“Khajiit has wares, if you have coin.”
May 25, 2018 5:21 PM Subscribe
An appreciation of in-game shopkeepers [Engadget] “In-game shops are more than handy outlets to transform random metal scraps and tired old gear into new and useful items. Shops offer a reprieve from the action of whichever digital world you've entered, allowing you to take a moment, breathe and consider the situation from afar. Do you want to play as a gun-toting tank or a sneaky spy? Is your bow powerful enough for the battles ahead? Do you have enough health potions? Does your character look better in green or purple? Only the shop can provide the answers. Overseeing all of these calculations -- and guarding stores' impossibly large piles of loot -- are the shopkeepers.”
• Best Shopkeepers in Video Games [Funstock Retro]
• Best Shopkeepers in Video Games [Funstock Retro]
“Back in the good ol’ pre-3D gaming days, if you ever wanted to buy in-game items from a shop, you’d always have to deal with a static representation of a shopkeeper. They wouldn’t say much outside of the usual generic ‘How can I help you?’. It didn’t necessarily take away from the game you were playing, but later years would show us just how much potential was missed in this facet of retro gaming. Business is booming and we want to see this is the case so we can come back for more! The most popular store owners and assistants are those who get about. The ones with the magnetic personalities, or on the flip-side, the ones who seem to have ulterior motives in dealing with you. Some will be with you wherever you go, some will always be where you most expect them, whilst others are just looking to milk you for every penny you’re worth. Shopkeepers over the years would grow to become so much more than just a cardboard cut-out, and that’s what I’m here to look at; the evolution of the man behind the counter. If there is a counter.”• In Moonlighter, you're part adventurer, part shopkeeper [Kotaku][YouTube][Game Trailer]
“Moonlighter is an upcoming action role-playing game from developer Digital Sun that challenges the player to balance running a shop in a small village with exploring dangerous dungeons. You play as Will, a humble shop owner in the town of Rynoka who dreams of becoming a hero and exploring a series of randomly-generated dungeons just outside of town. Inside of each dungeon, you’ll fight various enemies and unlock chests to collect materials to use back home, either by putting them up for sale or using them to craft better equipment. Inventory management can be a bit of a chore but it’s nothing that completely got in my way. Back at home, you can place items up for sale in your shop. You’re in charge of setting the price of each item.”• A role-playing game for sellers and slayers [IGN]
“You know those role-playing game item shop owners that perpetually sit at the cash register and wait for your adventurers to come in ? In Recettear: An Item Shop's tale, the tables are spun around. Instead of intermittently ducking your head into a shop to snatch up better gear and items, you're running the establishment. That may sound kind of dull at first. After all, what does an item-shop owner typically do in RPGs aside from sit and wait? Perpetually practice the only three lines of dialogue they'll ever say? Re-read that magazine on the counter that's always open to the same page? Brood about the lack of return business once adventurers find higher quality stock in the shop beyond that creepy cave to the west? As it turns out in Recettear, there's much more to the process than that.”• Playing an RPG about being a shopkeeper in an RPG [PC Gamer]
“You know how in RPGs like Skyrim you'll routinely visit a shop, rifle through their overpriced wares, buy a couple things, then rush back out to raid a few hundred more dungeons? In Shoppe Keep you're the guy behind the counter. No adventures, no raids, no dragon slaying. You just set up your store, order stock, deal with customers, and sweep up the dirt the real heroes track all over your floors. As someone who has spent a great deal of time pretending to be an NPC in RPGs, this is relevant to my interests.”• Medieval Shopkeeper Simulator Shows Flip Side Of RPGs [Comic Book]
“Have you ever been making your way through an RPG such as Skyrim or The Witcher 3 and found yourself perusing through a shopkeeper's wares and overhear him or her talking about some menial task that they have to do later on? Do they actually leave the storefront to take on their own issues, or do they just go to sleep and come back to the store in hopes that you'll come back and buy more weapons? In Medieval Shopkeeper Simulator, an upcoming game that was posted on Steam Greenlight on Saturday, you can finally answer these questions and many more as you take on the role of a pixelated merchant and attempt to become the best supplier of goods the realm has to offer. You'll start out small as you'd expect to in most RPGs, but with some business know-how and marketing expertise, it won't take long before you've got a monopoly on all of those sweet potions and elixirs that every adventurer is clamoring for. Beginning with just a few measly coins to your name, you can eventually look to hire other workers to help you run your shop while you purchase goods to resell from traveling merchants and even craft your own unique goods.”• Video Game Shopkeeper Starting To Get Suspicious After Selling 800 Bombs To Player [The Onion]
“Wondering what the man could possibly have been planning with such a purchase, video game shopkeeper Eldoth Silvershield told reporters Tuesday that he was beginning to get suspicious of a customer who had recently bought 800 bombs in a single visit. “Usually I don’t ask questions, but this guy just walked straight into my store and dropped, like, a hundred-thousand gold pieces on bombs in one go,””
Nethack knows a few things about shopkeepers...
