Recettear - An Item Shop's Tale

I went ahead and caved in an hour before the 10% discount expired; downloading on Steam right now. Playing Dragon Quest IX while I wait for it to download. Life is good!

I decided the two dollars weren't worth agonizing over. I'm waiting for detailed and exhaustive impressions of the full game before adding a distraction to my pile of shame.

Rezzy wrote:

I decided the two dollars weren't worth agonizing over. I'm waiting for detailed and exhaustive impressions of the full game before adding a distraction to my pile of shame.

Yeah, me too. I have many quirky little games sitting on my pile, I don't need another. Maybe during the holiday sale.

MrDeVil909 wrote:

Yeah, me too. I have many quirky little games sitting on my pile, I don't need another. Maybe during the holiday sale.

I really want to play this game but I think I would benefit from using a controller. Sadly I gave away my wired Xbox controller several years ago thinking I would never need it for my PC. :/

Kehama wrote:
MrDeVil909 wrote:

Yeah, me too. I have many quirky little games sitting on my pile, I don't need another. Maybe during the holiday sale.

I really want to play this game but I think I would benefit from using a controller. Sadly I gave away my wired Xbox controller several years ago thinking I would never need it for my PC. :/

I need to get one now.

Kehama wrote:

I really want to play this game but I think I would benefit from using a controller. Sadly I gave away my wired Xbox controller several years ago thinking I would never need it for my PC. :/

I played the demo with keys and it worked ok, but yeah, a 360 controller works better I have to say, especially in the dungeons.

stevenmack wrote:

I played the demo with keys and it worked ok, but yeah, a 360 controller works better I have to say, especially in the dungeons.

Yep. I played the demo with keys and I was getting killed far too often for such a simple dungeon crawler. Naturally I blamed it on not having a controller.

I don't play any consoles so my brain isn't wired for left thumb-stick and right thumb-buttons.

I rebound the button keys to WASD instead ZXCW and things play much better now.

The strategy involved in this game is surprisingly deep. I just unlocked the ability to fuse stuff and it opens up a ton of options. Lets just say you should never sell materials off in your store. Hang on to every one.

Here is the Recettear FAQ from the developers. It explains reputation, customer types, budgets, experience bonuses, etc.

It's really helpful for understanding how the game works.

Cool! Thats a lot of data that gets hidden. I think I'll beat the game ala carte once. Then start another game after reading up on everything I didn't figure out the first time.

Some of the dialog in this game is just straight up hilarious.

Heh the farther you go the better it gets!

But holy crap this is hard! First week, 10k, not a huge issue. Second week, 30k. Third week, 80k!

I just bounced a check on the 30k and had to reload a save. But it seems that if you fail during the second week or beyond the game time warps you back to day 2. You lose all your cash, but you keep your merchant level and item stock. Pretty soft for a "death penalty". But man, if these payments keep increasing at that rate I can foresee needing to restart more than a couple times...

But holy crap this is hard!

I hear that! I've failed to meet the FIRST payment twice already, but I'm at 13k on day 6 this time around (now that I'm actually getting sales - level 4 merchant seems to be helping. I went three time slices in a row one with NO SALES, even though my counters were full) so I think I'm going to clear it. I found that upgrading the equipment on the hero makes a big difference in survivability; I was trying to muscle through it with the starting gear and not doing so well.

Aw man, I was disappointed in the insect trap! I thought it was something we could use in a dungeon to lure in those irritating insects and kill them, but it looks like it's just a shop item. Bummer.

Oh man. The day it comes out I'm at a convention... Ah well, at least it will be waiting for me when I get back...

I said I wouldn't but I'm going to break down and read the FAQ.

I know its spoilers but this game that seemed so innocent and simple on the surface is throwing me into the deep end! When Tear explains things in the tutorial she gives you all the info you need, technically. But what is really hard is how to translate that advice into game mechanics. I kept looking at those XP messages going "Near Pim? What the hell does that mean?".

I recommend everyone at least read the Reputation part of the FAQ. It seems to be really important info that isn't explained explicitly through the game. Also, no spoilers there.

Spoilers, ho!

Best across the board sell price is:

Spoiler:

104%

Best across the board buy price is:

Spoiler:

70%

Do this and it will boost your reputation and give the biggest experience bonuses at the best rate. The Goons figured these rates out from massive data collection when the beta was out. (We all got bored when while waiting for the release)

Well I made my first payment, then got a ton of really nice items. Then there was a run on my most expensive item type so I thought I was going to make my next payment easily.

Except that everyone comes in and tries to buy items they literally cannot afford. I'd have to sell at a loss. Even when Louie came in to buy my shiny new Steel Sword I had to give it to him for 33% cost. He couldn't afford 100%. Or 66%.

So now I've wasted about two days in-game trying to sell items that nobody can buy. Any hints?

