The little RPG that could
There's really no other way to say it: if it wasn't for Kirby's Epic Yarn, Recettear would probably take the crown as one of the most charming games of 2010. A vibrant and colorful look with attractive character models and some lighthearted (and occasionally hilarious) dialogue and one of those simple game systems that gets more complex as you go yet never becomes to overbearing, it's just a shame people may not have heard of it or played it. I'd love to see the game get a more wider release such as on Xbox Live Arcade or the Playstation Network since there's not really anything that screams "can only be played on PC". Maybe one day but even with the large amount of games on Steam, I'd highly recommend Recettear for the "yayifications" it gives.
The story is pretty simple: you play as Recette Lemongrass, a young girl living on her own after her father disappeared and unfortunately leaving the family with a pile of debt. When the company representative, a fairy named Tear, shows up, Recette goes into the workdforce as the owner of "Recettear", an item shop in town. With the pay deadline quickly approaching, it's your job to sell as much stuff as you can and adventure in dungeons to collect more valuable items to pay off the debt.
First thing you'll immediately notice with the game is just the unabashed cuteness of it all. The game's character designs share more in common with more "bishojo" style of designs or anime shows like "Higarushi" (without the horror stuff) or Negima. The game is definately attractive on the character design front and the in-game sprites aren't too bad either. The music is sort of a mixed bag because it's incredibly catchy and will very likely get stuck in your head, however the tracks themselves are not that long and you'll instantly start to notice when it starts to loop which can get a bit irritating. Voice acting is sort of present as characters speak in Japanese but are mainly saying small exclamations, the occasional sentence or a word or 2. Presentation wise it certainly makes a very strong first impression and helps keep the game's "deceptively simple" design up.
Recettear is basically a business shop simulation / dungeon crawler RPG that starts out pretty straightforward but then quickly escalates and has you thinking very fast on your toes. It goes like this: you adorn your store with a bunch of wares you want to sell to people (with extra attention paid to ones closest to the window) and a customer will come in looking to buy. But do you charge a bit more to get a bit more cash at risk of alienating them thinking you're ripping them off or charging less, guaranteeing a sale but getting less profit? That's one of my main gripes is how slightly easy it is to "game" the system early on. If somebody wants to buy, 120% over the initial price is usually a sale while 60% is a good spot for people looking to sell you things.It makes things somewhat easier at first but then the game actually starts to give you less cash for items you keep stocking and others will come in and attempt to sell you something ridiculously expensive just to mess with you. Sure it starts out easy enough but ooh boy, can it get intense.
Another feature of Recettear is that is has a "Dead Rising"-esque mechanic where you can actually reset the game, Recette thinks it was all a dream (sadly no Patrick Duffy in a shower) and start you back from square one though complete with all the items and your merchant level intact. When you level up you gain an ability to help out paying off your debt such as unlock more items you can buy off the merchant guild, redecorate and redesign your store or the ability to fuse items which'll hopefully net you some bigger profits. Like Dead Rising, Recettear is meant to be played over and over and there's even a mode with nonstop debts you got to pay off so there's plenty to do.
The final piece of this puzzle is the dungeon crawling and it's pretty simple and a nice break from working retail. You can hire an adventurer to do your looting for you and finishing a dungeon can net you some pretty cool gear which'll fetch a high price back in town ("stranga, stranga! now there is a weapon!" quote not included) but should you run out of health, you retreat and given the option to bring back only one item with you with max up to 3 at highest merchant level. It's pretty easy, combat's rarely challenging though those stupid traps can ruin days and questing actually takes up valuable retail time so you have to balance a day of non-stop sales versus a day split between looting and selling.
If you're ever in the mood for a different and charming RPG, Recettear's got you covered. Its gameplay might be a bit on the simple side and sadly there's no Steam achievements but still, I highly recommend it. So get to it, there's money to be made. Capitalism, ho!