posted by jim in austin at 5:28 PM on May 25, 2018 [11 favorites]
posted by jim in austin at 5:28 PM on May 25, 2018 [11 favorites]
I mean shopkeepers are fun! And if you put a bucket over their heads you don't even need to pay!
posted by Homo neanderthalensis at 5:29 PM on May 25, 2018 [10 favorites]
posted by Homo neanderthalensis at 5:29 PM on May 25, 2018 [10 favorites]
Nethack shopkeepers are the best shopkeepers. Spelunky's are pretty good too.
posted by 256 at 5:34 PM on May 25, 2018 [5 favorites]
posted by 256 at 5:34 PM on May 25, 2018 [5 favorites]
Even when I was a little thing with no idea whatsoever about how stores worked, I wondered what it was like for a shopkeeper to live his whole life waiting underneath one particular bush that would need to be burned in order for him to sell one of three things to the only person in the world who spent money.
I liked these early shopkeeper NPCs, though, because unlike actual store clerks, they were never rude to me, never rushed, and never watched me around a store like I was going to shoplift a potion.
posted by Countess Elena at 5:36 PM on May 25, 2018 [10 favorites]
I liked these early shopkeeper NPCs, though, because unlike actual store clerks, they were never rude to me, never rushed, and never watched me around a store like I was going to shoplift a potion.
posted by Countess Elena at 5:36 PM on May 25, 2018 [10 favorites]
What’re ya buyin’? What’re ya sellin’? I’ll buy it at a high price!
posted by Diagonalize at 5:37 PM on May 25, 2018 [11 favorites]
posted by Diagonalize at 5:37 PM on May 25, 2018 [11 favorites]
Nethack shopkeepers are the best shopkeepers.
The newest Nethack has apparently decided to give you virtually no money in the earliest levels, which makes for all sorts of shopkeeper-related frustration.
posted by thomas j wise at 5:44 PM on May 25, 2018
The newest Nethack has apparently decided to give you virtually no money in the earliest levels, which makes for all sorts of shopkeeper-related frustration.
posted by thomas j wise at 5:44 PM on May 25, 2018
I ascend at Nethack with some regularity and, with all of my characters (even the lawful ones), one of the first milestones I am looking for is having the means to kill a shopkeeper. As soon as I lock that one up, it's time for a genocide of the mercantile class.
posted by 256 at 5:49 PM on May 25, 2018 [3 favorites]
posted by 256 at 5:49 PM on May 25, 2018 [3 favorites]
My favorite shopkeeper is Recettear. Yepperoni!
posted by fifteen schnitzengruben is my limit at 5:55 PM on May 25, 2018 [6 favorites]
posted by fifteen schnitzengruben is my limit at 5:55 PM on May 25, 2018 [6 favorites]
I liked these early shopkeeper NPCs, though, because unlike actual store clerks, they were never rude to me, never rushed, and never watched me around a store like I was going to shoplift a potion.
Some of them also danced.
posted by Fizz at 6:03 PM on May 25, 2018
Some of them also danced.
posted by Fizz at 6:03 PM on May 25, 2018
I liked these early shopkeeper NPCs, though, because unlike actual store clerks, they were never rude to me, never rushed, and never watched me around a store like I was going to shoplift a potion.
But, be honest, if the game mechanics had allowed you to shoplift potions, you totally would have.
posted by 256 at 6:08 PM on May 25, 2018 [4 favorites]
But, be honest, if the game mechanics had allowed you to shoplift potions, you totally would have.
posted by 256 at 6:08 PM on May 25, 2018 [4 favorites]
oh god oh god
I can hear the endless looping of the NES Final Fantasy shop music while my purchase of 99 heal potions (one at a time) interrupts the music track every 0.5 seconds, make it stop make it stop
posted by duffell at 6:13 PM on May 25, 2018 [13 favorites]
I can hear the endless looping of the NES Final Fantasy shop music while my purchase of 99 heal potions (one at a time) interrupts the music track every 0.5 seconds, make it stop make it stop
posted by duffell at 6:13 PM on May 25, 2018 [13 favorites]
Trying to talk to a video game shopkeeper and accidentally stealing an item in front of them
posted by praemunire at 6:14 PM on May 25, 2018 [10 favorites]
posted by praemunire at 6:14 PM on May 25, 2018 [10 favorites]
Let’s not forget traveling shopkeepers like Beedle - love this little guy so much.
