Princess Maker 2

Princess Maker 2 puts you in charge of raising a magical princess who is given to you by the gods.

Mac

3DO

Overview

Princess Maker 2 is the second entry in a series of child-raising simulation games developed by Gainax where the player must raise a young girl to become the princess of a fantasy kingdom. Gainax originally published the game on the PC-98 on June 15, 1993 and has since ported the title to a number of different platforms. A remake of Princess Maker 2 for Windows was created by GeneX in 2004 called the "Refined Edition" which featured redrawn artwork and new voice acting.

SoftEgg Enterprises, along with shareware company Adventions, announced in the mid-1990s that they would be publishing Princess Maker 2 in North America for DOS computers. A full localization of the game was completed but, after being caught up in licensing hell, the English version was never officially released, although a beta copy of SoftEgg's translation was eventually leaked onto the internet. However in 2016, the Refine Edition of Princess Maker 2 was released in English on Steam by CFK, marking the first time a game from the series was official released in English.

Gameplay

The player has eight years to raise the princess in ways they see fit. What kind of person they will turn out to be is dependent on the princess' stats and actions of the player. The princess has a long list of stats that are affected by the work or education she participates in. The princess also has stats of her weight and form. At the beginning of each month, the player can take the princess to various establishments such as restaurants that can affect the princess' weight or churches and can lower the princess' sin as well as the typical armory or tailor that make various costumes for the princess to wear. The player must also assign a schedule of three tasks for the princess. These involve working, going to school, setting out on an adventure or taking time off. Working and attending school puts stress on the princess. If put under too much stress, they will grow ill which can put them out of activities for a whole month while they recover. Lowing stress is achieved by giving time off, giving presents or taking the princess to restaurants. The game reportedly has up to 76 different endings, which are obtained by raising your daughter differently. Your daughter does have some predispositions, determined by her birthdate and blood type, for example, and these also affect how she ultimately grows up.

Work

Each year the player is given 500 gold, but the primary way of making money is earned by putting the princess to work. The princess is can work at several different jobs to earn her keep, and more jobs become available as she becomes older. While at a young age she is only able to choose from six decent jobs such as housework or waitress, eventually she is able to work in morally questionable locations like a "Sleazy Bar" and "Cabaret". Each job she can takes will modify her stats, some of them increasing and others decreasing. Which jobs affect her, and how they affect her, varies from job to job. Your job is to manage the raising and lowering of each of these stats and make the princess you are trying to make, as well as managing the amount of money she earns.

School

Giving the princess an education costs money and each class she attends affects her stats. There are classes for raising strength and magic power for use in combat such as fencing or fighting classes, or classes that raise stats such as painting or proper etiquette. Each October there is the Harvest Festival which the player can attend and put their skills to use and win prizes like large amounts of gold or trinkets that can alter skills.

Adventure

The game allows the player to send their princess on an adventure to four different locations like forests or glaciers in order to raise a warrior. These sections play out like a typical RPG, with random encounters and potions for healing. The sections follow a day/night cycle, returning the princess to her home after the days alloted are over, or if she is defeated in battle. Various stats can cause special encounters, such as meeting fairies in the forest area if the princess has high sensitivity. The player can find chests containing gold and other items which they can bring back with them.

Soundtrack

The soundtrack was composed by Masahiro Kajihara and released in Japan by NEC Avenue on Feb 21, 1995. The soundtrack contains arrangements of the music found in the game. A remastered version of the soundtrack was released in 2008.