Review: Conception II - Children of the Seven Stars

Conception II: Children of the Seven Stars

Completed: June 2015

Time Spent: ~50 Hours (Story + Extras)

Systems Available: 3DS & PSV
System Played: 3DS

Spoilers: None

Price: $39.99 MSRP
*Screenshots are from PSV version

Gameplay

Conception II is actually quite the complicated beast, so let's take things simply from the beginning. Your character has this sort of power/juice named, "Ether," and it's used to create star children with a variety of women who you will have to bond with. That's a simple summary of the first part of this game. You need to create kids, and these kids will aid you in a battle to save your city (and later on... etc.). You're to take 3 teams of 3 children, and the children you make come in a variety of classes. Some classes fit together in a special way and allow for bonus skills to be used when paired (triplets) together. So, now to the women. There are seven women in the game, with contrasting personalities and yes, hair colors. Your job, as the guy on the cover page, is to bond with those women, and create the star children. The process is called, "classmating." Talking to them in a VN/DatingSim styled fashion is how you do so. You'll be given choices, and these choices will affect the mood of your woman, which will then also have its effects on the children you create with them. Each heroine represents a different element, and some of them contain two elements - so taking your time to try things out is quite worth it. They have the usual shop, quest center, and labyrinth locations on the map - and more interesting features will be unlocked later on in the game, so that's that. 

So, let's talk about these Dusk Circles (Dungeons). Your goal is to venture to the top of the dusk circle, whatever floor it may be, and destroy the dusk spawner (aka, the boss). The dusk spawner spawns (sort of like) dark magic, which creates monsters and harms the world, in a way. Things certainly get deeper later on, and that's definitely a huge plus - as it removes the initial thought (that one may have) that this is one of your average lame anime jrpg games. Well, to keep the word count short for all you viewers, another note would be that the battle system is truly a wonder. You control four groups (if you want, or you could auto-attack), them being you and the heroine, and children group A, B, and C. There are always four directions for you to attack the enemy, and there's also always a weak point, usually one or two of those directions. For you to deal more damage then normal, striking the weak point and possibly using an elemental attack that acts as the enemy's weakness (in this case, Wind beating Fire) can help you deal massive damage. Another interesting addition is the Chain Attack. After dealing enough hits (not damage in HP, but hits), your chance at chaining the enemy appears. By chaining the enemy, you can slow it down, which let's you have more turns at attacking it. The EXP you get at the end is also multiplied by 100% + 10x%, depending on how many times you hit the enemy while it's chained (x). Other cool features include the usage of Bond Points (earned through talking to heroines), the Mecunites, which are huge robots that a group of your children turn into to deal massive damage, and special moves that you and your heroine can complete in rhythm. (Yes, there's a lot).

A small downside in this wonderful gameplay is that the dungeons themselves are quite plain and boring. It may be fun for the first or second dusk circle, but after you get through a few of them, the only thing you really notice is the change in color. This also counts for enemies too, as many enemies simple get upgraded by getting a palette swap. There is also some lag in battles (on 3DS at least), and the lag doesn't kill the game, but it does ruin possible urges for a smooth fight! Another thing to take note of is that near the end of the game, at the last dungeon - crashes will occur between the teleportation of floors. I'll give you my warning, and tip for you to save often before switching floors! Other than these small problems, the gameplay side of this game is absolutely fantastic! Think of it like Persona 4, where the dungeons are rather repetitive and boring, but the battle and everything else is pretty good! Anyways, onto the story of this long game

Story

Conception II starts out with you, the God's Gift, having to take on these Dusk Circles to eliminate monsters and their dusk spawners. With too much 'dusk' in the world, bad things will happen (I won't go into detail on that). For the first half of the game, I felt that the story was just a tad bit slow and uninteresting, but that the characters were really cool and fun to hang out with (ALL of them, including side characters like; your bros and others). The comedy in this game is actually quite good, even though many anime-stereotypical events occur rather frequently. (Think breast grabs, or random trips - or both). I found the characters really nice, and the story itself pretty good after the halfway point. Things started to heat up, and the story did certainly turn towards a much deeper reaction. I felt that it was quite surprising, but rather impressing that Spike Chunsoft was able to do so (Maybe they were thinking of Danganronpa?). Nevertheless, the story nearly goes to SMT/Shin Megami Tensei levels in terms of darkness/duskness towards the last 5 hours of the story, so please do look forward to that. There are also 8 or 9 different endings you can get, and a new game that starts you at the beginning of the second-to-last chapter, so you can attempt to modify the ending you get! This helps replay data, and in a way - I find myself coming back to this game in the near future to get a few more endings!

