What is it?
This is one of those games that is rather hard to categorize, mainly because the category it belongs to is hardly known outside Japan. It is more or less a coincidence that an English version of this game exists at all.
It has been called a life sim. It has been called a child rearing sim. I call it a role-playing game, with a twist.
Basically, you as the father are put in charge of a ten year old girl. Your job is to bring her up until she is 18. You can let her do jobs, you can pay her tuition (if you can pay it), you can send her adventuring. Accordingly, her character will develop. Like in any role playing game, she has a couple of stats. Jobs and tuition will increase some, decrease others. You can buy her armor, weapons, clothes and other items that, too, will affect her stats.
There will be an annual festival where she can participate in one of several contests: dancing, cooking, art, or combat. In the end, she might marry the prince (hence Princess Maker, I guess), she might become a researcher, a painter, a harlot. There are more than 80 different endings. You may consider some more covetable than others, but it's not a game you can win or lose.
A single game will last only short, I usually played four hours, others reported two. But replay value is nearly unlimited. Apart from trying to achieve different endings, you can choose your daughter's birthday (and zodiac sign), changing her character. And you can choose her blood type.
To me, this seemed a rather strange thing to be able to choose for a game character. An entry in Peter Payne's blog shed some light on this:
I remember reading through old Saint Seiya manga, back at SDSU in the 80's, and wondering why the Japanese always write the blood type of each character along with their name, age and astrological sign. In Japan, it's believed that you can tell a lot about a person's personality and character traits from his blood type. Type A people are neat, tidy, and plan things meticulously, almost to a fault. Type B are "going my way" (as the Japanese say), meaning that they do their own thing without worrying about what others think, and don't plan things out in advance. They can be messy, and tend to act on impulse (I am B, and my wife is always commenting on why do some things I do based on my blood type). Type O people have a private imaginary world inside their minds, supposedly, and they're quick to become passionate about something, but then change to something else just as easily. Type O people make good leaders. Finally, AB have "two faces," one that they use in front of some people and another one they keep to themselves. I've met a lot of foreigners who didn't know what their own blood type is, and this usually surprised Japanese people—here, a person's blood type is a part of what they are, like height or hair color. The Japanese blood type beliefs are hard to get used to at first, but when you live here long enough, you start thinking there might be something to them after all…
The SAQ (Seldomly Asked Questions) on the qUirKY jaPan HomEPage adds some historical perspective:
In the 1920's and 30's, blood type became a major issue in Japan because Western scientists were claiming that they proved the inferiority of the Asian race. In the west, there are very few people of blood type 'B', which is very common among Asians. When scientists began testing the blood of animals, they discovered that 'B' was the most common blood type among animals and took that to be evidence of Asian inferiority. Then, in 1927 Furukawa Takeji, a psychologist studied blood types in an attempt to relate them to people's personality types and published a series of articles on his findings. The blood type obsession however, did not take off until 1971 when the hugely popular book, "What Blood Types Reveal About Compatibility" was published. The book argued that just as different blood types are incompatible, so too are people with different blood types. Apparently there have been cases of companies making hiring and promotion decisions based on blood types, and relationships have been broken off because of blood type incompatibility. People with type AB are said to be particularly discriminated against.
The four blood types are A (Farmers), B (Hunters), O (Warriors), and AB (Humanists). Farmers are said to be careful people who like planning and are hard-working and loyal. They are said to be conservative and uncompromising. Hunters are independent, outgoing, and liberal. They tend to have varied hobbies and interests, and are very changeable. Warriors are leaders and organisers. Although they are popular and outgoing, they can also be selfish or arrogant. Humanists are efficient and rational but also said to be stand-offish or shy.
I couldn't find out much about how exactly the blood type you choose affects the character in the game:
I suppose there will be something to balance out the B and AB stress effects, but I don't know what. The two rumors I found on a forum. There were no details to back them up, and someone else replied he had a good fighter with blood type 0.
There have not been that many. The Sex Appeal stat has been renamed Charisma, whether for censorship purposes or because Charisma is better known as an RPG stat, I do not know.
