Well i picked this game up during the recent sale here (December 2015 winter sale :P) and I'll say I'm pleasantly surprised. I remember seeing references to this on the CoOptional Broadcast.

Anyways.

Graphics: A mix of 2 genres depending on location. Static pictures and large profiles used in dating sims, 3D models for basic world display, with sprites for characters and monsters. To be truthful, it feels like it's a PS2 game, plays like one, looks like one, and overall has all the charm of one :) Nothing is high polygon count so this game will likely run on almost anything in the last 10 years.

Sound: Everything is crisp, clear, and fits with what's going on.

Story: So your dad went away and left you with a debt and you need to pay it off while managing a shop. Simple enough. There's character development but overall the main character Recet is naive, too trusting, and way too sweet. And that's about it. There's a lot of humor, and usually written in simple language so even younger kids could enjoy this. Anyways, start off with 1000 pix and try to pay off your debt. (If you fail, don't worry, you'll lose the pix but keep the items so you'll actually have a boost, which makes it a lot easier)

Tutorial: To note almost every mechanic has a tutorial attached to it. The fairy Tear makes sure you know what you're doing by practicing with you rather than risking your funds or losing a chance for sales to customers (which is good). The only mechanic that seems lacking in practice is when dungeoneering, but if you've played Ys Origins or similar games you shouldn't have much trouble.

Gameplay - Time: The game is separated into multiple time chunks. If you go shopping, it takes 1 time chunk no matter how many places you visit. If you open shop it's 1 time chunk (no matter how many customers you help). If you dungoneer, it's 2 (more?). You could open shop 4 times in a day if you have enough items to sell.

Gameplay - Town/Shopping: Once you leave the shop, you can either visit the guild, or the market place, at least for shopping. The pub, town square and church might have funny interactions going on, although i don't think they affect gameplay at all.

During gameplay (after the first week) prices for items will start fluctuating (via News!). Red is they are welling well, and Blue they are selling poorly (basically). However during this time the base buying price does get affected, so if you have a bunch of pix you could buy up several food items or weapons for selling later when they are rare and therefore you can charge more for them.

Gameplay - Shopkeeping: Place items for display, and people will ask to buy them. Each person acts a little different in what they will accept for the markup (between 10%-25%). I won't go into spoilers but there's another thread that goes into the basics that i figured out on my own :P. Anyways later on more mechanics are introduced, one of which lets you buy from the customer.

Much later you can set up an item dispenser which always sells at the 'base price'. (Personally i found it best to buy expensive floor, carpet and wall items and sell them off this way)

Gameplay - Dungeoneering: You will hire a adventurer who fights and collects items for you, but you have to play him and your characters are present (but protected) just in case he dies so you can drag him back (i think, i haven't died yet). You have 25 slots for items you find, and if you have an adventurer with poor gear you can bring your own (loaning it to him) so he fares a little better. Finding rare ingredients will let you create unique items that you can sell or use later at the guild.

Voice Acting: A bit of it in Japanese, for the most part there isn't that much and a lot of phrases are repeated.

Annoyances: To be honest, the selling sound is slightly annoying, but turning it down to match the BGM seems to do the trick.

It's somewhat confusing sometimes if you're buying from a customer or selling to them. More than once I've offered them the amount I'd try to sell them for rather than cutting back to the 50% mark. Somewhat annoying.

Some items are intentionally vague when customers ask for something they want. They will say they want something 'metal' and yet if you offer them metal armor they refuse it. Sometimes they want a hat or clothes, etc. A lot of trial and error there.

The ending is too short/simple for my taste.

Finally the shopkeeping after a while does get a bit repetitive and just a little boring after a while.

Final thoughts: Great game. If you don't like heavy repetition then I'd give this game a pass, otherwise I'd say give it a try. Expect it to be 6 hours or so before you finish the main game (assuming you don't dungeoneer and just shopkeep and pay your debt off)

Nice overall review, but I think it's worth mentioning that there is some depth to the game and options available.

Once you've completed the first 36 days and repaid Papa's debt, there's three choices for further gameplay:

Continue as a shopkeeper and continue to explore dungeons, building up your Merchant level without the pressure of debt. It also allows for the story to continue unfolding.

Take your saved final game and enter into Survival Mode, where the debt continues to increase each week. Otherwise as above.

Re-start a New Game+
This means you start over from day 1 and have to repay Papa's debt once more. But, the first time you do this, you have a True Card from whichever fighter you've initially used the most and all of the stock you finished with the first time round. Those dungeons you've explored in your first 36 day month are available as far as you've explored them as soon as they enter the story. Also, your favourite fighters retains their levels, also Recette retains her Merchant level. I find this a good way of continuing the game, getting to use other fighters (collecting their True Cards) and continuing the story up to a point.

Yes, there is a character driven story embedded in Recettear but, apparently, you have to complete the dungeons.

Another aspect of the game which adds interest is the crafting. As Recette gains Merchant levels, her crafting levels are increased along with access to more expensive items, shop expansion and a bigger dungeon inventory. Crafting is fun as the first time you fuse the ingredients, you don't know what you're going to get. Collecting items and fusion may take up time slots, but generally, the items created sell for considerable dosh.

I would argue that despite it's repetitive nature, Recettear has plenty of lively characters, humor, creation and exploration to keep many people playing.