It turns out you don’t get the complete “story” (what little there is of it, anyway) unless you play the game three times and choose a different town to live in each time. What’s more, you only get to make a maximum of 6 kinds of items in each playthrough, so you have to play repeatedly if you want to make everything. I started a New Game Plus (nothing carries over) so I could get to make armor for a change. Making armor is fun, especially when you turn the finished pieces around and admire them from all angles. While I may finish this second game, I won’t be playing a third time to get the full story, so blog-wise this is a good time to say goodbye to Iron Master: The Legendary Blacksmith.

Final thoughts… haven’t changed that much from my initial ones. It is slow, and it does have frustrating moments, though those are few and far between now that I’m a master at all the mini-games. And what I really can’t stand is the sheer number of reps you have to put in just to master each item category. You need 5 reps to master level 1, 6 for level 2, etc. all the way to 10 for level 6. That’s 5+6+7+8+9+10 reps for each category = 45 reps. And you have a total of 6 categories for each playthrough, = 270 repetitions. And that’s if you get a perfect A rank every single time, which you usually won’t when it’s your first time making an item. It’s pretty crazy.

What’s worse is, because of the amount of time you have to spend on crafting to progress the story, you’re left with very little time to devote to the store management aspect of the game. First off, you don’t get any EXP for making items you’ve already mastered, so you’re just delaying your completion of the game when you make them. More importantly, it is very difficult to keep products on the shelf. They sell out almost faster than you can make them, so 90% of your floor space will be empty no matter what you do. In the end you just get stressed out, and your customers all leave the store in a huff because you can’t keep them happy. Not that keeping them happy has any effect on the game at all, come to think of it. I’ve always been more into crafting than into selling, so this is no big loss. On the other hand, though, I’ve enjoyed pretty much every selling game I’ve played, so I’m disappointed they didn’t flesh out that aspect of the game a little more.

Tedious repetitive mini-games and pointless selling aspect aside, I’ve enjoyed my time with Iron Master. I could throw up simple instructions for each mini-games if anyone is interested in trying it (ask soon, before I forget everything), but otherwise I’m basically done with this for good. Final roundup:

Pros

– You can make lots of different weapons and pieces of armor
– You can analyze your finished pieces from all angles, in very well-done 3D
– Mini-games are challenging, but fun
– You can practice each mini-game as much as you need to before playing for real
– Helen, your assistant, is cute and funny
– The music is surprisingly good. Fits the game perfectly
– Character designs and other graphics are very nice
– Adventurers of different job classes available to hire, each with their distinct advantages

Cons

– You have to play 3 times to make all items
– You have to play 3 times to get the full story
– The story itself isn’t much to speak of
– Each playthrough is too long
– Mini-games get tedious after the 1000th time
– Not much depth beyond endless mini-games
– Item overlap in each route – e.g. I still have to make bows and daggers in my second route
– Selling aspect of the game is woefully underdeveloped
– Adventurers are underutilized as well
– Store customers keep asking for items you can’t make
– No quicksave/quickload. Must turn game off to load from save.

Moving onnnnnn~! Time to start 7th Dragon!! If any game can give Phantasy Star Portable a run for its money in my 2012 Affection Rankings, it’ll be this game. Incidentally the 2011 Champion was Criminal Girls, followed by Tactical Guild, of all things. Lots of good games in that year, though. 2010… definitely Tokimeki Memorial Girls’ Side 3rd Story, with Luminous Arc 3 as the runner up. That was a good year in general. Crap, I’m starting to get nostalgic. Gotta look forward, gotta look forward. So, 7th Dragon! And a little bit of Suikoden II whenever I feel like it.