Princess Maker 2

Infobox VG| title = Princess Maker 2


developer = Gainax
publisher = Gainax
designer = Takami Akai
Masato Kato
released = 1993
genre = Life simulation game
modes = Single player
platforms = MS-DOS, Windows, Sega Saturn, GP32

"Princess Maker 2" is the second installment in the Princess Maker series of life simulation games developed by the Japanese computer game and anime production company Gainax. It has been translated into Korean and Chinese; an English-language beta version exists, but was never formally released. In this game, you are a war hero who raises a girl to the age of 18. At the end of the game, your daughter goes into a line of work; what this work is, how much talent she has for it, her marital life, and her overall happiness all depend on your actions.

Overview

The game takes place in a fantasy world presumably modeled after medieval Europe. The starting year is given as 1210 K.D. Your character is a famous warrior who defended the kingdom from an invasion by Lucifon, the Prince of Darkness (a corruption of Lucifer); consequently, you are known throughout the land as a military hero and receive an annual salary from the palace.

One night, your character receives a communication from a god whose identity is determined by the birthdate you select at the beginning of the game. This god bestows upon you a child of the heavens, and it is your duty to raise her from the age of 10 to the age of 18, at which point she will enter a line of work; the most desirable outcome is that of a royal princess, hence the name of the game.

Your daughter has a set of statistics that fluctuate depending on the activities you assign to her schedule, including various part-time jobs, schooling, adventure, and free time. It is these statistics that ultimately determine her final occupation, her skill level in her line of work, and her overall happiness in life; her marital fate is also decided, in part, by these statistics. The game also makes use of some invisible statistics to determine the occurrence of certain special events.

The god who visits your character is your daughter's patron god. That patron determines her starting statistics in such a way that is loosely related to the god's role in the Roman pantheon; for example, a girl born under Mars begins the game with an advantage in fighting reputation.

Gameplay

tatistics

Princess Maker 2 makes use of six types of statistics. There are general statistics, which range in value from 0 to 999; combat statistics, magic statistics, social statistics, and housework statistics normally range from 0 to 100. Reputations for fighter, magic, social, and housework are simply the sum totals of their associated statistics.

General statistics

The general statistics in Princess Maker 2 define your daughter's personality and physical attributes. These are constitution, strength, intelligence, refinement, charisma, morality, faith, sin, sensitivity, and stress. Higher values are generally good for all of these with the exceptions of sin and stress.

Constitution reflects your daughter's physical health and hardiness; if her stress level creeps over this value, she will become ill, and you'll have to choose between taking care of her personally (which will reduce your general wages but raise her love for you) or let Cube take care of her (which will raise Cube's relationship to her). Under paramount levels of stress, it is possible for your daughter to succumb to death.

In battle, your daughter's hit points are determined by her constitution. Constitution can be adversely affected by putting your daughter on a diet; if this continues, at some point Cube will switch her diet to a normal one.

A very high charisma value will result in many suitors asking your daughter's hand in marriage. She may even fall in love, which may define her ending - she could marry a nobleman, become the Queen of the land by marrying the old King, or become the King's mistress.

Too much sensitivity in relation to her other statistics will increase the likelihood of your daughter running away for a month, incurring hits to her four reputation statistics.

A lack of morality may cause your daughter to become a juvenile delinquent. Relatedly, leading a sinful lifestyle will negatively influence her ending. If your daughter's morals are low yet not enough to make her a delinquent, she will state she doesn't want to marry and will stay single, which will earn you negative comments from her deity.

Combat statistics

These are combat skill, combat attack, and combat defense. High values in each of these categories will make your daughter a more formidable opponent in battles against creatures during adventure and contestants in the Combat Tournament portion of the Harvest Festival. Your daughter's base fighter reputation is the sum of combat skill, combat attack, and combat defense.

Magical statistics

Magic skill, magic attack, and magic defense make up the statistics having to do with magic; these will aid your daughter in battle. Your daughter's base magical reputation is the sum of magic skill, magic attack, and magic defense.

ocial statistics

The statistics falling under the heading of "social" are decorum, art, and conversation. These are the skills needed for your daughter to enter into high society; the sum of their three values determine her social reputation. The associated events in the Harvest Festival are the Dance Party and the Art Festival.

