Draft:Shiren 5 2020:Item

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Overview

Accumulating items (and crafting and improving and using them) is key to winning Shiren 5 and indeed all roguelikes. There are no dungeons in Shiren 5 that are viable without having at least a few items, and usually you need many. Shiren 5 has a large library of stock items organized into 15 categories. Figuring out the many unusual ways that items can interact with other items and monsters is a key Shiren skill, and not easily taught or learned due to the depth and complexity of the game. Players can play hundreds or even thousands of hours of Shiren and still continue to learn additional tricks and tips for how best to leverage items. If an item seems like it's a bad one that you'd never want to use, odds are very good that there is at least one way to leverage it to your advantage, and usually more than one. On the flip side, items that seem good can have hidden downsides or might be used against you by monsters.

Shiren (the player character) can carry 24 items in main inventory. For some item types, one main inventory slot can contain a stack of identical items, otherwise an inventory slot can only contain one item. Pot type items can contain up to 5 non-pot items. (Pots are equivalent to jars in Shiren 1. In Shiren 1, it was possible to create a new jar inside a Change Jar. In Shiren 5, it is never possible to have a pot inside another pot.) Several effects target an item (sometimes randomly) in Shiren's main inventory, but putting items inside pots isn't always a good idea. Some items such as Dirt and flowers can only exist inside of Pots, never in main inventory or on the ground.

Items usually have a primary way to use them (e.g. swords can be equipped, peaches can be eaten, etc.), but there are often other ways to use the items as well, such as by throwing them at monsters, dropping them on the ground, or just selling them for cash.

The Dungeon Barrier

Shiren 5 does not always allow you to bring items into or out of various locations. If you can't win your current dungeon run or find a way to escape, the items you've accumulated are typically lost. Shiren 1 had the Storehouse Jar which let you send some non-jar items out of the dungeon, but there is no direct equivalent in Shiren 5. Instead, you may be able to attach a tag to swords and shields, and these tagged items might be returned to you in the Sentry in Hermit's Hermitage outside the dungeon should you fail to win or escape. Any items you do manage to take out of dungeons contribute to your "meta game stash" so to speak. So there are effectively two very different experiences in Shiren 5:

  • For dungeons that let you take items in, the challenge is often accumulating valuable items over the course of many runs, crafting excellent gear, and using said gear to beat these dungeons. If you fail here, you risk losing your best items!
  • For dungeons that do not let you take items in, you must find a way to survive and thrive by building upon the items you can find along the way. These require more skill, but if you fail here, you've only lost what you've found in that one run.

Getting Items

Here's a summary of all the known ways you can acquire items.

Primarily In Dungeons

  • Pre-Placed: Virtually every dungeon has at least some items pre-placed on the ground. This can be as few as 1 item per floor or 8 or even more.
  • Sparkly Ground: Sparkly ground does not show up on the map, but if you're strong enough to dig it up, you'll get either an item or a monster.
  • Monster Drops: Most monsters can drop items if you kill them. Some monsters drop special items.
  • Monster Houses: Monster houses are rooms filled with stuff of all kinds. They sometimes appear spontaneously as you explore the floor.
  • Monster-Generated: Some monsters can create infinite supplies of some items. (E.g. Trowlies create Dirt, Field Knaves create Weeds, Mutaikons craete some grasses, etc.)
  • Stores: There are 3 different kinds of stores, which let you buy, sell, or win items. (It's also possible to steal by design.)
  • Wandering NPCs: Some wandering NPCs can give you items or other advantages, sell you items, or improve your items.
  • Pots: Some pots can create items (e.g. Presto, Floramorph), while others can create monsters which can drop items (e.g. Monster, Zalokleft). (Some pots are pre-filled with charges, which aren't items.)

Primarily Outside of Dungeons

Some methods that work inside dungeons can also be done outside of dungeons, such as in your storage unit in Nekomaneki Village, but the results are usually less than stellar. For example, using a Presto Pot to create items in your storage unit creates a very limited range of poor items. No one has yet documented what happens if you try each of the primarily-dungeon methods outside of dungeons. (Turn it into a monster house?!) But there are some unique ways to get items that are only possible in the starting villages.

  • Shops and NPCs: There are several shops that sell items outside of dungeons, and they each tend to carry slightly different merchandise. Other NPCs can help you improve items.
  • Lots Game: There is a vestigial "minigame" that lets you gamble money for random items in the basement of Hotel Nekomaneki. Button mashing can sometimes get you good items.
  • Crafting and New Items: It's possible to improve your items and even make new ones. This is a big topic. See the Crafting pages under Shiren 5 Strategies for details.

