After a long silence, suddenly the first thing I review is not an anime, but a game. What madness is this?
Recettear is a fun little shop-simulation game with dungeon-crawling elements, which is like saying Facebook is a popular social networking site: the summarized statement doesn’t quite convey how fun (hint: very).
It was originally released in its full form by doujin game makers EasyGameStation at Comiket 73 (December 31 2007, if you were wondering; the demo was out in C72, I think). In July 2010, Carpe Fulgur brought it over to English, releasing a demo version which can be downloaded from their website. The full game will be sold via Stardock’s Impulse content delivery service at around September 10, assuming all goes well.
Major Update: Recettear now also will be available on GamersGate and, to the expectation of many, Steam. The delay in getting the game there is apparently due to many distributors not answering their emails.
Why am I reviewing this game (not even a full game, but a game demo) on an anime blog? The most obvious reason is that the game is anime-styled, which is always a plus point. The storyline would also not be out of place in an anime, especially with the running themes of Friendship and Never Give Up: it becomes clear that the main characters, thrown together by chance, have to start relying on each other to get through their troubles.
Recettear is a casual game on the surface, bright and cheery and simple, but that’s only how it draws you in: by the time you get into the groove, chances are you’ll be hooked on it for days, which is no mean feat for a demo that is maybe two to three hours long.
Also, Animenauts is a subsidiary of GameSync LLP, and an anime game seems to fit within the scope of our blogging. So it goes.
Our heroine, Recette Lemongrass, is a little girl living alone after her father decided one day to become an adventurer and disappeared, leaving her to fend for herself. This example in bad parenting is compounded with the arrival of Tear, a fairy sent by the Terme Financial Group to collect on the stupendous debt Recette’s father seemed to have built up. If Recette cannot pay off her debt, Tear gets to repossess the house.
However, seeing that Recette is obviously not sitting on huge piles of pix (the currency used in-game), Tear suggests that Recette open an item shop, so they can pay off the loan in incrementally-increasing instalments. Since they live in what amounts to the classic RPG adventuring hub town, this has potential for a lucrative business… if happy-go-lucky Recette can settle down long enough not to mess things up.
Running a store seems simple: buy low, sell high. You can buy items at wholesale prices from the Merchant’s Guild or the Market, and sell them at your shop at a markup… although exactly how much markup varies. A few customers are happy with the recommended 130% markup price, but most are willing to go only to 125%, or 120%, or even just 105%… a couple might even just haggle for the sake of haggling. Every customer type has their own preferences and quirks. Price it too high, and they’ll storm off in a huff. Keep them buying, and they might be willing to spend more next time.
If you manage to sell an item on the first go, you’ll get an experience bonus. It turns into a balancing act: do you want to keep haggling, while being careful not to scare the customer away? Or do you want to raise your Merchant Level as quickly as possible?
If that isn’t enough gameplay yet, you also have the option to hire an adventurer to go dungeon-delving for loot. Combat is akin to the Zelda-esque action RPG style, relying on positioning and quick reflexes to avoid getting hit. Any loot you obtain through this is pure profit, although you can only take back at most twenty items at a time.
Between dungeons and running the shop, you’ll have to manage your time effectively; each day is divided into four time slices, and every significant action takes up at least one slice. The game is surprisingly challenging, with advance planning required if you want to make the first deadline (which is where the demo ends). Recettear does a commendable job in making sure the player understands the mechanics, but trial and error is not recommended.
Toss in a crafting component (which is relatively tricky to level up to before the demo ends) and what might seem to be a simple game turns out to have terrific depth.
The story and characterizations are told through little scenes you can view in various places. You don’t have to (except for a few mandatory introductions), but they provide plenty of insights into the characters, as well as the overarching plot. The dialogue is irreverent and goofy, and the translators have done a tremendous job keeping the same tone in English. Tear’s tsukkomi reactions are gold.
In the full game, you’ll be able to take your pick of adventurer as they unlock through the story (in the demo, most people will be using Louie, the down-on-his-luck swordsman, although it’s possible to get Charme, the thief), as well as customize your shop and add in vending machines and a variety of other goodies. After the main game, likely to take 15 to 20 hours, is finished, there’s a New Game Plus option, as well as a Survival Mode which just has the player try to meet ever-rising weekly debt payments until they hit the point of Too Much Money To Pay For.
The game is not fully voiced per se, but every now and again, the characters exclaim something (generally along the lines of “yes”, “good morning”, “be careful”, “good work”, and things like that). The voices are not translated, mainly because Carpe Fulgur does not have anywhere near the budget to do so, nor are they willing to do a half-assed job. They have mentioned having English dubs as an option for a patch in the future, and by this they do mean optional: assuming it pans out, players will be able to choose between English and Japanese voices.
Carpe Fulgur is, at this point, basically three people (lead director, translator, and art), making them possibly just as indie (or even more so) as the makers of the game they’re localizing. Recettear is their first project, and they’re hoping to get enough money off of it so it isn’t their last. (I believe their goal is somewhere along the lines of 10,000-15,000 copies in six months.)
Recettear sold in Japan for 2100 yen, and so Carpe Fulgur is pricing it at a roughly-equivalent US$20. Value for money, I’d say.
Tags: games, owe money pay money, recettear
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