Housework statistics

Your daughter's housework reputation is determined by the sum total of her cooking, her cleaning, and her temperament. The Cooking Contest is the associated event in the Harvest Festival.

Reputations

Though at face value these are only the sum totals of other groups of statistics, the four values of fighter reputation, magical reputation, social reputation, and housework reputation can be influenced by special events such as the Harvest Festival, characters who come to call on your daughter, and characters she meets in her adventures, among others. When your daughter turns fourteen, the highest value of these four will determine her rival; at the end of the game, it will play a great role in determining her career path.

Characters

Main characters

wordsman

Technically the player character of the game, the adoptive father of the girl, and his name is set by the player at the start of the game. He is never seen or heard (except as a shadowy figure when fighting Lucifon in the prologue).

Princess

A little girl with long wavy brown hair. Depending on your upbringing, her personality and qualities will evolve differently. Some of her characteristics - such as name, birthday and blood type - are set by the player at the start of the game. Her default name, given in the manual and other games such as GoGo Princess is "Olive Oyl".

Cube T. Butler

The loyal and gentle butler. He is a benevolent demon with catlike eyes and batwings. He serves as a tutorial guide for gameplay mechanics and story developments. If the Princess develops a strong enough relationship with Cube, she can marry him at the end of the game, saying that he's always had an important place in her heart. Cube is a recurrent character in the series and the anime (although he looks different in the first game).

Your daughter's rivals

Anita Cassandra

The Princess's rival in fighting contests. She is a tall, snooty, dark-skinned girl with a mole on her cheek. In her spare time, she works in a weapon shop.

Patricia Hearn

The Princess's rival in dancing contests and in high-ranking society. She is an arrogant blonde girl in a red dress, who loves being the center of attention. She is also a qualified painter.

Wendy Lachesis

The Princess's rival in magic. She is a short, cheerful, spirited brunette girl with a green hat. In her spare time, she works in a pawn shop and attends Putnam's magic lessons.

Marthia Shareweare

The Princess's rival in cooking and in low-ranking society. She is a polite and sweet blue-haired girl with self-esteem troubles, which she tries to get over with by cooking and sometimes dancing. In her spare time, she works in Chef Balbon's restaurant.

Your daughter's bosses

Balbon

Master chef. Has a very bad temper and little patience, but is generous and effusive when pleased.

Baran

Gravekeeper. He possesses a very dry wit and likes to scare people by telling them ghost stories. If your daughter has a high fighting/magic reputation, he will tell her the story of a slain knight, and later she will have to fight the ghost of said knight. If she wins, she'll receive from the spirit 2000 gold as a prize for releasing him.

Bongor

Farmer. Gruff and harsh, but is also caring towards your daughter if she performs well enough. He may be a relative of a young farmer whom your daughter can marry in the end.

Countess

Serious but kind, she hires your child to tutor her son.

Deginzi

Innkeeper. Always busy and doing stuff.

Dimitri

Barkeeper. Runs his bar so well and has such a solid reputation that girls can work in his place without any fear of being harassed by drunkards.

Hoss

Lumberjack.

Ko

Hunter.

Toscal

Mason.

ister Lee

Nun, also teaches Theology. Soft-spoken and sweet, she never gets angry even if your daughter screws up in the days working with her.

Radania

Runs the daycare. Is quite exigent at first, but soon takes the daughter under her wing if she performs well.

am

Runs the "sleazy bar".

ara

Matron of the beauty salon. A very exigent and a little anal-retentive boss.

Baron Tellmark

Runs the cabaret.

Your daughter's teachers

Barcelo

The local alchemist, extremely intelligent and logical. Seems to really despise anything related to faith, relaying only in science.

Bartholomew

An old monk who teaches Protocol, has a very polite and somewhat archaic speech.

Carl Fox

The martial arts instructor of the village. He's completely blind, yet has such sharp senses and is so dedicated to his work as a teacher and martial artist that he clearly rivals Leftor in skills during the fighting contests. He seems to be inspired by Chuck Norris.

Comstock

Highly intelligent yet dreamy old man who speaks in a very elegant yet purplish prose.

Filkins

The court painter, polite and pragmatic. If your daughter goes to Art class several months in a row, he'll offer her the chance to paint a picture for 100g. This will allow her to go to the Art Contest.

