Starting out with a lot of cash, choose your path by buying equipment

[ChampX]

This is something that isn't easy to get right if implemented.

You mentioned Kingdom Hearts, but the system in that game actually turns out to be flawed. As other people mentioned, the problem is you really have no idea what is viable in the game yet so you're just picking based on biases. In Kingdom Hearts, the weapons also turned out to determine when you learn specific skills via level up which essentially did control the difficulty of the game but nothing ever tells you that. With the little information people had and letting their biases take the wheel, they picked the sword usually. Ironically, veteran fans would tell you that is the worst option as you learn all the useful skills much later and the slight attack boost wasn't usually worth the hp or magic loss (depending on what you gave up). This was adjusted to be more balanced in the final mix version, but you didn't see this mechanic in any subsequent Kingdom Hearts games.

Of course, we like player agency and what is good and what isn't is usually a subjective matter that fans of your game could debate. Having some options being easier or harder is also good to, but only if the player knows what and why they are getting into with the choices they make. If you just throw them into the shop, say go nuts, and then just take whatever they bought (if anything) at face value and let that option be stuck with them for quite some time, a lot of players won't feel happy if they end up making what they deemed a poor choice. Not because that the poor choices were there, but because they didn't know what they were.

You probably want to have some control on how much agency the player has. If you don't want them leaving without at least one item or one weapon, design the shops in a way that it isn't possible to leave without doing so. If you want them to be able to leave without buying a weapon, items, or even anything at all, you want to make it very clear to players that it isn't recommended and players doing so are doing it out of challenge and not because they aren't sure of what they are doing. They might just keep their gold because nothing told them to purchase anything, or maybe they spent all their gold on equipment because they didn't realize there was an item shop and now the gold is gone. You don't want that, or well you don't want players doing those accidentally. This is why I think you would be better off having some barriers on the agency the player has, mainly to protect them from unintended decisions.

As for how the player can determine what actual purchases are worthwhile to them? Well other people seemed to have already made good suggestions there!

 

[GeraldTyler]

Maybe have an elder NPC who is gifting you your first set of gear?

So he gives you a choice of 5 weapons and 3 armors. You are forced to choose one of each (Player is guaranteed to have equipment), and then the NPC gives you a small pouch of coins that you can use to purchase either Accessories or Consumables.

Some games (Such as Half Life) use "Secret" coding to support the player. So let's say your player has only a single health potion left, you would secretly increase the rate enemies drop their potions, secretly increase chance for monster attacks to miss, maybe have the monsters use weak attacks more frequently, etc etc.
The player still feels the tension of being almost overrun and out of stock, but is still able to barely scrape by for an epic and satisfying victory.

I've got an entire list of "How to protect the player from themselves", because if people have the option to make inefficient choices, they will.

The goal isn't to make all choices amazing, the goal is to make sure no matter what they choose they're not screwed and forced to restart. Just my thoughts. Cheers.

 

[Countyoungblood]

Look into dwarf fortress if you want a good example of a game with such a prep stage..I have to warn you though the learning curve is basically vertical and there isnt any hand holding at all. You can bring whatever you can afford but of course some things are more cost effective than others. For example turkeys are one of the best animals to bring. They lay tons of eggs and your cooks will become legendary quick which helps to calm the dwarves down if they get upset which happens...

Having options is fun and it gives replay value. I could spend all my money decking myself out in platemail and be a turtle or spend everything on one reeeeally good sword that kills everything before i get hit. Very extreme examples of course..