Attributes

Throughout this wiki, the word category is used to refer to a group of related items, while the word type is used to refer to all items with the same base name, and the word instance is used to refer to one specific item. For example, Swords is a category, Red Blade is a type, and your blessed level 1 Red Blade +5 with 2 runes and a tag is an instance. (In object-oriented programming parlance, Swords is an abstract superclass, Red Blade is a concrete subclass, and your Red Blade is an instance of the subclass.)

Items have attributes (aka characteristics, aka features). Some attributes apply to all items, while other attributes apply only to specific categories of items.

All items belong to a category. Items are organized in the Item Book by category, and except for the "Others" category (which is basically a grab-bag of special case items), all items in a category share many of the same attributes. For example, all swords can be equipped and increase your attack power, all grasses can be eaten, etc.. Swords and shields are further sub-divided into families or sub-categories in the Item Book. (Is a level 1 Ordinary Stick the same item as a level 2 Ordinary Stick? They have different names, they count as different entries in your Item Book, and trying to mix and match them in a Fever Pot causes an explosion. So, they're different types, and one of the features of a level 1 Ordinary Stick is that when it gains enough experience, it transforms into a level 2 Ordinary Stick.)

Some categories of items are durable and can be used indefinitely, such as swords, shields, and bracelets. Other categories of items are consumable and last only a certain number of uses or turns. Durables are usually used by equipping them and they have certain effects on the player or game state while they are equipped, while consumables are usually used in other ways (eating, reading, throwing, etc.) and have an immediate one-time effect, but Torches are both equippable and consumable. (The word "equipment" is often used to mean "durable items", while "items" is often used as shorthand for "consumable items".) Further, as in many other games, equipment takes a virtual "equipment slot", limiting the number of items that can be equipped simultaneously. Normally, you can equip one Sword or Torch, one Shield, and one Bracelet, though there are ways to equip 2 Bracelets, and there are bizarre items such as a Sticky Pot that can interfere with the normal rules for equipment.

Some categories of items (typically projectiles) are stackable. Stackable items tend to be immutable. That is, one Wooden Arrow is identical to every other Wooden Arrow, they can never be modified with blessings, seals, upgrades, runes, or any other form of customization. They also tend to either be pre-identified for you or are not hard to identify. When you have a stackable item in your main inventory and pick up more of the same, they are automatically merged unless you deliberately takes steps to prevent the two stacks from merging. Stacks max out at 99 quantity. Trying to pick up more than that results in an additional inventory space being taken up with those items, or excess items are left on the floor if there are no inventory spaces left. (Where possible, it's best to leave stackables in your main inventory, to simplify merging them and because they usually cannot be ruined in some common ways such as via Curse Traps.)

Almost all items have prices, discussed in more detail below.

Pots have a capacity of 0-5 spaces, though they have 2-5 spaces by default. Staves have a capacity of 0-99 charges, though they have 4-7 charges by default.

Some item attributes are less obvious and not spelled out in the UI. For example, Grasses, Onigiri, Peaches, and Scrolls apparently all have a hidden attribute such as "requires the use of your mouth". Reading a Muzzled Scroll prevents the use of your mouth (so you can't use any item in any of these 4 categories) until you change floors. No attempt has been made to fully map out all these smaller attributes.

Most items can have their instances modified in various ways. For example, swords and shields have experience and can level up, and they can gain or lose upgrade points, runes, and tags. (Understanding how to improve your equipment is a key Shiren skill. See Crafting under Shiren 5 Strategies for details.) And many item types can be cursed, sealed, blessed, or have none of these modifiers. (Understanding how to use and manage these modifiers is another important skill. See Blessings, Curses, and Seals under Shiren 5 Strategies for details.) Note that you can name an item type but not an item instance, so choosing a name that reflects the modifier status means the name probably won't be apt to future instances of that type. (That being said, the presence of a curse on an item you find can be a clue as to what type of item it is, so if you can't figure out what type it is, naming it something like "Cursed1" may help you identify it later.)

Identification

Mastering the art of identifying items is key to mastering Shiren 5. See the Shiren 5 Strategies pages for Identifying Items and Blessings, Curses, and Seals for more information. But here's a short summary.

