I think one of the things that sullies my elder scrolls experience is knowing much items are worth just by looking at them, it would make for a much improved experience, especially for thieves, if you didn't have the exact prices on every item, you would have to be more selective and also have to use more intuition when selling to shopkeepers, for example a bookseller will know more on the value of books or a smith on weapons, it would also improve the mercantile skill if it was similar to alchemy when identify the property of ingredients a la oblivion, where the higher your mercantile skill the more accurate estimation when inspecting items. Thoughts?

THIS WOULD BE COOL!
haha it would be great because you have that 3D viewer that lets you look at objects close up. so things with finer detail you could imagine are worth a lot more.

I think maybe.
It may not be realistic or 100% logical (although sometimes it is logical; a player should realize a daedric artifact may be worth a lot).
But it's... a lot more convenient.

Although perhaps... not knowing would increase the usage/need of merchantile. So it could be good.
If you find a sword and think it looks cool, it would give you some excitement while you run back to town... wondering how much it's worth.

So maybe, it depends. It can be good and exciting. But it can also be annoying and inconvenient.

That would add to the realistic-ness of the game but I don't think it would contribute towards making it a better game overall. I wouldn't want to go through that hassle personally.

Bad ideia IMO.It is not salesman simulator.

Nice idea. I support it.

It would add a touch to the realism but not enough to compensate for the inconvience.

yeah we should now ,i dont really want to waste time just to sell a item,too much inconvenience is not fun..

I can take it or leave it cause ^^. If its not too much trouble to add, why not.

I love it. I think it would definetly add excitement to dungeon looting.

It's not about how hard it is to implement, it's about what it will add or take away from the game. I think it would be quite a nice idea although having a value on every item reflects your characters knowledge, as if you grew up in the area you would know the general value for various items.

Well if identification will be implemented cost enchanted item can be varied out player Mercantile skill and known magical effect of enchant
Cost of item can be based of material from what created item (non enchanted base item cost with 100% of durability), current durability level and known enchantment, then player and NPC Mercantile skill start apply to final cost

Everyone always complains about realism in these games, guess what, there is magic! Unrealistic that you can choose how long you sleep, cast a spell. Unrealistic that you just "know" when there is a location coming up, guess what, you're psychic! It's also unrealistic that when you replay the game, you know what is going to happen and when it's going to happen. But, there is magic, so...you just know what things are worth. You know when you're going to be ambushed on the 431st playthrough. Etc.

I like the idea. I never really thought about it, but now that you mention it, why DO I know precisely how much everything is worth just by looking at it? With a 100 mercantile skill, I suppose that I'd be one hell of an appraiser. But a skill much lower, I'd have no knowledge of such things.

The counter-argument would be that if you've bought or browsed for something in a shop, then you would know how much the item is worth when seeing it in the world.

Possibly a combo. If you've seen an item for sale by a shopkeeper, then you'd see the item's worth when finding it somewhere. If you've never seen the item, than you have no idea.... unless your merc skill is high, then you'd have a fairly decent idea of it's value.

The dynamic that could make it all interesting is if prices in town fluctuated, depending on stock.

One of the other aspects of this could merchants trying rip you off... if they value it and buy it off you for 10 gold and you later find out its worth a thousand you could go back and throttle them... or report them to the town guards for fraud.

Realism is a very debateable thingy. Yes it is a fantasy game with magic and mithical creatures in a fictional setting,but... Would you like if the fire burnt pink!? If the swords were made of wood!? If your armor was made of paper!?

I don't think so,you want the game to be as realistic as possible for that matter. Now I personally don't see how removing "price tags" from items would decrease the playability. How many warriors or mages out there actually care how much an item is worth? Those who care will have a high mercantile skill.

I dislike realism for the sake of realism. I don't want guesswork on which items to carry out of a dungeon for the sake of "realism." An option check box wouldn't be a bad idea though.

Guesswork!?

If you play TES then you can pretty darn well assume how much stuff is worth...

Simple thing really. One creature drops an iron axe,the next one drops let's say an elven axe...wich one will you pick up and try to sell!?

It's not for the sake of realism that I encourage this idea,but for the unusefullness of the "price tag" itself.

Plus if you really are a gold digger,you will need that mercantile skill. The fact that the iron axe from the hypotetic situation above states it is worth 15 gold doesn't mean jack. To anyone.

It's not a combat simulator either, doesn't mean we shouldn't flesh out that aspect.

On the one hand, I agree with the OP. On the other hand, we actually don't need this system. The reason is, although we see the exact price it's worth, it's all relative. If your Mercantile skill is low, you still won't be able to sell it for what it's worth. So you know that a silver dagger is more expensive than an iron one. But when you sell it, the merchant gives you what he wants, and you take it, because your character "doesn't know any better." When your mercantile skill is higher, you say "hey look buddy, I know this silver dagger is worth 12 gold, and I won't sell it for less than 10. If you don't want it at that price, somebody else will."

That is how it is in Two Worlds 2. You don't know any values until you go to sell and item, and even then, it varies greatly depending on the merchant. It was kinda cool at first, but now it seems kinda annoying. You pretty much get used to what items to keep and what ones to throw away, but when you are questing and looting, it would be nice to know if you are throwing away something of value. After playing games that have both styles, I really could care less either way..

I wouldn't mind replacing the actual gold value with a "rating" that's based on the value-to-weight ratio. That's even more convenient, and it's more believable than a number that you somehow know.

Because you have to consider that taking away the value stat of an item simply makes you look at the object and judge how valuable it is for yourself. Once you know the game's rules, that is kinda equivalent to a gold value. The gold value stat is more convenient, however, and it basically tells you "from the looks of this item, your character estimates its value" - that's exactly what you'd be doing yourself without the price tag. So that is actually an RPG feature - instead of placing it into the player's hands, the game lets the character make an estimation (which by the way only roughly corresponds to the actual value you're getting anyway). And well, we have to accept it as a given that the hero of a game has an eye for that. So the feature itself isn't so much the problem, it's the representation of it; seeing a fixed, precise value is unbelievable.

In Oblivion, the gold-to-weight ratio scale had a pretty small range. You usually wouldn't even consider items below a value of 10:1. And valuable items only rarely reached 70:1 (and if they did, like some potions, then it wasn't very balanced).
In the end, I think, a scale with about 7 different levels would be precise enough (going from 10:1 as the lower end to 70:1 as the upper end, for example). The rating should of course use small descriptions and not a scale.

Not knowing an items worth is a good idea.

You should be able to use your brain in a RPG.
If it says it's a siver plate, it'll be worth something ( at least it should be ) so you take it.
Knowing you'll get X amount of gold for it if you've got Y mercantile skill is just a waste and quite frankly insulting.

I don't need to know the price of a sword I've picked up, if it's in good nick and is made of a good material and looks pricey.
I'd be a fool to dump it, so you keep it try to identify it if needed then look to reach a good barter with the right type of merchant.

Honestly you'd think such basic RPG playing required a degree in computer sciences.

I think it is a pretty cool idea. After all, an item is as valuable as you make it...

Honestly I'd like to see a knowledge based system for values of items. Everyday items, common weapons and armour you should have a pretty close price on what it's worth. If you come across rarer items however you shouldn't. However as your mercantile skill gets higher you should know more and more about the values of the items you're picking up. It could add to the excitement of dungeon diving when you find unique or ornate items and show up to a shop and find out you've hit a major score.

I think it would improve the stealing experience. When i was robbing a house in oblivion it just seemed to be by-numbers where i would concentrate on the value it was showing me rather the item itself ... it would make thieving more immersive as you would have to concentrate on what you were taking, deciding whatever it was worth it.