What factors influence the likelihood of item drops in Recettear?

Question

I'm currently on a quest to retrieve the items necessary to fulfill Caillou's order. As a result, I'm curious to know what in-game factors influence item drops from monsters (if any).

Does the level of a monster increase the likelihood of a drop? Are there any items I can wear to make drops occur more often? Will stronger monsters of a certain type(i.e. red slimes are stronger than blue slimes) drop items more often, or drop items of a higher grade? Will chaining together kills affect the quality and likelihood of an item drop? Factors like these are what I'm interested in.

Answer 1

Chaining Kills only appears to affect Experience Gems.

"Stronger" monsters have separate drops because they are separate monsters. A level 10 green slime and a level 1 green slime use the same drop table. But a Level 60 Grey Slime can drop different items than either Green Slime.

Thus, if you are trying to farm a particular material, it is advisable to go to the first / most common appearance of that monster. Difficulty is irrelevant when it comes to item drops.