History Main / AnEconomyIsYou

* A justified game mechanic in ''VideoGame/XenobladeChronicles2''. At the start of the game, the global economy is in steep recession due to habitable land quickly disappearing, leading to high prices and limited availability. As you complete sidequests, spend and make money, or even just chat to locals, an areas "Development Level" rises, lowering prices and allowing your mercenary force to help secure new contracts and trade route, leading to further development, new sidequests, and commentary from [=NPCs=] on how the improving economy leads to better quality of life. Eventually, you can start buying the deeds to various shops, giving you certain buffs and a cheery welcome from the shopkeeper.

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* Many ''Franchise/{{Castlevania}}'' games have a shop of some sort where the player can buy useful items, and while they're often inside or near Dracula's Castle where such an inventory would make sense, other times they're in random locales. ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaOrderOfEcclesia'' is probably the worst offender, with some random town store selling health potions and armor that only Shanoa would have a reason to buy. There's also a chef in town whose food is so bad that only Shanoa bothers with him, though since her primary means of refilling her health is eating she's probably the single best customer he could ask for.
* ''VideoGame/SteamworldDig'' takes place in an old Western town and the vast underground mine network beneath it. The town is almost entirely unpopulated except for a scarce few NPC's whose only purpose is to service the player character. In fact, progressing through the game is done by selling the gems acquired from the mines to an NPC, and the money gained from doing so is used to purchase essential upgrades.

* ''VideoGame/SystemShock2'': all replicators inside the ''Von Braun'' and ''Rickenbacker'' sell only tools of death, gameplay-related hardware, medical supplies, and (health-boosting) food--the only exceptions are video game cartridges. Justified because the replicators simply turn currency from {{Nanomachines}} into products according to the user's profile, and that the machines were already reprogrammed to dispense these unconventional items due to the tumultuous situation on-board the ''Von Braun'' and ''Rickenbacker''. Also worth noting is that the player can also hack into the vending machines in order to force them to dispense a wider range of items for less, so it's possible that the MegaCorp that sponsored the ''Von Braun'' may well be money-hungry enough to sell soldiers bullets from vending machines,

* ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'' has [[ThrivingGhostTown tiny villages]] with just a couple of houses and shop that sells nothing but Pokemon catching and healing items. The only place you can buy anything not Pokemon-related is the massive department store in the big city (Celadon, Goldenrod, etc.), and that one shop that sells bicycles so expensive that they cost more than your body weight in gold - in fact, they cost more than the maximum capacity of your wallet (yet will eventually give one away for free if you ask nicely).
** ''[[VideoGame/PokemonDiamondAndPearl Platinum]]'' features two bars and a restaurant. All of which are filled with people that want to fight you, and only one of the bars will sell you liquid refreshment: Moo-Moo Milk, which is used to heal Pokemon...
** ''VideoGame/PokemonXAndY'' feature clothing and accessory stores, which let the player (and presumably other residents of the town) buy new outfits, hats, and bags.

