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Recettear: An Item Shop's Tale
PC (Steam)
Buy Low, Sell High, Have Fun
3.5/5 stars
Recettear was originally an independent Japanese that would have likely languished in obscurity and a very small fan base if it weren't for Carpe Fulgur. The team is known for translating games and bringing them to a Western market. They had low expectations for the game - expecting to sell around 10,000 copies - strictly through the digital market - but lo and behold, word-of-mouth and good reviews have helped the game become a success as it has blown passed 300,000 in sales. And if this game is any indication, by decision to purchase the Carpe Fulgur deal from the fine folks at Humble Bundle was a good one indeed.
Presentation: There are two distinct ways the game is presented. From the top-down perspective, the game has more of an old-school feel - when you are in dungeons (accompanying an adventurer) or wandering around your shop, it is a pretty simple design. Not a lot of detail (the few enemies you encounter are simply palette-swapped) and, while it isn't graphically intensive, it still gets the job done. On the other hand, when you actually talk to the various people - either in you shop or around town - it switches to more visual novel look with some very nice character designs. You deal with a few town types (mother, young girl, generic man) as well as the unique people you find throughout your adventures or happen to meet while out about in town. It is typical Anime style, but I found it well done.
Much praise has been given to the Carpe Fulgur team for doing a good job on the translation, and I have to agree. There is not one hint of Engrish mistake - and while not every phrase is translated, those with even a cursory knowledge of Japanese will be able to tell what these small phrases kept in are all about. The music is pleasant, if unremarkable.
Story: The story starts with a man facing a dragon on an adventure... and later his daughter, Recette, awakens to finds a fairy named Tear essentially saying that her father (now missing - presumed dragon food) has left a sizable debt. In order to pay it off the fairy could simply seize the house - or, as a better means, Recette could open up an item shop and pay off the debt over time. Naming her new shop "Recettear" (a play on their names but also, much to Tear's incredulity, also a play on the word "racketeer") she vows to pay off her father's debt and keep her home as well. The rest of the game is learning the ropes of the business - buy low, sell high, watch the markets (certain items and item types will increase and decrease in value), fulfill orders - each week you owe a certain amount. If you fail... it's the cardboard box for you.
The town is divided up into a few main areas - the Market and Merchant areas let you buy various items you can resell in your shop. The Chapel, Pub and Town Square don't offer any items but entering them at certain times will allow you interact with characters and add flavor (and sometimes even get you more adventurers to use). Speaking of adventurers - the Adventurer's Guild is where you go to dungeon crawl to get items to sell or, more importantly, ingredients you can use to make even more powerful and high-dollar, items. You start off with just one primary adventurer, but as you go on in the game, more are made available.
Gameplay: Much like the graphics are split into two distinct styles - so it the game. For the most part you will run your item shop. When you start off you have a limited amount of space - and at this low level, and with a limited amount of money, there's not a lot you can control. But it doesn't take long to learn the basics - whatever you buy (from the Merchant Guild or Market) you can sell for a markup - how big depends on the customer. Some you can mark up 130%, others you'll be lucky to get 105% - but if you press too hard, they will balk and buy nothing. As you progress you unlock the ability for customers to sell you items, take orders from customers and change the style of your shop (walls, floor, carpet and display cases are all customizable). You'll also be able to increase the size of your shop and even buy a vending machine, should you choose.
There are plenty of items to sell - staples like armor and weapons (in many different varieties) but also things like books, food and medicine. When you gain a few levels, the game throws out a few curveballs. The market fluctuates so that one day, food can be worth nothing and heavy armor worth double the cost - and the next day your armor is worth nothing when precious metal is overvalued but suddenly books are in high demand. This at least keeps things interesting as you have to keep a variety of items on hand at all times to take advantage of what is selling high (you can easily get 250% or more when things are in high demand) and rotate out all the stuff that is worthless. But it also gives you an advantage - because people who sell things to you also depend on the market - so you can buy really low and wait around - and make a killing.
The game also relies on time management. Each day is divided up into four sections. You can spend all four sections in your shop - but eventually you'll need to leave. If you go to town, it takes up one of the four sections (no matter how many places you visit). Should you choose to adventure, however, it takes up a full three sections (pretty much taking up the whole day) so choosing when and if to adventure becomes very important.
That brings us to the second gameplay style - adventuring. The dungeon employs a top-down, hack n slash style. So far I have unlocked two complete dungeons (with multiple floors) and each time you visit, the floors are randomly generated. You do at least get a variety of people along the way. You start off with a standard "fighter" - sword and shield guy but also unlock a thief, magician, martial artist and archer (there are more, but I have yet to unlock them). Each floor usually ends in a boss battle - the items you sell (weapons, armor and the like) can be bought by the characters and they will automatically equip them (but be careful, you can also sell them weaker versions of the items they will also automatically equip). But anything in your possession can be equipped when in the dungeon (but it takes up inventory space). Every enemy has the chance to drop items or ingredients - you start off only able to carry a limited amount of items, but as you level up, you increase the amount you can carry. Should you die (I never have, yet) you'll lose everything you've collected up to that point. Ingredients are important as you can use Fusion at the Merchant's Guild to create much more powerful weapons and items and even unlock floors and the like for your shop. You can sell these items for high dollar value or save them for your adventurers. The only downfall is that the dungeons aren't that exciting and the limited capacity means you'll be going back a lot if you want to fuse items - especially as some ingredients are "rare" drops or drops from bosses. Even in a simple game it seems you can't escape grinding.
Replayability: Very high - if you fail to beat the game (like I did the first time around) you still retain all your levels and items - just not your money or adventurers. Should you beat the game, it gives you the opportunity to play Endless Mode (essentially continuing your game without having to worry about paying off your debt). New Game+ (keep all your levels, items and - if you have a card, your adventurers) or Survival Mode (Paying off your debt each week in increasing amounts, for as long as you can) and, for hardcore shop keepers, Survival Hell (the same as Survival but each week resets you back to zero). Plus, this is a game you can pop in and play for 15 minutes and call it good or play for hours on end and still get the same satisfaction. Some may call it casual, but it has enough depth to go beyond your typical "easy" game.
Overall: For something that looks so simple on the surface, it provides quite a bit of entertainment - and considering how often it goes on sale, it is worth the money - plus, it gives Carpe Fulgur the incentive to continue their efforts at bringing these types of games to a Western audience.
Presentation: 4/5
Story: 3/5
Gameplay: 3.5/5
Replayability: 5/5
Overall (not an average): 3.5/5
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