Please click to enlarge

Items in The Witcher 2 work pretty much the way you’d expect. You can pick up items you find lying around as loot, purchase items from merchants, or create your own items through alchemy or crafting. Each item has certain basic characteristics, like a value in orens, a weight, and a description that suits whatever the item happen to be. For a useful piece of equipment like a sword or armor, the description might list its effects or resistances. Defensive equipment items alter Geralt’s basic statistics when equipped, while swords alter his statistics when unsheathed.

Certain items are quest items, which cannot be removed from your inventory. Most quest items have 0 weight, so you aren’t penalized for having to carry them around. Otherwise, each item (except books and certain herbs) has a weight that builds up as you carry more and more of them in your inventory. If you carry more weight than Geralt’s current maximum load, Geralt becomes encumbered. Geralt’s default maximum load is 250. This stat can be increased by equipping items that boost maximum load or obtaining the Strong Back character attribute.

While encumbered, Geralt cannot run or dodge-roll. He can swing his swords in combat but is limited to slow, awkward strokes. He won’t be able to make the acrobatic leaps that let him home in on a foe’s location. In short, being encumbered is bad and a sign that you’re carrying too many items. At this point, you should sell some items to merchants or put them into storage at the local inn. There is no real advantage to carrying around any item that can’t be used freely in alchemy or combat.