Princess Maker 2

aka: PM2, Princess Maker 2 Refine, Princess Maker 2: special mini drama
Moby ID: 165
Buy on SEGA Saturn
$10.56 used on eBay
Buy on Windows
$19.99 new on Steam
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Description official description

A hero saved the human race from utter annihilation by the gods. This same hero then was charged by the heavens to take care of a young seed dropped from there. This seed becomes his daughter, and her guardian will be watching her progress.

In Princess Maker 2 the player assumes the role of a father to the blessed daughter of the heavens. For the next eight years, the hero will nurture and guide her in the path of the player's own choosing.

It is possible to choose the path of the zodiac-influenced daughter by scheduling her to jobs and schools, which will raise her statistics (strength, combat skills, cooking, faith, etc.). Each month allows the player to designate three different tasks for her to follow. Balancing between character development, stress level, health and financial income is the focus of this game.

Mini sub-quests and various plot options revolve around the young lady adventuring in the wilderness, provided that she's strong enough to tame the wilds. The player can equip her with armor and weapons to fight off wandering random monsters in turn-based combat.

The game starts with the daughter at age ten, from which point the player guides her until her adult years. Choices made during the course of the game will determine her eventual marital status, accomplishments, and her relationships with other people. There are 74 unique endings in the game.

Spellings

  • プリンセスメーカー2 - Japanese spelling
  • 美少女夢工埸2 - Chinese spelling (traditional)
  • 美少女梦工厂2 - Chinese spelling (simplified)

Groups +

Screenshots

Promos

Credits (FM Towns version)

31 People · View all

Voice (声の出演)
Concept (原作)
Original Art (作画)
CG Director (CG監督)
Graphics (グラフィック)
Music (音楽)
Music & SFX Program (音楽/効果音プログラム)
Music Driver
  • ''PMD'' Ver.4.6F
Recording (録音)
  • Youmex Studio [ユーメックス・スタジオ]
Test Play (テストプレイ)
Assistant Director (演出補佐)
Technical Supervisors (技術管理)
Advertisement & Packaging (アド/パッケージワーク)
[ full credits ]

Reviews

Critics

Average score: 86% (based on 1 ratings)

Players

Average score: 4.0 out of 5 (based on 67 ratings with 6 reviews)

Horribly addictive and re-playable... charming game.

The Good
While not a terribly unique concept in Japan, Princess Maker 2 is one of the few "real-life" sims that has (sort of) come across the ocean. It is vastly replayable, due to the large number of endings. In addition to the base ending (ie, your daughter's chosen career/lifestyle at age 18) there are other factors such as whether and to whom she marries, whether she considers her childhood to have been happy, etc. There are some truly bizarre endings out there... a few trial runs should be enough to figure out how to max out her stats... and messing with stats is the key to determining her future. I got the Princess ending once, ages ago... but its really far more interesting to seek out some of the obscure endings.

The Bad
It gets repetitive... in order for your daughter to accomplish ANYTHING in any field, she needs money and you will therefore spend a lot of time having her work or fight for the sole purpose of raising money. It also becomes important to make sure that she doesn't do the same job too often, unless you want her to go into that field. Too much cooking and cleaning will get you a housewife every time. It seemed like a waste to spend hours on the game only to get ANOTHER housewife, artist, dancer, or hooker (those were the ones that kept cropping up for me at least), knowing that there are around 40 endings that I have never got, it was frustrating to do something different and get the same ending over and over again.

Princess Maker 3 actually has more endings, and it is a bit easier to ensure a different ending by changing your actions to a lesser degree than is necessary in 2. But for those who don't read Japanese, this is just about the best--if not ONLY--game of its type.

The Bottom Line
Yes, it sounds dorky. Who wants to play a child-rearing sim? Well... I do, for one. It is AMAZING how addictive this game is once you give it a shot!

PC-98 · by hikari_no_tsubasa (9) · 2010

So this is what it feels like to have a daughter...