* Averted by ''VideoGame/ADanceWithRogues'', a fan-made expansion for ''Neverwinter Nights''. There are shops in Betancuria that buy or sell only clothing, and one merchant in the southern portion of the city sells only dyes. You even get to go into a tea shop, but that is because the proprietor is a weapons instructor in his spare time and will train you to fight in his basement, you don't actually get to buy anything.
* Averted in ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft'', there's plenty of random houses you can't go in and and people sell things like beer, toys, et cetra.
* In ''VideoGame/MassEffect1'' Noveria has only a weapon/armor shop. On the Citadel, the marketplace has multiple shopkeepers but you're only allowed to talk to the ones that sell weapons. In the sequel, you can actually buy all kinds of touristy things, including light reading, model ships, tropical fish for your aquarium and [[BreadEggsMilkSquick alien porn]]!
* Lampshaded in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyCrystalChroniclesRingOfFates'': you '''are''' the only thing keeping the magic shop in business.
* Most ''Franchise/FinalFantasy'' and similar games follow this trope to a T; however, in an interesting addition, ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII'' let you spend the insane amount of cash you get while grinding to beat the [[BonusBoss Weapon bonus bosses]] by buying a ''villa''. It's totally useless except for [[BraggingRightsReward Bragging Rights]] (and a place to store a particular useless item you can collect several times).
* The auction house in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVI'' has an aversion of sorts in that it sometimes sells items that, while interesting, are not anything useful to your quest. And you can't buy them; some kid always convinces his father to blow ridiculous amounts of cash on the non-useful items (even if you have more money, you're prevented from bidding after the father gives his bid.) Amusing the first time or two, but if you're trying to get something good from the auction house, be prepared for several rounds of the same guy buying the same talking chocobo over and over.
* In ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyIVTheAfterYears'', some towns can be visited in several chapters, and in each one of them the shop's contents change to suit whoever you're controlling. For example in Porom's chapter Mysidia's shops sell mage gear, while in Edge's chapter, while you control one of Edge's students who's spying, it sells ''Ninja gear''. When ''both chapters happen simultaneously in-story''. And that same shop sold Paladin gear in the original game. Of course the likely explanation is that the shop actually carries ''everything'' and the interface is showing only the gear that interests you.
* Averted in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXV'', where your characters patronize the same restaurants and convenience stores as everybody else. Given the game's [[LowFantasy rather grounded]] approach, even things like a HealingPotion don't come from any sort of specialty shops - they're mundane sodas and energy drinks given a boost by [[PlayerCharacter Noctis']] RoyaltySuperpower.
* Generally averted in the ''VideoGame/TrailsSeries'', where every establishment you visit, from stores to street vendors, is a legitimate business that deals with customers besides you on a regular basis. There are many [[AdventureGuild Bracers]] besides you who need to make use of the weapon shops, after all. Some sidequests have you testing new products before they go on the mass-market. [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded]] when a shopkeeper in ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfHeroesTrailsFromZero Trails from Zero]]'' explains that after he got a shipment of orbal staves from Tio's boss, he's stuck with them, and figures she'd better buy his stock.
-->''Gironde'': Don't worry, though. I don't intend to sell these orbal staves to anyone but you, miss. Y'know, isn't selling them to me, only to sell to you sort of strange? I mean, I feel like there're better ways to go about that.

* A prime example is in ''VideoGame/LufiaIIRiseOfTheSinistrals'', where a certain town contains a shop that deals only in items the ''main character'' has sold previously in the game. This despite the fact the character in question has never visited the town or even that particular continent before. Even the other [=NPCs=] are [[LampshadeHanging a little confused]] by this one.
* In ''[[VideoGame/KingsField King's Field II]]'', any and all items sold by the character can be bought back... from the gravedigger in the starting town.

* Averted throughout most of ''Franchise/TheElderScrolls'' series, where in addition to the normal adventuring fare (weapons, armor, potions, spells, etc.), you can find shops selling items that the average citizenry would want or need (food, drinks, books, VendorTrash, useless decorative clutter, etc.) as well.
* ''VideoGame/ShiningWisdom'' has one shop for the whole kingdom (okay there is one more [[SecretShop hidden]] in the middle of nowhere, behind a rock, past a lake, which only the player can reach, and whose prices are insanely high) and he sells only three items. Only one of those could be of any possible use to anybody other than our hero.
* Lampshaded in ''VideoGame/LegendOfLegaia'': After you free Drake Castle from the Mist, the shops reopen, and one lady remarks that they are now selling exclusively weapons and armor instead of meat and fresh vegetables.
* Averted in the ''VideoGame/{{Avernum}}'' series. Some shops sell various things that are of no use to adventurers (you can, of course, buy them, but they generally won't do you any good unless they're used in a sidequest), while others mention that other things are in the store, but [[LawOfConservationOfDetail show you only the items you would be interested in]].

* In ''VideoGame/ChronoTrigger'', you can buy exactly the same items in every era. There's a caveman stocking up on robotic attachments, just to cater to that niche [[TimeTravel time traveller]] market.
* Averted in ''Monster Girl Quest: Paradox'', where towns contain at least one and often multiple food shops. Food is fairly important in the game, as you can give it to enemies or allies to raise RelationshipValues or use it as ingredients in cooking-related skills. You can even eat it directly to restore some HP, though there are much better options for healing. Additionally, some of the equipment you can buy is tools or clothing that normal people might wear.

