History Main / NoheroDiscount

* ''Literature/TheWitchOfKnightcharm'': Bahar, a rookie witch at an evil WizardingSchool which strictly limits the magical equipment alloted to each student, uses her alchemy skills to brew powerful potions which she then sells to classmates that need her help and can pay dearly to get it. The protagonist Emily becomes desperate after she fails to pass a certain test and is denied access to any useful supplies from the school store, but when she approaches Bahar, the alchemist refuses to help her because she has nothing to trade or to pay with. Even though Emily has a track record of stopping the class's cruellest students from harming others, and even though some of those cruel students may well target Bahar in the future, Bahar refuses to give Emily any help without payment and Emily is forced to look elsewhere.

* ''Literature/TheWitchOfKnightcharm'': Bahar, a rookie witch at an evil WizardingSchool which strictly limits the magical equipment alloted to each student, uses her alchemy skills to brew powerful potions which she then sells to classmates that need her help and can pay dearly to get it. The protagonist Emily becomes desperate after she fails to pass a certain test and is denied access to any useful supplies from the school store, but when she approaches Bahar, Bahar refuses to help her because she has nothing to trade or to pay with. Even though Emily has a track record of standing up to the worst students in the class (who have threatened to attack, or have actually attacked, their classmates), Bahar refuses to give her a discount, and Emily is forced to look elsewhere.

* Also happens in most any bounty hunter anime, from ''Anime/CowboyBebop'' to ''Manga/GunsmithCats''. You break it, you bought it. Used mostly as an excuse to keep the heroes working by remaining in debt for the period of the show and sometimes past the ending as well.

'''Wakka:''' [[SarcasmMode Gee, thanks!]]

* In a SFW ''Webcomic/{{Oglaf}}'' strip, [[https://www.oglaf.com/pay-win/ Pay to Win]], TheChosenOne refuses to pay 500 gold for the sword he needs to fulfill a prophecy. [[spoiler:[[ProphecyTwist The prophecy turns out to end with him]] [[ShopliftAndDie dying an ignominious death in a shop.]]]]

-->'''Yahtzee:''' I have a lot of respect for the fantasy peasant village economic model. It seems those guys have a good scam going. You just [[SarcasmMode accidentally]] build your village in walking distance of the local gnoll camp, or near a dragon cave, or directly on top of a gateway to hell, build a big fat checkpoint in the village center and keep giving birth to potential kidnap-victims, and your shopkeeper, your blacksmith, your tailor and your inkeeper, they'll all be set for fucking life.

* In ''VideoGame/ChronoTrigger'', you can rescue a falsely imprisoned shop clerk from a dungeon. When you visit the shop later, the clerk will slip you some free potions when the shopkeeper isn't looking.
** There is also the island in 1000 AD where, at first, the Mystics running the shops hate humans and charge far more than the asking price for items and weapons. However, completing a sidequest in 600 AD will improve the Mystics' attitude about humans, and the shops will now give a discount instead.
*** Which, sadly, means next to nothing, as you'll likely have vastly superior equipment by then anyway. However, if you can somehow grind up all the cash you need on the early visits, you'll likely be set in the way of equipment until somewhere around the [[spoiler:Ocean Palace]].

** Also averted in ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft'', where you get discounts by 5% or so for every level of rep you have, up to 20% for [[HundredPercentHeroismRating exalted]]; unless you're a goblin and will barter with all the shopkeepers for the maximum discount regardless of reputation.
** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXI'' also has NPC shopkeepers give you (small) discounts if you've got a high Fame score.

** At the same time, the king {{invert|edTrope}}s this. If you bring him some evidence that you've actually got a shot at saving the princess, he'll just ''give'' you an {{a|nAxeToGrind}}xe to replace the [[ImprobableWeaponUser hoe]] you've been using.

* ''VideoGame/MonsterHunter'' averts this, though in a roundabout way that goes unnoticed. Each game typically has "points", a GlobalCurrencyException that can be used instead of money in some places, and is outright required for certain specialized services. These points aren't actually currency, but represent the quid-pro-quo the Hunter has earned -- for example, in ''Monster Hunter 4'', the Hunter can claim services from travelling companions with Caravan Points, said companions explaining they're spotting the cost in return for quest work the Hunter has done.

* In ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil4'', the vendor(s?) charge you rather high prices for weapons and other items, even though Los Illuminados are just as much a threat to him as to you (Though Fanon and the heat scope show he may be infected, and thus in less danger). Lampooned in [[http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2005/01/14/ this Penny Arcade strip]].
** To be fair, they do give you a great gun for free just for showing your skill at target practice. This particular vendors' greed seems to stem from pure laziness, since they will happily accept money you just took from the table right beside them. Also, paying 8000 pesetas for a handgun means it only cost Leon about £25, which means he [[SubvertedTrope is getting one hell of a good deal]].

** ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTheWindWaker'' takes this UpToEleven with Bomb-Master [[MeaningfulName Cannon]], who sells his bombs for prices several orders of magnitude above what you can possibly carry. This isn't intended as a CashGate, but as a BrokenBridge, and bombs can be bought for normal prices after the pirates rob the merchant of his bombs as part of the story. Prior to that, the merchant seems [[CardCarryingVillain mighty pleased with his greedy exploitation of his monopoly]], seemingly forgetting that, monopoly or not, he's not making money: no one can buy his wares because they cost more than the combined wealth of the world. In the same game, Tingle charges 398 Rupees to decipher each of eight maps needed to find the pieces of the Triforce. You have to get the first wallet upgrade to even pay this.[[labelnote:However]]In the HD remake, the base wallet amount is upped to 500 Rupees, so you don't need the first upgrade to be able to decipher the charts. [[/labelnote]] Luckily, you can hold up to 5000 Rupees after finding both wallet upgrades, a big jump from previous Zelda games.

* {{M|assivelyMultiplayerOnlineRolePlayingGame}}MORPGs can take this trope go UpToEleven. Not only do you not get discounts for saving the town/country/world -- not even if the shopkeeper himself gives you quests for TwentyBearAsses -- but your fellow players will often charge ridiculously exorbitant prices for rare items and equipment.

* Members of the Canadian Armed Forces get absolutely ''soaked'' when paying Rations and Quarters, their equivalent of Room and Board when staying in shacks and eating at the mess hall. Paying for the shacks itself it not too expensive, ranging from a meager $70 to $100 a month, but a soldier is also forced to pay an additional $350 to $450 a month to eat at the mess hall. ''Yes this is mandatory''; you cannot live in the shacks without paying to eat at the mess hall as well. Ask any Canadian soldier how they feel about this if you have a [[RantInducingSlight good half hour to kill]].

* ''VideoGame/{{Warframe}}'': You have to pay rather hefty amounts of credits to build things at your own personal foundry, in addition to the costs in materials. [[AllThereInTheManual Side material]] reveals that this is a result of your ship's [[ArtificialIntelligence Cephalon]] skimming off the top in order to keep the ship maintained, the food stores stocked, and so on. If he didn't do that, your ship would fall apart and you'd starve to death after spending all your money buying a bunch of weapons blueprints off the market.

'''Wakka:''' Gee, thanks!

* Videogame/{{Littlewood}}: The game is basically what happens after the end of a WesternRPG and sees the PlayerCharacter, who has already saved the world, rebuilding a town whose residents include their two former adventuring companions, who are also very close friends. One of them, Dalton, opens a shop in town. The other former adventuring companion, Willow, sometimes points out that she and the PlayerCharacter ''should'' be getting a discount at said shop.

