The creation of an obstacle like Eric, is always a good idea for a story and/or a game. Heck, it is one of the most basic principles in story- and gamedesign, that a challenge is mandatory, to deliver a good product. But this implementation of Eric is not just crinchworthy. He is too powerful for a first playthrough, and lost almost every reason to be in the story, after the wallet opportunity. If he would be more of a snakeoil seller (or otherwise more subtle) and less of this thing, he is, he could be a fun antagonist. But I guess DS lacks the skillset of a storywriter.