This game is really good. I've been completely absorbed all day.

Lob: you need to get your rep up. Every time you see a little heart flash by someone's portrait, their item budget goes up about 10x. To do that, you need to find the ideal selling percentage early on. Using that strategy, I thought I was just barely going to make my first week, but then an Old Man came in with a $3K item to sell, and then I didn't quite sell enough to make it.

If you don't make a week, it's "game over", but it's not a catastrophe. Turns out "it was all a dream", and you start over on Day 2. Thing is, you keep your merchant level and your inventory items, and your store is restocked. And the adventurers keep their levels and items. So you end up in a MUCH stronger position, and can make money much faster. This is what that 'loop' number means on your savegame... which loop through the game you're on. Mine is presently two, and following the specific number recommendation in Mord's post right above yours has let me rep up tremendously fast, and I have no problem selling items at $60K now. ($30K items on double-price days.) I think I could move much larger ones, but I haven't found anything that expensive yet.

Maybe not 10x for their budget, but certainly at least double. I keep a score card on each person and give them a tick whenever I see a heart.

Like the FAQ says there are 2 types of buying strategy.

1. Getting the most money. This means trying to barter as high as you can. Like the tutorial says you can usually get 25-35% depending on who is buying.

2. Getting the most rep and XP. I used to think it was best to bargain down to the wire. But actually what makes the customers happy is to ask for the amount of money THEY think is a good deal/were expecting to pay. This is called a "Near Pin" when you get close and a "Full Pin" when you nail it just right. The FAQ has an "optimum number" listed, but this is only a guide. The actual number fluctuates within a certain range.

Lobster, quick tip for early game. People seem to have a much larger budget for items in those 4 front window slots, my setup is premium items there to lure in the punters and affordable stuff in the rest of the store.

After talking with Prozac a while back I tried adopting a similar strategy.

The best items I have go in the windows and I charge top dollar for them at 125-35%. These help draw the customers in. Its also important to put up a selection of item types here too. You will get less people if you put up 4 weapon, than if you put up a longsword, a treasure, a cloak etc. This is where I make my real money.

The rest of the items is a selection of "lesser" items that I charge about 105-110%. Giving customers good deals here is what helps keep them coming back.

The guild master mentions that putting "top shelf" items for sale will boost your reputation with customers a lot faster. What he really means is that people like buying +items. So if you have a +4 walnut bread, put that on the shelf and buy some plain ones to take into the dungeon.

I just tried the "boss rush" dungeon mode. Does anyone know what it does? All it did was make me fight all 3 dungeon bosses in a row. Then gave me a door back to town. I didn't get a single treasure.

I just made my record sale.

IMAGE(http://img820.imageshack.us/img820/2444/bigsale.jpg)

Wow, I'm at level 25 or 26, in a much bigger shop, and I don't think I've ever had a sale that large.

Folks, this is a fantastic freaking game. If you haven't checked out the demo, you really need to. This thing just absolutely sparkles.

Not available in my region :(.

Someone gift him stat!

Hooray, I FINALLY took down the boss at the end of Jade Way. I think it took me ten tries; kept getting careless and getting banged up before getting to the bottom, so to speak.
I discovered a small hint that can help the down-and-out - if you have less money than Louie's standard expected salary, he's willing to work for however much you have. When you're down to your last 6 pix this can be a money saver!

Nice sale Prozac! Who will be the first to beat that sale? The challenge is on! (It sure as heck won't be me in the near future; my biggest sale so far was 2,500 for a shell necklace.)

Alec Meer's "Wot I Think" on Recettear.

A great write-up on RPS that details some of the finer points that people won't necessarily get into on the demo.

Mr GT Chris wrote:

Not available in my region :(.

If you are in Japan (and, of course, read the language) can you not grab the original version from EasyGameStation?

A quick look on their site also shows a "comming soon" link for the English version...maybe that means they'll be selling it from there as well at some point?

I think Carpe Fulgur mention somewhere thaty they want to work on Chantelise next, which looks pretty neat. Hopefully they'll sell enough copies of Recettear to make that happen.

stevenmack wrote:
Mr GT Chris wrote:

Not available in my region :(.

If you are in Japan (and, of course, read the language) can you not grab the original version from EasyGameStation?

They have 3 links to Steam, Impulse, and Gamersgate. Both Steam and Gamersgate are region locked. Impulse took me as far as the credit card entry page but I didn't want to commit to ordering because I don't have my windows partition setup yet (just bought a new big HDD). I'd probably rather avoid Impulse and keep everything on Steam, or at least use something like Gamersgate as I believe it's just a DRM free file.

Tamren wrote:

Someone gift him stat!

Does gifting on steam allow you to bypass region restrictions? If so, I'm sure there is probably someone back in Australia I can get to gift it to me. That would be sweet!!