I am in love.
This is the most addictive import game I've played since Tokimeki Girl's Side. I can't put it down when I pick it up. If you like games like Harvest Moon or games where you go around collecting items, or games where you run a store or business, or if you're the person who likes to try and collect all of the items in an rpg or learn all of the spells, this is so the game for you.

The Story: In a fictional place that sort of resembles 1700's Germany or Switzerland, Violet (in the game and websites they spell it Viorate and pronounce it Vioraato, though) is a young village girl from Karotte Village, a very small town with a dwindling population. Violet is inspired by an encounter with beautiful traveling alchemist Aisele, and decides she too wants to learn to become an alchemist. Her parents leave town to find work and so Vio decides to open an alchemy shop to make money. She enlists the help of friends and neighbors to assist her in adventuring out to find items and tending the store. Her goal is to become an alchemist, make money, and have a grand adventure to make Karotte Village famous.

That's the basic story. From there you can do whatever you want, build your alchemy skills, adventure in the many dungeons and areas, make friends with people you meet, collect ingredients and items, or concentrate on making money. This gives the game an immense amount of replay value! You can't do *everything* so you pick what you want to try and shoot for that goal. You have many different characters to choose from to have in your party and the things that happen depend on who you're with.

Music and sound is excellent. The main girl's voice is the voice of Ururu from the Bleach anime and she's *very* cute. The main guy, her bro, is the voice of Sonic the Hedgehog. You'll enjoy these voices. The music is fun because it has sort of a Celtic sound to it. It's very soothing and nice to listen to.

The Japanese language ability necessary to understand this game is pretty advanced. I struggle with this aspect. You have to be able to read each item's description carefully to know whether the item is good or bad quality and what characteristics it has. For instance, some carrots you find with be rotting, or taste bad, and some minerals will be scraps. Wine and cheese have different stages of aging. The food dires out or can go bad, get moldy, be too sweet or too salty. Some weapons you make will be powerful and others will not be and it's hard to tell what the heck is going on even if you think you're pretty good with kanji. Lots, lots, and lots of kanji here. So beware. On the other hand, it does challenge you to learn if you want to.

The graphics for the game are pretty. 2-D anime style is where the PS2 looks best, probably. The art style of the game is soft and pretty and you will enjoy the art and character design. The 3-D parts, where you're a sprite walking around, aren't that great, but if you've played games like La Pucelle and Disgaea it's nothing you haven't put up with before, right?

In any case, if your reading ability is good, give this game a try, you might find yourself hopelessly addicted.

wicked!!!!!!!!!
this game is awsome.everything about it feels great.the graphics may be 2d with 3d backdrops but stuff it.do you i care.ivebeen a big fan of gust games ever since i bought iris no ateleir:eternal mana.i wanted more so i purchased this.anyone who likes crisp 2d graphics and long lasting rpgs....well....GO AND BUY THIS GAME!!!!!!!!