posted by porn in the woods at 6:14 PM on May 25, 2018 [4 favorites]
posted by porn in the woods at 6:14 PM on May 25, 2018 [4 favorites]
I enjoyed the shopkeeper in the Enter the Gungeon, who warns you not to fire guns in his shop, then doubles his prices if you persist. If you keep firing, (regardless of whether or not it's at him) he'll not only attack you, but you can never buy anything from him in later levels. And of course I've just now learned that there's a way to steal from him.
posted by sysinfo at 6:24 PM on May 25, 2018
posted by sysinfo at 6:24 PM on May 25, 2018
Nethack shopkeepers are the best shopkeepers
I was going to say - all shopkeepers are Asidonohopo to me.
posted by aubilenon at 6:33 PM on May 25, 2018 [5 favorites]
I was going to say - all shopkeepers are Asidonohopo to me.
posted by aubilenon at 6:33 PM on May 25, 2018 [5 favorites]
My name is Commander Shepard, and this is my favorite store on the Citadel.
posted by Halloween Jack at 6:36 PM on May 25, 2018 [22 favorites]
posted by Halloween Jack at 6:36 PM on May 25, 2018 [22 favorites]
The shopkeeper in Slay the Spire is hilarious. Not only does he have an unabashed love for your money, but his store is wares splayed on a rug, and the rug is helpfully marked "not for sale," and he'll occasionally comment on how nice of a rug it is.
posted by explosion at 6:38 PM on May 25, 2018 [4 favorites]
posted by explosion at 6:38 PM on May 25, 2018 [4 favorites]
"I'll hurt you if you try to steal from me!" Says "Squirt," the diminutive shopkeepeer in Diablo.
Do jewelers, armorers, gambling, mystics, and angels count as shopkeepers? Those are always in the towns. That's the only thing you can do with gold and upgrading weapons now.
There used to be an online auction house and ability to "trade" in the towns in Diablo, but they put a stop to that one...sadly. After early levels, there's no need to ever visit a shop keeper again....
The thing that keeps me going back to this game is the art. Just amazing work.
posted by CrowGoat at 6:42 PM on May 25, 2018
Do jewelers, armorers, gambling, mystics, and angels count as shopkeepers? Those are always in the towns. That's the only thing you can do with gold and upgrading weapons now.
There used to be an online auction house and ability to "trade" in the towns in Diablo, but they put a stop to that one...sadly. After early levels, there's no need to ever visit a shop keeper again....
The thing that keeps me going back to this game is the art. Just amazing work.
posted by CrowGoat at 6:42 PM on May 25, 2018
I can hear the endless looping of the NES Final Fantasy shop music
That's exactly what started playing in my head when I opened this thread.
posted by good in a vacuum at 6:54 PM on May 25, 2018 [1 favorite]
That's exactly what started playing in my head when I opened this thread.
posted by good in a vacuum at 6:54 PM on May 25, 2018 [1 favorite]
Nice timing on this, given the recent release of Bargain Quest, a board game about being an item shop keeper.
Shut Up & Sit Down review
posted by cardioid at 6:55 PM on May 25, 2018 [1 favorite]
Shut Up & Sit Down review
posted by cardioid at 6:55 PM on May 25, 2018 [1 favorite]
You've gotta admire their dedication to capitalism, though. Even when the world is almost gone and I'm about to go on a desperate last-stand battle to save everyone, they won't sell me that Elixir or whatever unless I go grind out a bunch of cash for them.
Willing to die for their principles, I guess.
posted by thefoxgod at 7:02 PM on May 25, 2018 [18 favorites]
Willing to die for their principles, I guess.
posted by thefoxgod at 7:02 PM on May 25, 2018 [18 favorites]
FINE DWARVEN CRAFTS
DIRECT FROM ORZAMMAR
posted by poffin boffin at 7:26 PM on May 25, 2018 [19 favorites]
DIRECT FROM ORZAMMAR
posted by poffin boffin at 7:26 PM on May 25, 2018 [19 favorites]
Willing to die for their principles, I guess.
