At the CRPG Addict's blog, one of the qualities on which he rates the games he plays (against an imaginary "ideal" CRPG-- Baldur's Gate would be pretty close to it, for reference) is the game's economy: are there lots of things to buy, is there just enough money where you have to pick and choose among good things to buy, at the endgame are you just drowning in gold with nothing to do with it or is there still good things to buy, etc. Few games, especially JRPGs, get this right, with most of the games I've played lately ending up definitely on the side of "you can buy everything worthwhile as soon as you hit the place that sells it." Bravely Default is pretty good about making you choose what to buy (so far), and the Etrian Odyssey games also have an economy where you won't be able to get everything you want right away. The Etrian Odyssey games also share the Monster Hunter/MH-like games' associating stock with bringing parts from the monsters you kill and stuff you scavenge, which is a pretty sound system.
For most games, however, there's a certain absurdity to the proceedings beyond the failures or successes of the in-world markets-- part of it is the fact that new towns just happen to have the best weapons so far, and part of it is that you're often dealing with entire kingdoms who you save but who only provide modest monetary compensation and whatever few goodies you loot from the treasury. It's an old joke/tvtrope, but there's definitely something funky when the king of I-own-it-allistan asks you to save the world and sets you off with a few coins and an iron sword. And why does a small hamlet in the middle of nowhere have better weapons that a great military kingdom?
My radical idea would be to fix this by having everything be free, at least once you're recognized as the grand hero or whatever. Limit consumables by limiting how many of the weak ones you can carry, make them heal a set percent, and have more powerful ones require rare(ish) materials to make. Lock high armor and weapon tiers as things you find realistically (kill a great big baddie with an awesome sword and armor, actually get those goodies) or have to get materials for craftsman to make them ("I can make you a great amulet that drains your enemy's life if you get me a vampire's fang). "Realism" could still be sacrificed for balance and fun, but at least it wouldn't be glaringly obvious that the world makes no sense.
Meanwhile, here are some games that either had "just right" economics or did cool things with the game's economies. I'll eventually update this list as new games come out and do things right, or I remember old ones that had really innovative ideas. I'll mostly focus on RPGs, but any genre is fair game. Comments with suggestions or reactions are welcome!
"JUST RIGHT" Economies:
Secret of Mana- SNES
Bravely Default- 3DS
Monster Hunter and mimics, to varying degrees
Etrian Odyssey and mimics, to varying degrees
INNOVATIONS
Shadow Madness, PS1- halfway through the game, when you go to the "other world," they don't take your money anymore, you have an entirely new economy.
Chrono Trigger-- small thing, but trading rocks, vines, etc. for items in the caveman era
Fallout series-- old cash is a souvinier, soda caps are money.
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