My god is this game hard! You would think a cute anime style about owning an item shop would be easy. You would be dead wrong! And for $20, its well worth it.

The music of this game is catchy, very catchy and happy. Its something that you should very much enjoy. The characters remarkably are remember able, they each has a really good personality (except the NPC civilians, I wish they put a little more design into them.). Most charcters are unique in personality, habits, fighitng style(As almost all characters, help you clear dungeons.) and what they can pay.

The Item shop is the main focus, which means you have to price items as they are being bought, You can buy items from shoppers for a lower price, You have to keep stock for sometimes the shoppers may ask for something you dont have on your shelves. Also Certain characters have a certain price tag such as An old man will have more pix (money) than a little girl, so you need to balance the price so you get the maximum amount from each without them leaving you're store because you charged too much. Also every week you have to pay a debt that is absurbly large but possible. (First week is 10,000 pix next is 30,000, pix etc.)you also have a limited amount of time in the day so you have to have some good management skills, as you have to time when to open shop, when to enter a dungeon, or go to other stores for supplies.

Combat in game is very rouge-like and action paced. You have nothing to help you heal in dungeon except killing monster until you level up so you have to be skilled to avoid taking damage, dealing damage and getting loot until you reach the boss level. They bad part is... When you die you get to keep a single item when leaving, which adds more pressure and challenge to it.

Overall... This is extremely well made game and worth the buy. not all the machanics will please everyone but it still will be alot of fun if you're not one of those impatient people who refuses to examine items and do some management. You need a cool-head to play this game or it will punish you severely.

I first heard about Recettear from a webshow called Extra Credits on an episode titled "Games you might not have tried #3" and I found an absolute interest in the game.

I mean...c'mon, playing the owner of an RPG shop? Why hasn't anyone ever thought of this before? The main game for me lasted about 10 hours to finish while completing the ultimate objective.

The writing is clever, at one point, Tear(the loan-shark fairy) tells Recette(you, the player) to "use the custom controls to define your keys" and Recette replies: "what...? What are you talking about...".

Without any further spoilers, the game is very merciful when the player fails to pay the first debt collection on time(I failed once) when I did fail and get a "Game Over" screen, I thought that I'd have to start all over.

Instead, the game goes into a loop, so I did start over, but I had the levels that I gained for Recette, I had the items I gained for my adventurers and the only negative was that I was back to starting at 1,000pix(the currency)

So, the game is merciful, but it is very challenging, but when I actually paid off that debt, I felt very fulfilled, as if I had accomplished a great task that was set before me, and it did what games are meant to do, it made me feel good and kept me entertained.

Also a positive, when you do pay off the debt, three new options open up.

New Game+ - Start of New Game with everything you gained intact

Survival Mode - Play a game that never ends, last as long as you can until the debt unbelievable high

Endless Mode - No debt to be paid, no stresses, you're free to explore, run dungeons, find all the items in the encyclopedia, run your shop and just play the game.

I can say that at $20.00(at the time of this review) It was well worth my money.

You know what, I would've even paid a little more for the entertainment I got(and will get) from Recettear: An Item Shop's Tale.

Recettear, originally released at the 73rd Comic Market event in 2007 by doujin circle Easy Gamestation, is a Role Playing/Simulation game. ...That's being too simple though. It has all the makings of a standard RPG of old days of Dragon Quest, but is turned upside down. Instead of being the adventurous hero on a quest to save the world, you're the one price gouging him on that high power endgame equipment he needs before the final dungeon.

Yes, the twist of Recettear is that you are the item shop. You have quite a debt to pay off and must bring in enough money to meet your increasingly large payments- otherwise your fairy loanshark will break your knees and take your house. To accomplish this, you have a few options at your disposal. You can simply play the markets- relying on supplies you can buy in the market and the merchant's guild to stock your shelves; or you also can hire adventurers to guide you through randomly generated dungeons to hunt for more valuable good and items to craft into such riches. You only have so much time in one day to spend, and your payments are due in a week.

When dealing with the selling and the shop, most functions are menu based, while dungeon diving is presented with a classic rougelike formula. You move your adventurer around a number of themed dungeons, whose layouts are randomly generated each time you enter, and fight monsters in real time combat. You can find a variety of adventurers, each filling the role of a classic RPG character such as the knight, the mage, the thief, the archer, etc. They each have their own strengths, deficiencies, and skills- allowing plenty of variety. There is surely at least one adventurer so suit the player's tastes.

The music, graphics, and writing is always upbeat and cheery, though potentially a bit too saccharine for some players. If you like that sort of style, you'll feel right at home. The game does not take itself all that seriously, as gags and jokes are a plenty and reinforce the lighthearted tone of the game. It's content is all in all very clean and family friendly, nothing too risque or raunchy will be found inside.

The game can seem daunting in difficulty, however it is very user friendly due to ample, rewatchable, tutorials and no real penalty for failure. Failing to meet a payment does instantly game over you, but all that means is you start over from Day 1 but with all of your current inventory retained.

