGame/ArNosurge'' references this in-game: Characters in one party will find items that weren't there before, but are happy to use them to solve whatever problem is at hand. Characters in the other party will complain about said items going missing afterward. After figuring out what's going on, characters actually use the mechanic to solve problems that are otherwise unsolvable.
60* 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.
61** 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...
62* ''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.
63* 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.
64* ''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]].
65* 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.
66* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVI'' allowed characters to access the communal inventory before they'd joined (or even knew who the rest of the characters were, as with Cyan) and when the party has separated into groups. In fact, because one section of the game takes you through three parallel plot strands, it was possible for items collected at the end of Character A's adventure to travel ''back in time'', much less across a continent, into Character B's start-of-adventure inventory.
67* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII'' allows the player to switch around materia regardless of whether the characters are together or not. One particularly interesting instance occurs early in the game: Cloud is about to fight a boss on top of a building, so the rest of the team goes down the building, fighting another boss on the way. After the battle, the game flashes back to show what Cloud was doing during that time. Of course, right before Cloud's battle begins, the game allows you to equip him with ''any'' materia. Including those that the rest of the team are ''currently using'' to fight another boss.
68* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVIII'' allowed characters to switch Junctions when some of them were believed dead. Or when half the team is in space. Items are also shared from the present to seventeen years ago, and vice versa, as are [[SummonMagic GFs]] and stocks of magic?which doesn't go unnoticed by the seventeen-years-ago party, confirming that entire ''characters'' (or at least their consciousnesses) are being sent back in time here. The only thing that doesn't ship is money.
69* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyIX'' takes this trope to an extreme.
70** The characters will often split into several parties, and still have access to a single shared inventory. They can be halfway across the continent, or on different continents entirely.
71** Sometimes the inventory violates causality. For instance, Party A will finish a dungeon, at which point the focus will switch to Party B. Party B's sequence of events happens simultaneously to (or earlier than) Party A's dungeon crawl. Party B will be able to use all the items Party A found in that dungeon, even though logically, Party A shouldn't have even picked up these items yet.
72** It may also happen that Party B has access to an item shop, while Party A is many miles away from civilization. After Party B stocks up on inventory and the focus switches back, Party A will have full access to Party B's purchases.
73** This also includes Mognet letters. Moogle X gives you (say, Zidane) a letter for Moogle Y, the game switches attention to another character in another place (and perhaps even an earlier time, see above), you (Dagger) deliver the letter to Moogle Y who is standing right next to where you start this part of the game.
74** About the only exception to the BagOfSharing in this game is that you can't equip or remove items from the other party.
75* ''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.
76* ''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.
77* 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.]]
78* ''VideoGame/KlonoaHeroesDensetsuNoStarMedal'': Various items are usable by all of the party members. This goes even in places where they're [[GameplayAndStorySegregation separated and not expected to use certain items]].
79* ''VideoGame/KnightsOfTheOldRepublicIITheSithLords'' does the same thing ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVI'' 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.
80** Chronological issues aside, it becomes interesting in hindsight that almost fifteen years and a continuity reboot later, this became an actual force power in ''Film/TheRiseOfSkywalker''. In the film, Rey and Kylo Ren share a unique force bond identified as a Force Dyad, which allows them to interact with each other despite potentially being on different ends of the galaxy. ''Skywalker'' ups the ante by allowing physical objects to be teleported through the Dyad, including [[spoiler: Anakin's lightsaber, which Rey passes to a redeemed Ben Solo when he gets ambushed by the Knights of Ren on Exagol.]] Given the Exile's ability to create strong force bonds with other members of their party...
81* Even though Mario and Luigi get separated a lot in the ''VideoGame/MarioAndLuigi'' games, they still share an inventory, regardless of whether they separate to solve a puzzle or if they separate because they were dropped down separate shafts into completely divided sections of a cave.
82** Most clearly seen in ''Partners in Time'' where Stuffwell, the inventory, always jumps out of Mario's pocket but the babies can still use him even clear across the level.
83** Or in Bowser's Inside Story, where both the Mario bros and Bowser share a bag of items. Despite the fact the Mario bros might be inside Bowser's body at the time, or the other side of the kingdom. Although Bowser can't use Mushrooms and Nuts and Mario/Luigi can't use Chicken Drumsticks to heal.
84* 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.
85* ''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.
86* ''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.
87* ''VideoGame/PokemonMysteryDungeon'' gives you one treasure bag, which up to 4 pokemon can all take items from, even if they're on the other side of the floor.
88** 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...
89* [[VideoGame/{{Sacred}} Sacred 2: Fallen Angel]] has special chests allowing player to exchange items between various characters.
90* An extreme example in ''VideoGame/SaGaFrontier2''. The story is told as one giant split party section as you play as either Gustave or the Knights family and Gustave only teams up the the Knights once. This does not stop them from sharing items for no reason. The NPC that retrieves equipped items from other party members lampshades this: [[AWizardDidIt "don't ask me how I do it."]] The most JustForFun/{{egregious}} case is when an old advisor has a flashback to his young adventuring days, before the start of the game and can still equip anything. To top it all off, once someone from either party has mastered a technique, everyone in both stories know it. People you have never met can show you how to perform ultimate killing moves.