In an interview for Nuriko, Tim Trzepacz claimed they had changed a scene where the heroine gets raped by bandits, and as a result her sex appeal (resp. charisma) goes up, but according to the walkthroughs I've read, this scene is pretty much unchanged.
The biggest change were probably the graphics of the summer/sea vacations. In the first two age stages, she wears a shirt which (naturally, since it's wet) is slightly transparent in the original. In the translation, it isn't. In the next two stages, she is even naked, which of course wouldn't do in the US, so we see her lying in the sun with her dress on, and diving in a bikini.
Gainax was not very happy with these changes and demanded that the original graphics be put back in. One such version was compiled but has been lost. Strangely there was never a fan patch to restore the original graphics, though the format, as far as I know, has not been changed. The Un-Dress cheat, which basically allows to see her naked regardless of age, was left in.
Other changes are hardly noticable and were merely an insurance for SoftEgg, so that they could prove the translation was theirs if necessary. The name of the waiter in the Sleazy Bar, for example, was changed from Sabu to Sam.
Welcome, etc. I have basically put up this site because I was sick of not being able to find decent Princess Maker 2 images on the net. So, I have created a web site where you can find everything PM2. Enjoy.
Mr. Akai believes the game's appeal lies not in titillation, but in giving Japanese males a chance to fantasize about conquering the one place where they don't call the shots—the home. Japanese women traditionally control the household budget and make most important child-rearing choices, while men are absorbed in their jobs and obligatory after-hours drinking with colleagues. As dads, they get little respect. "To play this game means to do something you want to but can't," Mr. Akai said. "It's impossible in reality for fathers to interfere with their daughters, because the daughters would complain."
Princess Maker 2 plays tricks with your heart. After only a year, I had become fanatically protective of Rhalina, born September 13, blood type A. Determined that she would always be on an equal footing with the world, I eschewed low-end homemaker skills and concentrated on the hard science that would help her make sense of the universe, the poetry and dance that would soften her soul and strengthen her body, the religious training that would fortify her knowledge that her world is a happy place…and the combat skills to kick the living bejeezus out of anybody who tries to tell her otherwise.
What makes Princess Maker 2 a lot of fun is the sheer amount of options and actions you can do, which result in seemingly unlimited range of personalities your (adopted) daughter grows up to be. Although you are limited to raising her from age 10 to 18, everything you do will influence how the child will grow up. You first choose your daughter's name, your age, both birthdates, and her blood type. Then you will decide on a detailed routine of her daily life, from schooling and hobbies, to how you want her to react to different people she will meet throughout the game. There are many surprises and random events to ensure that no two games are alike. With many factors that affect your daughter's character, the game's replayability is astounding, and the 70+ endings will keep you hooked for months on end.
The Japanese are a weird lot and this is manifested most evidently in their love of anime, pornography, and video games. In the past, many Japanese video games have not made the jump to the states because Japanese executives deemed that U.S. audiences just weren't ready for such sophistication. Translation: this game is too weird and won't sell any copies in the states.
In the game you are a warrior who once saved a city from certain doom. Seems like the king and the people of the city had become so..... Well, very uncivilized. :) The gods (yes there are gods in this game) decided to destroy the city and its people. And thats where you come in. The warrior battled the demons who were busy destroying the city and deveated them. The king and the queen and of course all the other people were very grateful. And well, they gave him a nice home and money. After that he's visited by a goddess who rewards for his bravery with something he always wanted. She gives him a daughter. The goddess wants him to raise her as best as he can. And thats is when the game starts.
In Japan, there are probably lots. Outside, very few. There is an old game (about ten years older) called Alter Ego, I tried it once, but it's less fun. There is The Maid's Story, which shares many gameplay elements, it is sort of an adult version of Princess Maker. There was Little Computer People, and now there are The Sims. Or you might try Daggerfall, which is a full-fledged RPG with lots of fighting, but has some similar aspects.
As the number 2 in the title suggests, there has been a series of Princess Maker games (the currently last one from 2005), but only this one was translated at all. The translation was never released, but leaked out and has hence been distributed unofficially.
In 1995, Princess Maker 2 was released on the SNES as Princess Maker: Legend of Another World. As far as I know, this is a fairly faithful conversion with even very similar graphics.
