How to Invest in Shops in Oblivion: A Step-by-Step Guide for Maximizing Your Gold
Step 1: Locate a Shopkeeper Who Doesn’t Hate You (Good Luck)
First, find a merchant who tolerates your existence. This is harder than it sounds, considering most Oblivion shopkeepers have the charisma of a grumpy cat guarding a cheese wheel. Pro tip: If they say, “I don’t know you, and I don’t care to,” you’ve failed already. Boost your Mercantile skill until your charm offensive could convince a mudcrab to sell you its shell.
Step 2: Bribe, Flatter, or Magically Befriend Them
Once you’ve found your future business partner (victim), it’s time to “persuade” them. Use the Speechcraft minigame to rotate their portrait like a demented carnival wheel until they’re mildly impressed. Alternatively:
- Bribe them with 10 gold… every. Single. Day. (Persistence is key!)
- Cast Charm spells until their distrust melts into robotic compliance. Ethics? Never heard of her.
Step 3: Invest Gold (Pray to Zenithar)
Unlock the “Master” Mercantile perk, then dump 500 gold into their business. Congrats! Your reward? Now they stock “better” items, like slightly shinier iron daggers and suspiciously glowing apples. Check back in a week to see if they’ve upgraded to selling literal garbage or accidentally acquired Daedric artifacts.
Step 4: Exploit the System (Because Capitalism, Baby)
Buy their new “premium” stock, then sell it back to them at a markup. Repeat until they’re too poor to protest. Advanced maneuver: Invest in a blacksmith, sell them 500 “Repair Hammers,” then watch their inventory become a monument to your tyranny. Remember, in Oblivion, the real treasure is the economically unstable friendships you make along the way.
Why Can’t You Invest in Shops in Oblivion? Common Issues and Pro Tips for Successful Merchant Investments
Because Cyrodiil’s Economy Runs on Chaos (and Cheese)
Let’s face it: Oblivion’s shopkeepers are too busy surviving existential crises (and marauding minotaurs) to entertain your capitalist daydreams. The game’s mechanics treat “investing” like a mythical creature—rumored, never seen. Want to buy a stake in Rindir’s Staffs? The universe says, “Best I can do is 37 gold for this enchanted spoon.”
Common Issues: Why Your Inner Tycoon Weeps
- Merchants have the attention span of a scrib. They’d rather discuss mudcrabs than negotiate equity.
- Gold is a one-way relationship. You’re their walking purse, not a partner. They’ll take your septims but ghost you at the “profit-sharing” meeting.
- The “Speechcraft” mini-game is a lie. No amount of spinning facial expressions will convince Ongar the World-Weary that you’re serious about franchising his forge.
Pro Tips: Capitalism Finds a Way
Can’t invest? Become the investment. Hoard 500 wheels of cheese, flood the market, and watch prices crumble like a poorly rendered sweetroll. Or, exploit the “merchant restock glitch” by selling them 10,000 arrows—suddenly, you’re the economy. Remember: In Oblivion, true power isn’t owning a shop. It’s knowing that Falanu’s “rare” potions are just cabbage water with glitter.