91* 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.
92* ''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.
93* ''VideoGame/SuperMarioRPG'' works like this, though the party doesn't split up much. Late in the game there is a boss battle in which a party member is swept away to fight separately, and has first pick of the bag before the other members get to use items.
94* 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.
95* 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.
96* {{Averted|Trope}} 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.
97** It gets pretty strange when Nate and Hailey-Anne are separated in Hazeltine Mansion. At first, they have to physically pass keys to each other, but then they can summon Yo-Kai just recruited by the other hero in the opposite wing of the mansion.
98[[/folder]]
99
100[[folder:Simulation Game]]
101* Non-RPG, non-character example: in ''[[VideoGame/AnnoDomini Anno 1701]]'' anything that has been stored in warehouse/market can be used by the whole empire, even if you got that resource from different island, when you have no boat...
102[[/folder]]
103
104[[folder:First Person Shooter]]
105* 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.
106* {{Lampshaded|Trope}} in ''VideoGame/Borderlands2''. 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.
107* Firefight mode in ''VideoGame/Halo3ODST'' and ''VideoGame/HaloReach'' has lives (remaining respawns) as this. In ''Reach'', when playing Versus Firefight, there are settings that let the humans add more to the pool by killing the player-controlled Elites.
108[[/folder]]
109
110[[folder:Third Person Shooter]]
111* ''VideoGame/MartianGothicUnification'' has item storage as quite LITERALLY a series of tubes.
112* ''VideoGame/Splatoon2'' has the Inkling and Octoling avatars (once you unlock the former by beating the ''Octo Expansion'' DLC campgain) share a multiplayer inventory, rank progress, and Grizzco pay grade. Interestingly, the game's smartphone companion app does keep track of how much turf you've inked with each species separately.
113[[/folder]]
114
115[[folder:Turn-Based Strategy]]
116* ''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.
117* ''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.
118* ''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.
119* 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.
120* ''VideoGame/SuikodenV'' also has an interesting example... in the final dungeon, you temporarily split up into 3 groups, and yet continue to share the same inventory -- which comes in handy for putting together the pieces of the ultimate armor, which each group finds bits of...
121** This trope was averted in ''VideoGame/SuikodenI''. Each character had an inventory space and could only use items from their own inventory. Armor takes up slots of this space so a character wearing full armor could not hold as many items as one without. When characters are separated from you, you can no longer access their inventories. In ''VideoGame/SuikodenII'', each character has a three slot inventory for items such as medicine or antidotes and separate slots for armor. Then there's a larger shared inventory but items from this could not be used in battle.
122** Actually, ''VideoGame/{{Suikoden}}'' in general never employed the BagOfSharing trick. The ''Suikoden V'' specific example, along with ''VideoGame/SuikodenIV'' are mere exceptions (that prove the rule).
123* 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. Furthermore, if two or more teams are allied (i.e. have the same color), they share an arsenal as well.
124** 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.
125[[/folder]]
126
127[[folder:Non Video-Game Examples]]
128[[AC:Anime & Manga]]
129* ''Manga/WitchHatAtelier'': 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.
130
131[[AC:Webcomics]]
132* {{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.
133
134[[AC:Other]]
135* 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.
136[[/folder]]
137
138----
139!Aversions and Subversions:
140In many cases, even if normal items are not shared across inventories, money is. Justified in a modern or futuristic setting with credit cards, but strange in a medieval setting when gold is shared.
141
142[[folder:[=MMORPGs=]]]
143* ''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.
144* ''VideoGame/{{Vindictus}}'' averts this trope. Each character has an individual inventory; and there is no bank system. The only way to transfer items between characters, regardless of whether they are on the same or different player accounts, is via a fee-based postal system.
145* 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.
146* ''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 appearances, 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)
147[[/folder]]
148
149[[folder:Role-Playing Games]]
150* In ''VideoGame/TheAllianceAlive'', items need to be equipped to be used in battle. Some accessories allow the wearer to access all items of a specific type straight from the inventory.
151* 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.
152* 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.
153** 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.
154* 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.]]
155* ''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.
156** 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).
157** 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.
158** ''VideoGame/BaldursGateDarkAlliance II'', semi-averts this; oddly, gold is shared but not items.
159** 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).
160** ''VideoGame/BaldursGateIII'' retains the separate inventories, but plays it straight with some items. Gold, food, and alchemical ingredients appear in separate inventories, but are consolidated during the shop, long rest, and crafting menus respectively. Any character can Dig with a shovel as long as somebody has one in their inventory; similarly, if, say, Gale tries to open a door that Karlach has the key for, a message will pop up saying that Gale was given the key with '[[HandWave magic pockets]]'.
161* ''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.
162** Not totally averted, as the inventory for keys is shared across all party members.
163** The SpiritualSuccessor ''VideoGame/BetrayalInAntara'' has a shared inventory for food and money, but all other items are held by individual party members.
164* Averted in ''VideoGame/BreathOfFireIV''. Any items Fou-lu gets will not be available to Ryu's party.