Recettear presents a classic genre of game that has been done countless times, and provides a very fresh twist on it, while indulging in a lot of what makes the genre what it is. Fans of JRPGs should get a kick out of it and several laughs at the same time. It is a game certainly worth the price and even those who would otherwise be put off by the art style should give it a chance. You will find a very clever piece of work under its sugary skin.

A great game about a young girl named Recette, who has been left with a huge debt on a shop she must run with the help of the fairy Tear. Together they form a relationship, and through shop management and dungeon crawling you will slowly dig your way out of debt. I reccommend using a pad of some sort for this game, keyboard just is not comfortable. There are many adventuerers you can pick up over time, and one final optional dungeon that is very long. Totally worth the price.

This is really a lovely little title. I invested more time in it than in some mayor games.

The graphics are ok, the sound standard. The economy system works just fine. Overall worth the money.

I originally purchased this game on steam over one year ago, and I enjoyed it so much that i just bought it again in order to play it on my laptop, since i will be without internet for a while and steam dislikes starting without it's morning checkup. that said, I may be a little biased about this game, but bear with me. Reccetear is the heartwarming story of a girl saddled with debt from her missing father, and the loan shark fairy who's here to collect, Recette, being broke, joyfully enlists the fairy tear's help in turning her home into an item shop, and hilarity ensues. the localization is top notch and the humor never lags. eventually you learn to love/hate all of the different customer's in the game, especially the little girl, somebody did way to good of a job teaching her how to be thrifty. the music in the game can get annoying from time to time, but i often find myself humming it as i go about my day at work, and the time spent in dungeons, while repetitive, has spot on controls, and every adventurer operates differently enough that you never get tired for lack of variety. the game doesn't take too long to "beat", but even after the credits roll, there is so much hidden gameplay left that beating the game feels more like finishing some sort of really long, enjoyable, rewarding prologue, and the game just get's better. don't let the cutesy drawings and simple premise fool you, Recettear has been going strong for a while now, and it's definitely worth picking up. just ask me, i bought it twice.

This is a very fun shop sim/dungeon crawl game. The main part of the game is the shop sim, you don't even have to dugeon crawl if you don't want to. You have control over nearly every thing in your shop from the items you stock and their placement to the tables and wall paper to the hours that you are open. Anything your change about your shop effects the atmosphere of your shop and attracts different customers and effects what they will want to buy. You can choose the price that you buy and sell things for and even haggle with customers, the more your sell to an individual the more they are willing to haggle. Also when you are setting prices you have a choice of trying to sell the items for the highest prices people are willing to pay and get more money or sell them for what people will think is a fair price and get more experience to increase your merchant level and get access to more things. There are also lots of interesting people you can interact with while your are buying and selling and while you are out stocking up at the merchants guild or preparing to adventure.

This is a very fun game and once you pay back your initial loan you can continue playing in either survival mode where your debt payments keep increasing until they crush your or unlimited mode where you can just continue playing as long as you want to, leveling up getting new things and meeting new and interesting people.

There's just something very addictive about this game. It's a hybrid of a trading game and an RPG. You set up shop, buy cheaply from the Merchants' Guild (sort of like a wholesaler), and sell stuff to adventurers and civilians, and every now and then, someone will even try to sell you something. And then you haggle! Haggling gets you better prices for your goods, and others', so it's really quite neat. Haggle too long, and you drive your customer/seller away, but play your cards right, and you'll find yourself sitting in cash. Other shop management aspects also include handling big orders, managing shop decorum and even putting cool items in front of the shop window to entice customers.

The RPG aspect reminds me of Zelda, but it's not anything spectacular. You'll basically be playing as other adventurers (these typically visit Recette's shop nearly everyday too), and chopping your way through a few levels until you reach a boss.

The story is very nice and charming. Recette's in debt and needs to pay it off, and she's given about a month to work it off. You don't have to be a jRPG lover to appreciate the game's style. In spite of the cutesy look, the game manages to hold its own in terms of humour and charm. Overall, it's well worth the purchase.

(PS. this game will make you very hungry. How can you not be, when you're dealing in strawberry shortcakes and walnut bread?)

A solid game! Recettear combines a fairly standard shopping sim with a fairly standard hack n slash dungeon crawler, and creates a very deep and engaging game.

Most of what there is to be said is already in other reviews. The difficulty, although some people apparently struggle with it, is actually pretty paltry. Even in survival mode it takes a long time for the debt to become an issue.

The 'guild' unaccountably offering you a 30% discount on everything essentially makes creating cash a doddle. Not that that's a bad thing, because the game also provides plenty to do with the cash, and plenty to aim for that can't just be bought.