The Good
Let me introduce you to the HUMAN version of Monster Rancher, wonder which game came first? Well, if you’re not familiar with either, you may be familiar with Tamagochi games. It's basically a game where 90% (if not more) of the game play is about character development...my favorite area in RPG's.

Princess Maker 2 is about you, a wandering hero, who been blessed with (more likely appointed to take care of) a child from the heavens, by the Moon Goddess. You have task to raise her as you see fit - either to become a pious well educated woman, a blood thirsty warrior, a royal princess, a common slut, or even a damned Queen of Darkness. However, you have a time limit. You only have 8 years to raise her (from age 10 - 18) until she is old enough to choose her own destiny.

The game combines a lot of game features that bring out the best in game play:

Character Development
Each month you decide what schedule your daughter should follow. In each of these months, you can choose up to 3 different schedules for the whole month. The statistics are various, from Primary Body Points (Strength, Intelligence, Charisma, etc.), Skills (Art, Cooking, Combat Skill/Defense, Magic Skill/Defense, etc.) and surprisingly Spiritual/Mental Stats (Sin, Morals, Temperament, etc.)

Character Development, primarily may only be obtained through 2 different activities:
[1] Through Schooling; [2] Through Working.

Schools offer various stat increases. Some specialize on increasing particular stats than others. Lessons costs money…a lot of money. A lesson that states for example 40G means 40 Gold Pieces a day (for 6 days out of the week).

Working gets you money and also increases stats, though working usually is more stressing to your daughter. Also, while increasing some stats, it also in return decreases other stats, so balancing the stats is a continuous form of strategy in character development.

Schooling and Working stresses out your daughter. Too much activity and she’ll either get ill or become rebellious. A delinquent child tends to be lazy and ignore schooling and working. If you’re too harsh on her, she may run away.

Item Manipulation
Like other RPGs, the game comes with various items for use, or combat related. Weapons, armor, food, accessories, and magical items help strengthen your daughter with stats boots or specific uses during combat. Some are only useful for certain plot events. Other more interesting items are clothing. Some are used for particular seasons to help your daughter from becoming ill due to weather (Summer Dress, Winter Clothing), some more useful for competing in dance competitions (Silk Dress, Leather Dress, etc.). Usually the more “permanent” items such as clothes, armor and weapons affect the stats of your daughter. Changing them for particular events help the changes of success.

Harvest Festival
The Harvest Festival comes only once a year in the month of September. In this month, you cannot participate in any other even except the festival or resting. In this festival you can test the abilities of your daughter by competing in many events:

  • Combat Arena;
  • Art Contest;
  • Cooking Contest;
  • Dancing Contest. In each contest you participate against various NPCs. All are usually automatic, except the Combat Arena where you fight manually. Winning a competition will give you gold, glory (reputation increase), and magical items. Adventuring and Combat
    Adventuring usually only relies on your combat and magical skills to temper the wilderness. There are 4 areas to visit here. Each with a different set of monster difficulty. Many areas have certain mini-plots which may affect you during or later in the game. Combat occurs randomly. An encounter with a monster prompts you to fight, talk, run away, or hide. If all other options fail, combat will take place. Here your selection is only to attack or use magic until you or the opponent run away or lose the combat. Winning relies on 2 major stats: Health Points and Morality. If either stat falls to zero, that character loses. Losing to a battle while adventuring will not kill your daughter, only making her fall unconscious and being rescued by your faithful bat-like butler. Resting and Vacations
    Too much activity causes stress for your daughter as before mentioned. To avoid over-stress, you send your daughter on a break in town for the week, or go with her on a vacation. Free time at town in greatly increased if you give her pocket money. A vacation is divided into two locations: [1] The Beach [2] The Mountains. All vacation spots decrease stress, however depending on season, each spot effect other stats. A summer vacation at the beach will decrease your daughter’s body weight, but only in summer. A vacation to the mountains will always increase your daughter’s sensitivity, but also her weight, since she eats a lot at the mountains. --- Your choice of activities for your daughter greatly affects what kind of person she will become to be...see if it meets your expectations or not...after all YOU raised her (yes, it's the parents fault!)

