Snatching up every last cactus pod and radroach abdomen while you galumph around the Fallout wasteland is one thing, but skulking through alleys in Dishonored and Thief or even pick-pocketing the occasional guard (read: all of the guards) in Skyrim is quite another. You could buy out every shop, merchant and smithy around, rule the kingdom they're found in, and have the best equipment in the land but still not be able to sleep at night without nicking that last safe or strongbox. This is to say nothing of the fact that any object that can even remotely be considered a resource which isn't under strict supervision by federal intelligence will wind up in our inventory eventuallyand even if it is guarded, it'll take more than a warning shot to deter the truly stingy. Honestly, settlers, leaving those water bottles and rations out in the open is basically giving them away.
A freelance games writer, you say? Typically battling his current RPG addiction and ceaseless perfectionism? A fan of horror but too big a sissy to play for more than a couple of hours? Spends far too much time on JRPGs and gets way too angry with card games?
Well that doesn't sound anything like me.