Perhaps the only major flaw I can find is that replayability relies on one's desire to complete the item encyclopedia through lots of crafting and grinding, which isn't everyone's cup of tea. Only the layout of the dungeons is randomised, and even then they're fairly predictable (albeit very nicely drawn). Certainly I found it hard to play the game through more than once, but that isn't a bad thing, since 'playing through' actually involves a lot more than just surviving your 30 days! (I won't post any spoilers here :P)

The Action RPG element of this game is a nice little touch for the first few times entering a dungeon and trying to get loot that your fairy and yourself can sell in your store. However, this dungeon running gets repetitive fast.

There is also a lot of dialogue. So if you like the usual cutesy anime behavior and interaction between raunchy looking fairy and innocent-ish young girl, then this would be up your alley. Otherwise, all that talking is just fluff for otherwise a casual retail shop sim. Fortunately, if you don't enjoy the what seemed to be infinite amount of dialogue, there is an easy skip button for that.

The graphics are mainly 2D illustrations with some basic animation. The top-down view of the dungeon runs is slightly 3D-ish. The controls are a bit 'off', almost sluggish and this is playing from a psuedo-PS3 PC game pad.

Music and sound effects are as they should be. Nothing spectacular. Just the same old run of the mill sort of stuff you would expect from a game like this.

Though I gave this game a 3/5, it was in my opinion worth the $10 I spent. As this just means that the money continues to fund those who put in their hard work and effort into trying to make games that people find enjoyable. It's still a fun game, just consider it a casual game to play every now and then.

It was going so well but you don't get enough time to earn enough money to get very far. Got to week two then failed to sell enough to proceed to week three. The game looks good and sounds ok but the mechanics killed it. Customers seemed more interested in selling their stuff to you as opposed to buying anything. It takes time to go to a dungeon to get stuff, your items bag fills up with stuff too fast and then everyone wants what you don't have. It also takes time to open your shop and sell stuff, only to find that you have nothing of interest and you can't sell anything at a decent price anyway, and it takes time to go around town to buy things that people want or to explore the town. You can only get money by selling items in your shop or other shops, no money is earned in the dungeons so ignore the gems that enemies burst into when you kill them because only the red ones mean anything while the green, blue and gold ones don't. To have enough items to satisfy everyone you need to buy them at other shops but then you have less cash than when you started. Customers don't spend much time haggling, either you give them a good price after the first refusal or they walk away. I could go on but you get the picture, very disappointing. Overall gets a 1/10 from me, avoid this game.

This is an extremely addicting game with so many little things that drag you in. At first you start out with a pretty ordinary shop, but the more you sell the more you increase in "Merchant level", which basically means that you become better at your trade and can do more things around the shop. And if that gets boring - or you want better, more valuable stuff to sell, why, take an adventurer and head out into a dungeon!

It's a really great game for when you want to play something relaxing.

RPG's usually don't hold my interest by the shop/hack n slash game made for an interesting mix. Working at the shop was enjoyable for the most part except when broke kids come and always try and buy something they can't afford unless you sell at a loss which is bad for business. Shooing them away is bad business too because you lose out on exp so you have to find a good balance between being rigid and being flexible.

The game can be difficult since the debt you have to pay off is quite large. That's where the dungeon hack n slash part comes in handy to find merchandise for free. Even if you die, you still get to keep one free item. To also help offset the difficulty, if you fail you restart but keep your seller rating and existing items making the next go around easier.

Overall it's solid game. Recommended.

I could see a lot of people being put off by the cutesy characters this game offers.Don't let the cute fool you, through all the layers of humor, cuteness and fuzzyness, this game delivers a difficult late game dungeon crawler mixed with a fairly solid business sim.

Recettear is certainly worth a look from any fan of weird Japanese things.

The gameplay is generally pretty good, and the variety of adventures available is decently large. The New Game + and Endless modes are nice, but the grinding necessary to obtain high-level gear is rather annoying. Overall, the game seems lacking in certain areas: a basic Wooden Bow acts exactly like a One Shot Wonder+15 (the best bow in the game) except for the damage done. If different weapons had different effects (for example, the Harp Bow could shoot faster, but weaker, and the One Shot Wonder might have a sniper-style ability to shoot across multiple screens), acquiring better items would seem more satisfying (note that Arma's weapons actually do vary: some are melee punches, others are Gattling guns or homing lasers).

Story:

Recettear: An Item Shop's Tale is about a young girl named Recette Lemongrass who is living all alone since her father left for adventure. One day a fairy called Tear arrives at Recette's house. Tear informs Recette that her dad loaned a huge amount of money from the company that she works for, Terme Finance Company, and that she has come to get that money. Recette obviously can't afford to pay, so Tear decides that Recette should remodel her home into an item shop.

Recette names her new shop after a mix of her own name and Tear's name, hence Recettear.

Gameplay:

Recettear features two different game modes. The first and most obvious is running an item shop. The second is dungeon crawling; Recette and Tear can go to the Adventurer's Guild and hire and adventurer. After doing so the three of them will start in a dungeon filled with monsters and the game suddenly becomes a hack-and-slash RPG. The point of the dungeons is to find items to sell in your item shop. There is also a lot of character story progress going on inside the dungeons. There are many different adventurers to unlock, and I doubt anyone can unlock them all on the first play through.

