This
game wants to be Persona. It wants to be Persona sooooo bad. It was
even published by Atlus USA. Now that isn't necessarily a bad thing. The
Persona formula of merging JRPG gameplay with visual novel elements can
be very addictive and engaging when done right. When done wrong it ends
up like....well, not quite Conception II.
The
thing is that, while nothing is done especially bad, Conception II
doesn't exactly do anything extraordinary either. Ultimately the game
simply falls into a cycle of socializing, dungeon crawling, socializing,
dungeon crawling.
Oh, and Occasionally you make babies.
CHARACTERS
The
biggest misstep with the story is it's characters. For the most part,
none of the characters are unique or interesting in any way. The
supporting cast lacks any meaningful development, while the entire main
party is composed of your typical anime waifu cliches. You have the shy
one, the idol, the tsundere, the emotionless one, the childhood friend,
and the fighter. None of them ever really break out of these basic
cliches. