My idea boils down to breathing more life into items that most would consider “dead content”, while not requiring any additional assets or complicated programming (frankly it could be a mod too).
Several of the items in FL mode are pretty much dead-on-arrival, not seeing any use due to having alternatives that are easier to obtain, cheaper or take-up less space.
Let’s look at 3 specific items for this example: The “Casino Monarchique” Chip (1.000.000), Collector’s Coin and The Ornamental Pistol. The first two are coin-equivalents in terms of function, taking up 1 inventory capacity and acting as a distraction; both cost 5000 merces and the chip has “rare” rarity while collector’s coin an “epic” rarity. The latter is a rare unsilenced pistol that costs 9500, with nothing remarkable about it.
The 1st idea:
Carrying either of the items throughout an entire syndicate would yield an additional loot roll at the end, when you get a showdown reward chest. For the chip it would have to be tier-2 syndicate and for coin tier-3. The coins would be sacrificed but as a trade-off you’d get a rare/epic rarity item on top of it. It essentially turns them into a risk vs. reward minigame where you constantly carry an additional risk on you for a chance at a bigger payout.
The ornamental pistol, on the other hand, would require a tier-4 syndicate, and at the end of a showdown would turn into a random legendary-tier pistol (Silverballer, Shortballer, Goldballer, The Banker Pistol or Bartoli “Lucky Knight”). It takes up 2 inventory capacity and costs more, so it would be an additional commitment.
This essentially turns those overlooked items into an additional mini-game within FL, whereby players have to assess whether they want to run through hoops for an additional payout.
The 2nd idea:
If the initial bar of having to run an entire syndicate seemed like too much commitment, then simply winning an appropriate tier of a showdown would suffice instead.
If the player already has all the gear of the appropriate rarity, the “challenge” items would instead turn into 10k, 15k and 25k (bear in mind pistol costs 9500) merces respectively.
What does all this achieve? Bring an additional layer of engagement and interaction that is NOT centered around killing objectives. My favorite kind of side content is stuff that makes players linger around for extra reward without demanding combat - safes, vaults, couriers, loot crates. This would spark additional interest in those items and give them more use.
Just to re-iterate, the 3 mentioned items were just examples. In theory any suitable item could be used as well.