This much, I totally believe.
posted by mordax at 7:27 PM on May 25, 2018 [1 favorite]
This much, I totally believe.
posted by mordax at 7:27 PM on May 25, 2018 [1 favorite]
I played an older Korean MMORPG called ROSE that had the most delightful shop system... your player literally turned into a cute little hawker / kiosk and you set your buy / sell prices and inventory limits. (Eg, sell Diamonds for $50 each, max of 20 total, and buy Wood for $5 each, max of 100 total). Then you you leave your hawker there while you tabbed out, but you were still logged into the game, for people to come shop. You also needed to write the name of your shop. (eg, Cheap Gems for sale here!!! or Wood Crafter buying ALL YOUR WOOD!!!)
So the whole trick of this is that the "city" grew very organically. There naturally arose sections - like most gem sellers would congregate in one corner of the city, or all most cloth buyers would be in one spot. There were "regular" or well known vendors, who could be relied on to set up shop at a particular spot each day and had good prices and deep inventories (willing to buy / sell large amounts). Of course people wanted to be near the "front" of the city for greatest visibility as people entered the gates, but it always got too crowded, and there was a spillover outside the front gates... which wasn't the safest, because you could get eaten by wolves while tabbed out.
It made the cities feel bustling and chaotic and alive with activity in a way I have not seen any Western MMORPG achieve. The most popular shops had a crowd around them (just like real life) and whenever you saw a crowd it piqued your interest because there must be a vendor there with a good deal.
Compare this to the boring "auction house" system that WoW or Diablo had, where you just browsed listings like ebay...
posted by xdvesper at 7:46 PM on May 25, 2018 [24 favorites]
So the whole trick of this is that the "city" grew very organically. There naturally arose sections - like most gem sellers would congregate in one corner of the city, or all most cloth buyers would be in one spot. There were "regular" or well known vendors, who could be relied on to set up shop at a particular spot each day and had good prices and deep inventories (willing to buy / sell large amounts). Of course people wanted to be near the "front" of the city for greatest visibility as people entered the gates, but it always got too crowded, and there was a spillover outside the front gates... which wasn't the safest, because you could get eaten by wolves while tabbed out.
It made the cities feel bustling and chaotic and alive with activity in a way I have not seen any Western MMORPG achieve. The most popular shops had a crowd around them (just like real life) and whenever you saw a crowd it piqued your interest because there must be a vendor there with a good deal.
Compare this to the boring "auction house" system that WoW or Diablo had, where you just browsed listings like ebay...
posted by xdvesper at 7:46 PM on May 25, 2018 [24 favorites]
You've gotta admire their dedication to capitalism, though. Even when the world is almost gone and I'm about to go on a desperate last-stand battle to save everyone, they won't sell me that Elixir or whatever unless I go grind out a bunch of cash for them.
Well, even when they set up shop next to the Portal of Eternal Abyss that's located at the end of a shaky rope bridge suspended over Demonspawn Volcano which itself is in the Cursed Lands of a Million Deaths, they still sell that elixir at the exact same price as the shop you passed by in town. At that point, are they actually making money? Also, is there some merchant central authority that keep prices the same? And if so, that leads even more questions. Like, how powerful are they? I mean, it's the end of the world yet they can set up franchise shops throughout the world that still accept a single currency.
posted by FJT at 8:06 PM on May 25, 2018 [14 favorites]
Well, even when they set up shop next to the Portal of Eternal Abyss that's located at the end of a shaky rope bridge suspended over Demonspawn Volcano which itself is in the Cursed Lands of a Million Deaths, they still sell that elixir at the exact same price as the shop you passed by in town. At that point, are they actually making money? Also, is there some merchant central authority that keep prices the same? And if so, that leads even more questions. Like, how powerful are they? I mean, it's the end of the world yet they can set up franchise shops throughout the world that still accept a single currency.
posted by FJT at 8:06 PM on May 25, 2018 [14 favorites]
It may have got buried amidst all the articles and links I threw at people but scroll back up above and check out the trailer for Moonlighter. It looks like it's going to be amazing. You're a shopkeeper by day and dungeon crawler by night. And the art style is gorgeous.
posted by Fizz at 8:13 PM on May 25, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by Fizz at 8:13 PM on May 25, 2018 [1 favorite]
Yeah, I definitely have the sense that those late game shopkeepers could save the world themselves. They certainly can somehow fend off all the demons and so on pouring out of the gates, and they absolutely have the equipment to take on the final boss. But maybe they just can't avoid their destiny, can't fight the prophecy that said "This one, ... This one will set up a great shop, making incredible profit from the rising chaos, as the world almost ends"
posted by aubilenon at 8:13 PM on May 25, 2018 [6 favorites]
posted by aubilenon at 8:13 PM on May 25, 2018 [6 favorites]
Shopkeepers in Crypt of the NecroDancer sing along with the level music, which is just delightful.
