It's roundtable time! I was thinking about game economies today, for whatever reason. So many of them are poorly-balanced. Some to the point where finding additional currency/orbs/whatnot means almost nothing (if you can even hold them in the first place). Most recent Zelda games are somewhat guilty of this, as with Twilight Princess's endless treasure chests of fail (Phantom Hourglass added an infinite amount of ship tchotchkes to combat this, but it wasn't the most elegant solution - ditto for the Malo Mart, armor-that-used-money-as-fuel, and literal bridge-that-you-had-to-buy in TP). Others to the point where it feels like you have to grind forever to get that spiffy new item/ability. (Read: Dawn of SORROW.) In fact, I would say most games kind of screw up the economy aspect in some major way. And you could even say that the main appeal of CoDs and Diablos are their economies... maybe?

One cool wrinkle of Bastion that I just read about was that unusable Health Potions will give you XP. What a brilliant idea! This is an area of gaming with so much room for improvement. I liked Shantae's system, as well. The cool abilities didn't just cost you grindable money, but also non-grindable Magic Jams. Finding a new Magic Jam was always a fantastic feeling, and it made the exploration that much more rewarding.

I haven't played Tingle's Rupeeland (since I'm not European), but the economy in that game seems interesting, as well. You basically fight with money. Which was also in... Goemon, maybe? Even F-Zero's boost/health/recharge mechanic is a neat sort of game economy. By that token, Mario Kart Wii probably has the shittiest economy in the world.

So which games do you guys think strike the balance best, in a way that keeps you engaged throughout? All related aspects can be considered - inventory, pouch size, buyable items, new abilities, etc.

Have I abused the word "economy"?

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@Guillaume My problem with DQ is I always got too lazy to go take money out of the bank, shop, and put the leftovers back into the bank. Too many steps just to buy some items, especially if the newest town has no bank (then you get to add the steps of zooming all over the place to it.)

I think that Animal Crossing has a fairly balanced economy. It took me a long time to pay off my house (and all it's upgrades) anyway. And that's not counting all the furniture and whatnot. Even if you find stuff you're happy with, there's still more to buy... just to have it. And there's a limit on how many bells you can earn a day. I mean, eventually you'll shake all the fruit out of all your trees, you'll have dug up every last one of the town's daily fossils, and unless you have the patience of a saint, no one's going to spend all day trying to catch all the fish they can in a single day. Not in Animal Crossing, anyway.

But yeah, the worst one has got to be The Legend of Zelda. And there's an easy fix to the issue: just make the Rupees more scarce. Link shouldn't be trippin' over the freakin' things and doing Scrooge McDuck-like dives into his money-bin full of rupees before he gets to the first or second dungeon. Maybe take it back to the old-school, and rupees can only be found by defeating bad guys. And/or completing side-quests for NPCs. But not found as a "reward" for getting the 3rd and 4th dungeon item, going back to Hyrule Castle, using said items to finally open a chest that's been teasing you for the 10 or 15 hours you've spent in the game up to this point, only to find a stupid, useless Purple Rupee. (oh Twilight Princess, how you vex me so)

Finally, as to non-money type of currencies, I like the way Capcom's fighting games balance the Special and Ultra Combo bars. Your character has to either deal or receive damage in order for them to (respectively) fill up. There's a give/take here, and it creates and cool balance and a fantastic, rewarding feeling when you pull off a 10-hit combo and win the round in a flash of glory.

Also, if anyone has played Wild Guns (SNES) on the Virtual Console, the way the Vulcan Canon is awarded is pretty cool. As the HVGN pointed out, any game that toys with natural human tendencies in order to balance their game... is brilliant.

Anand said:

@Zero
Yeah, games like Diablo (and Monster Hunter!) do that pretty well, I think. You can play a variety of different ways (that actually FEEL different), based on your skills, and create your own playstyle. Tons of players probably check FAQs for optimal skill layouts, but that kind of kills the fun, I think.

Yeah, actually I was thinking Monster Hunter too. I put some major hours into the Wii Tri version, and the way money and items are exchanged, where you find yourself constantly balancing and deciding where your to spend your efforts, makes this complex (relative to other games I have played) economy very intriguing and addictive.

You know what game has a great fucking economy? Nintendogs 3DS. Yes. Nice, gradual progression system and some very attractive rewards (like music and operable miniature Mario Karts and Helicopters) mixed in with the mass of collectibles, many of which you can forge from the junk that you find lying around. Sort of like Meteos, which also had a compelling economy.

@roykoopa64
Monster Hunter is cool (and includes multiple ways to get money (fishing, hunting, farming, etc.) and even alternate ways to get an item, like bartering or synthesis), but I wish you could trade rare rubies and gems for other rare rubies and gems. Depending on a 5% drop rate is just no fun. Especially when you aren't especially lucky.

@Jargon
You've gotta pay off your house, man! And then work more to get a bigger house to be slave to! It's American culture, distilled. Except Animal Crossing is finite.

PogueSquadron said:

Has anyone played Terraria? That game is crazy hard to find gold coins. Granted, they still have a lot of patching and updating to do, but still, I have yet to really buy myself any cool items.

I played Terraria for about fifteen hours straight when it came out and haven't played it since. I need to boot it back up and see what they have added.

The game is really satisfying though when you get a cool new item.

Secret_Tunnel said:

I'm finally playing through Resident Evil 4, and upgrading the guns is one of my favorite parts of that game.

Yeah RE4 was my first thought for a decent economy. Lots of stuff to use money on and it's all useful. And the money comes in at a steady enough rate to balance your new weapons/upgrades properly: You're not constantly scrabbling for coin to bump yourself up from zombie food, nor will you instantly turn yourself into a walking tank (well not right away anyway :P )

@Oldmanwinter

Yeah it's especially addicting with friends. I can't wait to see what changes they make to the interface as time goes on.