Recettear: An Item Shop's Tale

When people are in a pinch, they do desperate things. Some file for bankruptcy, some take out massive loans, and some decide to open up a business. When Recette Lemongrass , a young girl who lives at home by her self after her father went on adventure, is faced with his debt, she decides t open a shop with the faerie loan shark, Tear, who is in charge of the debt in order to help pay it back. Recette, Tear, and their adventurer, Louie, a poor young boy, go through dungeons to collect items to sell for profit in the shop.

The story is simple, and in fact a bit too unrealistic. Ignoring the fact there is a faerie and dungeons to go through to get free items, just the circumstances are just bit too unrealistic. Recette is does not appear to be a legal an adult, and it seems a bit too unfair for her to be paying back her father's debt. Another problem I have with the story is the fact it just seems to be capitalism propaganda, even to the point of Recette saying "Captialism, ho!" I feel like if it was less centered on capitalism and paying her father's debt, then the story would succeed more in the catagory it was meant for: Fantasy.

The characters in mind are just flat as flat can be. Recette is your typical cheery girl in poor circumstances girl. The only time she shows an emotion other than ridiculously cheery is when she gets a bit down over a bad sale, and eve then, she quickly recovers. Tear is this emotionless business woman, fitting into the stereotype so badly. The other characters barely appear in the game, but even they fit into a stereotype. Aloutte, Recette's competition is a typical rich girl, and she even has a few tsundere traits.

The art work for this game is good and bad, depending on which part you're at. The upclose drawings of the characters are nicely detailed and look like anime characters. To be honest, that is what drew me into the game. However, the over world sprites were just just little chibis. Honestly, if they were a little bit better drawn, then the art for the game could have been amazing

Overall, even though I may complain about the game, I honestly enjoyed it. Yes, I nit pick at it to no end, but to be honest, it was a short indie game that I came across on Steam. The voice acting is actually in Japanese, which won me over a bit more, but the English translations could have been a bit better. All in all, this is a good game, and highly recommend it to any J-RPG player.