Adventurer's can be equipped with better equipment and they, obviously, increase in levels and strength. It is just as exciting and rewarding to level up an adventurer in Recettear as it is in any other RPG. On top of it, Recettear features a lot of different adventurer's which can be unlocked through story progress; giving the game a lot of replay value.

Audio:

Recettear has a lot of brilliant tunes that are simple, happy and very catchy. I found myself humming along many times. The sound effects in this game aren't impressive but they certainly get the job done.

Video:

Not much to be said about the graphics. The game has a very original look. It is simple and cute. Some of the special effects during combat are actually pretty impressive, it reminds me a lot of a mixture between a Super Nintendo game and an anime show; it has a very distinct "Japanese feel" to it.

Recettear is in no way a graphical game, but there is certainly nothing to complain about.

Verdict:

I love this game. It's short, simple and cute. Perfect for any casual gamers! It also works for "hardcore gamers" such as myself, when I've tired of playing "super-serious" multiplayer games and just want to take it easy and play a genuinely fun game.

The game revolves around selling items to customers, which can get tiresome after a while, but it also features a shopkeeper leveling system; which makes it feel less of a chore and more rewarding.

When selling items to customers all day long gets old you just grab your sword (or other preferred weapon) and go on an adventure, turning the game into an awesome hack-and-slash RPG!

Recettear is a nice change of pace from the usual modern games. It doesn't take itself too seriously, it's just a simple game meant to be fun and it succeeds in every way.

Recettear gets a solid four out of five stars from me; Very good!

A good solid game, simple mechanics and easy to use (mouse free) controls. The only real issue I had with it was after the endless mode when the random events stopped happening and the game focused solely on the item gathering and whatnot. I LIKED the random events they were funny and charming but after so long they just stopped T.T . Beyond that, its a great game and plenty of play for the... what is it now $20? You can spend hours playing it just because of the new game+ hell modes etc.

All in all a good game, and challenging game. The only problem I truely had was the short end time, though this is more than made up for by the well thought out post-game and the unlocked modes.

The thing is, at first, I thought this game was a joke. A well planned one in fact. You know those simplistic games where you own a shop of sorts and have to mix up colors of cake or something to appease the needs of your customers? Well, in this case, when demand builds up for a certain item, you aren't currently selling in your shop, you can either a) go buy it at the guild and make money from the price differential; or b) go maim some critters in an RPG top view dungeon crawler stile subgame. The transaction between the two is somewhat more smooth than expected, and prized offerings are exhibited on store shelves for all to see. Hello little girl. You want some bread? Bread is stupid, here, have a longsword and go loot your own bread. Okay, let's barter, I want... hey, why are you running away?

This is a very interesting game. so far I have played through the second week. It can be interesting at times to try an guess the customers buying habits. Once you get the hang of it it can keep it moving fairly well. Though there will likely be a customer just waiting to break your selling streak if you are not careful.If you think it is too simple in the beginning just wait till you merchant level raises a bit, it does get a bit harder. Just don't go too overboard. For the dungeons I highly recommend starting them early on and maybe repeating them once to level up a little for the next one.

In Recettear you play the role of a shopkeeper. You have to sell Items, earn money and pay a debt. The game is not only about buying and selling Items, you also have dungeons to visit.

Dungeons are explored with hired Adventurers, in these you find Items that can be sold in the shop. Adventurers are controled by the player.

You level up by selling Items, allowing you to make more profit and giving you other benefits.

Adventurers level up by killing monsters in the dungeons.

Recettear has a fun lighthearted story that will make you smile from time to time. The Characters are interesting and have personality.

Dungeons are randomly generated, giving some replayability.

Only problem is that the resolution is a bit limited, so that you should play it in window mode.

But all in all, with this game you get a different kind of RPG that good humor and is fun to play.

This game is worth taking a look at just because of its interesting idea of having you play as one of the shopkeepers you would find in a fantasy game overcharging adventurers for goods.

Not only is this idea interesting, it makes for a pretty fun game. The basic principles of running the shop are pretty simple to start with and kitting out you store with new furnishings replaces your typical character equipping in an rpg. And though simple at first paying off your debt gets pretty difficult the first time round (though if you fail it doesn't really matter as you start again with all your items making it easier the next time).

The art and writing for the game is also great with the anime styled art fitting well with the cute humour, and it will definitely appeal to fans of Japanese games and anime.

The main downside is that the dungeon crawling is not the most interesting and can get pretty repetitive and grindy after a while, but there are quite a few adventurers to play as all with different play styles which gives is a decent bit of variety. This only really becomes an issue towards the end of the game when you've paid off you debt, as before that the running of the shop is the main focus and where you'll spend most of your time.

