The Happy Merchant: The Game
one of its kind
What a great game, i really enjoyed my time with this one, great merchant mechanic and action rpg! I loved the dialogue and characters! The story and music were fine! Haggling with customers was such a cool mechanic! I hope for a sequel!
Lovely twist on the item shop owner trope. Gameplay is super simplistic and only the first character you unlock is really usable but I loved the actual shopping/haggling aspect.
this totally feel like a videogame Satou and Yamazaki from NHK Ni Youkoso would have made after they released a couple more VN in their catalogue
Mamita que juegazo...
Capitalism, ho!
No achievements.
I think this game is rather short, if you're focused on the main goal of paying off your debt and min/maxing store selling. I couldn't really enjoy the characters and writing until after the "debt era" of working, and I think the writing is silly and fun. Dungeons can be repetitive when the items dropped don't scale with what you're capable of selling, and the drop rates are enormously bad to make fusion a viable selling option for the store. However, VERY great art direction, and I love the overall game feel.
If you're looking for something cozy to play when you're about to go to sleep, this has done the trick for me. The gameplay loops are short, and they account for those who want to replay the "debt era".
No achievements.
I think this game is rather short, if you're focused on the main goal of paying off your debt and min/maxing store selling. I couldn't really enjoy the characters and writing until after the "debt era" of working, and I think the writing is silly and fun. Dungeons can be repetitive when the items dropped don't scale with what you're capable of selling, and the drop rates are enormously bad to make fusion a viable selling option for the store. However, VERY great art direction, and I love the overall game feel.
If you're looking for something cozy to play when you're about to go to sleep, this has done the trick for me. The gameplay loops are short, and they account for those who want to replay the "debt era".
Have you ever wanted to play a cozzy management sim where you run your own item shop in a colorful fantasy world, only for the harsh reality of crippling debt to strolle around the corner to haunt your very existence ? Then dont worry, Recettear: An Item Shop's Tale is her to fulfill that dream.
Recettear is an Item Shop management game where your the one taskd selling all but the most important items to the heros of a fantasy world. Its a game I had my eye on for a long time. The kind of game where it keeps popping up in various gaming magazines, youtube videos or in barging bin sales. For whatever reason I never picked it up through out the various stages of my life despite always beeing curious, mainly about its wonderful sprite work. Well now I sat down and gave this odd niche title a chance to see if the actual game is a good as word of mouth has lead me to believe.
You embody Recette. A naiv Anime girl and recent owner of an item shop because her father just went up and dissapeared, leaving her with a truck load of financal debt. Soon the debt collectors of course come knocking and your tasked with paying back every penny owed or face beeing evicted from your own home. Fun. And thats pretty much the big picture. There isnt much of a plot aside from your main goal of not becoming homeless. Slice of life is the best word for Recettear. You will of course met tons of quirky characters that all have unique personalities. Comedy is very much the focus of the writing. That can be a problem if the jokes dont land, but luckily the translation, however accurate it might be for 2007, has more hits then misses. My favorite thing beeing the sometimes way too real news messages on top of the screen. There is nothing like stocking up your cute store with scarfes and ham sandwiches, only to be informed in passing that “The race war is still going on in the north”.
Of course the big hook is the management side of the game. To Recettears credit, under the anime exterior, there is quit a complex economie under the hood. You will be selling items to different customers, both named and unamed. They all have unique wants and budgets that have to be considered. As you progress through the months their wallet size will increase and you will learn at what price range everyone will buy. You can all also crash the economie if you happen to flud the market with too many cheap items, wich is always a treat. The more you sell in a row, the more you will build up a combo in order to gain merchant levels. Your Merchant level will allow you build out your store or stock more inventory. Basicly if there is a task you would have to consider when opening a real store, Recettear has you do it. Saying all this: The game does a real poor job in breaking down all those systems.
I can see an argument in how its simulating Recettes real inexperience in handling a bussines but thats not a enough for me. Some basics are explained, others are explained wrong and then again very important stuff is not told to you at all. Like how the combo system works or how a price increase in the market will allow you sell items for a mark up of 250% pretty much everytime. Information like that is vital to not hit a game over. Although a Game Over is ironicly not the end of the world. The image of your cute anime girl sleeping in dirty carboard box may be harsh but you will just be set back to day one. Reseting any events that happened but kepping all your store progress and inventory. A Game Over is still enough of a punishment but the devs made sure that your not completely back to 0, keeping motivation high. There is also a dungeon you can hire different heros for in order to scaving for rare items. The Dungeon is a trap I tell you. Its a waste of time and money in wich you will not get enough out of to make a real dent in your debt. Aside from the dungeons beeing really boring, its a activity best suited for the post game. Focus on selling and buying items until you repayd your debt. I do recommend some light reading on the wiki too, making your journey a bit less confusing once you take your first steps.
I had a lot of fun with Recettear, it really satisfied my inner number cruncher. If your only in it for the action rpg part, Recettear will dissapoint you but it often goes on sale for almost nothing and there is never a bad time to widen your horizon. Overall the charming presentation and gameplay loop is worth a look. There is lots of post game content too and I still have an urge to play more of this cute existential nightmare. Capitalism ho!
Recettear is an Item Shop management game where your the one taskd selling all but the most important items to the heros of a fantasy world. Its a game I had my eye on for a long time. The kind of game where it keeps popping up in various gaming magazines, youtube videos or in barging bin sales. For whatever reason I never picked it up through out the various stages of my life despite always beeing curious, mainly about its wonderful sprite work. Well now I sat down and gave this odd niche title a chance to see if the actual game is a good as word of mouth has lead me to believe.
You embody Recette. A naiv Anime girl and recent owner of an item shop because her father just went up and dissapeared, leaving her with a truck load of financal debt. Soon the debt collectors of course come knocking and your tasked with paying back every penny owed or face beeing evicted from your own home. Fun. And thats pretty much the big picture. There isnt much of a plot aside from your main goal of not becoming homeless. Slice of life is the best word for Recettear. You will of course met tons of quirky characters that all have unique personalities. Comedy is very much the focus of the writing. That can be a problem if the jokes dont land, but luckily the translation, however accurate it might be for 2007, has more hits then misses. My favorite thing beeing the sometimes way too real news messages on top of the screen. There is nothing like stocking up your cute store with scarfes and ham sandwiches, only to be informed in passing that “The race war is still going on in the north”.
Of course the big hook is the management side of the game. To Recettears credit, under the anime exterior, there is quit a complex economie under the hood. You will be selling items to different customers, both named and unamed. They all have unique wants and budgets that have to be considered. As you progress through the months their wallet size will increase and you will learn at what price range everyone will buy. You can all also crash the economie if you happen to flud the market with too many cheap items, wich is always a treat. The more you sell in a row, the more you will build up a combo in order to gain merchant levels. Your Merchant level will allow you build out your store or stock more inventory. Basicly if there is a task you would have to consider when opening a real store, Recettear has you do it. Saying all this: The game does a real poor job in breaking down all those systems.
I can see an argument in how its simulating Recettes real inexperience in handling a bussines but thats not a enough for me. Some basics are explained, others are explained wrong and then again very important stuff is not told to you at all. Like how the combo system works or how a price increase in the market will allow you sell items for a mark up of 250% pretty much everytime. Information like that is vital to not hit a game over. Although a Game Over is ironicly not the end of the world. The image of your cute anime girl sleeping in dirty carboard box may be harsh but you will just be set back to day one. Reseting any events that happened but kepping all your store progress and inventory. A Game Over is still enough of a punishment but the devs made sure that your not completely back to 0, keeping motivation high. There is also a dungeon you can hire different heros for in order to scaving for rare items. The Dungeon is a trap I tell you. Its a waste of time and money in wich you will not get enough out of to make a real dent in your debt. Aside from the dungeons beeing really boring, its a activity best suited for the post game. Focus on selling and buying items until you repayd your debt. I do recommend some light reading on the wiki too, making your journey a bit less confusing once you take your first steps.
I had a lot of fun with Recettear, it really satisfied my inner number cruncher. If your only in it for the action rpg part, Recettear will dissapoint you but it often goes on sale for almost nothing and there is never a bad time to widen your horizon. Overall the charming presentation and gameplay loop is worth a look. There is lots of post game content too and I still have an urge to play more of this cute existential nightmare. Capitalism ho!
annoying script + the way the shop gameplay actually works makes optimal play unintuitive + dungeoneering is tacked-on and half-baked. wanted to like this but it's not happening
This game's really fun. It's from 2007 and it shows, but some of its jokes still hit.
Combat sucks though, it's not very fun and the dungeons can take forever if you want to get rich.
It's a very lovely game I come back to every year or two, just to binge it for a full day or two and then drop it again.
Recette is cute! Tear is cute!
Combat sucks though, it's not very fun and the dungeons can take forever if you want to get rich.
It's a very lovely game I come back to every year or two, just to binge it for a full day or two and then drop it again.
Recette is cute! Tear is cute!
such a joy to play, really fun gameplay loop. Dungeons are kind of lame but the game has a really good nostaglic 2000's vibe to it that holds the weaknesses up.
🇮🇱
Plusy: wciągająca rozgrywka, muzyka, pomysł, gameplay
Minusy: nużąca końcówka, grafika, średnia fabuła
Minusy: nużąca końcówka, grafika, średnia fabuła
A cute game with some very dated/rough writing, a catchy soundtrack, passable dungeon crawling that's mindless enough to get in a good loop in, and a solid basis of selling items to pay off debts. I completed the main campaign and did some of the endless mode and I quite liked it. Frankly, it has me wanting to try out more simulation games in this vein.
It's a cute game, but some of it is rough around the edges, and while I enjoyed it, I'm not sure how much more I'll keep going in terms of seeing the rest of the dungeons and the like. The itch is there, but its age definitely shows and has me wanting more.
It's a cute game, but some of it is rough around the edges, and while I enjoyed it, I'm not sure how much more I'll keep going in terms of seeing the rest of the dungeons and the like. The itch is there, but its age definitely shows and has me wanting more.
simple but super cute. capitalism ho!
[Not done w this game yet]
I don’t know what it is about this combat but it’s sooooo buttery. Also running the shop is just so fun. I really love the writing even though the gameplay is the star of the game.
Capitalism, ho!
I don’t know what it is about this combat but it’s sooooo buttery. Also running the shop is just so fun. I really love the writing even though the gameplay is the star of the game.
Capitalism, ho!
the children yearn for the dungeons
It's all funny internet meme until you realize its commentary on the endless cycle of suffering is actually peak and that you might not make that last payment in time
This game is great until you make the greatest sale of your life only to realize you actually just bought that fishing rod at a 300 percent markup and now the debt collectors are going to arrive to collect your intestines later in the day
this one is realy fun ithink i like it
kino
Look man I gotta sell these item's I'll have to talk to you later. Seriously dude I'll talk to you later, I gotta open the shop.
capitalism is so cool
It's a fantastic premise, but then it quickly dawns on you that managing a shop is less fun than adventuring (and the adventuring in this game is less than quality).
This game took me a while to really master as I'm certainly not the best with my savings. However, what really helps is that when you are unable to pay a debt and have to start over, you get to keep your merchant level, adventures keep their levels, you keep the upgrades to the shop AND you get to keep all the items you didn't manage to sell, giving you the ability to bounceback much more!
Not to mention the fusion ability is really helpful to gain some really expensive and unique items to sell to more effectively pay off that bill.
The characters are a lot of fun with many interesting stories too going on around the place with many different and interesting mechanics going on too. This is a little hidden gem that requires a lot more attention and I really love it! Capitalism, Ho!
Not to mention the fusion ability is really helpful to gain some really expensive and unique items to sell to more effectively pay off that bill.
The characters are a lot of fun with many interesting stories too going on around the place with many different and interesting mechanics going on too. This is a little hidden gem that requires a lot more attention and I really love it! Capitalism, Ho!
good gameplay, worst dialogue known to man
This one's for my capitalism hoes.
Certain things get quite repetitive, and some aspects of the game might even be rarely used because they are just a bit too "out of the way" to even bother to use them. And yet it's just got so much charm.
Such an amazingly charming, fun and addicting game. I always fail and return to it a few months later like an addict.
As a shop keeping simulator, Recettear scratches a very particular gaming itch and does it better than any other.