New Player Questions

[majer63]

Hello, I just got this game not that long ago and I had a few questions I was wondering if anybody could help me with.

1. I failed rather miserably in my first attempt, but apparently it was just a dream. Is there any advantage to restarting and trying to complete the game in one go, or am I better off just continuing with this playthrough (and apparently, keeping some items in my shop, along with my merchant level).

2. Any suggestions for how I can actually make the money to pay the 10k off? The Merchant Guild ran out of stock on their swords and daggers rather quickly, and I'm not getting enough sales to even come close to paying off any kind of debt.

3. Is there any way to refuse to buy items off of customers? I don't want to annoy them by offering too low of a price, but some of their items I just cannot afford to buy.

Any help would be very much appreciated. :)

[Berahlen]

1) If you let the game restart after failing, it starts you off on the first week with everything you had before failing. You don't lose any opportunities later. Beating the game on the first loop is a matter of personal pride, nothing more.

2) Sounds like you're charging too much and driving people away. Most customers only start off with a few hundred pix in their pocket and can't even afford your higher items at first, but they bring in much, much more and buy more expensive stuff if you build up reputation. Give them good deals to increase reputation quickly. If you trigger a haggle, you get no customer reputation at all and your (exponential) experience chain breaks. If you drive them off too much, they stop showing up.

3) You can't refuse entirely, but if you do everything else right it won't even come close to breaking your bank. Buy at about 70% and consider it free XP and reputation.

Remember, you buy stuff from the merchant at 70% base, so even just selling at exactly base price is still a profit of almost half your investment. Ignore Tear's awful pricing advice and try selling at ~104%. Watch for the words "Near Pin" and "Just Pin", which give you huge bonuses for selling near or exactly at the price they wanted.

Also, run Jade Way and beat the thief at the very end. The first time you do this, the end-dungeon chest gives you a vase worth more than the first payment in itself, and the old man or Alouette can usually afford it. It's also a good way to stock your shelves for the very first time, though running dungeons for merchandise very quickly becomes not that useful (drops don't sell well and what few recipes are even possible before endgame generally use way too many materials to be more than novelties).

[majer63]

Thanks for the help. Is there a way to have places like the Merchant's guild restock on supplies, or do I have to rely on other places for items to sell. Also, If I have something like a dagger on at the shop window, with 10 more in stock, do I sell the daggers in stock first, or does the customer take the one on display (so no other customers see that it's for sale anymore)? Also, since apparently Tear gives bad advice, are the window slots better, or are they the exact same as the rest of the tables?

Thanks again for answering my (noob) questions. :)

[Quint the Alligator Snapper]

The customers tend to take the stuff in the windows more often, and then a bit less often the stuff on the other shop counters. If they are asking to buy an item, it's always an item that's on display. Only when they ask you for an item type can you give them stuff from your "storage".

The Merchants' Guild and the Market restock every day or week I think. Once you level up your merchant level enough, they will get more items, and the lower-priced items become unlimited.

[majer63]

Thanks for all the replies. I just have one more question I think. Originally, when I went to the dungeon, my adventurer would go back to full health when he got to 0 health. However, lately when he get's to 0 health he just dies instead of healing back to full health (Both instances, I had apples in my inventory that I equipped). Is there a reason for this? It seemed rather inconsistent to me.

[Red Bat]

Originally posted by Ryuu-senpai:

Health does not replenish on its' own EXCEPT level-ups, so that's likely your case. Healing items have to be used manually(no quick-slots also :( ). And you can't equip apples :). AFAIK there's one ring that can auto-heal you, but it's very unlikely you have it so early.

BTW Louie(and only he) would always work for you even for free, he has a price, but if you don't have money at all - he would still be available to venture into dungeon. He's a sturdy all-around good adventurer for newbies, but he can't run, so can be kinda slow to explore big dungeons.
Another piece of advice - try to sell to your adventurers as much equipment as possible even below price, they auto-equip it(swapping current items, it's visible in GUI when you sell) (except rings), so you don't have to spend precious inventory place to buff them up.

Louie also turns into quite the tank later since he can use all the best defensive equipment.

However you get an item after beating the game that lets you start with your most used adventurer next run, and since you start with Louie anyway, you might want someone else for your first run.

Honestly after finishing Jade Way, I'd just ignore the dungeons for a while. If you rack up just-pin bonuses and properly manage your shop, it's quite possible you will end up with enough money to pay off the entire dept with plenty of time to spare. At that point I'd recommend splurging through the dungeons as that's the way to unlock the endgame content, which is all based around the dungeons.

I'd advise you to try to figure out the just-pin rate's for each character. Early on you are much better off trying for the just-pin bonus rather than trying to haggle as high as possible, as it increases your relationship with the character which also increases their wallet size. An exception is Alouette, as she always has absurd amounts of money. If she asks for something cheap, go for the just-pin bonus just to increase how much she is willing to haggle and to keep your chain multiplier going. For anything else, try to get as much as possible as she will seriously overpay you to absolutely absurd extents at times.

Interestingly enough, even though the game repeatedly tells you about how broke Louie is, he's actually quite typical in terms of how much money he brings with him, how much he's willing to pay, and what his just-pin bonus is.

[Quint the Alligator Snapper]

Elan is far more broke than Louie.

[Cole]

I really feel like the bad tutorial cheated me out of beating the game on the first try. It teaches you that

- haggling is good (it isn't)
- you should make your sale at 130% (you shouldn't)

It doesn't teach you

- what the pin system is
- the importance of "just combos" or what that even is.

I half figured out and googled Just Combos after 20 days or so, good luck making the last payment at merchant level 12.

[Berahlen]

It really is bad. Though it kind of makes sense, since Tear works for a ruthless loan shark agency that tries to evict 10-year-old girls, so she probably doesn't really have much concept of how to run a startup that depends on customer loyalty.

Also Alouette's Just Pin prices aren't really that different from anyone else's. Her willingness to take gouged prices is probably just humoring Recette.