This is game is about a girl running an item shop. There are two components to it, firstly theres the item shop gameplay which consists of placing items and trying to force customers to pay as much as possible. Secondly theres the adventuring. You can hire adventures to go looking for loot in randomly generated dungeons. You start off with just one and unlock more adventures under different circumstances. This game is a real time killer however some people will get irritated by the different colour variations of monsters and how new adventures are unlocked under particular circumstances.

This game was everything I had hoped it would be, letting me customize and run a shop as well as offering some fun, light dungeon crawling. The cute graphics and endearing personalities of all of the characters combine into an anime fan's dream game, and the humor is right up any Atlus or NIS fan gamer's alley. The game walks you through each of the new features as they open up, making the game easy to learn. Don't be discouraged if it takes a try or two to keep up with the quickly increasing difficulty, though; the game provides more of a challenge as you go, making saving in many different slots and hoping Lady Luck is on your side a bigger and bigger factor as you progress. It's really a fun and engrossing game, and well worth your time and money!

If anyone had told me about a game where you manage an item shop before, I probably wouldn't be too interested... and yet Recettear is just that, and yet one of the most interesting games I have ever played. Developed my a small independent group in Japan (Easy Game Station) and localized by a smaller group in Oregon (CarpeFulgar), Recettear is a game full of charm. It has very amusing and likable characters, a unique premise, and even some action. Running an item shop is actually rather addicting, but even if you get bored of that, there are dungeons for you to explore in a Zelda-like system with a variety of characters each with his/her own unique playing style. Definitely a new twist on gaming and worth the relatively low price.

hey you ever wonder about the sops selling stuffs to you in RPG games? Now you gets to open one!

Really cute anime characters, a simple to learn but have a very tight learning curve.

But hey, dont worry. you cant ever get the game over when failing in this game.

the game actually expected you to fail and that's the beauty of this game.

Combination of action game (better get a gamepad) plus with a twist of managing a shop in rpg world.

If you're into anime, there's no question about it. Get this game and it will not disappointing you.

This game is a gem in the rough. Don't be fooled by it's cutesy style of presentation as beneath it there is a rather difficult and fun game. It is basically a dungeon crawler but instead of always equipping the loot your aim is to find items that you can put in your shop and hope to sell them via a bartering system with customers who want to buy them.

The gameplay itself is very easy to get a grasp of, and the game can be as difficult as you want it to be depending on how far you want to risk going further into each dungeon. This is because if your hero dies in the dungeon then you will lose lots of items and have to select just one to bring back out with you.

Overall, for the price you are getting a very nice game, with no real bugs or glitches to talk of.

This is a really nice and cute game although it's not easy to master. Like the title of the game sais, the game is about running an itemshop. But it's not that boring as it seams at fist sight. Yes, the mainjob is to buy and sell items and work profitable by haggeling and watchin increasing and decreasing prices for special items. Later this becomes more complex. But as diversion you can customize your shop like in the Sims-Games or grab a hero and go on a quest. Every dungeon on the quest has it's own boss and every boss requires a special tactic to defeat him. This reminds me a little bit of the old Zelda-Games. The hero levels up while he gets experiencepoints and can also be equipped with special swords, armor, etc.. But the main aim of the quest is always gaining items which can be sold for 100% profit. This is very important because you have to pay back a loan. This is the really tricky and hard part of the game. The outstanding sums increase every week in big steps. So that you quite often go game over becaus you can't pay back the loan. But thats not really a big problem, because if you restart the game, you continue with the money and the merchant-level you had in the previous run. You start at day one, but you don't have to pay the sums you already payed in the previous run. The hero also keeps his level so that the second time you play the game is much easier. I don't know if anyone already bet the game in the first run. That's very difficult. But the game is a lot of fun and worth its money.

Very enjoyable and cute game. As a shop simulator and action RPG crossover, Recettear certainly belongs to the more exotic genres.

The graphics are well-drawn, voice acting is good, as far as I can tell, since everything is in Japanese which is a plus in my book. The texts are in English and the translation sometimes cringe-inducing, but I cannot tell how far it deviates from the original material.

The game itself is quite challenging and not having enough money on the sometimes surprisingly sudden end of the month should occur more than once for the unexperienced player.

All in all I found the game very enjoyable. It has some additional game modes after finishing the game to add to the already good amount of play time.

If anime is not your cup of tea and you have little tolerance for silly dialogues, then Recettear is not for you. If however you can see past or enjoy these things and like a game that leaves the trodden path of regular RPGs then you might be interested

I bought this on a whim and I'm glad I did. It oozes anime style while combining shop management with a basic dungeon romp. At first it seems overly simple, but there is depth to both aspects of the game and you quickly learn that making the next week's payment is not always an easy task. Fortunately, the game is forgiving of mistakes and aims to be an exercise in casual fun instead of frustration. It is a game that can appeal to kids as well as adults and while the gameplay is very kid friendly some of the conversation topics are not (like discussing why people get drunk in bars).