They also dance with the music, but in CotN everything dances.
posted by seraphine at 8:18 PM on May 25, 2018 [4 favorites]
They also dance with the music, but in CotN everything dances.
posted by seraphine at 8:18 PM on May 25, 2018 [4 favorites]
I spent a short eternity in dwarf fortress developing a mercantile society, so I have seen the other side of in-game shopkeeping. My dwarves would toil tirelessly to produce trinkets of surpassing quality,made of various stones and bones and sometimes wood. And they would pile all of these wares on to a specially made stage that occupied a central and prominent area of the fortress. Like clockwork, elven caravans would arrive, crossing moats and bridges and descending a spiral ramp into the dwarven underground. Usually we traded and the elves went along their way, but sometimes everything went sideways and there would be a massacre or everyone would starve because I forgot to pull levers that lowered the draw bridges, and then eventually some demons from below came up and murdered everything. The demons were not good customers. I have a lot more respect for shopkeepers now.
Also: what, no melnorme?
posted by qxntpqbbbqxl at 8:33 PM on May 25, 2018 [10 favorites]
Also: what, no melnorme?
posted by qxntpqbbbqxl at 8:33 PM on May 25, 2018 [10 favorites]
"Try not to die!"
posted by Aya Hirano on the Astral Plane at 8:40 PM on May 25, 2018 [4 favorites]
posted by Aya Hirano on the Astral Plane at 8:40 PM on May 25, 2018 [4 favorites]
So happy to see Recettear featured here as well. One of my favourite bits is deliberately crashing the market. The first time I tried this out, I bought all the blue shields at a time when armor was in demand. Sat on them for a while, then dumped them all in the shop. I was selling literally nothing else. Not sure where the demand for armor was at that point but the market for blue shields crashed. I lost a lot of money on that but it was worth it.
posted by Aya Hirano on the Astral Plane at 8:47 PM on May 25, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by Aya Hirano on the Astral Plane at 8:47 PM on May 25, 2018 [2 favorites]
Was Dragon Warrior 4 from 1992 (1990 in Japan) the earliest example of running youR own shop in a video game RPG? Playing as Taloon was pretty cool. Probably my favorite part of the game was sitting behind that counter, selling to and buying from adventurers, then going home to the 8-bit wife and kid.
posted by Mister Cheese at 9:37 PM on May 25, 2018 [3 favorites]
posted by Mister Cheese at 9:37 PM on May 25, 2018 [3 favorites]
The merchants of Dark Souls were pretty memorable.
posted by snuffleupagus at 9:57 PM on May 25, 2018 [3 favorites]
posted by snuffleupagus at 9:57 PM on May 25, 2018 [3 favorites]
Steal some food in Ultima II, have your ass followed by a dozen guards, then get done in by a jester...
posted by RobotVoodooPower at 10:27 PM on May 25, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by RobotVoodooPower at 10:27 PM on May 25, 2018 [2 favorites]
I was going to say - all shopkeepers are Asidonohopo to me.
Even Izchak?
posted by entity447b at 1:10 AM on May 26, 2018 [3 favorites]
Even Izchak?
posted by entity447b at 1:10 AM on May 26, 2018 [3 favorites]
FINE DWARVEN CRAFTS
DIRECT FROM ORZAMMAR
I like to think that guy was the first to get eaten when the city got invaded.
posted by Mr. Bad Example at 3:08 AM on May 26, 2018 [1 favorite]
DIRECT FROM ORZAMMAR
I like to think that guy was the first to get eaten when the city got invaded.
posted by Mr. Bad Example at 3:08 AM on May 26, 2018 [1 favorite]
Late-game shopkeepers are the original Martin Shkrelis, hanging on to life-saving equipment and selling it at incredible profit to enrich themselves. NO BIG DEAL, I'M ONLY TRYING TO SAVE THE WORLD OVER HERE, PHARMA BRO
posted by duffell at 4:26 AM on May 26, 2018 [11 favorites]
posted by duffell at 4:26 AM on May 26, 2018 [11 favorites]
"You're an organ donor, right?"