General Kruger

The highest-ranking militar in the country asides of you, who's also a judge in the Fighting Contest. Loves to talk and brag a little in front of young girls.

ister Lee

The local nun and Theology teacher.

Leftor

The fencing instructor of the village. A harsh and somewhat greedy man, he has a big scar on his face that makes him half-blind. Still, he is one of the top combatants in fighting contests.

Putnam

The cheerful and free-spirited magic teacher. Wendy can be seen in the background as he teaches your daughter.

Tobi

The exigent yet kind dance instructor.

Townspeople

Dr. Lombardini

The medic.

Maura

The seamstress.

halom

The pawn shop owner and Wendy's boss.

Zen

The armorer/blacksmith and Anita's boss.

Palace folk

Palace Guard

The man who guards the gates and the first one who talks to the daughter when she wanders around the palace. He searches for Refinement.

Royal Knight

The well-educated, slightly snobbish but good-hearted bodyguard of the royal family, he always tells your daughter to not forget she's a lady. He also searches for Refinement.

General

The same General who teaches Strategy at the Academy. He searches for Charisma.

Prime Minister

The right hand of the King, he loves a good conversation with intelligent people and is a judge in the Dancing Contest (being on his good side will increase your daughter's chance to win). He searches for Intelligence.

Archbishop

The religious leader in the kingdom, knowledgeable and pleasant. He searches for Faith.

Royal Concubine

The concubine of the King and the most beautiful woman in the kingdom. She seems to be perpetually bored after the King had grown old and only keeps her as a lady-in-waiting. She searches for Conversation.

Queen

The motherly consort of the King, sweet and soft-spoken. She's also a sort of mecenae for artists and scholars. She searches for Temperament.

King

The leader of the country, is well-loved and just, though somewhat of a lecher at times. He admires strong fighters and magicians. He searches for combat/magic skills.

Young Officer

A young man around your Daughter's age, who can only be visited in January. If your Daughter visits him every year and has very high general standards, he'll reveal his true identity as the Prince of the land and ask her to marry him.

Jester

The local laughingstock, seen contemptously by the noblesse and even by the palace workers (the Guard warns your daughter to not visit him). He's witty and cheerful, and if your daughter visits him often enough, he'll go to your house and give her the Royal Harp as a gift, which augments her Art. He searches for Conversation, and each time your daughter checks on him, her Social Reputation will drop.

Patron gods

* Saturn
* Uranus
* Neptune
* Mars
* Venus
* Mercury
* Moon
* Sol
* Hades
* Jupiter

Other characters

God of War

Guardian of the Gates of Heaven located in the mountains, and an excellent fighter and magician. If your daughter challenges him to a fight and she wins, he'll allow her to visit her patron deity briefly, then give her his powerful sword before leaving the Gates. If she's defeated, Cube will have to take her back home.

Lucifon

The lord of the underworld. After his defeat under the swordsman, he returned to live in his lair, a cave in a treacherous desert. He will attempt to corrupt the Princess if she ever meets him. If she's refined enough and has a high Sin counter, she'll escape home to elope with him.

Dragons

A young dragon boy and his elderly grandfather who live in the ruins of a castle in the desert. They can shapeshift to humanoid elf-like forms. The old dragon, an old friend of The Swordsman, from your mercenary days, guards treasure and is quite lecherous. The young dragon is impetuous and greedy, but can turn very shy if defeated in battle. If the daughter beats him when she's already a teenager (over 15 years old) and later comes back to retrieve the Dragon Tights from the old dragon, the dragons take a human form and come to the household asking for The Swordman's permission to engage his daughter to the young dragon; even when she seems to see him more as a little brother or childish friend, the daughter will marry him anyway if there are no other strong suitors (Cube, Lucifon, The Swordsman himself, The Prince) left, saying she'll pamper him and help him to become more of a man.

Work

The type of work your daughter can do differs by her age, as she gets older more jobs will open up to her, some which pay nicely but can greatly decrease one of her skills any maybe even set her down a path you don't want her to travel. All previous jobs stay open to her, so only the new jobs will be mentioned at each age change.

Jobs at Age 10

Jobs at Age 13

Jobs at Age 16

Free time

During free time your daughter has run off to the town, she can go where she wants and do what she wants because it is free time. The better terms you are with her the more stress will be decreased during this free time. You can also give her "pocket money" to spend which can help to decrease her stress levels.