* In ''VideoGame/{{Moonlighter}}'' it's up to Will to get Rynoka's economy in motion by gauging his prices correctly and investing in the town to get other merchants to come.
* ''VideoGame/RakenzarnTales'' plays it straight in that the only shops you ever really visit are the ones for equipment and items. There's also the odd restaurant you can visit to buy food for stat boosts or get some to go.
* ''VideoGame/RakenzarnFrontierStory'' justifies its use of this trope. Your only currency is Medals that you keep inexplicably finding on enemies and chests that are only valuable to inter-dimensional travelers, so you can't use them in any of the stores of the other worlds you visit. The Chamber of Rakenzarn, your home base, only sells stuff that Realmwalkers would use on the job, with the implication that anyone who does end up having to bunk there has to bring their own stuff from their home world.

* Parodied in the ''Franchise/{{Disgaea}}'' series, where the general store does sell things other than weapon or armor, but they're all either usable items or accessories you can equip.

* Averted in ''VideoGame/DwarfFortress'' [[AnAdventurerIsYou Adventure Mode]] - pretty much any human city will have multiple stores dedicated to things you have absolutely no need of - leather, furniture, basic clothing, bolts of cloth, jewelry and other assorted trinkets. It will also most likely have a market, which tend to be much more useful - there are usually loads of farmers there, who all sell edible plants.

* ''TabletopGame/D20Modern'' is even worse than D&D about it. Aside from a small section on lifestyle needs - for if you want to buy a house or a car - almost everything in the various books' equipment chapters are geared toward satisfying the needs of action movie heroes. However, the game also runs on an abstract Wealth score instead of hard numbers, representing a character's overall financial situation. The abstraction makes it easy for the GM to estimate a rough Purchase DC for anything not on the equipment tables, allowing players to quickly buy what they want while reducing table bloat.
* Surprisingly averted in the tabletop RPG version of ''TabletopGame/BattleTech'', ''Mechwarrior''. Books contain both availability and price stats for mundane items like food, lodging, transport, and personal items like tablet computers and Bluetooth headsets. It also included a surprisingly exhaustive list of clothing with no military application whatsoever, including differentiating between simple underwear and lingerie!

-->-- '''Beedle''', ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaSkywardSword''

* Averted in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXV'', where your characters patronize the same restaurants and convenience stores as everybody else. Given the game's [[LowFantasy rather grounded]] approach, even things like a HealingPotion don't come from any sort of speciality shops - they're mundane sodas and energy drinks given a boost by [[PlayerCharacter Noctis']] RoyaltySuperpower.

* Averted in ''VideoGame/DwarfFortress'' [[AnAdventurerIsYou Adventure Mode]] - pretty much any human city will have multiple stores dedicated to things you have absolutely no need of - leather, furniture, basic clothing, bolts of cloth, jewelery and other assorted trinkets. It will also most likely have a market, which tend to be much more useful - there are usually loads of farmers there, who all sell edible plants.

* Generally averted in the ''VideoGame/TrailsSeries'', where every establishment you visit, from stores to street vendors, is a legitimate business that deals with customers besides you on a regular basis. There are many [[AdventureGuild Bracers]] besides you who need to make use of the weapon shops, after all. Some sidequests have you testing new products before they go on the mass-market. [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded]] when a shopkeeper in ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfHeroesZeroNoKiseki Trails from Zero]]'' explains that after he got a shipment of orbal staves from Tio's boss, he's stuck with them, and figures she'd better buy his stock.

** On the aversion side, some of the merchants who have things to sell the PlayerCharacter have inventories consisting of what he actually needs to buy from them and various items that can technically be puchased, but are useless in terms of gameplay. There are even a couple merchants who only sell items that are a complete waste of gold.

* Generally averted in the ''VideoGame/TrailsSeries'', where every establishment you visit, from stores to street vendors, is a legitimate business that deals with customers besides you on a regular basis. There are many [[AdventureGuild Bracers]] besides you who need to make use of the weapon shops, after all. Some sidequests have you testing new products before they go on the mass-market. [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded]] when a shopkeeper in ''[[VideoGame/ZeroNoKiseki Trails from Zero]]'' explains that after he got a shipment of orbal staves from Tio's boss, he's stuck with them, and figures she'd better buy his stock.