165* The ''VideoGame/DragonQuest'' games 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 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).
166* 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.
167* 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.
168* ''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.
169* 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.
170* The original release of ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyI'' had individual inventories, each character had 4 weapons and 4 pieces of armor and they could not be shared or swapped during battle. The party could all access the same potions, because they're easy to pass around.
171** In the earlier releases of ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyII'', each character is restricted in battle to two items you equip to them, whether items or alternate weapons. While you can't pass spell items or weapons between characters, a party member can use {{Healing Potion}}s on their allies.
172** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyThe4HeroesOfLight'' averts this partially, each character has their own inventory, and they can only trade items when they are together and out of battle. However, all the characters are still able to access the same stored items, money, and gems even if they aren't travelling together.
173** ''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.
174* Averted in ''VideoGame/GoldenSun'': Each character has their own separate inventory, and they can only use items that they're carrying themselves.
175* ''VideoGame/Grandia1'' averts this; every character has their own (limited-space) inventory. When the party splits up, the items carried by the others are not accessible. On the other hand, the "stash" seems to be some sort of pocket dimension that any character can access at specific locations.
176** ''VideoGame/GrandiaII'', however, uses it straight.
177* 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.
178** 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.
179* 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.
180* 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.
181* Averted in ''VideoGame/{{Mardek}}''. Each character has their own inventory. Weapons, armors, and accessories aren't stackable but everything else is.
182* 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.
183* 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.
184* ''Almost'' averted in ''VideoGame/NeverwinterNights2''. Each character has a separate inventory, but items can be freely and instantly moved mid-battle between characters at the opposite ends of the battlefield, even if one of them is unconscious.
185* 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.
186** ''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.
187** ''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.
188* 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.
189* ''VideoGame/SagaFrontier'' avoids this partially, each character has is own inventory, only the character wearing the backpack item can use the full inventory in battles.
190* Averted on one occasion in ''VideoGame/ShadowHeartsCovenant''. When [[AndNowForSomeoneCompletelyDifferent 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).
191* 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.
192* Averted in ''VideoGame/SkiesOfArcadia''. Vyse, the party leader, carries all the items and money. However, when he gets split up from Aika and Fina [[spoiler:after evacuating from the Little Jack in lifeboats]], Aika and Fina end up in a large city with no money, while Vyse finds himself on a deserted island where money does him no good.
193* ''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.
194* Averted in the first ''VideoGame/{{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.
195* The ''VideoGame/{{Wizardry}}'' series is an example of Western [=RPGs=] using individual and limited inventories as early as 1981.
196** 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.
197[[/folder]]
198
199[[folder:Simulation Game]]
200* ''VideoGame/AirForceDelta Strike'' gives every pilot a separate bank account and plane selection, though special bonus planes can be used by any pilot. This can be rather frustrating since the campaign is prone to forcing the player to use specific pilots with no warning or preparation allowed beforehand.
201[[/folder]]
202
203[[folder:Third Person Shooter]]
204* Averted in ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil0'', where the two characters have separate inventories and trading items between the two was a large part of the game.
205** Played straight and subverted in ''Resident Evil: Outbreak''. Though each player had their own inventory, if a player died any player could loot their corpse as long as they were standing in the same room. Even if that "room" happens to be a dock and the corpse is inside a zombie shark downriver.
206** 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 [[Platform/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.''
207[[/folder]]
208
209[[folder:Turn Based Strategy]]
210* ''Franchise/FireEmblem'': This is mostly averted -- every character typically has an individual inventory -- but some exceptions and side cases occur:
211** There is usually 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.
212** ''VideoGame/FireEmblemGaiden'' has separate parties with separate inventories (until they unite). In ''Gaiden'', however, holding Start and Select when beginning a new game enables easy mode, which allows free sharing of items between the two parties on opposite ends of the continent, allowing for LevelGrinding with the Angel Ring in both parties.
213** ''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 three groups, even though they're all far away of each other. [[spoiler: [[AWizardDidIt You are, however, working for a goddess at this point.]]]]
214* ''VideoGame/ShiningForce'': Averted in the original. Downplayed in the remake of the first game, which has a shared bag for extra items, but these can't be accessed during battles.
215* ''VideoGame/JaggedAlliance 3'' plays it both ways. Each merc has their own inventory and how much they can carry is dependent on their strength stat. Each squad has a shared squad inventory that can be accessed by each merc in the squad at will. There is a restriction on this, however; Only certain consumable items, such as ammo, parts, and medical supplies can be stored here.
216[[/folder]]
217
218[[folder:Wide Open Sandbox]]
219* ''VideoGame/AnimalCrossing'': Each player has their 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 ''VideoGame/AnimalCrossingCityFolk'', 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. ''VideoGame/AnimalCrossingNewLeaf'' 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.
220* ''VideoGame/{{Minecraft}}'': Each occurrence of an ender chests has the same inventory (for the same player). 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 remains safe even if the very last chest is destroyed, and will become accessible again when a new one is made. This is very useful for servers where theft can be an issue.
221[[/folder]]
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