I’m one of those odd sorts that plays a game like WoW as if I’m a citizen of a world (a role!), rather than as a race to the raiding treadmill. I make up minigames for myself, or just go wandering around looking for the perfect screenshot (I still need to set up a Picasa portfolio for sharing, come to think of it…). I even have a Goblinish trend, happy to tinker in the markets, which so far has been supplying the Horde AH with Deadly Blunderbusses with an Orc Hunter Engineering alt… nothing huge, but a fun little way to make some profit fairly easily at a low level. (I’ll leave the misanthropy to Gevlon, though.)
So when a quirky little game like Recettear comes out and embraces a different aspect of these RPG things, in this case shopkeeping, my interest is naturally piqued. Tipa mentioned the game a while back, and I’ve been keeping an eye out for a sale. At present, it’s available via Steam and Impulse for preorder for $18ish, 10% off. I’m sorely tempted to get it, but for now, I’ll be playing the demo. Maybe I’ll get the whole game in the next few days, depending on how the demo goes.
Still, I applaud these Japanese indie devs for tackling something in a new way, and the intrepid localization team for bringing it to my side of the pond.
It also has me itching once again for some more interesting noncombat options for “careers” in MMOS… but that’s another article for another day.
Update: I went ahead and preordered the game through Impulse. I think that’s the first preorder that I’ve ever done; usually I wait for sales. I’m impressed with the game, and I’m even going to use it to teach my four year old a bit about capitalism. Score one more for the indies!
If you do try the demo, here is some useful information I picked off the Steam forums about the controls.
“You use button Z on keyboard to select things, button X to cancel, and button C is your “Button 3″.”
(This is not obvious.)
Yes! This game has definitely got me interested. I’ll be playing the demo as soon as I convince myself that I have time.
I’m quite tempted myself, after enjoying the demo. (It’s a pity the game doesn’t have widescreen support, but you can’t have everything)
I got the demo two days ago, but still haven’t played it. Tonight, if I can swing it. Illustrating a book takes a lot of time.
Thanks for the tip, Spinks!
Reminds me of games like Animal crossing or Harvest Moon and indeed, new concepts can be either lots of fun or get old fast. In AC’s case I was thoroughly hooked for a few months, paying off my house mortgages, collecting furniture and decorating my town. It had some very original features, that little game.
I’ve heard of this. But before it I had the idea for a shop keeper game – but with a different principle. It’d be called something like ‘Fantasy world capitalist’.
The basic principle is your selling to the heroes who stop massive dissasters. But you wanna make a profit. So you try to price it as high as you can, without the adventurers saying no and failing, for lack of gear, to prevent disaster. So you toy with utter dissaster so as to rake in a few more bucks.
Actually, I thought of that one before the global financial meltdown…
Ah, so it’s all your fault, Callan!
…actually, that does sound like it could be fun.
Oh, and Syl, Recettear definitely captures a bit of that “simmish” feel that Harvest Moon and Animal Crossing do so well. The dungeon crawling parts are even really well done, so it almost feels like one of those great peanut butter-chocolate mashups.
So yeah, I preordered the game through Impulse this morning after playing the demo last night. I’ll be having fun with this one. That’s the first preorder I’ve done in… well… ever. Color me impressed with the game.
mmmm…maybe I should look into it too, I could use something to keep me occupied atm (I’ve actually started to look into some really sad free MMOs, eugh!) -.-
The free demo was enough to sell me on it. It’s worth tinkering with that, at least. It’s not exactly rocket science or anything earth-shattering, but it has that innovative spark that makes me happy. The characters and art are nicely done, and the localization is really excellent. I really should stress that.
This little studio has taken the Japanese game and made it work here with panache, something that sometimes even Square Enix and all its cash can’t do well.
All in all, it’s a fun game that offers a new sort of mashup, at least, new to me. It’s a nice little bite of gaming fudge with a dash of mint, something that I appreciate.
Just a side note with on the whole ‘second hand game buying is piracy and I buy games to support creativity’, I’ll note that with a game like this your probably very unlikely to find it second hand, and yet it’s creatively broken out of the standard box (to a degree, atleast). The games that are creative, you just wont find second hand – Tycho’s support of ‘creativity’ really isn’t supporting where the creativity is actually happening (where the incredibly complex graphics engine development is happening, yes…but creativity, no).
Aye, I was going to point that out, Callan, but didn’t want to hammer it home too hard. You’re right; I’m happy to support these guys for their hard work and creativity, and I can do it at a good price point. Sure, it would be nice to get it for $5, and it may be at that on deep discount someday, but for now, I’m happy.
It’s also worth noting that I bought the game because I think it’s a good value for my money. Supporting the devs and translators is icing on the cake and karma points or something, but decidedly not my primary reason for purchase.
I also pre-ordered the game based on the demo. I love that they’ve added a sort of little roguelike to it as well as the buying and selling. Capitalism ho!
Finsihed the demo twice. Once by fudging it (I had that very nice statue that no one had enough money for, sadly), once by doing it by a fair margin. The game is fun, the characters are just a bit over the top, and I want to see more of what it has to offer. I don’t know how long it could keep me interested, but the demo was good. I might just get it.