Amber's Magic Shop

Took about 8 hours to beat, not as good as Loren Amazon Princess but not bad either. The alchemy mini game was fun for a short while and then it became tiresome, wasn't hard at all though. Don't freak out about days, you have plenty of time for everything.

This might seem like a rushed review, but I still want to get it out there. I can't say anything about the crafting/alchemy part, because I'm not into that kind of stuff. I don't like grinding for stats or whatever and think it's in general a difficult concept to make a good game on when it comes to dating sim/otome/bl games that have some romance going on. Because you have to struggle with making story and stats balance properly. Make it all make sense. Have scenarios line up properly, yada yada. I picked this game up because I was hoping for a good story, rather than an interesting crafting system. And I did not get that, at all. Anyone who's like me and mainly in it for the romance and story, I strongly advice you to stay away from this game. Sure, the build-up is there and the game makes you hope and long for your light/dark ending--- only to drop you into a pool of cold water and abandon you there. If your game only got one CG going for each ending, then you might be doing something wrong. Especially if you feel like the routes don't need more than one, because there's not enough story to fit them into anyway. Romance aside, even the general story is pretty lacking, bland and boring. Some sprite art differs from the overall sprite art, which is simply upsetting to look at and makes the game feel cheap and like a quick cash-grab with no effort put into it. Music/Sound is nothing new either if you played a few visual novel games in your life and the same goes for some backgrounds. CGs are beautiful, though again, you barely get any. Characters are nice, even if shallow. My favorite had been Thomas and he's not even a romancable character, just because he felt like a breath of fresh air. Another thing is the 'mature content' that consists mostly of awkward panty or bra shots that make you feel more uncomfortable than anything else, since the writing makes it feel like they were just squeezed in there to row in the horny people. Can't say it's a horrible game, but it's definitely a bad one. Try to grab a copy during a sale like I did and try to avoid paying the full price if you can't handle a bit of possible disappointment.

So good, I really liked the game! I've still got loads of endings to play through, definitely a good buy. I enjoyed how the game was split up into two parts (adolescence and adulthood) that was a good touch. I only wish there were more male partner options; there are only 3. However each one has 4 possible endings, so I suppose it almost makes up for it :)

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A very enjoyable game, but is noticeably lacking in some areas. [list] [*] The art is great. Each character has some unique flair, and their outfits are quite stylish. [*] The stories are nice, but each route feels like it could use more content. Like longer epilogues, or adult content? [*] The Dark-Light consequences for each dialogue choice is interesting but it sometimes doesn't feel like the choices are appropriate for the shifts in alignment. [*] The alchemy system is fun to play with, but even on "Normal Mode", if you are diligent about taking requests and flipping stock for profits, you can max out your money and stats way too quickly. I ended up having to waste over a hundred days in-game just to progress the story since there was no point in taking requests after completing shop construction and getting each skill to 300. It might be better if shops were to buy product from the player at a lower rate than they sell, to mitigate the easy profits from flipping stock between stores. [/list] All in all, it's a fun title to sink some time into. The core gameplay is entertaining, but could be improved. The content needs expanding, and maybe a harder difficulty.

Its a cute crafting game with some story lines thrown in. If you enjoy crafting, this is the game for you, but it does tend to get repetitive. If you play with crafting disabled, the story lines tend to move quickly, and its not as substantial as most visual novels. I did enjoy trying to unlock all the various endings. The art is interesting, I liked the character designs. Not my top pick if you're mainly interested in the VN aspect. For a primarily crafting game, meh. You just end up grinding through the days.

good short game

Probably my second favorite story set in aravorn I really liked the amber and all the characters along for the journey. Didn't really care for the date thing with Lair tho. Also I'm probably one of the rare amount of people that didn't hate the poly relationship. I mean I get it there cousins but back in medevil times this was pretty common (also would like more poly romacnes in the future please). Lastly enjoyed the light,extra light,dark and extra choices that influence your personality to.

This is a clever combination of a visual novel and simulation. You are an alchemist and choose what to study, create and gather. You also choose who and how you interact with. There are love interests of both genders to choose from.. its a fun game to while away the time on.

Fun Game, but not without flaws. My biggest pet peeve was the randomness of the contract rewards. Sometimes you end up with over 300 gold for a single low quality silver ingot, while the next time to need to craft 7 gold ingots for half of that. Same for gathering, why should I gather in any other place than the mushroom cave where I often get items worth in 150 gold range, when the others only provide some in the 20-50g range. Or why should I visit all the different shops, they pay all the same for my crafted items and I can buy the ingredients simply over the crafting menue. Despite that I liked the story, the characters and the crafting aspect of the game. Playing an alchemist shopkeeper was a neat idea and I would like to see an improved sequel one day.