one of the best early purchases? A Sulky Bat.
Not only is it cute, but for 80 pence, you can use its opportunity card for an actions. The results are 3 scrap (roughly 1.5 Echo value, regular success,) a bat with an Attitude (12.5 Echo value on rare success,) or an increase in Connected: Great Game( failure.)
I am as frugal as a fruitbat, my financial advice to new players is to not waste all your ducats on bloody nonsense, I’ve purchased the fanciest gear and sold it and purchased it all again! More than once some of the items! Oh the awful goats I’d have now, if only!
LEARN FROM MY WOE
edited by Hobnail on 1/13/2016
[quote=Hobnail]I am as frugal as a fruitbat, my financial advice to new players is to not waste all your ducats on bloody nonsense, I’ve purchased the fanciest gear and sold it and purchased it all again! More than once some of the items! Oh the awful goats I’d have now, if only!
LEARN FROM MY WOE
edited by Hobnail on 1/13/2016[/quote]
[That would be my next advice, actually. Buy as little as you need: I only purchased a handful of things until I needed gear for BDR as a POSI. Before then it was mostly for Companions for their associated cards]
My recommendation for new players is a Reprehensible Lizard. Ye Lizard friend for the cost of 40 pence and a small stash of Beeswax is good for reducing nightmares and generating Memories of Light on a luck check (if you fail, you gain a small amount of nightmares but it doesn’t cost the wax). Memories of Light can save you from the Royal Beth if you go insane.
I don’t know why I did this and someone probably did it already, but I did it. (Disclaimer: Non-comprehensive. Likely includes errors.)
If you’re VERY NEW:
The idea here is to buy cheaply. Don’t just get the most expensive things you can afford. The best deals are, in order of price:
[ul][li]The Reprehensible Lizard and Sulky Bat (0.40 echoes) from Nassos Zoologicals. Others in this thread have covered why already (their pet cards are very, very good, even in the late game). [/li][li]The 0.50 echo outfits from Gottery the Outfitter (choose from one of two options for each stat boost except the Glad Rags) [/li][li]The Emergency Blunderbuss from Carrow’s Steel (0.50 echoes) – unless you’re already going to jail enough to get the Prison Shiv (free)[/li][li]The Araby Fighting-Weasel (3.20 echoes), also from Nassos Zoologicals. [/li][li]The cheap Mittens and Gloves from Dark & Savage (3.20 echoes)[/li][li]The Scarlet Stockings from Mercury (4 echoes)[/li][li]The three menace-granting hats from Maywell’s Hattery (4 echoes and 6 echoes)[/li][/ul]If you can afford a 12.80 item, go for it, most of them are about the same – mostly (see next section). Special mention:
[ul][li]The Tasselled Walking-Stick can be changed into a very valuable Bejewelled Cane later, if you can scrounge up the glim and jewels. (At +2 Persuasive, it’s otherwise the same as the free Warm Amber – see below – so feel free to put it off.)
[/li][/ul]BUT A NOTE ABOUT PRICE!
[ul][li]There’s no point getting something that’s more expensive for the same benefit as a cheaper item that has negatives, and fits in the same slot (clothing, weapon, shoes, etc). You can just change your clothes when a challenge comes up that requires them – and owning items with negatives may help you later in the game. [/li][li] For example, the Stained Red Velvet Gown (Persuasive +2, 12.80 echoes) is a bit of a waste of money when you can get the Bundle of Glad Rags (Persuasive +2, Shadowy & Dangerous -1, 0.50 echoes) for drastically cheaper.[/li][li] That is, unless you have a special use for that item (in this example, you can sell the Gown for a tidy profit in Wolfstack Docks later in the game, if you hang out there and draw the Ragman’s Barge card).
[/li][/ul]Also, keep an eye out for some early-game items outside the Bazaar!
[ul][li]The Prison Shiv, +1 Shadowy, +1 Dangerous. Acquired by going to prison again. (Going to jail is dangerous: it ups your criminal record! If you go early-game, then it’s recommended to use the Pirate Hat to keep your Suspicion permanently up long enough to both meet the Repentant Forger, and to get the Prison Shiv if you want it. And then don’t go back!)[/li][li]Bundle of Fourth City Rags, Watchful +2. Acquired very cheaply from a card, will give you a ton of Nightmares (but only once). This can replace the 0.50 Watchful items from Gottery’s.[/li][li]Advancing far enough in the Making Your Name storylines will give you a free +4 weapon for the appropriate stat (one for all four stats, if you play all four Making Your Name storylines enough). This is more mid-game, but some people like to power through content!
[/li][li]Playing "The Protégé of a Mysterious Benefactor" story will grant you a single +2 item of some sort, extremely early on. [/li][li] (If you care, the "best" option for the Benefactor is the shoes, which give Watchful +2; there’s only one other item in the game that gives you Watchful shoes, only available at Christmas. However, all the options are good because they give you card-based unlimited second chances in one stat for the entire life of your character.)[/li][li]Meeting some Rubbery Men at the Carnival, then accepting a gift on their card, will give you Warm Amber, a +2 Persuasive weapon.[/li][li]Playing through the card-based Affluent Photographer storyline will give you clothing with +3 Shadowy, +1 Dangerous, and +1 Dreaded. (The Dreaded is important for later.)[/li][li]If you hang out in Ladybones Road, Spite, and/or Veilgarden early in the game, you have a small chance of drawing a Rare card that will give you a neat companion (a pet). Ladybones has an adorable weasel, Veilgarden has an adorable dog, and Spite has a weirdly adorable musical instrument. You can only acquire one. Keep in mind the musical instrument is less useful in the early game stat-wise, but it’s the most unique! Even though the cards that give you these are Rare, they’re (much) easier to get early in the game, because of how the card deck works (early in the game = less cards overall = Rare cards come up more).