Vacation

These trips can also work to decrease stress, but are different than free time in that you accompany your daughter on the trip. Also, unlike free time, depending on where you go and the season your daughter may gain weight, and also because of the season there are places you might not be able to go, or that might have a different effects on your daughter, such as going to the beach in the winter.

There are two general locations you can choose for vacation, either the mountains or the seaside, and you can take vacations whenever you desire.

Harvest Festival

The Harvest Festival in "Princess Maker 2" consists of four different contests. Each of these can help raise a particular part of the daughter's skills, depending one the contest she enters and who is her 'rival' for that particular contest.

Note that, after age 14, your daughter will have a specific female rival depending on her stats. The rival will greet her and issue the challenge (the wording will change depending on your daughter's stats; i.e., if she's a good fighter yet has a very high Intelligence, the fighting rival Anita will call her a "girl nerd" in front of everyone) the month right after her 14th birthday; meeting her will raise your daughter's spirits and drop her current stress to 0. If you make her attend a contest where her rival isn't present, she'll object and say she wants to face her rival, and Cube will ask you to reconsider your decision. If you don't grant your daughter her wish, she'll gain 10-20 Stress points.

Contests

Combat

Winning the combat tournament requires your daughter to be strong in either fighting or magic before the age of fourteen. The one she is stronger in will determine her rival for this tournament, if it is fighting she will face Anita, if it is magic then Wendy. Your daughter will hopefully improve from festival to festival and so will her rivals. Should your daughter win this tournament, she will be awarded with the Royal Sword and 3000 gold, as well as having either her fighting or magical reputation increase, depending on which attack she used the most during the fights.

Art/Exhibition

There is no real rival for this contest, however if your daughter has been taking art class, and perhaps has even been offered money for her painting, she might win. If your daughter does win, she will be awarded a Master paint brush plus 4000 gold. Additionally she will see a rise in her social reputation.

Cooking

Keeping up with the house work skills is a good way for your daughter to win a few of the cooking contests and gain Marthia as her cooking contest rival. As with the other girls, Marthia's skill does increase with each contest so your daughters sensitivity level must also increase for her to win. If your daughter does win she will be awarded a Paradise Egg, which can or cannot be eaten and making that choice leads to different skills seeing an increase. In addition your daughters Housework Reputation will increase by 40 points.

Dance

There are various dresses you can choose to have your daughter wear for this contest, however depending on her weight and her age, those choices might be limited to a rather plain dress. The choice of dress, as well as how friendly your daughter is with the judge whom she can talk to at the castle, can help increase or decrease the points she is awarded for her dance performance. Patricia Hearn is the rival your daughter will have for this contest, if your daughter has kept up with her dance classes and has won the Dance Party contest at least once before the age of fourteen. As with your daughter's other rivals, Patricia's skill will increase each year, meaning your daughter has to make sure her own skills also increase from year to year. Your daughter winning will gain her a Lady's Ring and 3000 gold as well as a 40 point increase in her social reputation.

Controversy

While the game in itself is not pornographic, it has been accused of being as such by some, owing to several unsavory thematic elements, including certain part-time jobs, ending possibilities, and the art in general.

In two of the possible vacation images, your daughter is nude. In one of these images she is sunbathing face down so that only her posterior is visible. In the other image she is swimming underwater and the angle and the art make the nudity tasteful. In all other vacation images she is fully clothed or wearing a cover-up. In the English beta version, the graphics were edited and your daughter is wearing a cover-up or a swimsuit in the images where she was previously nude.

While adventuring, if your daughter has high charisma and loses a fight to Venezaro or Blood-Rose Vanesta (bandits found in the forest or the lake, respectively), he will attempt to rape her; although this is not shown, it is made explicit through dialog. After this incident Cube rescues your daughter and helps her work through her ordeal at home. While in no way portrayed as a positive event, the rape is not crippling to your daughter and she will learn to live and work and play afterwards. There are no endings that are influenced by this event, with the exception of any point modifications that may occur as a result.

