Another Atlus game, another hundred hours spent in my bed playing it to death… wait this is actually developed by Spike Chunsoft… What!?
Conception II: Children of the Seven Stars is game developed by Spike Chunsoft and published by Atlus, and to my knowledge Atlus has a great taste in games so this must be good. Conception is a game situated around pouring your energy together with that of a female and storing it in a catalyst to make a Star Child… it’s not what it sounds like, honest. Let me explain what this magical game is about, leave your gutter mind at the home page.
Story
The world of Conception II is continually under threat by monsters of Dusk, an element opposite to the star power given by the Star God. These monsters are infinitely spawning and dangerous to all but the 16-18 year olds who control the power of the Star god through the brands on their hands, allowing the females to control Star energy and the males to produce Ether. You control a man with the most Ether potential of any other making you the God’s Gift, and the last hope to save this dying world. Though as soon as you hit 18 your powers disappear from you, so the clock is ticking.
While the main character’s name can be chosen the default for me was Wake Archus so I will refer to him as such.
The story starts of as Wake approaches the island where he will be learning to harness his powers and defend against the growing Dusk Monster threat. His arrival is no breeze however as he quickly has to save two other people from a monster in the forest, who he soon befriends. Once Wake reaches the school his potential is recorded and this is where his Ether count is found out and is told of his destiny.
Wake is the only one who can enter the Dusk monster’s lairs which are called Dusk Circles, an area with high concentration of Dusk energy that forms a labyrinth, where the monsters are continually being created by Dusk Spawners in their lowest depths. Along with female disciples Wake is sent into these dangerous zones and one after another he must seal the Spawners away to stop their populating menace.
During the game you can talk to the female heroines, who appear one after another as you progress further into the story, finding out about their personality, their past and their aspirations. While the earlier characters feel more in-depth and favourite by the designers each girl is unique against one another and offers quite a choice in companion. Throughout the conversations you can choose to make them more then friends, be just friends or be cold hearted and perverted towards them, though the first two increase their relationship faster and allow better Star Children.
The game is said to be twice the size of the first in the series but since I live in the UK I can’t play that Japanese only title. I can say however that this game will definitely take you a while to complete, over 60 hours of my time was poured into it over my time reviewing it and it was all exciting and a worthwhile experience. There isn’t much in the way of replayability besides choosing a different heroine but if you’re like me you will replay any Atlus game a few times.
Gameplay
Now a lot of reviews and fans have made this comparison before and I shall also join in on it, this game plays very similar to Persona 3 and 4 which in my opinion that isn’t a bad thing. The gameplay is split up into 2 separate parts, the city part and the dungeon part. Whilst in the city you can talk to the heroines, change equipment or buy more and maintain the facilities that are housed there. In the dungeon you fight the Dusk Monsters, proceed further in and capture the Dusk Spawner.
The battle system is like most turn based RPG’s but also allows you to control the position and angle at which your team attacks from, allowing you to hit weak points for more damage or strong points to build up the Chain Gauge to increase exp and money gains. The team consists of 4 separate groups, one for the Main character and the chosen Heroine and 3 for sets of 3 Star Children who all have different stats and skills to use which allows for a lot more planning and strategy then a standard RPG.
The Star Children are made by doing an activity called Classmating, a ritual where a male and female Disciple make contact and combine their energy into a Matryoshka, a doll like object that acts like an Egg. Once the ritual is complete a Chibi character hatches from the Matryoshka and joins your team, to fight alongside you, level up and eventually be given independence to work in the city. The children have classes ranging from Warrior, Thief and Mage to Berserkers, Blacksmiths and merchants among many more.
The power of the Star Children is determined by the stats of the Heroine you choose as well as the relationship status you hold with them. To increase their relationship status you have to interact within them in the school by talking to them, giving them gifts and treating them nice throughout their own personal storylines, which can end in one of them becoming your girlfriend. There are seven Heroines to choose from, with different starting stats that tailor to different classes of Star children, however if you level up one Heroine she can make any child you want, which is good for me since I grew attached to the Heroine Fukko and found her being the best to Classmate with.
While a lot of people are calling this game a Dating Sim I find it fits more in just a Sim Genre as there isn’t too much of a focus on dating until the end of the game and the relationships aren’t made solely to date the heroines. It feels a lot closer to the conversations found in Persona. Though the game does have heavy hints and parodied scenes to imply the characters are more than friends and are having Sex this can be overlooked most of the time.
Overall Thoughts and Feelings
The music in the game is flawless and energy filled, with calm and peaceful music for the city scenes as well as upbeat songs for the more happy scenes and rock and fast paced songs for the labyrinth sections. The music feels very similar to the soundtracks found in other Atlus games so I am not too sure on how much they imputed into this game besides publishing. There wasn’t one point I didn’t notice the soundtrack it was that well made.
The graphic style is spot on for the genre of the game, with only slight annoyances with the female and costume design extenuating their features, but this can be overlooked when you set your mind on the combat. The in labyrinth graphics are a bit lacking, with little emotion in the characters face and much lower poly meshes then outside which is disappointing when you have a standoff before the boss battles or in game cutscenes. There are also a few anime animated cutscenes that look beautiful and worthy of Anime standard, but are so few and far apart it makes you want more.
Overall I give Conception II: Children of the Seven Stars a 5/5, it is a wonderful game that can be played at any time for any amount of time. I found myself glued to it for the entirety of my time playing it and saw only a few things to get annoyed at like the Female objectification which is a standard for Japanese Games. If you love dungeon crawlers like Persona or other Atlus games then you will love Conception II even though it wasn’t developed by Atlus.
Disclaimer:All scores given within our reviews are based on the artist’s personal opinion; this should in no way impede your decision to purchase the game.
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