![]() Food converts to experience points, and this is the only way to level characters up. The other quirk in this system is that you need to get your characters to eat the dishes too. This is the only way to earn money in Marenian Tavern Story, and you need to make sure patrons have a continually updated menu to choose from – offer the same thing too many days in a row and they’ll get bored of the dishes and stop coming. Then you put the dishes you created on sale, and after the bar closes for the day, you get whatever money you’ve earned added to your balance. ![]() Naturally, you need to have the right ingredients in the first place. There are hundreds of recipes to learn, either form finding the recipes in-game or simply guessing at a combination of ingredients. Once you’ve got loads of new ingredients, it’s time to head back to the tavern and cook up a storm. Other ingredients can be found by defeating enemies, which pop up randomly and are fought in a very traditional turn-based combat system. Some ingredients can be picked up from designated “collection points” in the dungeon (trees, patches of grass, and so on). In the dungeon exploration, Patty and her mates run around collecting ingredients to use in the cooking back home. ![]() Marenian Tavern Story is made up of two parts the dungeon exploration, and the cooking. The pleasant narrative is complemented by some delightful gameplay. It’s just that the script just needed a further run-through by a writer to help it read better and more consistently. Marenian Tavern Story isn’t broken, and the narrative is perfectly legible. There’s far too many literal translations from Japanese to English that result in phrasing and terminology that is odd and often takes the character completely out of their previously established character. All that lets it down is a localisation that’s done on the cheap. Patty herself is a bit of a sweetheart, and the overall positive, generous, homey tone of the storytelling makes it simply impossible not to care about any of the characters. Each character is a variation the various traditional, safe anime tropes, and Patty’s growing social circle soon fills with an eclectic mix of bright and perky personalities. Naive it might be, but Marenian really is cheerful and unendingly pleasant to play. Hatsune Miku in SMASH, Nintendo, or I give you 0/5 December 1, 2018 ![]() What a sweet little game so far #NintendoSwitch /XrhnuTbVxr This isn’t a criticism of any of the games mentioned, since I love them all, but it’s just as well they’re so bright and cheerful and the video game equivalent to comfort food, because they’re not what you’d typically call “insightful.” Cheerful as the likes of Harvest Moon, Atelier and Marenian Tavern Story are, and though they’re not designed to think on too hard, the reality is that they do sell a way of thinking about work, success and happiness that is downright naive in the current social and economic environment. It’s a silly plot, and it’s one that’s a little too earnest with the “hard work and a cheerful disposition is all you need to succeed” aspirational tone. Thankfully, the mayor is a friendly chap that lets them take ownership of an abandoned tavern, so Patty and her family set about building their fortune all over again. It looked like a cute little mouse-thing, so the boy fed him, and BAM! the previously well-to-do family has all of their property repossessed and they were thrown out on the street with nothing. You play as Patty, a pretty young woman whose family falls on misfortune when the young brother accidentally “befriends” a poverty deity. ![]() Right from the start it’s clear that a lot more effort when into making the narrative for Marenian than what we saw in Adventure Bar Story. Here’s our review of the triple pack on Nintendo Switch Related reading: The developer of this game also developed the Mercenaries Chronicles tactics JRPGs. ![]()
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