A basic concern. I always found it strange that some items in Oblivion, that in Tamriel, should have a value, but that are worth 0 gold. It's like Bethesda balanced the value of items relative to value to the player, instead of logical probable value to the NPCs of the game world. A sythe you say? But the player can't swing that at anything (or do anything other than place it in their inventory), so it's useless and valueless. A scythe is an important farming tool to the NPCs in Tamriel and as such it should carry some value. Anyway, getting to my question, has a developer said anything/ been asked about if there's any worthless/valueless items in Skyrim? If so, are there any? If not, do you think that logical item value is important to Tamriel being a believable world? Is it important to you thief players?

This is why I wish they would implement a silver/gold system or maybe even a copper/silver/gold system. No, that wooden fork is absolutely not worth a gold coin. But maybe it's worth a few copper.

IB this is TES not WoW WHARRGARBL

Thay don't really need a multi-coin system, just balance the relative value of items
It annoyed me that in Oblivion food was usually worth more on a price to weight ratio than silverware
I can just imagine the master thief telling his apprentice to forget the silverware and grab the leeks

The problem is there are simply items that should not cost an entire gold coin. Why would anyone consider trading a gold coin for a strawberry? Maybe they could have a fractional gold system (the idea being the gold coins can be cut into halfs, quarters, eighths, etc).

Agreed. Nehrim had a >0 value for just about everything but they forgot to raise the silverware value in relation to the previously valueless items.

It sounds expensive because its gold but actually gold coins are not pure gold, its usually only the covering that is gold.

Source? I can't find anything saying that TES septims are only partially gold, and AFAIK the majority of "gold coins" throughout history were made mostly of gold.

True it doesn't so we can do so now, make septims partial gold and give value to everything.

I disagree with the need to give value to things like scythes, tongs, and the like. TES works on a barter system where it is likely most merchants would have no want or need of these things so why would they give you gold for them? I'm okay with these items just being in the game for the sake of making a believable world with random goods found in containers. You really think the Savior of Tamriel would bother amassing a ton of gold by selling tongs?

It would make sense in a world where silver is an abundant metal while there's a shortage of food.



I don't think coins would be cut in pieces but rather casted in smaller molds. It would make sense though. That and/or using more than 1 currency like silver/bronze/copper coins.

krugerrands and other modern gold coins are quite high purity but they are for investment, not use. England only had one type of coin, the silver penny throughout the Middle Ages and that was frequently split into halves, quarters, even eighths. Purity of coins varied massively. The purer the coinage the stabler the currency but minting lower purity coins was always a temptation for hard-up governments.

IMO it doesn't really matter. Inflate prices so a sword costs 100 gold instead of 10 or invent a new silver coin with a value of 10% of gold, the effect is the same. More room for pricing of low value items.

The option of whether to pick up every item to sell depends on the player. People who want to role-play as thieves or scavengers will probably appreciate it more.

I am probably the 800th person to say this, but clothing is ridiculous too. Clothes were, and still are obviously, an indicator of status and wealth. The clothes the Jarl wears should not cost less than a day's worth of food. I understand it's to keep the player rewards down if they search all the wardrobes in the mage's guild, but a noble's clothing should be orders of magnitude above a peasants, not cost six coins.
Amazon Queen has it right, make one gold worth less, a lot simpler than adding new coins.

I disagree with your logic here.There are different types of merchants, which specialize in selling certain items or if they are a pawnbroker, they will sell and buy anything and everything. A merchant that specializes in farming equipment, or a pawnbroker, would be interested in buying a scythe. There are farms in Tamriel and farms require equipement. They have demand for scythes, so scythes (should) have value.

What about a kind of barter system for valueless or extremely cheap items? :shrug:

More troublesome to implement than devaluing currency or adding silver/copper

Why would a barter system be troublesome to implement? A full barter system was implemented in both FO3 and New Vegas.

I kind of like the idea of certain items having no value. It keeps us greedy players from stripping the environment bare of decoration to sell it all. Plus, I do think it represents the relative value of the item to the player character - you don't need it, you can't sell it, and you can't use it, hence it is worth 0 gold.

And yeah, most medieval societies worked with some sort of barter system, but honestly, what merchant is going to buy a bunch of spoons from you? Or a fork, a ball of wadded up yarn, and an ink well? Who are they going to sell them to? It is still just worthless junk to them as well. You try going to a pawnshop in real life and trying to get money for balls of yarn and a handful of silverware. You'll get laughed out of the store.

And if I were a merchant in Skyrim, I damn sure wouldn't buy food off a stranger that just walked in out of the mountains. He probably has a steady and known supplier for that sort of thing rather than relying on buying vegetables that have spent days at the bottom of a stranger's pack.

I just want Skyrim to have things WORTH stealing in people's houses. You know, gold, gems, jewelry, heirlooms, grandpa's old magical boots, etc. Maybe even artwork like paintings and statues. Then we can be respectable thieves, instead of emptying the houses of their contents for a grand haul of 10 gold. I stopped stealing from most places in Oblivion. Just wasn't worth it.

except we dont make the lore... if bethesda doesnt approve of it, they wont be doing it.

it sounds... kind of silly, really... making the currency into useless metal with gold paint, or whatever it is you're suggesting. :shrug:

For the barter system to be in place, you will need to give a value to everything which basically means you have to first either devalue currency or add silver/coins or fractional gold which makes it more difficult to implement?

In Oblivion, its usually the general store merchants that buy misc/junk stuff and if you look around their store, that is what is on display as well though they don't actually sell it to you. As for food, why not? if the merchant think they can make a profit they might buy it, of course in this case the AI probably can't since we are so uber with out bartering/merchantile skills.

Like what you did in Oblivion, its up to the individual to decide whats worth stealing and whats not, some people will take away the nails on the wall if they think they can sell it.

I like your phrase "respectable thieves".

Haha maybe. If we know the weight of a septim and compare it against the gold nugget we can probably find out how pure it is...

Haha. Well, I do believe there is a distinction.

A thief robbing treasury vaults, or heisting paintings, etc. just strikes me as a thief willing to work a little harder and take on challenges. You know, respectable.

A thief breaking into houses to steal the plates and yesterday's stale bread, then stopping on the way out to take the nails from the door because they look slightly valuable strikes me as more . . . crack-addled.

I can't imagine a young inexperienced thief starting out robbing vaults (or if they did they probably wouldn't last long). Everyone has to start somewhere and its probably rolling drunks for a few coins or breaking into a shack whilst its empty.

If we wanted realism a barter system would be the way to go. Exchange that hoe for a couple of eggs or maybe a chicken. Most peasants would never deal with coins, they pay their lord by working on his land or giving him a share in their crop. A few silver coins is enough to live on for a year and gold is mainly a medium of exchange between governments and perhaps for very wealthy traders dealing in commodities like spices. Don't see it adding much to the game. Or we can just accept that money in fantasy games is just a convenience given an arbitrary value by the game designer :shrug:

because this is just a damn game

If they were worth a bit they would be 5 for a gold, the merchants are just above that useless clutter.

That made me spit out my coffee. Im still laughing.