Description
If you're looking for more hybrid Shopkeeping games like " Recettear: An Item Shop's Tale" and "Al･Fine", you'll probably get a kick out of one of several such precursors like Kodansha and KINOTROPE's unusual cult classic, "Sarara's Little Shop" (or the proper full title, "Dungeon Shoutenkai: Densetsu no Ken Hajimemashita"), a cute game with deceptive difficulty and depth. Originally released in 1998 with releases on PSN in 2011/2014, the game combines dungeon crawling and business management with a branching narrative and plenty of cryptic elements that evokes a real sense of adventure. That said, the game is structured in such a way where you're rewarded in the long haul for pushing its systems to the limit but loose enough where you don't have to engage with the trickier aspects of it.
The general plot of the game is fairly basic on the surface: The player controls a (nearly) silent protagonist named Sarara, a young witch girl who can't use magic in the traditional sense who is traveling with her loyal cat and familiar, Chocolate (Choco for short), who decides to open a shop in Dungeon Town. While her and Choco's backstory is explored to a small extent, the game is not meant to be deep in this area with a mostly cliche story of Princesses, Heroes and Demon Lords and a quirky shopping gimmick at the center of it all, but the many characters you meet are meant to help shape the experience. You can invite 10 groups of characters (about 30 in all) as the game goes through fourteen different scenarios explored through fortune cards; these scenarios are somewhat random (except the first and last) and there's often more than one method to clear them as well as branching scenarios within scenarios that can completely change their criteria and the ending of the game.
For example, one scenario might have you look for a cooking pot for a character... do you just use one sitting in your shop or go through a ridiculous quest to get the biggest one you can find? Another will have you awaken as a cat... if you have cat-related items in your inventory, you can go to a black cat market at night to barter for rare items (or if you found Ruby and overthrow the Thieves Guild, you can get free Dashi, but it's not enough to get the rarest item). Or another will have you make an aphrodisiac to seduce a beautiful lady... do you make it for the poor eccentric man or rich snob? Decisions, decisions! The game has a lot of choices and almost everything offers a surprising degree of player agency as you travel Dungeon Town during the day or at night. This also segways right into the gameplay.
This game is orthodox yet complex, and it doesn't hold your hand much. The "main" component, running a shop, is robust but can put people off initially if they don't engage it proper (there's a secret shop at night to sell items for 50% to circumvent this mechanic). Customers have different preferences, displaying items a certain way or with the right interior helps, and there's a hidden "trust" meter that determines how well you can haggle (items can start at 25%-200% value and deviate based on counter offers). This is especially true for future comrades as they not only shop at your store, but will equip gear they buy from you... some items attract more customers or improve negotiations and you really need to pay attention... a customer might buy what's in the window, sell you something, or request something specific. This also goes into combat; while battles are turn-based, the player can negotiate deals with monsters too. Good deals will have monsters offer tips about the game world.
Combat is brutal early on -- you're limited to 20 items, Sarara is the only one who can use items in combat (to make up for her magic deficit and not to be underestimated), monsters can frequently break or trivialize gear with abilities, and allies have "yellow" gear that changes at different intervals (you can exchange their gear in dungeons, but they will return it when they leave). Characters have regular levels and classes, but Sarara has a "Business Level" (Pro-tip: Get to BLV18 as fast as you can and give everyone Morning Stars, it makes grinding mobs way easier... if you can get the Monk's rare drop / steal on Floor 11, the "Wind Lute", it makes things that much easier with medium strength heals to the whole party, it's one of Sarara's "rare" magic items). The graphics as a whole are decent (the beautiful character designs by Ryo Sasaki / 佐々木亮 are a highlight, though the game has minimal battle effects and not too many event CGs) and the soundtrack is complimentary (each group has their own dungeon theme, I just wish the main battle theme was better as you'll hear it A LOT). The game design by Tomoyuki Fujinami / 藤浪智之 is interesting overall and the game's about 20+ hrs to properly 100% (you have to collect all items to get the true ending).
This is a video of the game in action. Enjoy.
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