Summary
Modern role-playing and action-adventure games place a significant emphasis on loot and gear, constantly encouraging players to do whatever it takes to acquire the best of the best in terms of weapons, armor, consumables, and anything else that could benefit their journey. While many games provide players with numerous ways to obtain these items, the highest-quality items are generally obtainable by completingmissions and quests for various NPCsor by conquering a game’s most dangerous enemies. Furthermore, on the side, players can typically find shopkeepers with low-grade versions of everything they can find while simply playing the game. Well, it just so happens that Shift Up’sStellar Bladehas something to say about this.
Video game vendors have a terrible reputation. For the most part, they are viewed as worthless, as players generally don’t need to spend money on lesser items when they can find much better items through more rewarding undertakings — and this is especially true when a game’s economy is out of balance. For example,Final Fantasy 16’s Gil economy is incredibly imbalanced, as players can end the game with an overwhelming amount of Gil and nothing but music tracks to spend it on.Stellar Bladedodges this all-too-common vendor issue by implementing a unique store affinity system that makes its vendors a worthwhile investment.
How Stellar Blade’s Store Affinity System Makes Vendors a Worthwhile Investment
How Stellar Blade’s Store Affinity System Works
Stellar Bladeisn’t the first game to have a store affinity system, asLike a Dragon: Infinite Wealthhas something similar. However,Stellar Blade’s take on shop affinityis rather unique. As players make purchases with certain vendors inStellar Blade, they raise that vendor’s affinity level according to the amount of Gold they spent. As a vendor’s affinity increases, they will offer the player more information about something specific and also add new items to their catalog. Each of these vendors has three affinity levels, and once players max out their affinity with one, they will obtain access to everything that the vendor has to offer.
Stellar Blade’s Store Affinity System Solves the Age-Old Vendor Problem
As opposed to filling the world with worthless vendors that players might never purchase anything from,Stellar Blade’s store affinity vendors provide players with plenty of incentive to make purchases. Kaya, for instance, is one vendor who will provide EVE with more accessories to wear as her affinity increases. Roxanne is another vendor with affinity mechanics who will give EVE more information as her affinity increases. Finally,D1G-g2r is a robot vendorwith an affinity level who will give EVE access to powerful upgrade materials the higher his affinity level is. What’s more, each of these vendors will gain new items depending on their affinity level as the story progresses, so players are encouraged to make multiple visits to them throughout the game.
Players can earn access to earrings, glasses, gear upgrade materials, and special information by increasing a vendor’s affinity level.
More recent games likeDragon’s Dogma 2found a way to make vendors worth the money, but these games are few and far between. Plus, players can still find much better equipment inDragon’s Dogma 2’s open worldif they’re willing to venture off the beaten path every once in a while. Since cosmetics, information, and upgrades are some ofStellar Blade’s primary forms of progression, its affinity-based vendors are more than worth the visit each time. Hopefully, role-playing and action-adventure games will continue implementing systems such as this to finally make merchants mean something. This is just one of the many waysStellar Bladehas attempted to make its world more interactive and interesting, and it works on multiple levels.
Stellar Blade
WHERE TO PLAY
RECLAIM EARTH FOR HUMANKIND The future of humanity hangs in the balance in Stellar Blade, an all-new story-driven action adventure. Ravaged by strange, powerful creatures, Earth has been abandoned, and what is left of the decimated human race has fled to a Colony in outer space. After travelling from the Colony, 7th Airborne Squad member EVE arrives on the desolate remains of our planet with a clear-cut mission: to save humankind by reclaiming Earth from the Naytiba – the malevolent force that has devastated it. But as EVE tackles the Naytiba one-by-one, piecing together the mysteries of the past in the ruins of human civilization, she realizes that her mission is far from straightforward. In fact, almost nothing is as it seems…
