Shopping

[moxicity]

Hey... I just got the game and I still have a lot of confusion with some areas. The biggest question I have right now is HOW DO I SHOP? I swear I'm not an idiot, but I've tried 3 times now and every time I get the message that I did not succeed at shopping. What the heeeellll?

 

Please, could you explain step-by-step how it's supposed to work?

[laclongquan]

before you is a screen. The box on the right is your Knapsack with your items. On the right, that little box with a multitude of icons is the shop's goods. you click on one thing and it change colour, the money below jump up, that is register that you want to buy it. you press the buy button a bit lower. If you change your mind, press that icon the second time and it change colour, the buy money get lower. You dont press the buy button you dont have nothing. Sell is the same way.

[moxicity]

Yes but the problem is that I cannot figure out how to get to the shopping screen itself, you see? If it tells me I have failed in shopping, it means I am doing something else wrong. I choose the action "shop" and it gives me options to choose an area to go shopping or whatever, nothing is explained and I don't know what the hell that option means. And then when I begin the day, in the history it tells me I have failed.

[Draigh]

You need to choose a location for shopping there, I expect you did that too?

I know of at least one location where you need to pay to even enter, maybe you went there and do not have enough money?

[laclongquan]

Need to know at least one shop.

 

When you click to End day, the game force you to choose options. FOr shop, it force you choose name of shop, like Guild Lit, etc...

[moxicity]

Oh I've got it now, thank you. It appears I did not *know* of any shops - that's why I failed. Maaaan.. this game has REALLY huge flaws with explaining things clearly. How was I supposed to know my character did not know of any shops? Ugh...

[Legate of Mineta]

Moxi;

 

I agree. The Action should not even be selectable if you do not know any Merchants or Catalogs. I'll see if we can get this corrected in Patch 3.

 

Thanks!

[laclongquan]

You could make it the same as study. If there; s no subject for study we cant get it to end.

 

That said, I'd really like a list of shop and what they sell. I am having a hanker for some threads and looms.

[JolandaRossa]

Related problem: If there's a list of known/available shops anywhere in the game, I haven't found it. It should probably be in the Lore. That way I would be able to know which shops sells what before actually wasting an action on the wrong shop

[Draigh]

If people would be willing to go to the shops and send me over a list of items they find there...

I will add it to the wiki for everyone to check. Or they can add it themselves.

[moxicity]

I think I actually saw the lore entries for the different shops, I think they were calligraphy-related? Maybe? But the thing is, when I "discovered" the lore, IT DIDN'T SAY THEY WERE SHOPS. I read the lore and then just went "huh? okay then" because I couldn't figure out what it was talking about.

 

If I could be critical for a moment, I think that Academagia is an extremely awesome game, but at this point, it just has so many tiny hiccups that make the game much harder to play from the get-go. I can't exactly visualize how it would/should look like, but for example with lore and location explanations, it should be easier to get information about them. Like, with pop-up windows perhaps - this way you don't have to navigate away from your choices. There is also inadequate explanations for many things, or they are confusingly written and etc.

 

This game has huuuuge potential to become even more awesome though. It is my hope that when the game for Year 2 comes out, it will be much better from the get-go. As I understand it, I have the base game right now and if I want to install patches, I have to make a new character? That seems awfully inconvenient, actually. So hopefully by Year 2, you will have learned a lot about how to make the game easier and more intuitive to play.

[Impet]

Mox, this is revealed if and only if you follow the 'request a meeting with your mentor' adventures through to the end. There's several advantages to doing this, consider it a mildly interactive game tutorial, as well as a way to unlock several skills after they have been explained. Shops, catalogs, the difference between them, which advantages each has, and which drawbacks, are all explained in one of those mentor meetings.

 

 

Edited to add - the meeting where shops are explained, you are even shown where a shop is, and that shop is added to your known locations, giving you a place to go.

[Draigh]

Yeah, following that chain gives several useful locations and stuff.

[JolandaRossa]

@Draigh:

 

Johan's Avian Storefront Service:

 

Dove - $67 - +1 Calligraphy Skill

Crow - $70 - +2 Agriculture Skill

Bluebird - $250 - +1 Music and Notation

Redbird - $370 - +1 Plot and Planning skills

Owl - $132 - +1 Research skill

Falcon - $315 - +1 Heraldry skill

 

(Sorry, I'm not going to create Yet Another Login for the wiki... at least not for the moment. But I'll probably post more shops if/when I go shopping again.)

[moxicity]

Oh, okay. I'm currently doing one "meeting the mentor" adventure per week - there's just so much else to do! Again, don't you think this is at least a minor flaw? Some people, I assume, don't/won't bother with the mentor meetings at all. Perhaps Oan, or the intro letter, should mention all the subjects to be discussed very near the beginning or something like that.