There is no concept of needing to identify an item's category. An item's category is always visible and can even be seen at a distance via the item's icon. But identification is not a boolean state, and in fact there are multiple facets of identification:

  • Type: An item's type can be identified or not in the current game state, except for swords and shields for which the types are always identified. If identified, all instances of that item will display the item's name in the UI. If not, all instances of that item will display a unique description instead (e.g. "Red Grass"). These placeholder descriptions are randomized for every game, and randomized again if you ever eat an Amnesia Grass, so they give no hint as to the actual type.
  • Modifier: Instances of items can be blessed, cursed, sealed, or have none of these modifiers. Not every modifier is possible on every category of item -- see Blessings, Curses, and Seals for details. This modifier may or may not be identified up front, but is independent of whether the type has been identified.
  • Upgrade Points: This applies to instances of swords and shields only. The upgrade points aka bonus value is never identified up front but becomes identified as soon as the item is equipped or if the item is identified in some other way.
  • Charges: This applies to instances of staves only. Again, this can be identified or not separately. If identified, you'll see the integer value of the number of charges remaining (0-99). If not, you'll see the number of charges you've used or tried to use as a negative integer.

Depending upon where you are located, different sets of item types will be identified at all times. In some dungeons, virtually nothing is pre-identified, while in other dungeons, virtually everything is pre-identified. Some item types have unique icons (e.g. traps, Gitan Bags) and are presumably always identified in every location. For types that aren't identified yet, there are various ways to identify them in your current game state, after which they usually stay identified (unless you eat an Amnesia Grass). Everything is always identified outside of dungeons.

Regardless of whether the type is currently identified, for each instance of each item, the modifier, upgrade points, and charges may or may not be identified in the current game state. For example, the game may display that a given staff is a Pinning Staff, but it may not show if the staff is sealed or how many charges it has. Or after fully identifying all aspects of a specific Pinning Staff (which let's say is not sealed and has 5 charges), if you then eat an Amnesia Grass, the type will no longer be identified but the number of charges will still display as 5.

When an item's (blessing/curse/seal/none) state is not identified, a question mark is overlaid on part of the icon. When it is identified and blessed, a bell is overlaid. When it is identified and cursed, a gray skull is overlaid. When it is identified and sealed, a red X is overlaid. There is no overlay on the icon if it identified but not blessed, cursed, or sealed.

When all aspects of an item are identified within the game state, the name is displayed in the normal color (salmon? pinkish-brown?). When any aspect is not identified, it is displayed in yellow. But, if the player has named it, it is displayed in green. And for swords and shields, if they have any runes, this also overrides the color to be blue.

Names

The player may be able to derive some or all of these attributes without them actually being identified in the game state. The game offers some convenience features for this situation. The player may name (and rename) the item type so long as they have an instance of that item available and so long as that type is not identified in the game state. Any future items found of the same type will show this name as well. Naming replaces the placeholder description permanently. For example, an item in a shop is called "Glass Bracelet" -- a placeholder description. You see that it has a base buy price of 10K, so you name it "10K-1" (to distinguish it from other bracelets in the 10K tier). You then try it on and confirm it's a Growth Bracelet, so you rename it "Growth Bracelet". You can name and rename that type as often as you want so long as you have one available, but you can never delete your name and go back to showing the earlier "Glass Bracelet" description (nor would you really want to). You rename it to "Foo" just for fun. Later, you fully identify it and your name is overwritten, and it now shows as "Growth Bracelet" permanently.

The game makes it easy for you to choose a name from the list of types in the same category that you've ever identified at any point in the past (in any run). The game also keeps track which of these "real names" you have used already in your current run. These are both very convenient features.

Names are per type, not per instance, so naming something like "Pinning 7 Charges" (which you might be able to figure out via fancy price identification and process of elimination) doesn't help you much because the next instance of the same type will also seem to have 7 charges which isn't necessary true.

Prices

Almost every item has a base buy price (the price at which you can buy an unmodified copy of the item from a vendor) and a base sell price (the price at which you can sell an unmodified copy of the item to a vendor). A small number of items (e.g. a Points Card) are "priceless" and cannot be bought or sold. For almost all items with prices, the base sell price is 35% of the base buy price; catstones are a notable exception.

The final price of an item is affected by modifiers. These have not been fully mapped out, but here's what's known:

  • Blessed == +10%
  • Cursed or Sealed == -20%
  • Each staff charge == +5%
  • Each empty pot space == +5% (confirm)
    • Working theory: filled pot spaces do not add to the pot's price, but, the content item's price is added to the pot's price.
    • In other words, you can *decrease* the price of a pot by putting a cheap item into it.
    • Which actually would make sense if it's true, given you can't remove items at will from most types of pots.
  • Runes and upgrade points on swords and shields also increase the price, though no one has yet mapped out by how much.
  • It is unknown if tags or experience on swords or shields affects the price.
  • A stack of items is priced as you'd expect: the base item price times the quantity. (There are no bulk discounts.)
  • Any decimal remainder is truncated (not rounded).

