One thing that really hindered the gameplay in Final Fantasy Adventure was the constant swapping of things in your "equip" slot in order to use them. For example, if you wanted to open a door you'd have to first select the key from your inventory to equip it and only then could you open the door. On the other hand, if you'd have a key in your equip slot, the door would open automatically, using up the key without warning. The second problem was that closed doors kept respawning, making it possible for players to get softlocked.
I wanted to fix this in Ember of Mana. Finally I succeeded in creating a script that asks you to use a key. And even better, the game now uses 1 key, even when you haven't equipped it. Lastly I added a "flag", so doors stay open forever once you've opened them. So, now I can make it so that the player has to search for a key, in order to progress in the dungeon. Using doors as a gameplay obstacle, instead of an annoyance. And there is no way the player can softlock himself anymore!

I'm looking more and more into creating these unique gameplay elements for Ember, so it will get an improved gameplay experience compared to Final Fantasy Adventure.