[/li][/ul]SEASONAL:
[ul][li]The Valentine’s Day celebration, the Feast of the Exceptional Rose, offers a truly staggering array of companions if you participate enough in the festivities. Many are remarkably good stat-wise. All of them are very cool.[/li][li]The Fruits of the Zee Festival in August gives a larger number of remarkably good weapons if you do enough finishing.[/li][/ul]If you want to spend FATE very early in the game:
[ul][li]Chatting up the Loquacious Vicar in Ladybones Road and spending a whole lot of Fate will grant you one or two super-powerful Devil companions (Watchful +8/+9 & Shadowy +6)[/li][li]The Blemmigan storyline can give you a pretty great hat (Watchful +5, Dangerous +2)[/li][li]Soul Trade will give you a Shadowy +2 weapon[/li][li]Long-Lost Daughter can give you a Shadowy +5, Persuasive +2 companion (who is very powerful for high-level characters too, due to a high-level card)
[/li][li]If it’s Christmas, paying a small amount of Fate to help the Duchess gives a super-powerful Dangerous weapon (+12)
[/li][/ul]
If you’re COMING UP ON POSI (Person of Some Importance) – you’re not quite new anymore, and one or more of your stats are below 100, but you’re getting there –
Mostly, just buy what you can afford. It’s been said elsewhere: Don’t just hold out for the maximum possible stat. Buy what you can afford now. Here are some specific notes:
[ul][li]Any 28.80 echo hat, weapon, pair of gloves, or shoes, is probably a good deal, especially if it’s +5 instead of +4. Several of them are the best of their kind in the game. An exception: the Tasselled Sword-Cane (only a +2 boost in two stats, cheaper to just get two separate +2 weapons). [/li][li]As for 28.80 Companions (Redemptions), the Devious Henchman is a good deal, the Grubby Urchin is a bad deal. As for outfits, the Morning Suit and Formidable Gown are not great at this game stage, since you can get the Academic Gown.[/li][li]The Irresistible Drum (51.50 echoes) from Carrow’s Steel is the best non-Profession Persuasive weapon, and cheap for that. (Conversely, don’t get the Amber-Topped Walking-Stick, the second walking stick to be a terrible deal.)[/li][li]Every POSI character is going to want the Pair of Lenguals (Dark & Savage), the Pair of Kingscale Boots (Mercury), and one of the 400 echo hats (Maywell’s Hattery) as soon as feasible, for Notability purposes – they give +1 Bizarre or Dreaded. They’re also very powerful. (For the hat, the Persuasive hats are recommended – the Watchful ones overlap the Semiotic Monocle, which people participating in Christmas shenanigans will want, but the Persuasive hats are the only way to get Persuasive +10 as a hat.)[/li][li]Price tag starts mattering less for maximizing stats with gear. For example, the Pair of Masterwork Dancing Slippers and the Ratskin Suit may seem overpriced, but are the maximum possible in their slots. (On the other hand, the Insatiable Gloves are under-priced while also being max Watchful for gloves. Also, the most expensive items are not necessarily the best items for their stats.)[/li][/ul]More things not at the Bazaar:
EDIT: Typos/Minor edits.
edited by thedeadlymoose on 1/13/2016
Congratulation on this list!
One thing worth mentioning is that there are very, very few checks in the game which involve more than one of the main stats. Therefore, until you get much further on in the game, don’t worry as much if you have gear which decreases one of the other stats.
Am I the only person who wants to have at least one of everything, just because you can?
All the things should be bought (it’s not like you have to wear 'em) once you have goats & spare cash. And scrolling through 2 yards of inventory to get to the booze is fun!
[quote=yetanotherone]Am I the only person who wants to have at least one of everything, just because you can?
All the things should be bought (it’s not like you have to wear 'em) once you have goats & spare cash. And scrolling through 2 yards of inventory to get to the booze is fun![/quote]
Nah that’s totally valid. A lot of stuff on the do not buy list is incredibly cheap - even when I’d very first started out 80p wasn’t enough to cry over. I’ve always been a very casual player though so maybe I just cared about setbacks less
Typo in the thread title: Bazaar, not Bazzar. :-)
[quote=yetanotherone]Am I the only person who wants to have at least one of everything, just because you can?
All the things should be bought (it’s not like you have to wear 'em) once you have goats & spare cash. And scrolling through 2 yards of inventory to get to the booze is fun![/quote]
Nowadays, this is a lot easier then it used to be. Just a couple months ago, before outfits were introduced, trying to scan a huge list of items was a pain in the butt. Especially if you had to change everything you wore each action.
Thank you for mentioning that. I’m quite surprised that until this point, nobody noticed. If I can, I’ll change it.
edited by GamerGallade on 1/14/2016
I noticed - just that I wasn’t sure if it could be changed :)