This game.. Well what can I say? Loved it! The Dungeons are fun, and the fact you can acquire more than one character with a different skillset is good. Now. The Item Shop. Very nice layout, you can choose which items to display by the window to show what you have on offer and that in turn affects how many customers come into your shop. I like the haggling idea, very nice. The characters are easy to like, the voices you get used to, and the little japanese-type squeals really make you feel like "Yay I did something right! :D"

All in all a game worth buying. :)

Works fine on Windows 7, but not sure about other OS. Also, there's no real fullscreen mode; just 'Maximised'; however, this doesn't affect the enjoyment of the game.

THE GOOD:

The concept is clever; I like how you can set up your own ideal shop and how the window display affects the number of customers you get in.

The graphics are pretty good. Not mind-blowing, but then, this is an anime game and so cartoon style is fine.

The dungeons are excellent. I was initially in two minds about this - I'm not a fan of real-time combat games - but as it turned out, I needn't have worried. Another good point about the dungeons is that they are randomly generated, so you can play the same one over and over and still never have the same map/encounters twice (boss fights being the obvious exception. Also, you can escape back to town every five levels ;)

I like the fact that you can scamper around town as much as you like and not burn any time (yes, you have a set 'day' in this game).

New characters keep showing up throughout the game, which is nice (you may even bump into one or two of them while you're dungeon-crawling ;))

THE BAD:

For me, the amount of money you have to pay back each week increases far too rapidly (10,000 in the first week, 50,000 in the second, 80,000 in the third...) There is a calendar you can check to see how close you're coming to 'the day', but it's still a struggle sometimes.

If you miss a single payment, the game's over. That's it. No replays, no second chances: you wind up living in a box.

The advance orders would have been better noted on the calendar; instead you have to be in the shop and speak to your fairy friend to find out who wants what when. Unfortunately, despite the fact that said fairy accompanies you everywhere, you can only ask her about advance orders in the shop. Not much use if I'm in the Market trying to figure out what I'm supposed to be buying that day.

While there's no permadeath for your adventuring heroes, it's a little hard to believe that, should your hero collapse and need to be dragged back home, you can only take one item with you (I mean, come on! Chestnuts aren't that big, a longbow can be slung over the shoulder, you could pack a lot of stuff in a backpack and still leave your hands free for carrying...uy!)

AND THE JUST PLAIN MISC:

People have commented on the cuteness factor. If phrases like "Yayness!" and "On to yayification!" aren't your bag, you're not going to like this game. If, on the other hand, you can just smile at it...well, that's fine ;)

The voiceover (when it happens) is in Japanese. Bit of a surprise, but since the rest of the game is in English, no problem :)

The Action keys are Z, X, C and V. That took a little getting used to (there's no customization in the menus) but it's okay.

All in all, a thoroughly fun and extremely cute game with a solid premise throughout. Highly recommended!

At first I was turned away from the kiddy graphics, but then realized how charming they were. The game is challenging - don't let the graphics fool you! By combining 2 unique elements, recettear provides a wonderful break from the overplayed genres.

This game is brillant.

Not because its the best game ever made. The gameplay is not perfect, neither is the graphic.

But the atmosphere is there, and not only did the makers create one, but they decisively went with it for the whole game.

Although i expected more of a pure shop based experienced (that way of playing is certainly there, but may be tougher) i was completely pleased with the flow and feel of this game.

Highly recommended for the price it has - if only you can stand the cuteness it throws at you.

Recettear is absolutely one of the most charming games on which I have ever laid my hands. The colorful and whimsical art style and lighthearted (and, at times, lovably cheesy) dialogue should be enough to win anyone's heart.

And yet, beneath Recettear's adorable veneer lies a truly engrossing depth of gameplay capably blending monster-slaying and item-grinding from the classic JRPG formula with an unusual sales simulator. And therein lies the true beauty of this game: though it successfully utilizes classic elements from these styles of games, it turns the usual story elements on their heads. Rather than being the spiky-haired JRPG protagonist out to stop an unstoppable evil, you take the role of a young, utterly combat-incapable girl just looking to pay her rent. All these elements combine to make a game in which the tedium of stocking merchandise and organizing a store becomes an enjoyable hour or seven of gaming in a single, "one more turn" sitting. Definitely worth a play for any fan of RPG or simulation games in need of a laugh and some warm, fuzzy feelings.

If You want to buy a great game at GamersGate and You are addicted to anime, You should buy first this one! This game has everything: good story, manga style 2D animations mixed with 3D pixelart graphics and very delicious cocktail with sales simulation and hack & slash RPG!

Bad thing about this game: it's very addicting :(

This game starts off simple enough, start a store, stock it with items, and open for business. But don't let its cartoonish graphics deceive you, this game has quite a bit of depth, and it incredibly addictive as you search the dungeon for that elusive treasure, and try to sell your wares for the highest possible profit without upsetting your customers. Make sure you manage your limited time properly, otherwise you might find yourself short on cash when it's time to repay your loan each week.

