Recettear: An Item Shop’s Tale

It looks like something a 9 year old girl could really get in to. For a short while.

Actually, it's alot more fun than some, "9 year old girls game", although its certainly no epic rpg. If you can get into a light hearted economic sim/rpg, and appreciate the kawai aesthetic, then you will probably enjoy this. I picked it up yesterday from Gamergate and have been enjoying it so far. It's got alot of charm.

I just spent a few hours playing the demo. I was surprised, it was actually decent. The tutorial aspect of it was a little repetitive and the introduction was a bit long (would have preferred to speed it up). However once I got into the normal routine of the game it was enjoyable.

I didn't get that far into the trial dungeon - kept getting destroyed by the blob spawning chests and later the goat/troll things. What I didn't know is if you had to make it completely through the dungeon or if there was a way to exit early, alive with the loot that had been acquired up to that point. The other thing I didn't realize right away was that I didn't need to equip the adventurer. He came with his own basic set of gear. From the initial dialogue I thought we had to give him at least a sword or something. So I wasted a bunch of what I owned by equipping him, then he'd die and I'd lose what I gave him.

Nevertheless, it was still fun. I want to make another go of it to see if I can make it through that trial dungeon. I don't think I was patient enough and at the end I just tried running through parts of it to find the end.

It's something I may not buy right now, but if it's ever on sale I will most likely be picking it up.

Actually if you die in a dungeon you get to keep one item and must start over,(dungeons are randomized and different each time). If you get through the dungeon, the items you gave your adventurer, go back into your inventory and you can sell them at the store. Also once you complete the first dungeon, Tear will tell Recette about a certain feature that makes dungeon diving a little easier in the future. I got killed three times by the troll things, but I was stubbornly taking on every creature including respawns,(You don't have to.). It's more fun than I thought at first and only $20.00 at Gamersgate.

I picked it up and had quite a bit of fun with it. Not my usual type of game, but the actual gameplay is addictive. It's a fairly tough game. It seems like something for children, but it's definitely challenging and there is quite a bit of strategy necessary to be successful.

Not enough upskirts...

Which is my way of saying, I can't get into games like these for some reason. They just don't fit my style or something... which is lots of upskirts.

Quoting Mivo,

reply 5

I picked it up and had quite a bit of fun with it. Not my usual type of game, but the actual gameplay is addictive. It's a fairly tough game. It seems like something for children, but it's definitely challenging and there is quite a bit of strategy necessary to be successful.

I intend to pick it up this week. Looks far more entertaining than most indie games I've seen.

Been playing it a bit since the weekend. Lots of fun as it's basically two games in one, a business sim and an action RPG. It's also pretty difficult if you don't know what you're doing. It's nearly impossible to avoid the game over screen on your first playthrough, but the game is meant to be replayed several times in order to have enough time to see all the events and dungeons.

While I can understand those who can't get past the cute graphic style and think it's a kids game, there's a very decent game here. I'd strongly suggest trying the demo and judging it for the gameplay, not the art style.

Quoting AncientLich,

reply 4

Actually if you die in a dungeon you get to keep one item and must start over,(dungeons are randomized and different each time). If you get through the dungeon, the items you gave your adventurer, go back into your inventory and you can sell them at the store. Also once you complete the first dungeon, Tear will tell Recette about a certain feature that makes dungeon diving a little easier in the future. I got killed three times by the troll things, but I was stubbornly taking on every creature including respawns,(You don't have to.). It's more fun than I thought at first and only $20.00 at Gamersgate.

I knew about being able to save one item. I think that's a nice idea so that at the minimum you come away with something.

So how many levels is that first dungeon? I'm wondering how close I was to getting out of there alive with my bag of phat lewt.

In regards to those "certain features" so does it allow you to leave a dungeon at any point? If I'm taking too many hits and have a nice haul so far, can I bail on the dungeon and return with the items I acquired up to that point?

Just noticed that Kotaku has a review up on their site as well.

Hidden Gems: Recettear: An Item Shop's Tale
http://kotaku.com/5636397/hidden-gems-recettear-an-item-shops-tale

Tried this game,and well it's cool

Gravedancer, the first dungeon is about five levels and in later dungeons, there's a disembodied door that will open on certain levels allowing you to leave with your loot and come back at that point. Tear actually recommends that you use it,(I guess later dungeons get pretty large.).