* Spiritual successor ''VideoGame/BioShock1'' is extremely similar, minus the video game cartridges, though in this case there is a machine that is explicitly for selling ammo. You'd think that firearms wouldn't be allowed to begin with inside an underwater city with big glass windows all over the place . . . of course [[InsurmountableWaistHeightFence you can only break the windows you are supposed to]], so people in Rapture probably don't have to worry too much about property damage.
* In ''VideoGame/{{Borderlands}}'', there are ammo, weapon, and medical vending machines, and while it does make sense that living on a DeathWorld like Pandora would require such a thing, there's never any sign of any place selling the ''other'' necessities of life, like food and water.
** This is lampshaded by Claptrap in ''VideoGame/PokerNight2'' if you use an all ''Borderlands'' table setup. He explicitly says that Pandora's economy is gun-based, and when Brock Samson (yes, [[WesternAnimation/TheVentureBrothers that one, it's that kind of game]]) asks about snack machines, Claptrap seems to wonder why anyone would want them, especially since they "contribute to the obesity epidemic."

* Wasteland2 is a world where everybody needs weapons but food is usually classified as junk. On the other hand, there are still traders for alcoholic drinks and drugs, so no wonder the world is a mess.

* Averted in the ''VideoGame/KisekiSeries'', where every establishment you visit, from stores to street vendors, is a legitimate business that deals with customers besides you on a regular basis. There are many [[AdventureGuild Bracers]] besides you who need to make use of the weapon shops, after all. Some sidequests have you testing new products before they go on the mass-market.

* Lampshaded in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyCrystalChronicles [[ColonCancer Ring of Fates]]'': you '''are''' the only thing keeping the magic shop in business.

* Most ''VideoGame/FinalFantasy'' and similar games follow this trope to a T; however, in an interesting addition, ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII'' let you spend the insane amount of cash you get while grinding to beat the [[BonusBoss Weapon bonus bosses]] by buying a ''villa''. It's totally useless except for [[BraggingRightsReward Bragging Rights]] (and a place to store a particular useless item you can collect several times).

* Played with in the first two installments of the ''VideoGame/PokemonMysteryDungeon'' series. On one hand, each has a town that seems oddly specific to rescue teams. Some could serve multiple functions, like the bank or Kecleon Shop, but what's an ordinary Pokemon going to do with a Link Shop or a Treasure-Box opening stall? On the other hand, virtually every Pokemon you meet in the towns ''are'' members of various teams, and the main items you use tend to be food items. Averted in the ''Gateway to Infinity'' series, where you'll have to build most of the rescue team shops yourself.

* Most ''Franchise/FinalFantasy'' and similar games follow this trope to a T; however, in an interesting addition, ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII'' let you spend the insane amount of cash you get while grinding to beat the [[BonusBoss Weapon bonus bosses]] by buying a ''villa''. It's totally useless except for [[BraggingRightsReward Bragging Rights]] (and a place to store a particular useless item you can collect several times).

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* Averted in VideoGame/StoryOfSeasons, where some other villagers are farmers, too, so they likely need the same stuff.

* Played with across the ''Franchise/GrandTheftAuto'' series:

* Averted in ''Franchise/TheElderScrolls'' games, where you can buy everything from wooden spoons to houses. ''VideoGame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim'' has general shops filled with normal housing items and dedicated food stores. Of course most shops will have something for adventures, and there is an abundance of weapons, but it a world as dangerous as Skyrim it doesn't seem out of place.

* In [[VideoGame/NobundagasAmbition Nobunaga's Ambition 2: Lord of Darkness]] for the SNES, the only things you can buy ACROSS THE WHOLE OF JAPAN are guns, rice, teacups and (in battle situations) horses. Sure, the platform has its programming limitations, but what about sushi? Fish? Bows? Arrows? Sake? Do they all walk around naked? All that gold and huge castles, with no place for the average Japanese to live.

* In ''Nobunaga's Ambition 2: Lord of Darkness'' for the SNES, the only things you can buy ACROSS THE WHOLE OF JAPAN are guns, rice, teacups and (in battle situations) horses. Sure, the platform has its programming limitations, but what about sushi? Fish? Bows? Arrows? Sake? Do they all walk around naked? All that gold and huge castles, with no place for the average Japanese to live.

* {{Wasteland2)) is a world where everybody needs weapons but food is usually classified as junk. On the other hand, there are still traders for alcoholic drinks and drugs, so no wonder the world is a mess.

** Averted hard in ''VideoGame/{{Persona 5}}'', sensibly enough, being set in Tokyo. Most of the shops are grocery stores, music shops, drugstores and general convenience stores, etc., including such things as a shoe repair station (not that you'll need it). Anything out of the ordinary is bought under-the-counter at an extremely shady medical clinic and {{Yakuza}}-affiliated "model weapons shop".