I have played my current character without spending time in fame control methods (failing party quests on purpose was a great way to keep it low), i have cleared many, many dungeons to grind my character skills and potentials, finding tons of good or money making items, and currently i'm a bit above 40000 in fame
And i observed that while monsters encounters can generate stronger ones, instead of putits and rabbits, my character is powerfull enough to destroy them, and i have access to much higher difficulty town missions, that means if i choose them i can get a lot of money along items.
So at least in Elona+ i wouldn't worry too much in controlling the fame, unless you're playing a very weak race/class combo (i'm playing an Elea Wizard and i find this strong as a combo) , by the time you get stronger enemies or decide to explore higher danger level dungeons, you (and your minions) should be powerfull enough to deal with the opposition.
The rogues ambushes that is progressing in monster power with your fame has not killed once my character, i just teleport out of the way, then with my allies annihilate easily every members of that ambush one by one when they show up.
Additionally Fame is used to unlock 2 new city quests , Panic at fame 30000 and Challenge at fame 50000 , i have yet to reach the requirement for Challenge despite i spent 70 hours on my character but got some fun in Panic missions.
And Loyter the "performer killer" from will give you a special quest once you reach 20000 fame.
That is for a caster character, as spells can get really powerfull with you using them constantly in monster hunting and dungeon crawling, so fame is not a problem.
But is that true for a melee character ? i have not played a single one in Elona+ , in Elona they were good, but i remember having a lot of problems with several not so strong monsters that my caster can one or two shot now.
So maybe if you play a melee based class, keeping fame under control is more important ?