Quoting Gravedancer,

reply 9

I knew about being able to save one item. I think that's a nice idea so that at the minimum you come away with something.

So how many levels is that first dungeon? I'm wondering how close I was to getting out of there alive with my bag of phat lewt.

In regards to those "certain features" so does it allow you to leave a dungeon at any point? If I'm taking too many hits and have a nice haul so far, can I bail on the dungeon and return with the items I acquired up to that point?

At higher merchant levels, you get a larger item bag and can recover more items if you die. You get an exit/save point every 5 floors. You should almost certainly use it, especially if you're using one of the weaker adventurers. After clearing a dungeon, you also get access to a 'boss rush' mode for that dungeon for fun/quick farming of boss item drops.

Quoting AncientLich,

reply 12

Gravedancer, the first dungeon is about five levels and in later dungeons, there's a disembodied door that will open on certain levels allowing you to leave with your loot and come back at that point. Tear actually recommends that you use it,(I guess later dungeons get pretty large.).

The final dungeon is actually 100 floors. However you can only access it after completing the game. You don't have any more debts to worry about at that point, so you can just focus all your effort on the action RPG part of the game then.

and I hate you - but I'm buying this game.

This is a charming game. Thank you for suggesting it.

heh - sorry - thanks for pointing me to a charming game that I feel the need to speed $20 on it.

There's an awful lot of indie games lately that compete for my gaming time. Recettear, Tidalis (I put up a review at GamersGate), and Torchlight. I played Torchlight a lot last year already, but now I discovered the new Steam achievements (and my Runicgames' bought key worked for Steam too) and it's grabbed me all over again. Oh well!

Also, something to note that the game does not explain well is that adventurers will equip whatever they buy if they can. But also, you can buy things before hand and put it in the back to take with you; they can then equip these items (which will be returned to you if successful or must be chosen from if died). Basically, you can loan or sell them stuff.

The final dungeon is actually 100 floors. However you can only access it after completing the game. You don't have any more debtsto worry about at that point, so you can just focus all your effort on the action RPG part of the game then.

Now that's a Japanese rpg for ya, very cool!

There's a demo on the steam page for those who are curious. It's fairly lengthy and gives you a good idea of the gameplay.

I was having a lot of fun right up until I got flattened in the dungeon. Then I lost all my stuff and didn't have enough to make the payment!

Going to put it on my wishlist since my birthday is coming up, and people always complain that I don't want anything.

For those who bought it from Impulse, note that for some reason they aren't submitting new patches through Impulse. You need to go to the main site and download them. http://www.carpefulgur.com/recettear/ Version 1.106 is the latest version right now.

Quoting lbgsloan,

reply 21

For those who bought it from Impulse, note that for some reason they aren't submitting new patches through Impulse. You need to go to the main site and download them. http://www.carpefulgur.com/recettear/ Version 1.106 is the latest version right now.

Good to know. I wonder if they're automatically updating via Steam.

The game is definitely high on my list of games to buy. I'll see what comes first... a sale or being bored one night and making an impulse buy.

@Tridus - I was buying stuff for my adventurer thinking that maybe the reason I kept getting flattened was due to him not having the right equipment. I still got flattened, lol. So then I lost the 5 items I had equipped him with. As the one item, I think I chose a necklace cause it was the most value. But still there was a net loss.

It was cool to see the adventurer come into the store and buy stuff to improve what he would equip.

Also, when I was reading up on it, from what I understand is that how you decorate your shop will determine the likelihood of the adventurers coming into your shop to buy stuff. Like for Louie, he likes the generic store. There's another adventurer that like it "dark". Then there's another style/mood (not sure what it's called) that will bring in higher paying customers. So there's definitely depth to this game.

Oh that's really cool. I didn't get that far.

A friend of mine has it and he said the dungeons are easier in the actual game then the demo (probably due to patching). He also said it plays better with a gamepad then a keyboard, so I may plug in my Xbox 360 controller and give that a try.

Here's a good resource.

Recettear Wiki *
http://recettear.wikia.com/wiki/Recettear_Wiki

* customary spoiler alert applies

If you want to make any real progress in the dungeons you generally have to not only equip your hero but bring along some food/restoration items to heal him. Eventually the hero will probably buy some of the stuff your equipping him with himself which saves item space (and gives you money of course) but until then your not going to survive much past the first dungeon with his basic kit.

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