A discussion about the future in-game Shop

Nice topic! let's see here, Imma take this question by question:

1) I think Johannes will end up being the shop, though they could pull off a Dawn of Sorrow here and have him stick to the alchemy/forging and have a totally different NPC handle basic consumables.

2) I'd rather the shop not sell materials. If it only sold really common materials, then said materials should drop often enough that acquiring them should not be a problem anyway. And if it sold rare drops, that would just devalue the rarity of the drop.

3) I think the shop should be fixed, and close to a warp point. Most IGA games have them near the entrance: with Sotn and HoD being the main exceptions, so I think having the shop in a similar location would be a nice touch to keep that Iga consistency.

4) The shop should take a cue from Dawn of Sorrow, I think, and sell only the most basic form of each weapon: that way if you accidentally sell a weapon you have the means to buy the base form and forge your way back to it. If I have, say, a Vine Whip and sell it on accident, I should be able to buy the basic Leather Whip, go get materials from the Maneater Plant and re-forge the Vine Whip. Its just a nice safety net that doesn't cheapen the crafting.

5) I absolutely think the shop should sell at least one uber-expensive item. In this game's case: either a ring that speeds up MP regen, or a ring that increases shard drop rates. Endgame weapons and armor, however, should be forged/found exclusively.

And that's where I'm at regarding the shop!

Hi people, I'm thinking on backing this game(money is some sort of problem to me right now, but I definetly plan on doing at some point) and I thought about giving my opnion on this matter, one thing I'm concerned on this game it's that it'll be an castlevania(metroidvania style) with a different name, sotn is one of my favorite games of all time, but I want bloodstained to get stuff from it and improve it, and A LOT, after all sotn is a very old game(that aged very well though), anyway getting to the point, I think one of the areas bloodstained could change and also improve is the shop... of course this is just what I think it would be better, so it's just my opinion.

1- A bunch of different people, maybe 4 or 5 people, maybe even some demon that betrayed his kind or that just don't care and just want money, basically I want some variation. I like this idea mostly because of dark souls, and I think it would work well in a igavania game.

2-Yes, but mostly the common ones(but make them fairly expensive), maybe some that are sort of uncommon but make those very expensive. But never the rare ones.

3-Like I said on my first answer I want different people to be the shopkeepers, and I would prefer that they stayed in fixed areas, one of them could change locations though.

4-Yes, IMO this is a must, I just don't want the shop to sell very powerful weapons, these you should either forge OR getting from a drop. I'm not really a fan of dawn of sorrow crafting system in which there's a single most powerful weapon to every weapon class(so every great sword could become a claimh solais and etc), I want the crafting to be more unique, in which different swords could become different weapons even in their final forms.

I also want some weapons to be powerful and that can't be forged, that you can acquire either for drops or in some secret locations(some sort of legendary weapons that you can get only one per playthrough and maybe some that you can obtain only once per save!). Anyway back to topic.

5-No, IMO it doesn't need, but it wouldn't hurt having one of those either. One thing I also liked from dark souls is that you could buy keys to go to optional places, or to places where you would need to go later early in game. Anyway, maybe one of the shops(maybe a secret one) could have an weird looking item that could open a door in a secret point in late game where you could fight some powerful optional boss.

I think it's obvious by now because of the answers, but I believe bloodstained could learn a lot from dark souls, it probably has my favorite forging system, in which A LOT of weapons could be very powerful and viable and there are some special weapons as well, and the shopping system is awesome as different people could sell unique stuff(also more npcs).  I'm not saying I want it to be just like dark souls(specially the forging system, since it seems that every weapon on a single class will have the same animation and in dark souls all weapons had a different moveset, so bloodstained wouldn't be able to have a lot of weapons of a single class to be really good with it's limited moveset without it feeling redundant), but I definetly think bloodstained should get inspiration from it in some areas, but of course bloodstained should also be it's own thing and create it's own identity.

BTW sorry if my english is bad, it's not my first language.

I could roll with a demon as the shop keep. I mean, gluttony and greed are all a part of the key of Solomon, with demons being symbolic of different sins, but also holding great power for the summoner.

1) Johannes. Because aesthetically he's very boring to me. I'd rather not PLAY as him.

2) Some very basic forging materials are good, but I'd rather the higher quality material be dropped by elite enemies/mini-bosses.

3) I'd rather the shopkeeper be in one fixed location, similar the SotN and OoE. Items returning you to the shop would be a bonus as well.

4) I mean if the shop didn't sell weapons OR forging materials, I feel its selection would be very bland, and I strongly feel as big as Bloodstained is going to be, that this is highly unlikely. So yes, the shop should sell weapons as well. 

5) Miner Ring - A ring increasing the odds of dropped materials by foes. 

$ 1,500,000

Jeweler Pendant - A necklace that harnesses the powers of Hell's crystal pawns. Increases the rate of shard absorption.

$ 4,000,000

Bear Ring - When using a certain, familiar transformation, increases power...

$ 9,999,999

3). I think Miriam could save the shop-keep, it could even be a monster that loves (eats?) money and she can even "invite" him/her/it in her room.

just putting it out there for the reference of others,
this is how crafting and merchants are planned to work in my project, APART.

#1:crafting.
the player has a crafting level, which will increase as they get certain books scattered in the world.

the player can go to any save spot and craft anything they can at their current level.
additionally they can visit a smith or an alchemist to craft things higher than their current level.

crafting items can be found throughout the world and from enemies,
a travelling merchant will at random appear in each area, selling area specific stuff.

normal shops that stay in place will sell more items after completing quests for the shopkeep.

so, theres a little bit of everything in here.
yes, a lot of crafting items can be sold, as well as a lot of gear, but money will be much more difficult to come by.

crocodile does make an interesting point about shops possibly being largely redundant unless they sell something "good". Also its possible that if potions are readily available from the shop then it could possibly break the difficulty curve of the game - unless of course the shop only stocks small quantities of consumables, which is a possible solution to this problem.

Reconsidering things i think that its largely okay for the shop to stock good equipment as long as its massively overpriced, as this would still incentivise the player to craft items instead. Maybe have a few items that are only available in shops again at a high price.

The most important thing is that the shop is relevant to the player and also that it does not break the difficulty curve or render the crafting system useless, its a difficult balancing act for the devs.

I have to disagree with crocodile re: Johannes though. i think he'd be quite interesting to play as considering that he has no obvious weapons, he has a book that suggests that he is knowledgeable so maybe he can assist with forging. Given his close relationship with Miriam (and Gebel) though i dont think that he would want to sell her items, that just does not fit to me - he's better suited as a guiding hand on her quest.

My main/only thought on the matter is that I would like all playable characters to have a use for money. Normally, coins/bags drop for all characters in Igavania games, but only the main story playable character actually uses it.

It doesn't have to be the same items, it doesn't even need to be the same shop or a shop at all - I'm just saying I'd rather the other playable characters not have money drop when there's absolutely no significance to it. There's not even a "score" system in place to keep track of it, so as has been in the past, Richter or whoever is just grabbing up coins for no particular reason.

If the character doesn't have an inventory system at all, perhaps funds could go toward upgrades or switchable in-game weapons/powers (like with how Julius could cycle subweapons). Maybe you can use your money to pay an NPC to unlock an optional path in-game that otherwise required a Miriam-only progression ability (i.e. if you had to pay a ferryman)?