So I'm sure many of the folks reading this have visited Zipangu after the latest patch, namely Showa Town and Ninja Castle. While doing the quests, it's apparent to anyone that the monsters in both these regions,
especially Showa, drop a lot of items that clog our inventories. I'm sure some people will say "Why not just use Item Ignore on your pet?" The problem is that pets can only ignore a certain number of items, and all this does is turn people away from the content.
I'll categorize it by inventory slot, starting with the
Use inventory tab.
As you can see, there are a lot of food items, arrows, and cures (didn't include Mokbi or Wolbi Throwing-Stars, but those are also dropped in Ninja Castle). While a majority of the food items are used in certain quests throughout Showa, it's incredibly overwhelming to one's inventory. The food items with high drop rate are used to feed Fraidy Cat in Showa Town for the "A Friend to the Cat" and "Cat Mom" achievement.
The drops from each monster in Showa are as follows (excluding the Silver Slimes):
1. Yakuza Soldier: Egg (used to feed Fraidy Cat)
2. Yakuza Grunt: Roasted Chestnut (used to feed Fraidy Cat), Fried Chicken, Fairy's Honey
3. Yakuza Bruiser: Roasted Sweet Potato (used to feed Fraidy Cat)
4. Yakuza Enforcer: Fish Cakes (used to feed Fraidy Cat)
5. Yakuza Lieutenant: Corn Stick (used to feed Fraidy Cat), Fat Sausage, Eyedrops
6. Yakuza Shotcaller: Peach (used to feed Fraidy Cat)
7. Dusk Viper: Meat
I didn't keep track of which mobs drop which other items, but the arrows and other food items featured in the above screenshot drop in Showa and Ninja Castle as well. Most of the above items are also only 300 per slot as opposed to 3,000 per slot, straining the inventory even more.
Proposed Solution:
For the Arrows, I suggest removing them as drops from monsters in Showa and Ninja Castle, while adding them to various NPC vendors in Showa Town and Ninja Castle. The problem with arrows is that there is no use for them due to the way Soul Arrow works for archers, but that's a discussion for a separate time.
For the various food items, I suggest removing them as drops from these monsters as well, and adding them to Doran's shop in Showa Street Market, since he is the most logical NPC to sell these given the numerous Showa quests that require food items. The monsters in Showa and Ninja Castle can have these food items replaced with Reindeer Milks and Sunset Dews, given how most monsters over Level 140 already drop those.
Next, I'll talk about the
Equipment inventory tab.
While the above screenshot isn't a representative picture of all the drops in the area, the number of different low level swords and katanas dropped by the monsters in both Showa and Ninja Castle is unnecessary, especially the katanas since those are fairly easy to obtain otherwise (admittedly it does make sense for Yakuza Soldier to drop the Wooden Sword since he wields it as a weapon but I digress). There are a good number of collector's items that also drop from Showa monsters, such as the Newspaper Hat and the Cat's Eye earrings, which have a lower drop rate.
Proposed Solution:
For the common low level equipment, such as the various weapons that can be obtained in many areas throughout the game, I suggest removing them as drops from the monsters in Showa. For the rare equipment (such as Newspaper Hats, Cat's Eye earrings, Bow of Magical Destruction, Daiwa Sword, etc), I suggest adding them to the Armor and Weapon NPC vendors in Showa and Ninja Castle, since it would make the most sense. Heck, Shinta the weapon seller even has a Daiwa Sword in the background of his shop, yet he doesn't actually sell the sword.
Lastly, I'll talk about the
Etc inventory tab.
I don't have much of an issue with the leftover drops in Showa, since most of them can be exchanged for items via Faito in Showa Street Market. One small tidbit is that most leftover drops have a level to them and sell for double the price of the level. For example, one of the drops from monsters in Omega Sector, the Micro-Saucer Controller, is labeled as Level 173, and sells for 346 mesos accordingly.
However, that's not what I want to focus on, but rather the fact that Ninja Castle leftovers are only 100 per inventory slot:
Most leftover drops nowadays are at least 200 per slot, with some even going as high as 500. It would be nice if these drops were changed accordingly.
Conclusion:
While the Zipangu revamp does have a few nice additions, such as more achievements and a new medal to show off, I can imagine that most players would appreciate the area even more if they didn't have their inventories bloated with various junk that they either don't need or could instead be moved to an NPC for convenience. Thank you for reading.
