Happy Flash Friday!

September 16, 2011 11:50 AM

Haven't been addicted to a flash game in a while? Take on Swords and Potions, where you tackle the under-appreciated other side of the RPG universe: being a shopkeeper! There's a lot to this game, so here's the wiki if you need help, and don't worry about your productivity- turns take time to regenerate so you can't get stuck playing all day.
posted by BuddhaInABucket (28 comments total)

You can only get so far until you're forced to buy their tokens to play.
posted by cmoj at 11:51 AM on September 16, 2011 [1 favorite]

Recettear is a pretty fun little shopkeeper game, with the same idea of being the flip side of a dungeon crawler (though you too can crawl dungeons, at least sort of).

It gets pretty repetitive after a while, but it's fun for some time at least.
posted by Flunkie at 11:54 AM on September 16, 2011 [8 favorites]

cmoj: I played for a few days without needing any tokens. Then (I confess) this became the first casual game of all time that I actually spent money on.
posted by BuddhaInABucket at 12:01 PM on September 16, 2011

Came here to mention recettear, it's a pretty fun game..
posted by empath at 12:03 PM on September 16, 2011 [1 favorite]

I've murdered and robbed so many NPC shopkeepers* that I get a little nostalgic about playing on. Thanks.


* They really deserved it, calling me chicken kicker and crap like that. Odd fact: not one of those cheap SOBs had a restroom in their shops, wtf?
posted by Foci for Analysis at 12:47 PM on September 16, 2011 [1 favorite]

Love the concept! Next up - play as a monk scribing spells in dusty, dim, libraries. Of course if this is too similar to what you do already, you will likely not enjoy this simulation.
posted by skest at 1:04 PM on September 16, 2011 [2 favorites]

Weren't you able to build and maintain and run shops in Ultima Online? I thought that was one of the neat things about it, but I never played it. Just liked that everyone had a spot in the ecosystem.
posted by disillusioned at 1:07 PM on September 16, 2011 [1 favorite]

The game is pay to play.
posted by TheBones at 1:20 PM on September 16, 2011

This is awful mind chewing gum fayre, but I can't stop playing...

It could be a really fun game, it's a nice concept but I hate the system of pay to get further through the ever-grind, it's too much like real life.
posted by pmcp at 1:28 PM on September 16, 2011

The first "be a shopkeeper" game I'm aware of is the 3rd chapter of Dragon (Warrior|Quest) 4, from 1990 (1992 for the American version).
posted by Monday, stony Monday at 1:30 PM on September 16, 2011

I think it's funny that the set-up that prompted you to become a shop-keeper in the first place was a) no taxes imposed on businesses and b)free space (no overhead). No taxes for job creators!
posted by CPAGirl at 2:30 PM on September 16, 2011 [1 favorite]

The pay for tokens thing pisses me off so much because it is so addictive. I guess I'll just go play now...

I finally realized what the music reminds me of. Gunbound, anyone?
posted by cmoj at 2:39 PM on September 16, 2011

Sausage? Inna Bun? Only $5, and that's cutting me own throat!
posted by rhythim at 5:05 PM on September 16, 2011 [5 favorites]

I was going to come in and say it reminds me of the third chapter of Dragon Warrior II. I rented that game so many times when I was younger ...
posted by grrarrgh00 at 5:08 PM on September 16, 2011

Do the customers train their pets to steal from the shop?
posted by Zed at 5:14 PM on September 16, 2011 [2 favorites]

Yep, that Dragon Warrior game was all kinds of awesome. I think I was maybe 14 when I played it, and it blew me away twice...once when the story transitioned from one protagonist to another, which I hadn't seen happen before in any game I'd played, and then again when a further transition resulted in you playing a shopkeeper. That felt really innovative at the time.

I am an old, old man.
posted by Ipsifendus at 6:46 PM on September 16, 2011

The first "be a shopkeeper" game I'm aware of...

Does noone else remember Lemonade Stand?

Just me then
posted by ceribus peribus at 8:39 PM on September 16, 2011 [6 favorites]

Of course if this is too similar to what you do already, you will likely not enjoy this simulation.

The temptation to play shopkeeping games on the register computer at my shop is far, far greater than anyone who has not worked retail can comprehend.
posted by Jilder at 10:37 PM on September 16, 2011

Yay, another game where I can get invested, and then find out I need hordes of people to maintain their interest in it to boost me along; Facebook-stylin'.
posted by LD Feral at 2:35 PM on September 17, 2011

Horrible graphics, horrible animations, repetitive gameplay, dodgy writing, pay to play…

Perfect Facebook game I guess then.
posted by schwa at 10:57 PM on September 17, 2011

I'm playing about once or twice a day. I just hit Day 50, without paying for jack. I'm actually having a solid time with this game. Sure, there's always a looming "spend money to spend tokens to do this thing" buttons in nearly every window, but whatever. My stock is expanding, I've got a good backlog, and will probably be able to move the shop closer in town in another few sessions.
posted by yeloson at 10:54 PM on September 18, 2011

Anybody else playing this enough to be interested in a MeFi guild?
posted by cmoj at 1:55 PM on September 19, 2011

My ex-wife is playing it. (She was just my wife before she started playing it.)
posted by obiwanwasabi at 5:47 PM on September 19, 2011

I'd do a guild. I'm not really sure how to join though.... I think I started my own. MidWorldTraders (shortversion: ELD)... feel free to try to join, I'll check things this evening, just not sure I'm conversant with the interface yet.
posted by RolandOfEld at 12:25 PM on September 20, 2011

skest, not quite. This is more like what I do all day.
posted by elbie at 12:30 PM on September 20, 2011

As near as I can tell you've got to be invited to a guild... I'm Evyllity on there.
posted by cmoj at 4:14 PM on September 20, 2011

Tried to invite you, no clue if it worked. I'm guest so maybe that's why it just failed.
posted by RolandOfEld at 8:14 PM on September 20, 2011

I have perhaps unsurprisingly discovered that the secret to being a successful merchant is talking people into buying crap they don't actually want.
posted by Durn Bronzefist at 4:23 PM on September 21, 2011