Shops

[sobre]

Just a comment about the shops.

 

I remember from G2 that the shopkeeps had a finite supply of money. They also kept the items you sold them in their inventory. So that is you found out later you had sold some uber artifact, you could go back and buy it.

 

In G3, the shopkeeps have unlimited cash (which seems unrealistic), parhaps a response to complaints about G2. However, once you sell something, its gone for good. Where does it go? I think shop keepers should retain what you sell them.

 

The fact that they have infinite money need not be coutnerbalanced with them not holding your gear. The "hidden" economy that takes place while you aren't looking can provide realism for those that need the justification.

 

Just a thought.

[Eigenvalue]

On a similar note: I usually have a big stash of unused items in different parts of the city, these are the items which I am afraid to sell as they might get useful later. Being gone for days, and returning to the city, I do not find anything missing, even if I leave in a public place or in somebody's private quarters. Is this realistic? Why are the people around so honest, especially when I do not have any scruples going through everybody's drawers hoping to find a key ingredient to a recepy or another pouch of gold?

[Dolphin]

Okay this is a fantasy game. Why do you need realism to the smallest detail? Shopkeepers have endless money just like in Avernum. It is easier this way, as you are able to afford training and supplies.

 

Things being sold to the shopkeepers and disappearing is a bit annoying. That is balanced out by the fact that there are at least five of most things. In GF2 there were about two mandrake tinctures. In GF3 I horded them at first, but as soon as I fond six of them I started selling them. There are very few one of a kind items that can be sold. Most of the items that are very important have a value of 0.

 

As for things being safe unattended; it would not be enjoyable to not have safe places for you things. I can't carry them all. When I played it again I sold everything I found. I didn't save anything but what I could carry. It worked out fine, and I had 30000 coins at all times.

[Student of Trinity]

That's just it: you leave your goods out in plain view. So whenever one of the patrolling Battle Betas is tempted by your loot, it sees the big NY against every item, realizes that it's crime could not be unseen, and so remains honest.

[Mav]

What must've played some role in me never selling a bunch of higher-end equipment was the distant fear someone might want it for a quest. AFAIK, GF3 is the first Spiderweb game where things you sell can't be bought back. Not sure if it's a bug, but I'm reasonably sure it'll be the last game with this unique feature.

[Archaeolagent]

GF3 is definitely *not* the first Spiderweb game run that way. I can't remember how Nethergate handled things, but the earlier Exile games definitely did not keep track of items you sold. Almost no RPGs will keep track of that, frankly.

[MacProject]

I'm quite happy with the shopkeepers having unlimited funds with which to buy my unwanted items!

I suspect it will be difficult to go back to Geneforge 2 after getting used to GF3's system!

[Mav]

Quote:

Originally written by Slartucker:
GF3 is definitely *not* the first Spiderweb game run that way. I can't remember how Nethergate handled things, but the earlier Exile games definitely did not keep track of items you sold. Almost no RPGs will keep track of that, frankly.

Correction: Spiderweb game _I've_ played. That means Avernum 1/2/3/Blades and GF1/2/3 (at least, I don't remember having a buyback problem in GF 1 and 2).

[Claymore]

I remember that in exile 3 you could only leave your extra items in the storeroom in Ft. Emergence, otherwise it would dissapear

 

(Of course, back then you had six characters to spread the weight out, so it wasn't much of a problem)

[Student of Trinity]

Ya know, it's just as well. Sell things, take the cash, and forget about them. The only things you really don't want to sell are priceless, and you can't sell them anyway.

 

I wound up spending lots of effort shuttling extra gear between islands, just so that it could sit in a heap somewhere, waiting for the possibility of a Power Core type area where I would want to wear all possible energy resisting gear, or something like that. With 8 major artifacts now, and the possibility of enhancing all kinds of items, there is very little reason for stockpiling stuff that you don't want to equip by default, on the off chance that at some point you might need it. A couple of Tinker's and Infiltrator's items, and maybe a Shining Shield, are the only exceptions I can see to this rule.

 

Hardly any of the body parts seemed worth keeping to me. Maybe a Guardian would want wands more, but my Agent had no use for them. Do you even make a profit by crafting wands and crystals for sale?

 

Is it worth picking up Flawed Crystals? My singleton Agent didn't need to spend cash upgrading companions, or learning Shaping, so she had money to burn well before the end of the game. If you sell gemstones and body parts, I think you would be fine without bothering with any of the heavier loot.

[Mav]

Well, some creation parts might be worth it. By the time I found the component in question (Rotgoroth Fang), it wasn't of much use to me (especially since I burned the first Purified Essence I found on an All-Protector), but the +4 Strength Talisman of Might ain't so bad to have as a necklace.

[mok]

(possible [minor] spoiler alert)

On the topic of shopkeepers not having the stuff you just sold them, why don't they have any money when you kill them? Or the items they were just showing you?

Not that this is a real common occurance, but I did kill the drakon shopkeeper on the isle of spears. And even though he's got all that nice stuff and I'd just payed him 5k for an adjustment, I think all I could get from the place was a few coins and a living tool and maybe 1 or 2 other small things. What happened to the plate I was just perusing? the spores? The mountain of coins I just gave him?

[Student of Trinity]

The Shaper economy is entirely online.

[Claymore]

Once you sell the merchants your stuff they immeadiatley take them and sell them on E-bay. That is why they never run out of money.

 

Buy things from them and they take your money and put it into their checking account.

so they never have any money on them

 

As for the whole crafting-for-profit idea, It works with some items, but not all. You can make a good profit by taking a 200-coin artila eye with a 60-coin silver necklace to make a 1200 coin blessed necklace. A 400-coin drayk scale plus a 500-coin platinum ring makes a 2000-coin armour band.

 

Other then that, though, just sell the body parts , for with the wands, rods, and crystals the sum of the parts is greater than the whole.

[Hawk King]

Quote:

Originally written by Claymore:
In the land of the blind, the one eyed man is king
-unknown

the person who says that is the guy with no eyes in minority report

EDIT: i mean his old man

[Drew]

Quote:

Originally written by hawk king:

Quote:

Originally written by Claymore:
In the land of the blind, the one eyed man is king
-unknown

the person who says that is the guy with no eyes in minority report

EDIT: i mean his old man

This quote is actually much older than "Minority Report." I've heard that it's Irish, but likely it's much older.

[Hawk King]

Quote:

Originally written by andrew miller:

Quote:

Originally written by hawk king:

Quote:

Originally written by Claymore:
In the land of the blind, the one eyed man is king
-unknown

the person who says that is the guy with no eyes in minority report

EDIT: i mean his old man

This quote is actually much older than "Minority Report." I've heard that it's Irish, but likely it's much older.

okay