I'm really bad with this in games. I even hoarded iron back when I still played Minecraft simply because it was a resource I couldn't infinitely produce.

Cobblestone generator = use only cobblestone tools

Using items to win means I'm bad at the game, and mama didn't raise no coward

But I might need 99 of every potion for the last boss!

So I decided while playing Fallout 4 (around the time it came out) that I was going to try to break this habit, because it meant I never got to use any of the cool shit.

I made this decision while retaking the castle, fighting the queen crab thing. I used all the mini nukes I had on it.

Those who have played the game knows what happens next... after killing the queen, the king emerges. Way bigger, way harder to kill.

I've been a hardcore no exceptions hoarder ever since

Lol this was me just the other day in Baldur's Gate 3. I got an ability on my Cleric that I could only use ONCE in an entire playthrough. "Yeah I'm going to save this for the final encounter". Ended up forgetting about it and not using it at all at the end of the game haha.

Final boss fights are for experimentation. "Well, I don't think I'll need these five thousand items, what does this do?"

This is why I like roguelike mechanics. Permadeath encourages me not to hoard and the hunger clock encourages me not to grind.

Heck, forget rare items, I even hoard stuff thst isn't rare. The only thing I use most of the time are things that cure ailments, healkng stuff and revive pots when needed.

But I also have the tendency to overlvel so I don't need much else. Why use strategy when raw firepower does the job?

Anybody who's ever played a classic Resident Evil-style game knows the feeling of getting to the final monster with all the hoarded ammo for your ultimate weapon (magnum/hunting rifle/flare gun/whatever)... Only for the monster to die in like at most a single-stack of shots because it turns out that the "ultimate lifeform" is weaker than a moderately sized car -_-

Completed Resident Evil 2 back in 1998 with stacks and stacks of explosive, flame and acid round. Regretted saving all those ammo just for them to be gone forever, I could have had more fun with flying or flaming zombies dying all around me. Fast forward to current day, nothing has changed. I'm still a hoarding idiot.

In my first run of Pokemon Ruby, I used a Master Ball on Groudon. I was forced to be creative in catching Rayquaza (Pokeball) and Latios (Net Ball)

It took me close to 100 hours of Elden Ring to find out that the single, one-time-use buff item I got for someone hugging me very early game was reducing my max HP just by being in my inventory. I thought that was a neat way to incentivize using said item. If I had known it was doing that without having to have a Wiki tell me anyway. Screw you too Elden Ring!

I can't say that I've ever used a single Megalixir in several Final Fantasy games due to them being limited in supply.

This is actually why I'm so simultaneously good and bad at Resident Evil. Because I am too scared to waste a single bullet, so much so that I taught myself how to use the knife. Becoming convinced that killing every enemy with guns that blocks an important hallway is not feasible.

Even though I've seen Let's Plays where that is absolutely the case and there are no ammo shortages, about a million times.

I'm good because I can actually get a good ways through the game while doing this, I suck, because I will spend most of the game in caution because I did this. And we'll waste a lot of time as I will need to leave a room and reenter if the zombie gets too close without falling

Normally am this way too. Underrail is so difficult at times it makes you use your resources. On a first or second playthrough I routinely used limited consumables and it felt like I was just barely making it.

This subsides a bit once you know the game. But even once resources become more available an emp grenade/ adrenaline shot will turn the tide of fights.

So what you're saying is I'll never actually need it and it's just for players trying to make the game easier

And that if I use it I'll be without it in the presumably increasing difficulty to come

Me after finishing every RPG I've ever played ever: "Well I guess I could have used all those really powerful items I've been saving the entire game in that last fight if I had known it was the last fight... " If you tell me an item is super powerful and in extremely limited quantity, I will essentially never use it before the game is over out of fear of needing it later.

I beat Dark Souls 3 this week and I hoarded embers the whole way. I had a stack of 60 by the time I got to Midir and Gael. I did finally crack into them when I realized that they were the only 2 bosses I had left. So, baby steps I guess

Reminds me of when I finished the first Max Payne.

I was all kitted out. Rocket launchers, full deagles, you name it. I used my little starter pistol all throughout this fight on the tower that I thought was leading up to the very end... only to have credits roll while I sat there with a full fat armory of glorious destruction - forever unused.

“Here BUTT, this POKÉBALL can catch any POKÉMON. It’s called the MASTERBALL.“

[Trows it onto an ABRA]

[25 Years later]

“Why is there not a single Masterball used in your whole living Pokédex?“

I played outer worlds recently, and there are all sorts of boosting effect foods and drinks in the game. Don't think I used a single one the entire game.

This is also how I am with customer rewards points.

"Hmm, I have enough to cover today's slice of pizza, but if I save up, I'll have enough for an entire pizza in five years"

I'm guilty... Even in D&D 🙈

I have no idea when I'm gonna need 3 health, that 500g apple might save my life someday