posted by SPrintF at 5:25 AM on May 26, 2018 [3 favorites]
posted by SPrintF at 5:25 AM on May 26, 2018 [3 favorites]
Many (most?) of the shops in Puzzle Pirates are run by players.
posted by rmd1023 at 5:29 AM on May 26, 2018 [4 favorites]
posted by rmd1023 at 5:29 AM on May 26, 2018 [4 favorites]
The poor Necrodancer shopkeeper regularly gets murdered by speedrunners who don't have enough money to pay for some big item -- it's really quite a terrible set of working conditions, if you ask me.
posted by inconstant at 6:14 AM on May 26, 2018 [3 favorites]
posted by inconstant at 6:14 AM on May 26, 2018 [3 favorites]
NO BIG DEAL, I'M ONLY TRYING TO SAVE THE WORLD OVER HERE, PHARMA BRO
Says the guy who, racing against time to disrupt the ceremony that will disrupt barrier separating our world from the demonic planes, pauses to rifle through the pockets of every dead man.
"You'd feel a coin hidden under the tongue of a man you were strangling, Mouser."
posted by mark k at 6:59 AM on May 26, 2018 [6 favorites]
Says the guy who, racing against time to disrupt the ceremony that will disrupt barrier separating our world from the demonic planes, pauses to rifle through the pockets of every dead man.
"You'd feel a coin hidden under the tongue of a man you were strangling, Mouser."
posted by mark k at 6:59 AM on May 26, 2018 [6 favorites]
Shopkeepers in Crypt of the NecroDancer sing along with the level music, which is just delightful.
I like that the OST album apparently includes Shopkeeper versions of all the songs. I love Necrodancer, but unfortunately I'm pretty bad at both roguelikes and rhythm games. You might think that would wrap around to me being surprisingly good at this roguelike rhythm game, but that's not so.
On the "late game shopkeepers are clearly badass enough to beat the game themselves" topic, I feel like Rodin from Bayonetta deserves special mention. I mean, he's a fallen angel in a trenchcoat who always wear sunglasses and runs a dive bar that sells guns from a secret area behind the liquor. To get new weapons from him, you bring him a golden record which he takes into hell so he can lure a demon to kill so he can forge it into the weapon. And when he's not doing that, he apparently spends all of his time practicing cool one-liners to say the next time you visit.
posted by tobascodagama at 7:10 AM on May 26, 2018 [1 favorite]
I like that the OST album apparently includes Shopkeeper versions of all the songs. I love Necrodancer, but unfortunately I'm pretty bad at both roguelikes and rhythm games. You might think that would wrap around to me being surprisingly good at this roguelike rhythm game, but that's not so.
On the "late game shopkeepers are clearly badass enough to beat the game themselves" topic, I feel like Rodin from Bayonetta deserves special mention. I mean, he's a fallen angel in a trenchcoat who always wear sunglasses and runs a dive bar that sells guns from a secret area behind the liquor. To get new weapons from him, you bring him a golden record which he takes into hell so he can lure a demon to kill so he can forge it into the weapon. And when he's not doing that, he apparently spends all of his time practicing cool one-liners to say the next time you visit.
posted by tobascodagama at 7:10 AM on May 26, 2018 [1 favorite]
Trying to remember the name of the original Xbox rpg that finally had a good explanation as to why there was always a shopkeeper nearby and why he had stronger and stronger items to sell as you went up a level. It's way out of print, so I'll drop the spoiler: he's actually the evil overlord in disguise, and he's been nurturing the heroes all through the game so they'd finally be strong enough to serve his final plan.
posted by Mogur at 7:22 AM on May 26, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by Mogur at 7:22 AM on May 26, 2018 [2 favorites]
God of War has a really nice set of fleshed out shopkeepers in the dwarf brothers Brok and Sindri. They serve as some much-needed comic relief and also feed into the story in a pretty great way. Here's a video of all their scenes full o' spoilers. It's nearly an hour, that's a lot of voiced and animated content. I particularly like the in-world explanation of how they keep showing up in convenient places all over the nine realms.
posted by Nelson at 9:11 AM on May 26, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by Nelson at 9:11 AM on May 26, 2018 [2 favorites]
Imma let you finish, but Stardew Valley has the best shopkeepers of all time.
posted by Jacqueline at 10:09 AM on May 26, 2018 [5 favorites]
posted by Jacqueline at 10:09 AM on May 26, 2018 [5 favorites]
Final Fantasy XI had a "bazaar" system, where players could put up for sale certain items in their inventory at whatever price. Sure, there was an auction house too, but you lost a little on tax, and bazaar sales also were subject to tax. So, you'd have all sorts of AFK players that set up their bazaars just outside city limits. On the Bismarck server, the biggest er, bazaar bazaar was usually just outside Jeuno, in Rolanberry fields.