This game is totally addictive. The selling aspect of the game is great for people who like games like Chocolatier. The dungeon/combat part of the game is excellent. It is not turn-based, so the real-time combat is actually more and more challenging as you get further into the dungeons. The encyclopedia of items available to find, buy, and sell in the game is massive. When I finished the first part of the game, I had only found just over 30% of the items. Forget about replay value: the game ends, and then there is still so much more to do! So many items to buy, so many dungeons to discover. It's totally worth the full price, but I did buy it when it was on sale. If you see it on sale - grab it!

Ibought Recettear after reading many positive reviews of the game and can say that I don't feel disappointed. The game is not a typical JRPG, instead it becomes a economy sim as you try to repay the loan and debts of the shop. Graphics are nice and characters are likeable. The gameplay is addictive and do not pose a especially hard challenge, even though when there are weeks where it seems impossible to repay the amount owed. I seriously recommend this game to any gamer.

A great combination of a store management game and rogue-like dungeon crawler.

Recette needs to repay her fathers debt so she starts an item shop in her home town.

Purchase goods from other merchants, the merchants guild or the people living in the town and resell it.

The other alternative to finding goods is to hire an adventurer and go dungeon crawling to find some great loot to sell so poor Recette won't loose her home due to her fathers debt.

A truly addicting game with easy to pick up, but hard to put away, gameplay.

This is probably the nicest game that I've played in 2010. It's very lighthearted, and very much focussed on enjoyment rather than penalizing players when they haven't anticipated what the developer expects them to do at a particular point.

It's worth noting that when you're thinking of pressing , you need to press the Z key instead. The default key setup isn't obvious, but it's very easy to use once you get going with it.

The reviewers below are right, this is more fun than many games that are far more expensive.

Gosh, I just love this game.

I thought this was going to be a mediocre game with just selling items and trying to make a profit, but it was so much more. It was a full fledged story with a shop you decide the contents in and a wonderful dungeon system! And the characters are so lovable too.

I have never played anything similar to this and would recommend it to anyone who loves indie games. But, please be aware that this game will get really hard after the first month.

The probably largest goal in this game is to pay your debt and you will be doing it at the end of every week with sums that increase after each payment. But you can certainly make it each time if you know how!

And now that it's on 50% sale... why would you give up on a gem like this? I hope Carpe Fulgur will keep on delivering these gems from Japan.

Capitalism, ho!

I like this game, which I didn't think I would like as much as I do, buy being one of the few games that I have seen that got 5 star reviews from almost every reviewer, I diceded to give it a try at the 50% off price.

It is everything all the other reviewers have said, except for the one who thought it was like a dating sim. I have yet to see any dating, opposite sex attraction, or anything close to dating or close to anything in a dating sim.

The one who mentioned it was more like a cross between and RPG and Business sim was pretty much on spot, but it is light on the rpg heavy on the business sim part. It is a much better game than what it would appear to be just in the description.

A brilliant game which is quick, easy, and fun. Plenty of replayability, and well worth the price. It truly is simple yet enjoyable.

There are also multiple modes if you desire a proper challenge. It is well worth the price.

a rather cute light hearted spin on the typical adventure game. Instead of buying the best loot or selling all your crap at the item store, you run said item store.

A fun time killer, the game is not overly complex, yet the difficult ramps up rather quickly as you have a rather large debt to pay off.

The adventure mode, even though rather simple, and a bit boring for hardcorce PRG fans is a nice breakup of the standard.

worth the $20. It can be played for 20 minutes, or until 3am in the morning as i did upon buying it. The tutorials are really excesive, but thankfully you can skip past them.

This is one gem of a game! You start by inheriting an item shop from your father, but with that shop comes a huge debt too. So you better start selling stuff to pay that debt away!

Basically, you run a shop here. Buy stuff from market and merchant guild, and then sell them at your store. Alternatively, you can go dungeon crawling to find items for free. You can decorate your shop and expand it, if you have the cash for it. By the end of each week, you'll have to make a payment towards lowering that debt of yours.

If you manage to pay all the debt, you'll have plenty of other modes to tackle.

Get this game, you won't regret it.

One warning though, this game is really addicting...

Don't let the cute girl and cheery visuals fool you, this is a hardcore RPG/capitalism sim. Expect to end up living in a cardboard box a lot as the difficulty ramps up almost immediately. You really can't let waste any time and if you die in a dungeon you might as well just reload and try again.

But don't let all that scare you away. Despite the unforgiving nature it's got that pure "just one more day" hook that keeps you coming back every time. Once you get past that initial learning curve this is a wonderful game.

Recettear plays like a dating sim with a little dungeon exploration. Actions in the game costs you some energy or a period or two in this case...You only move around in third person view in the store or the dungeon, be careful in the dungeon though, you can't change camera views and could be blind to monsters positioned behind walls in the map. No they don't make their walls transparent!! Definitely a flaw here.