 

For example, I decided I wanted to "shop" on the very first week, or at least to check out what the shops had to offer and at which prices. Perhaps so I could know whether and for what items to gather money. I assumed there was simply an agora or something like a marketplace. This is why I asked the question here in the first place - since my character didn't yet know of any shops, this just made me waste an action with the message "you have failed to shop" and no explanation as to why.

 

[Legate of Mineta]

Moxi;

 

It's definitely a flaw, and will be corrected in Patch 3, this weekend.

 

Edit: In Patch 3, you will not be able to confirm Shop as an Action if you do not know any Merchants or Catalogs. Later, we will implement a new Merchant, available right at the start of the game, so you always can visit the Admiratio and do some shopping.

[laclongquan]

A merchant right on the market is logical. Or a school stationery.

[Legate of Mineta]

Laclongguan;

 

I like the School Stationary (Parchment, Quills, Stock Wands) idea as well- maybe we'll do something with both.

[JolandaRossa]

@Draigh:

 

"Willy's Analytical Assisters:

Willy sells basic necessities for analytical actions and much more. [...] he sells things like draught recipes."

 

"Gutross' House of History - The Early Empire:

Supposedly, Iu Gutross is a former professor. [...] Gutross carries several authoritative texts by the most noted and respected historians. But he also carries items said to have belonged to the children of the New Gods themselves. As always, the buyer should beware."

 

(Sorry, not copying the whole text, just the most "mechanically" informative parts. I'll edit this message later if/when I visit the shops, it may be a while because I've just managed to land myself a few detentions...)

 

"Maxtentius:

[Catalogue shop, can't sell items. Drat. I wanted to sell...]

The former judge Maxtentius retired [...] and found himself drawn to the period of the Middle Empire. Since beginning his studies, Maxtentius has become one of the premier authorities of this time period"

 

Antique Necklace Replica, $200, +1 Cosmetics skill

Antique Ring Replica, $200, +1 Courtly Fashion skill

Quality Bracelet, $150, "quality 2-3 times higher than normal counterpart" (for adding phemes)

Iron Wand, $890, +1 Revision skill, +1 Enchant skill; good for Artifice; Affinity for Earth (x2) and Solid (x1)

Rise of the Merchant Houses (book), $100, +1 Economy skill

Trade Maps (book), $250, +1 Economy/Transport/Logistic while in the character's possession

Spiked Bracelet, $800, -1 Max Vitality while wearing, +2 Gates/Gates Methods skills

Marcula of [text cut] (wand), +2 Incantation Methods/Theory/Phemes skills; affinity for Wind (x2), Water (x2), Earth (x1)

[emerssso]

I'd like to second the idea of a school stationary. Potentially also some kind of place to by school uniform items/College spiritware type things? I feel like if I were attending somewhere as prestigious as the Academagia, I'd like to have a sweater or something to show off with.

[laclongquan]

And food court. Whoever heard of a school without a proper food court. A school like that will have an astronomical rate of skipping to eat outside.

 

Food Court and School Stationery are two shops that WILL appear very near any school, if not inside.

[Legate of Mineta]

Good point! That will be a fun one as well. These will either be in Content Patch 2, or the DLC.

[JolandaRossa]

Details of another shop for the Wiki:

 

"Willy's Analytical Assisters:

Willy sells basic necessities for analytical actions and much more. [...] he sells things like draught recipes."

 

Spectacles of Creative Discernment, $347, +2 Analyze, +1 Creativity

Finely Balanced Scales, $400, +2 Analyze, +1 Materials Knowledge

Draught of the Forgotten Lyrist, $88, -1 Music skill, -1 Finesse attribute, lasts 3 days, required contested roll (Finesse/Sleight of Hand vs target's Insight/Danger sense)

Draught of Brew Mastery, $250, +4 to Brew sub-skill of choice [it doesn't specify duration, but other potions seem to be temporary]

Draught of Analytical Intensification, $200, +3 Analyze/Materials Knowledge/Chemistry, lasts 2 days.

Aetherial Basic, $10 [Potion ingredient]

Aetherial Neutral, $12

Aetherial Poisonous, $75

Aetherial Ruinous, $22

Purified Water, $18

[JolandaRossa]

Yet another shop for the Wiki:

 

"Vincent 'Lucky' Dawson

(full shop, allows selling)

Vincent [...] was a professional dock hand [...] has found himself something new with a tinge of the familiar: selling gear and information from his days as a dock hand to those who would need them the most."

 

Back Brace, $970, +1 Strength attr.

Float Pheme diagram, $75, (Inform Float Pheme)

Lightened Pack, $75, -6 to inventory Size

Feathery Gel, $206, -1 to one item's Size for 2 days (10 doses)

Wand of Lift, $535, +1 Economy and Transport; Affinity for Load and Unload phemes (x3) and for Air pheme (x1)