In dungeons, an item's price is usually not visible, unless it is owned by a shopkeeper. You can also ask shopkeepers to tell you how much they would pay for all the items they don't own that are on the floor of their shop. You can use this trick to (e.g.) place a single item on the ground and ask the shopkeeper for a price check, and thus get an important clue as to what that item is. The game designers seem to have deliberately made only a few price tiers per item category, and to have deliberately placed "good items" and their "evil twins" in the same price tier, to prevent players from using a price check to get too much useful information about items. See Identifying Items under Shiren 5 Strategies for details.

There are no concepts of haggling, item quality, or item wear and tear in Shiren 5. Every item of the same type with the same modifiers is identical and will always buy or sell for the same price.

Crafting

Shiren 5 has the most complex crafting model of any game in the series, though not as complex as craft-heavy games like Minecraft. There are a large number of ways to improve items and you can even create up to 64 new items. Mastering this topic is key to winning both dungeons where you can take your best items in, and dungeons where you can't take items in at all but must craft on the fly. See Crafting under Shiren 5 Strategies for details.

Non-Items

Shiren 5 occasionally refers to "items" such as "the dice of fate" or "mom's special onigiri". These are not actually items per the game mechanics and they do not show up in your Item Book. Some of these are tracked as game state within your game diary, and others are just for color. See Goals for more info.

There is also a family of monsters similar to mimics in D&D that pretend to be items, revealing themselves upon various events such as trying to pick them up or trying to use them. Some of these can exist in your inventory and appear to be items for extended periods of time. These are not tracked in the Item Book but are tracked in the Monster Book.

Secret Items / Easter Eggs

There is one known item which behaves like an item in every respect but which does not appear as an entry in your Item Book and thus is not required to complete your Item Book. It's an Easter egg! No more info has been added here to avoid spoiling readers, but if you really want to find it on this wiki rather than in the game, look at the final reward items for the various Shiren 5 Locations pages.

Categories and the Item Book

The huge number of items in Shiren 5 are broken down into these categories, which appear in this order in your in-game Item Book. Click on a category name to see details about the category and all items in the category. Your game diary (meta game state) tracks which items you've ever identified (and for scrolls, which you've ever read), which can then be used to name items in the current and future runs. There is also a trophy for completing your Item Book; see Shiren 5 Goals for info.

Category Icon(s) Notes
Swords Durable equipment that usually increases your offense, and can have magic properties as well.
Torches Consumable equipment that takes the place of your sword, but is very helpful at night.
Shields Durable equipment that usually increases your defense, and can have magic properties as well.
Bracelets Durable equipment with a magic effect that is sometimes subtle and hard to figure out.
Grasses Consumables with a wide range of special effects, and which can often be made into runes too.
Scrolls Paper usually containing a magic spell, and which is usually consumed after reading it once.
Pots The only container object in Shiren 5. Any non-Pot objects can be put inside, but it may alter or destroy them or have some other magic effect.
Staves Think magic staves or wands from D&D and other roguelikes. Can have a wide variety of magic effects at great distances provided line-of-sight.
Talismans Magical projectiles that affect all living creatures (except you) in a 3x3 grid around the creature you hit.
Onigiri Food that doesn't normally rot but can rot or be grilled in certain situations. Some have magic effects too.
Peaches Food that can ripens and rots normally and that can have magical effects as well.
Arrows Common physical and/or magical projectiles. There is no such thing as a bow in Shiren; you can shoot any of these at any time.
Stones Heavy projectiles that usually do fixed damage and can only be thrown 3 tiles rather than the usual 10.
Traps (Multiple) Traps are items too! Though you usually can't pick them up.
Others (Multiple) A grab bag of miscellaneous items, often special, that don't fit into the other main categories. (E.g. Gitan Bag, Dirt, etc..)

Checklists

These excellent external references may have better and more complete information that has not yet been replicated to this wiki:

The above two links have been replicated to all sub-pages for item categories because (at least for now) they have lots of information that hasn't yet been fully replicated to this wiki. Here are two additional, condensed item checklists, suitable for either printing and carrying with your PSVita, or viewing on a mobile phone especially in low light:

Subpages

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