Players could keep their bazaar flag up at all times, so it was not uncommon to be going about your business in the city, or even in a dungeon, and someone would ask you to stop a moment so they could make a purchase.
When I was done playing for the night, I would sometimes set myself up in a hidden location, perhaps in a safe corner of a dungeon or something, with a fun or powerful item up for 1 gil, and my bazaar comment would be "You found me!" I met a lot of fun people that way, or I'd get into an XP party and they'd be like, "Wait, you're that random bazaar guy!"
I was sad that there's no similar player bazaar system in FF14. :(
posted by xedrik at 10:13 AM on May 26, 2018 [3 favorites]
Players could keep their bazaar flag up at all times, so it was not uncommon to be going about your business in the city, or even in a dungeon, and someone would ask you to stop a moment so they could make a purchase.
When I was done playing for the night, I would sometimes set myself up in a hidden location, perhaps in a safe corner of a dungeon or something, with a fun or powerful item up for 1 gil, and my bazaar comment would be "You found me!" I met a lot of fun people that way, or I'd get into an XP party and they'd be like, "Wait, you're that random bazaar guy!"
I was sad that there's no similar player bazaar system in FF14. :(
posted by xedrik at 10:13 AM on May 26, 2018 [3 favorites]
Sidorovich is not buying what you're selling (possibly NSFW).
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 10:40 AM on May 26, 2018
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 10:40 AM on May 26, 2018
Thinking of Spelunky's shopkeeper started me on a path where I'm now thinking of all of the innekeepers/shopkeepers that become violently angry if you attempt to steal/attack them. And how very Westworld this action is because I'll often do this just to see what happens. Because I can. Because I'm a monster.
posted by Fizz at 12:53 PM on May 26, 2018
posted by Fizz at 12:53 PM on May 26, 2018
I do think that watching Westworld must be a very different experience for non-gamers.
It's easy for a non-gamer to watch the show and think "what kind of animal would ever want to do that, whether they're mindless robots or not?"
Whereas I know that when I play a new game and there is a mother with an infant, the first thing I am going to try to do is steal the infant from the mother and feed it to a bear, just to see if I can and what happens when I do.
I am in the game for the complex systems and one of the biggest payoffs is seeing their edges. And, as the NPCs keep getting more realistic, my urge to steal their children and feed them to wildlife has not decreased one bit.
I would be the biggest asshole in Westworld.
posted by 256 at 1:07 PM on May 26, 2018 [4 favorites]
It's easy for a non-gamer to watch the show and think "what kind of animal would ever want to do that, whether they're mindless robots or not?"
Whereas I know that when I play a new game and there is a mother with an infant, the first thing I am going to try to do is steal the infant from the mother and feed it to a bear, just to see if I can and what happens when I do.
I am in the game for the complex systems and one of the biggest payoffs is seeing their edges. And, as the NPCs keep getting more realistic, my urge to steal their children and feed them to wildlife has not decreased one bit.
I would be the biggest asshole in Westworld.
posted by 256 at 1:07 PM on May 26, 2018 [4 favorites]
And how very Westworld this action is because I'll often do this just to see what happens. Because I can. Because I'm a monster.
Try it in Nethack and see what happens!
posted by praemunire at 1:23 PM on May 26, 2018 [3 favorites]
Try it in Nethack and see what happens!
posted by praemunire at 1:23 PM on May 26, 2018 [3 favorites]
I do think that watching Westworld must be a very different experience for non-gamers.Maybe so, but as someone who spends a good deal of their free time either playing or watching games, I couldn't make it past episode 1 or 2 of Westworld either. Not every gamer is a GTA type.
posted by inconstant at 1:28 PM on May 26, 2018 [3 favorites]
I am in the game for the complex systems and one of the biggest payoffs is seeing their edges. And, as the NPCs keep getting more realistic, my urge to steal their children and feed them to wildlife has not decreased one bit.
