I have found my mortal enemy in Pokémon Legends: Arceus, and no, it’s not the dour-faced captain who threatened to let me die in the wilderness. This is the guy standing right in front of her office. You know who I’m talking about. It’s Bagin, the guy who offers to expand your inventory – for a price.
There are tons of collectibles in the Hisuian overworld, so I often find myself playing a cautious game of inventory management. I’m constantly faced with tough decisions like “Do I stick with these EXP items, these rare Pokéball crafting materials, or this rotten apricot that could potentially save my life later?” when I met a man who offered to stock up on my inventory for a mere $100, I agreed immediately. Little did I know I had just signed a contract with the devil himself.
At first, Bagin’s offer seemed like a bargain. The next time I wanted a little more room in my bag, he asked me for $200 and I thought, why not? I’m good at it, and I’m tired of playing inventory management on my storage box. But then the crafting recipes got more complicated and the new areas I visited unlocked rarer Poké Ball components. It didn’t take long for me to spend $2,000 on a new inventory slot. wait what
Yes, prices increase exponentially as you purchase additional inventory slots. As soon as I hit the slot that cost $500 the prizes started increasingly around $500. Once you’ve spent $3,000, your reward isn’t a giveaway or a loyalty punch card. Oh no, it’s a $1,000 price increase per slot! In all, it costs over four million dollars to fully upgrade your satchel to 37 additional slots. I understand that Bagin doesn’t owe me reasonable prices, but paying thousands of dollars for an additional bag still feels like a rip off.
I have decided not to participate in the system. He may be free to charge me extortionate prices, but that also means I’m free to refrain from doing so. But then I found myself throwing perfectly usable crafting ingredients into the wild. Sometimes I didn’t know what a particular wildflower could be used for, so I stuck with it just in case. It got progressively worse as I unlocked new recipes and started crafting a new type of consumable. I feel a little trapped. Bagin has a monopoly on the inventory slot market and he knows that sooner or later I’ll come back to him crying, willing to pay any outrageous amount he asks just so I can take another crafting ingredient or wild bait on mine adventures.
One day I’ll be frustrated (and wealthy) enough to buy a $4,000 inventory slot. Until then, I’ll keep playing extreme inventory management.
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