After clearing the base game, I've moved on to the Undead Nightmare DLC.
I've noticed that money seems to be all but gone from the game as a commodity. Nobody seems interested in trading now that zombies ate their neighbors. Further, the challenges are completely different than in the base game. However, I can still collect animal parts and plant bits.
It seems that the spawn rate for herb patches is vastly increased – I wish I'd had this many to choose from when doing the challenges in the base game! There doesn't seem much point to collecting plants, though. I can't make Tonic, and I haven't found any shops willing to buy my supplies.
Similarly, instead of skinning animals, I can take a large amount of bits from them instead – sometimes I get ~10 bits of animal from looting a single corpse. Again, nobody seems interested in these animal bits, so I'm not sure if it's worth it to collect them.
What good are plants vs zombies? Should I collect animal parts, or are animal corpses better left for dead? Are these wilderness-resident goods evil? Are there any use for these items in Undead Nightmare?
Best Answer
Plants can be used in certain recipes that are given to you as part of the main storyline.
To unlock the two plant recipes, you must complete the quest "A Cure for Most of What Ails You," during which you must collect:
The game will recognize these if you already have them, so it's a smart idea to collect the Violet Snowdrop before leaving the West Elizabeth area.
Once unlocked, you can make this recipe with any type of sage and a Violet Snowdrop. The recipe makes:
As a reward for this quest, you will also unlock another recipe which requires Prarie Poppy and Wild Feverfew. When assembled, this makes:
Aside from these, there is no use for other plant materials in the game.
Animal bits, on the other hand, are completely useless. There is no reason to loot animal corpses, as the things you collect do nothing whatsoever in the game. There's some speculation that they were intended for use in another recipe, but this is just speculation and apparently was never implemented. Aside from the Undead Hunter challenges and the occasional annoying/vicious undead animal, you can safely ignore any zombie animals.