Wednesday, September 30, 2009

Princess Maker 2 - PC/DOS - Gainax


There have been simulation games based off of most everything out there, from simulating life, to ant colonies, sports teams, business of various sorts, and in Japan, you find another assortment, one of which allows you to raise a little girl into a woman who can take on varying careers of life, such as a Heroine, a Wife, and even a Princess.

This series is pretty aptly named Princess Maker.

Now, I unfortunately don't know a great deal about the series, but I've been able to play a few of the games in Japanese, and have recently been able to play the second game, which is the only one I am aware of with an English translation.

As far as simulation games go, Princess Maker is extremely easy to learn, being handled almost entirely of visual menus, though the small intricacies of the system are really only understandable when you understand the dialogue (thank goodness for the translation) and as you play the game more and more often.

At the very beginning of the game, you will of course choose your name, as well as your birthday, before selecting your 'daughter's' birthday, name and blood type (a distinctively Japanese touch), before you are greeted with an opening cinematic, which, like most of the game is done with an almost pastel, water-colored set of images.

This story tells of a King who became so corrupt that God sent the Lord of the Dark World to destroy his kingdom. But a hero (you) stops the Dark Lord, and when asked why, cannot answer. Weakened by the hero, the Dark Lord leaves, and the King promises to repent and offers the Hero a place to live, as well as a retainment fee of 500 Gold a year, to stay in the kingdom and help watch over it.

A while later, the hero sees a light on a nearby hill, and checking it out, he is given an 8 year-old girl to raise by one of several watcher gods (a different one based off of whatever Zodiac sign you have made your daughter by her date of birth), who wish you to raise her into a good woman.

For the next ten years of the game (give or take a few weeks or months based on your daughter's birthday) you will assign your daughter three blocks of two week goals (approximately), which range from education, to work, to adventure, to rest (which is either her heading into town with or without an allowance, or on a vacation to either the mountains or the sea) and bring down her stress levels.

Each goal, of course, affects other things. Education raises your daughter's stress, but can teach her various skills, such as cooking, cleaning, or even defense and attack, but they can also lower other skills (for example, cleaning can potentially lower things such as strength or even how people perceive you). Jobs, which also affect your stats and increase stress, can gain money if your daughter is able to do them properly (and will highly raise stress if she fails). Adventure allows you to defeat evil, necessary for the Dark Lord endings, and can net you a bit of money or items. Rest I've already mentioned.

The game itself can take a while to play through, of course, but with there being multiple endings (74), different events based on the course you take with your daughter, and the fact you can't raise all of your stats in one game, Princess Maker 2 has a lot of replay value.

Also, if you won't mind a slight deviation, I'd like to comment that the game has a lot of little details in it. Things like the fact your daughter's portraits and the main image you see of her change as she ages, based on what dresses or clothing she is wearing, and so on. The portraits are also affected by her mood, and can tell you if she's sick or stressed.

There are also a lot of tiny animations which play when your daughter is studying or working, as well as full images for the vacations and several of the endings. And on the case of studying and working, the animations can have several things going (such as working at the inn, you can drop the bedding when you fail and she looks miserable, or you can be cleaning the floor there, and etc.) It really makes for a lot of fun in trying out things so you can see what the different animations look like based on successes and fails.

Unfortunately, for whatever reason, the copy I got had no sound (this may be how it actually is, but I'm not sure), but it really doesn't take away from the game all too much considering it is still charming and fun, but for some it may make them reconsider playing it.

Overall though, if you're one of those people who like simulation games, and you're looking for one that's simple to grasp, but has a lot of small intricacies to keep you learning from every game of it you play, this one may be for you. It's charming, has a lot of replay value, and you'll be finding out little secrets almost every game you play of it.

So, if you get a chance, check in on out!

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