Before you decide to play this game, just take a note that there won't be a next chapter for the game, which is quite saddening.

I realized that this is quite long, so i'll just divide it into sections.

Intro
Homework Salesman is a game which took inspiration from Rune Factory and Atelier series. Although i haven't played those two games before, i am thinking of playing those two after playing this.


Graphics
The first thing that caught my eye is the graphics. Most (if not all) of them are custom-made, and i must say that all of them are made beautifully. The pleasant looking UI gives an addition to make the game looks better than ever. The only one which somehow doesn't fit is some of the monster image on the battle screen, although it can be easily overlooked.


Music
The music also matches perfectly. It shapes up the atmosphere of the game, and you can listen it for hours without getting bored to it. Actually, the music is still rings up in my head, although i haven't played it for a long time. The sounds have the same vibe on each other, which makes the music transition when moving around the maps sounds pleasant.


Story
This game is actually talking about our main character, Reniat, which just come back to her hometown and find that her village is almost abandoned. After some talking, she finally decided to restore her village's fame and all. There isn't much story to it, but there are a lot to do.


The Game
This game is divided by days, with each has its own weather (and its own effect). The day ends either when you sleep or run out of stamina. During the day, she can do lots of things, from interacting (and raising relationship) with the townsfolk, forging weapons and armors, crafting tools, to battling monsters.

Relationships
There are a lot of NPC to interact with in this game, and most of the time, you will spend time with the resident. You can raise your relationship with all of the resident, plus some people outside the village. By raising the relationship, you can have a cutscene about both of the characters and maybe receive something (which depends on who the resident is). However, maxing the relationship can be quite tiring. I have beaten the game when the relationship gauge (which is represented by star) is only half from the max. Maybe this is because the game is still on the first chapter, but as this game isn't continued anymore, it becomes hard to accomplish.

Quests
This game has a quest system, which is divided into two parts. The main story goes to the main quest, while the side job goes to the side quest.

The side quest reset everyday, and you can take the quest all the way you want. There are some limit on how many you can take in a day though (the next day's side quest will be reduced if you still have some active side quest on the current day). The side quest will also raise your relationship with the quest giver. However, although quests are usually gives you profit, there are some which is not and the reward varies on some resident.

You will receive a main quest at the start, and you will receive the continuation after you finished your current main quest. However, the main quest is quite straight forward, such as: explore this cave. I think it's better to give some spice to it and add some depth on it from the start.

Doing the main quest can unlock some which isn't accessible from the start, which is new areas, new residents, and the services that they provide. The thing that is really like is how the town changed as you do the main story. Although it's just a new building, it will be nice if later on, the town completely changes (maybe add more decoration or even a rework on the building completely).

However, on the main quest, you are asked to go to an area with a high level monster in the start, which is not good because you can die easily. It's better to leave the area later on to make it to be easily accessible (and not wasted death).

Professions
This game divides things that you can do into profession, from adventuring (battling with monsters), scavenging (picking up materials from the wild), smithing (forging weapons and heavy armors), tailoring (crafting light armors, staffs, and other useful materials), enchanting (creating an item to enchant weapons and armors), crafting potions, cooking, to buying and selling things. There are levels in each professions and the levels will raise up according to what you did. Raising levels will give benefit on each professions.

Crafting
You need recipes to craft items, which can be bothersome. In order to be able to craft something, you will need energy, materials, and level (some items has a level restriction). After you raise enough levels, the energy required to craft will also decrease.

Battling
You can recruit up to 3 companions to fight with. The companions can be unlocked as you progressed to the main story, and 2 of them needs to be paid to go with you. The battle is turn based, and unlike other games, there is TP (or durability in some games) to weapons. Your attack and skills will require some TP, and the weapon will break once it's out of it. There is an item to restore the TP, but it can be more expensive than some weapons.

Talking about weapons, every character can equip a set of weapons. Ranging from short sword to even an instrument, each weapon has its own skill and status. The main character can use all the weapons, but the others can't. With the diverse weapons and skills, you can change their role accordingly.

Like the weapons, you also can choose the armor type to be used. There are light armors and heavy armor which can be used. If the weapons and armors isn't giving enough stats, there is an accessories to help increase your stats.

Weapons, armors, and accessories can be enchanted. The enchant varies on the enchant used, and you need to have the enchant (which is gained from monster drop, buying, or crafting) and the enchant slot to enhance the item. If you need an enchant slot, you can make it by paying a certain amount of money. The more enchant slot is on an item, the more expensive to add an additional enchant slot.

The party basically has the same level, so there is no need to grind their level individually. However, some opponent can be hard to deal with, which will need some preparation, such as weapons and skill. The skills also have their own level (which is raised by continuous usage), and although some skills can be learned by default, some skills (and the most useful ones) need to be bought. The price varied on the usability, and the very OP one cost a ton, which needs a lot of grinding. The skill may be meant for the next chapter, but it's such a pity that you have to grind a lot just to learn that spell now, considering that next chapter will not be made.

The boss level scales from the beginning to the end, with the first one being very easy and the last one is quite hard to beat (or maybe it's just me with the low level, equipment, and strategy). The bonus boss seems impossible, or just very hard. I suggest to give the scaling accordingly or give a new weapon recipes before fighting the boss.

Areas
There isn't much areas in the game. There are only 3 distinctive areas outside the village in chapter one, with two areas (one is a forest and the other one is a cave) being the main areas and the third is a connection between the chapter 1 and 2. However, the cave, has a lot of floors, and some floors has it's own bosses.

Sometimes, there is a random event in the game. The event varies and randomized. Some events can lead you to battle, receiving an item, even to giving you nothing. However, watching the event is quite interesting since some of them is funny.

Upgrades
On a certain day of the week, there will be someone who will come to the town and sell upgrades. Some upgrades can be quite expensive, but there is no need to worry because you just need to collect more money until the following week. Just for a note, you can hire a maid which can be interacted with and asked to do one thing everyday.



Pros:
- A lot of things to do and explore
- A lot of characters to interact with
- Diverse weapons and skills

Cons:
- Tons of "grinding" to cap (relationship, levels, materials, money)
- Little to no main story.
- There is a monster which is disappeared after you reached certain part on the main story