I'm the opposite. I'm a complete creampuff even in games. I only just learned that it's okay to chop down trees and clear plants all over Stardew Valley. I thought I had to stay within my property lines! I was wondering where the metes and bounds were!
posted by Countess Elena at 1:39 PM on May 26, 2018 [13 favorites]
I'm the opposite. I'm a complete creampuff even in games. I only just learned that it's okay to chop down trees and clear plants all over Stardew Valley. I thought I had to stay within my property lines! I was wondering where the metes and bounds were!
posted by Countess Elena at 1:39 PM on May 26, 2018 [13 favorites]
I like the shops in Dishonored where you can buy stuff if you need it when you arrive in the level, but there's always a way to rob the place later...
posted by rhamphorhynchus at 4:21 PM on May 26, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by rhamphorhynchus at 4:21 PM on May 26, 2018 [1 favorite]
Did you ever get the feeling that the shopkeeps in these games actually cause the summoning of the evil overlord and his horde, to drive sales?
posted by JHarris at 6:52 PM on May 26, 2018 [6 favorites]
posted by JHarris at 6:52 PM on May 26, 2018 [6 favorites]
"No one has more friends than the man with many cheeses!" Is my favorite seller in any game
posted by ch1x0r at 12:45 PM on May 27, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by ch1x0r at 12:45 PM on May 27, 2018 [2 favorites]
God of War has a really nice set of fleshed out shopkeepers in the dwarf brothers Brok and Sindri.
Agreed. I've been platinuming this over the weekend (one trophy to go, no prizes for guessing which) and they're always worth having a chat with. Quite amusingly-written and well-acted. It probably wouldn't have killed anybody to have one of them be a female dwarf however.
posted by turbid dahlia at 3:27 PM on May 27, 2018 [1 favorite]
Agreed. I've been platinuming this over the weekend (one trophy to go, no prizes for guessing which) and they're always worth having a chat with. Quite amusingly-written and well-acted. It probably wouldn't have killed anybody to have one of them be a female dwarf however.
posted by turbid dahlia at 3:27 PM on May 27, 2018 [1 favorite]
As an NPC shopkeeper myself, nothing sends a chill up my spine like when someone enters my shop and immediately quicksaves.
posted by um at 1:46 AM on May 28, 2018 [13 favorites]
posted by um at 1:46 AM on May 28, 2018 [13 favorites]
I totally skipped Westworld because it sounded creepy and awful but now it sounds interesting as a lens on the video game murder hobo thing.
I'm reminded of this article from 2013: The Journey To Kill Everyone In Dark Souls.
posted by snuffleupagus at 7:24 AM on May 28, 2018
I'm reminded of this article from 2013: The Journey To Kill Everyone In Dark Souls.
posted by snuffleupagus at 7:24 AM on May 28, 2018
I played an older Korean MMORPG called ROSE that had the most delightful shop system... your player literally turned into a cute little hawker / kiosk and you set your buy / sell prices and inventory limits.
Neat factoid! (I used to work on another Korean MMO that had this same system): The Korean market is dominated by internet cafes - people are much more likely to play their MMOs in public, paying the cafes per hour and/or buying food/drink for access. Korean MMO companies know this and tend to work hand-in-hand with the cafes, because a cafe with their game installed is a cafe that's an active advertisement for their product. So a lot of the must-be-logged-in features, especially this player-sale method, are specifically designed to keep people in the cafes paying the fees for longer. (This leads to features that are baffling and sometimes immensely frustrating for American gamers.)
posted by restless_nomad at 8:37 AM on May 28, 2018 [1 favorite]
Neat factoid! (I used to work on another Korean MMO that had this same system): The Korean market is dominated by internet cafes - people are much more likely to play their MMOs in public, paying the cafes per hour and/or buying food/drink for access. Korean MMO companies know this and tend to work hand-in-hand with the cafes, because a cafe with their game installed is a cafe that's an active advertisement for their product. So a lot of the must-be-logged-in features, especially this player-sale method, are specifically designed to keep people in the cafes paying the fees for longer. (This leads to features that are baffling and sometimes immensely frustrating for American gamers.)
posted by restless_nomad at 8:37 AM on May 28, 2018 [1 favorite]
Everquest also had (has?) a system that lets you set up your player character as a vendor, but I don’t know anything about it other than what I just learned skimming that Google result I linked (and I only knew to search for it because I had a very faint memory of hearing about it).
posted by liet at 8:44 PM on May 28, 2018
posted by liet at 8:44 PM on May 28, 2018
Khajiit like to sell, but they also like to sneak.
posted by homunculus at 8:06 AM on June 7, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by homunculus at 8:06 AM on June 7, 2018 [1 favorite]
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