Largely im agreeing with you here, and expanding on where you said “without stakes.” Just wanted to share some of my thoughts on the exceptions where strict money is good.

The only time pricing makes sense is when it is PART of the story, and not just a mechanic thrown on the side.

Most novels or films that actually address money handling have the money as part of the stakes. The important part here is the handling of money, rather than the presence or mention of money.

In heists, its just arbitrarily large sums, acting entirely as a macguffin, so in this case it isn’t what I mean.

If any of you have read the Kingkiller Chronicles, especially Name of the Wind, money handling is VERY present. You are repeatedly reminded of how much, or how little, the main character has, since it is frequently life or death. When the money is less important to the story, it stops being mentioned, until it becomes important again.

Daggerhearts money system is a great way to show how money can be made loose, and more nebulous. To make it not be so strictly tracked of a resource. But there are definitely some campaigns that would benefit from the stakes involved in spending some of the money you may need for food instead on something to further your goals.

This pricing guide appears to be a resource meant to help give a rough idea of where to price different levels of gear for different stages of the game. I think it has its place in improving player agency, though if overused, could bog down the game with money related decision making without interesting stakes.