Your daughter can be put to work as a waitress in a bar serving drinks and food at the age of 14; at 15, she may work at a "sleazy bar," where she provides companionship for male patrons and pours their drinks. Once she hits 16, you may put your daughter to work at the cabaret as a waitress or a burlesque dancer. Working at either of the latter two workplaces opens the possibility for your daughter to become the paid mistress of a middle-aged man, although she will refuse to do so and be offended if she has a high Morals statistic. In all of these situations, Cube will seriously and openly question his patron's decisions regarding this, showing that none of these situations are portrayed as a good thing.

Several final occupations fall under what the English version of the game categorizes as "dark side"; these include different levels of prostitution, burglary, and even the potential for your daughter to either kill or elope with Lucifon and either way become the Princess of Darkness. None of these endings are presented in a positive light. In the end both your guardian deity as well as your butler Cube will criticize your efforts at raising your daughter and your deity will tell you that it would have been better had the child simply stayed in heaven. These endings are presented as a consequence for making poor decisions in raising your daughter.

In addition, it is possible for you to marry your own daughter, which some feel suggests incest and pedophilia. In this ending both father and daughter realize that their relationship is not the social norm (in fact, not even the deities are too happy, accepting this only because of their strong love and the absence of blood ties) but that they both care for each other very deeply so they decide to brave society and marry because they love one another. Your daughter may still have any compatible career ending in addition to marrying her father.

The art provides many outfits, both revealing and demure for your daughter to wear at the player's choice, including a dress called the "Leather Dress" in the English beta. This dress is leather with many buckles and is reminiscent of bondage apparel. It increases Charisma and decreases Morals. In addition there is a dress called the "Spiky Dress" in the English beta that seems to be inspired by punk and heavy metal fashions, as it includes spikes and chains with fishnet tights. This dress increases Sensitivity while lowering her Morals.

Finally, in the English beta version there is one final outfit that is made available only by entering a code, entering debug mode, and choosing to equip the "Undress" on your daughter; this renders your daughter completely nude, regardless of her age, although it does not alter her pose or her disposition. This debug mode is not available in the original Japanese PC release or in any of the later console releases.

Legend of Another World

It is a SNES port of the game. The default name for your daughter is Melody. The combat and adventure system was redesigned.

Refine edition

Infobox VG| title = flagicon|JPNPrincess Maker 2 refine edition
collapsible =yes
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developer = Gainax/GeneX
publisher = flagicon|JPNCyberFront Corporation
designer =Takami Akai
series =Princess Maker
engine =
modes =
ratings =
released = flagicon|JPN2004-09-30 (Win)
genre = Life simulation game
modes = Single player
platforms = Windows 98
media =CD-ROM
requirements=
input =mouse, keyboard

Along with Princess Maker 1, Princess Maker 2 has received a newer "refined" version for Windows. The overall graphics of the game have been improved, along with sound quality and various other improvements.

Trivia

* The anime, "Petite Princess Yucie" which is loosely based on all the "Princess Maker" games, has the character of Cube from "Princess Maker 2", appearing as Yucie's steward in the anime, looking nearly identical in style and design to how he appears in "Princess Maker 2".
* , the god of the Wildcat tribe which can be found while adventuring, is based on Cait Sith, a fairy creature from Celtic mythology. The legend of Cait Sith is quite popular in modern Japan, and has been incorporated into many other Japanese games, anime, and manga as well. Ket Shi also makes an appearance in an episode of "Petite Princess Yucie" as a demon cat who tries to overthrow the ruler of the Demon World. Both characters have different appearances and personality, but share the same knowledge in shapeshifting spell.
* When the player's daughter is sent in fencing classes, a fighter (of the ones who compete in the fighting contest) can appear, to challenge the fencing school and take its sign as a souvenir. This is based on the Japanese practice of "Dojo Yaburi". The daughter can accept the challenge and confront the fighter, though if she loses or does not challenge him/her, the latter will take the sign away and the player will not be able to give the daughter fencing classes next month.

ee also

* Princess Maker

External links

* [http://www.softegg.com/products/pm2/pm2.html Story of the failed English translation]

Japanese

* [http://www.gainax.co.jp/soft/primas/pmaker2.html Gainax Site]
* [http://www.vector.co.jp/swreg/catalogue/sr019902/index.html GeneX site]
* [http://www.generation-x.co.jp/soft/ps2_best/ PS2 GeneX site] contains info on PM2