"De-emphasizing" doesn't mean eliminating. Starting funds remain, and Nepleslian military characters can spend as they like. Yamatai and Nepleslia are different after all.
But it's not something that's going to stop approval βΒ that's what I'm talking about here. I won't look at a player and say, "Hey, you've got 6,000 DA to spend; do so or I won't approve your military character." I will, however, say, "Hey, you've got this money to spend. You don't have to spend it right now; browse the wiki for a while to figure out stuff you might want."
Or, as Wes seems to worry about, "Hey, new player, don't worry about your starting money right now if you don't want to. Just focus on character creation; you can buy things later."