Music/Art

I actually found the art in this game to be really good and attractive. Characters are just slightly moving (like people in real life), which is totally cool, and something you don't usually see in JRPGs. This addition really made the story scenes look more dynamic. When talking to a heroine by yourself, a 3D model of them comes up, one that's like a zoomed in version of the model you see adventuring in the dungeons with you. I felt that those models were also really well done, albeit a bit laggy. You can also change the costumes the heroines wear in the dungeon, and also accessories that they wear when talking to them at the school/academy. For art, it's totally a +.

In terms of music, I found it to be quite good. The dungeon themes are all really catchy, including the theme included in the bonus CD (which only had 10 tracks...). The themes you hear in base and the city itself are also either really calming and relaxing, or rather catchy and electronic - like the Shin Megami Tensei games from the 1990s. The dungeon music itself is alright, and the boss songs are also alright. A special note to the final boss theme too, which actually is quite good! I enjoyed most all (let's say 75%) of the songs that the game had to offer, and even took the time to record some of the pieces for me to listen to on my own time!

Presentation

The menus in this game are everywhere - there are literally 50 menu buttons, or maybe over 9000 if I were to count them all. Whether or not this is a good thing is up on you, but I'd have to say that I enjoyed the details that Atlus and Spike Chunsoft put into for these menus. Almost every menu button has a use, and while slightly difficult to remember and get used to, will always serve to help you when you need it. All the supportive parts of this game are really smooth, with yes and no buttons being circular and very futuristic looking - fitting with the theme and setting of their city, Fort City. With 3D, the game lags a bit, but also does show that there is something virtual to look at. What I'm basically saying is that the 3D effect in this game is also pretty good! 

Length/Postgame/Multiplayer

I found Conception II to be quite the lengthy JRPG, and the plain dungeons helped me feel how long this journey was going to be. After shaking out 30 hours in one month and 20 hours a year later (to finish the game), I felt that the journey was long, well wrapped, and completed. Although the ending I got (the neutral ending) wasn't the most... fulfilling, I have to say that most everything was set to a close, and I was able to continue my save file by taking me back with the New Game+, (taking me to the chapter before the last chapter). I plan on getting 4 or 5 more endings before wrapping up my playthrough of the game, meaning probably another 2-4 hours for each of them, totaling up to 8-20 hours of postgame left - just for me. For a perfectionist, there's at least 80 hours of gaming that can be had here, which is totally a great thing! For players who just want to finish the story part of the game, you'll most likely be there between the 35 and 45 hour mark. In terms of other postgame material, you can actually search for hidden child classes on your own, or spend time maxing your characters at level 99 so that they can battle the ultimate Monokuma! (Free DLC #2) For multiplayer, there is the ability to classmant and blindmate (I believe these are the names), and although it sounds like a great feature, mating with other heroines from other save files or using a heroine to, this feature is limited to local play, which kind of bites. Online features would have been better for this game, but the long single player campaign will suffice.

Overall (+Final Impressions)

I find this game to be very good, and well deserving of the score I've given it. I feel like most of the people reviewing this game focus too much on one side of the game, while not trying hard enough to find the charm of it. The story is fun and gets dark, the battle system is great, and the music and art is just pleasant to hear and see. Although the dungeons are plain, the lag is present, and the multiplayer features are practically nonexistent, this is still a game that you should invest some money into, as it'll serve as a great experience for you! I highly recommend this game! Good stuff.

Pros

+ Deep, wonderful battle system

+ Catchy, worthwhile tunes

+ Great dating-sim elements

+ Characters are mostly all likeable

+ Long and dark single player campaign

+ Great art and models!

Cons

- Lags in battle, and elsewhere

- Occasional crashes near endgame

- Story is a bit slow for starting chapters
- Very plain and boring dungeons

- Weak multiplayer features

FINAL VERDICT

Gameplay: 8.5/10 

Story: 8.0/10 

Music/Art: 9.0/10 

Presentation: 7.0/10 

Length/PostGame/Multiplayer: 8.5/10 

Averaged (8.2) Overall: 8.0/10