Princess Maker 4 (DS) Review

Okay, you know what? Ignore the banner up there, I DON'T update daily. I really only update when I feel like it to be honest. Plus, I've been playing a lot of games lately that consume most of my time when I'm not at work or sleeping. Anyways I feel like doing another import game today because I find their so much more fun to write about.

Today I'm going to review the feminist hated Princess Maker 4 DS special edition. The original PC version was released back in 2006 with a PSP version to boot a couple months later. I'm not exactly sure when the DS version came out but I bought it in 2009 as soon as I heard about it. I always wanted to play a game from this series, a simulation game where you raise a little girl and see how she ends up. Sounds kinda fun huh? Oh it was.

WARNING: I'm most likely going to be giving away MASSIVE spoilers (maybe not, Its kind of common sense if you ever pick up this game and watch the prologue) so beware! ALSO, everything I will be talking about is based on my poor knowledge of the Japanese language and understanding this game. Please be patient with me if I get some stuff wrong mmmkay?

Story:

Okay here goes. This story takes place in a magical medieval human kingdom where they are at war with the demons. To stop the madness a lone hero from the humans, a woman, goes to take on the King of the Demons, the Mao and end the war, hurrah! BUT THEN SOMETHING HAPPENS. Instead of beating each other to a bloody pulp they fall in LOVE(.......Seriously? Thats some love at first sight.) and have a child, but tell NO ONE and make the humans think their hero perished in the battle and the war still rages on. Now YOU apparently were the hero's best friend and you set out to go search for her and guess what? You find her along side a handsome tanned butler holding a toddler. She basically says that she wants you to adopt the girl as your own and have you raise her to be a normal kiddy despite the demon blood running though her veins. For some reason you agree and you take the little pain home. And you get to keep the hot butler too! SCORE.

Points: 8 its not the most original thing a game has thrown at me but it gets points for amusement factor

Characters:

There are too many characters in this game to go through so I'll narrow it down to the ones that appear most often ingame. First we have your daughter's 3(4 if you choose to unlock the last one) friends, Marie, Rize, and Elizabeth. Marie is the stereotypical shy girl with glasses, yawn. Rize is a hot headed tomboy who longs of going off to the war someday, getting better. And Elizabeth is a rich upper class snob who for some reason takes a liking to your daughter and the other girls, thats a little better. The other girl, Karen, will only appear if your daughter is into studying magic. Karen is.....well just strange but definitely the most interesting companion of the game. In other words, forget the other chicks and follow Karen around, she rides dragons and is friends with fairies. Okay now for the 3 princes in the game, and I don't remember their stupidly Japanese names so I'll refer to them as their ingame race they belong to. We have the Human prince who almost runs your daughter over when they first meet. He's sweet, blonde, and wearer of puffy clothes. Then we have the Dragon Prince who's a creepy cute stalker who exposes too much skin. An finally we have the Demon Prince who's a purple skinned Tsundere(just.....Google it please). Finally we have Cube, your loyal handsome butler who has a personality thats completely devoted to your daughter. ALL of the above characters if explored completely in their particular storylines will ultimately end the game with them being paired up with your daughter. Exploring each character is interesting but in the end most if them are a little bland.

Points: 7 a little more originality wouldn't of hurt, at least Karen is cool

Sound:

The music in this game...... is very forgettable to be honest, but it fits the game. The voice acting is well done. Theres really nothing else to say here.

Points: 8 yeeeeeep

Mechanics:

This game plays like a hybrid of simulation and otome. The top screen on the DS shows your daughter and anybody else who converses with her. The bottom screen is her status, monthly activities, her dresser, you get the point. You as her father decide what she does for months at a time by picking either schooling, work, or free time. Each of those 3 are divided into several activities to choose from. The game is surprising realistic here because if you over work your daughter she'll go into delinquent mode and hate you or if she does go to school a lot she gets super smart and if she does nothing but explore the city for her whole life she's got absolutely no attributes and no stamina so she gets sick often. I'm basically saying if you don't balance the 3 your going to have a crappy play through. Thats the simulation part, now the otome part. You can pair your daughter up with tons of different bachelors, including yourself, which is not incest but still quite disturbing if your asking me. Of course each bachelor has standards and won't go after your daughter unless she has the proper stats. Like, Chis the millionaire(who looks to old for her) won't take any liking to her unless she has a super duper great charm stat and the Dragon Prince won't want to marry her unless she has a brutally high strength stat, you get it. You don't HAVE to even play the otome part of this game if you don't want to but it does make things more interesting.

Points: 10 Its pretty unique

Graphics:

The are graphics are simple and 2D but the art work is gorgeous, for anime that is. Thats all I got.

Points: 8 Simple is still impressive

Lasting appeal:

I played this game through probably around 20 times. Its very easily completed in a full nonstop hour of playing. However theres just so much to do in this game its insane AND with well over 30 endings it'll have you going for awhile if you want to beat this game completely 100%. It just gives you good motivation to keep playing!

Points: 10 you had me at the over 30 endings

Overall:

Good game but not for everyone, the feminists hate this game for a reason you know. But if you like simulation games from Japan then go for it. Also this is classified as a visual novel so don't expect it to ever some to America, because the VG market doesn't take to kindly to Visual novels. But hey if your looking for something different give it a try

Points: 9 I like visual novels now, gimme more!

TOTAL: 60/70

I have a friend who I played this game with because she found out you could get her married to the butler. She's a giant butler fan so she refused to let me go home until I got her married to Cube. Ah good times.

-Anna