* ''VideoGame/FalloutNewVegas'' averts this with the addition of faction reputations, as you get a discount from merchants who are associated with a faction that likes you. This mechanic highlights other vendors apparent lack of gratitude though, a particularly notable example is Old Lady Gibson, who runs the junkyard just outside Novac. Despite being tied to Novac and its economy, she isn't marked as being part of the town and won't give you any discounts when you restore the town's salvage industry by clearing out the REPCONN test site during the ''Come Fly With Me'' quest, even though she explains she gets all her junk from REPCONN. She will even charge you five hundred caps for a MacGuffin critical to completing said quest, which is a lot for low level characters, though you can get it for half if your Speech or Barter skills are high enough, or for free with the Lady Killer perk. She is tied for first with the Gun Runners for being the richest vendor in the game, so its hard to ignore her if you want to sell all your VendorTrash.

** ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTheWindWaker The Wind Waker]]'' takes this UpToEleven with Bomb-Master [[MeaningfulName Cannon]], who sells his bombs for prices several orders of magnitude above what you can possibly carry. This isn't intended as a CashGate, but as a BrokenBridge, and bombs can be bought for normal prices after the pirates rob the merchant of his bombs as part of the story. Prior to that, the merchant seems [[CardCarryingVillain mighty pleased with his greedy exploitation of his monopoly]], seemingly forgetting that, monopoly or not, he's not making money: no one can buy his wares because they cost more than the combined wealth of the world. In the same game, Tingle charges 398 Rupees to decipher each of eight maps needed to find the pieces of the Triforce. You have to get the first wallet upgrade to even pay this.[[labelnote:However]]In the HD remake, the base wallet amount is upped to 500 Rupees, so you don't need the first upgrade to be able to decipher the charts. [[/labelnote]] Luckily, you can hold up to 5000 Rupees after finding both wallet upgrades, a big jump from previous Zelda games.
** ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTwilightPrincess Twilight Princess]]'' also has a example, similar to ''Wind Waker'', with [[PreppyName Chudley's Fine Goods and Fancy Trinkets Emporium]]. Only the rich members of Hyrule town can afford to shop there, which unfortunately doesn't include ''you''.[[spoiler: Only by completing a side quest later in the game will Malo take over the shop, and the prices will drop drastically]].
** In ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaSkywardSword Skyward Sword]]'', despite everyone in Skyloft knowing that you're saving Zelda (or at least that you're on a VERY important mission) you have to buy your potion, your equipment, and pay for its upgrades.
** Justified in ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaBreathOfTheWild Breath of the Wild]]'' in regard to Purah and Robbie, the two Sheikah scientists who give you upgrades and items based on ancient {{Magitek}}. They'd ''like'' to give that stuff away, but the [[AfterTheEnd collapse of the central government of Hyrule in the Great Calamity a hundred years ago]] cut them off from the regular funds and resources they once had for their research, so Link must fork over rupees and Ancient parts for their services.
* Justified in ''VideoGame/{{Lemegeton}}''. You're not giving gold to Noiva as payment, but rather so she can use the stuff, being the king element and all, as alchemical fuel to create what you need.
* Exaggerated in ''VideoGame/Lufia2RiseOfTheSinistrals'' when Tia outright tries to scam Maxim by trying to pay less for slain Jellies than what they're actually worth. When Maxim calls her on this she says it's because her shop is doing very poorly, and Maxim [[AllLovingHero accepts the lowered amount]].

See also AdamSmithHatesYourGuts, which is where shop prices steadily rise regardless of how much sense this makes, and KarlMarxHatesYourGuts, where prices stay the same, again, regardless of logic. Also, see DudeWheresMyRespect. May tempt some into trying to get a BallisticDiscount or a FiveFingerDiscount. This is averted with HospitalityForHeroes and DiscountCard.

** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVIII'' contains one exception. If you return to Timber after you're finished there in the main story, you can save a little girl from getting run over by a train, and it earns you a free night at the inn. Played straight for everything else. ''How much'' for a train ticket?