    **The Bad**
    Time Limit
    I really, really, really loved this game. But for the same reason I loved it, I hate this game because it let a good thing end. This is why I prefer Monster Rancher - it doesn't end until you want it to end. In this game, no matter what, the game ends when she reaches 18 years old. So if you play non-stop, you'll finish this game in a day or two...which is what I did. There just isn't enough time to do everything you want...you have to pick a path and stick to it. Unbalanced Stats
    Some stats are easier accomplished than others. It reaches max faster than the other. This is the Art stat. Its maximum is 100 and can be increased a little more with magical items or events. The problem is, usually when you max out this stat; it will eventually dictate the final result of your daughter, which usually is either a painter or a writer. The game ignores the fact that some of your other stats (and achievements) are much higher than your Art skills. It’s quite odd, seeing my daughter end up being Combat Arena 3 times in a row, and just because she has an Art skill of 145 (compared to her combat reputation of 600), she ends up being a Writer.

    **The Bottom Line**
    An excellent game that simulates the love of a parent...just be prepared to let go...
  • PC-98 · by Indra was here (20756) · 2010

    Why is this so addictive?

    The Good
    You don't see this kind of thing often. For those of you who haven't played it, another appropriate title would be "Sim Daughter". The objective here is to guide the daughter, and then depending on your actions, she will end up in one of several professions.

    It's an original concept that is rarely seen anymore, especially in America. Somehow, this thing is strangely addictive, and you'll find yourself replaying, wondering what sort of outcome you'll get.

    The Bad
    If you're like me, and know little or nothing about Japanese culture, you're going to be exposed to some strangeness.. most apparently in the weight/height ratio of the child. When I played, she turned out to be 17 years old, 5' 7" and 97 pounds. With these statistics she complained about being "too fat" and the game would not allow her to wear some of the fancier clothes. I had to slim her down to 87 pounds to resolve the problem.

    There's also the whole Child Pornography issue. Yes, you will see naked cartoon preteen art. At no time are sexual acts depicted, but nudity is not exactly scarce. It's my understanding, though, that the North American versions have been censored, and that the art for that is simply not available.

    The Bottom Line
    If you want something unique, try it out. It's fun, addictive, and just downright nifty.

    PC-98 · by Nick Seafort (16) · 2010

    [ View all 6 player reviews ]

    Discussion

    Subject By Date
    Windows Indra was here (20756) Feb 19, 2014
    Gold pieces Jonathan Cope Feb 8, 2010

    Trivia

    The default name for your daughter is Olive Oyl; she's named after the character in the Popeye series. You can get the default daughter by typing a bunch of random letters and symbols when prompted for a name at the beginning.

    This default name exists for both the Japanese version and the beta English version.

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    Related Sites +

    • Awful Anime review
      A humorous review on Something Awful
    • Nuriko's Princess Maker 2 Page
      Contains a brief description of the game as well as a fairly extensive game guide along with maps of the different areas.
    • Press Release
      Entitled "Adventions Licenses Princess Maker 2 from Anime Prioneers Gainax."
    • Princess Maker 2
      This official story explaining what happened to the English language release of PM2.

    Identifiers +

    • MobyGames ID: 165
    • [ Please login / register to view all identifiers ]

    Contribute

    Are you familiar with this game? Help document and preserve this entry in video game history! If your contribution is approved, you will earn points and be credited as a contributor.

    Contributors to this Entry

    Game added by Eurythmic.

    TurboGrafx CD added by Hong Sik Jeon. DOS added by Trypticon. GP32 added by Alsy. Windows added by firefang9212. FM Towns added by Sciere. SEGA Saturn added by breakyboy. 3DO, PC-98 added by Terok Nor. Macintosh added by Игги Друге.

    Additional contributors: Alan Chan, Unicorn Lynx, Indra was here, OceansDaughter, Cabeza2000, formercontrib, Paulus18950, Hong Sik Jeon, Patrick Bregger, firefang9212.

    Game added July 17, 1999. Last modified February 16, 2024.