I would like 99 of these, and 99 of those, and 99 tents to pitch at the hottie.

For Final Fantasy-type games, I'll buy a reasonable number of each cure item (between 5-20, depending on how cheap they are). I'll come back after I've learned what the enemies in the area can throw at me and adjust my stocks accordingly. For straight HP healing items, I'll go to 99 if I have some extra money lying around, but I like to rely more on steals/enemy drops (I love stealing shit, I think I have a kleptomaniac lurking inside me) and I don't usually have problems with this approach.

Originally Posted by Enkidu

Money is even harder to come by in Nocturne, if you suck at the Kalpa tunnels like I do. You don't really need to rely on money to get the good items here, you're better off hunting for gems for that, but you need it to get old demons out of the compendium. While prices are still fair in the beginning, later on it'll get ridiculously expensive, while the money amount that enemies drop is still low.

Ugh, the Kalpa tunnels. I hated them and couldn't be bothered to learn the patterns - I would just put the controller down and let Kei run into shit. Maybe if I play the game again (I know I will eventually, since I've gone through 3 or 4 times already...) I'll give it more of an effort. All I did for money was grind at the Tower of Kagutsuchi 3 save point. =/ It took a while, but I figured hey, as long as I'm leveling from it it's not a waste of time.

Of course, getting 100% on your Compendium helps a ton for subsequent playthroughs.

Originally Posted by lazuli

And this doesn't really have to do with buying, but I have a horrid habit of being far too conservative with item use.

Oh God, me too. I do the exact same thing, saving all the "rare" (or even uncommon) items for the penultimate or even final battle. I just can't use them if I think I'll need them more later.

Jam it back in, in the dark.