Overall the game is cute and charming but the dialogue is the most disappointing part, some biting comments bordering on personal insults spouted by some characters in game are unnecessary and diminished the game's overall cuteness. Wonder if the original japanese dialogue is as acid tongued?

Also, random dialogue seems to be generated with random items sold to you, you could have some NPC walk up to you and try to sell you an item saying something like this is what their grandma left to them when they're only trying to sell you a candy!!!

If it was indeed left to them by their grandparents, there's no way i would buy it please!!

some improvements can be made to the game like letting you interact with the characters more instead of just walking around town buying stuffs and developing the characters. Mini-games would be good too.

Overall, i quite like this game...can be tricky trying to buy low sell high, just disappointed with the dialogue though...

Games combining cuteness and capitalism are a dime a dozen these days, but I'd say few of them can really match Reccetear in either. Bright and cheerful graphics with equally bright voices and music give the game a generally happy ambience, while the gameplay itself is easy to get into. The cuteness isn't blatantly in your face though - a dry sense of humour pervades the game through the characters, turning what would be a kiddy only (atmosphere wise) game into something that just about everyone can enjoy.

The characters aren't exactly deep, but they all have their own personalities that are brought to life through the cutscenes spread through the game.

My only complaints would be that everything does get a bit grindy, and there seem to be one or two files missing from the game, although it does let you just ignore the errors and continue). But regardless, you won't be able to resist coming back for more.

Reccetear - a funny game mix with several different gamestyles.

The primary target is to sell as many items to adventureres as possible, to gain money to repay a debt. You can do this by buying itemsv from the merchant guild for a price X and resell those items in Your store for the price Y.

The more items you sell, the higher your "merchant" level will be and the better items you can buy. (Besides - the level also changes the possibilitys in your store like the look of it and the space of showcases and so on).

Well, but what if you do not have the money to buy items in the first case?

Than you can hire one adventurer and start crawling several dungeons. In here You'll find items like food, weapons, armor and so on. IF You manage to survive 5 levels of those dungeons (inclunding an endboss) you can carry all the items back to your store and sell them to your customers.

Those adventurers come in several styles and everyone of them is able to equip items and to level up (well, the stats are increasing automaticaly, so it's only a part of an RPG system, but imho its quite funny).

The game is in overall quite intensive, you have many options (e.g. sell the items straight to Your customers, use an "vendor selling machine", choose what item you offer Your customers, chose to open the store or do something else instead (like dungeoncrawling, or go shopping).

For the price of 15€ you get a game that's funnier as You might think in the firstplace. I recommend.

Give it a try (if You like RPGs / Storemanagement combination)

This has to be one of the best games to come out in 2010 thus far. It is a lighthearted take and a twist on the RPG genre.

You play as a hapless young girl left; on her own by a father that has gone off and left a debt to repay. A Fairy helps you setup and establish a thriving Item Shop where towns people and adventurers venture in to buy items.

This game has a variety of things to do that are all fun and challenging (but not too difficult). Selling items, haggling with customers, buying items in town, or from people that visit the shop, or going out with adventurers to gain items for free to name but a few of the things available to players.

The graphics are wonderfully rendered and easy on the eyes, as well as the voiceovers that still retain original language which makes for a nondescript but pleasant experience. The music is excellent and fits the games very well.

Although the controls take a bit of getting use to; Z Key is confirm, it only takes a few moments until you realize this too was well thought out.

Everything about this game is simply enjoyable and it is the type of game where you want the characters to do well, and you want to sell, or adventure just, “one more day” before you end the game!

Buy this game; it is worth the asking price and if you ever see it on sale, buy it while you can. This is how most games should be made: Enjoyment, wrapped in a pleasing, and just right level of challenge package.

Recettear: An Item Shop’s Tale is a story you will want to join in on and find the trip well worth taking.

This is an excellent cross between an action JRPG and a business simulation. The English translation is well done, although the vocal work remains Japanese.

The adventure segments are well done. You must first meet a hero then you can hire them to go adventuring, putting you in control of the hero while wandering the random dungeons. If your hero is KO'd you can only select a single item to carry back, however if you can make it to the town portal door (every 5 levels, though usually guarded by a boss) you can carry enough loot to keep your store going for days. Another nice touch is that the heroes will often wander into your shop to buy equipment, so you need to juggle the need to make a profit with giving your favourite hero better equipment. You can of course loan them equipment for the adventure, but this takes up those all important loot slots.

The store management is engaging. At first you'll simply put items out and hope a customer wants to buy them, haggling them up to make a profit. Eventually however you can tailor your shop towards specific clientèle and will get customers requesting certain items or wanting to sell you items. You need to make enough profits to pay off a loan every eight days, so time and good management is crucial.

The whole is wrapped up in a well written and amusing narrative about a girl, her fairy and the cut-throat world of being an item shop saleswoman in an RPG.

It's an amazing example which proves the Japanese indie game scene isn't all about shooters, highly recommended.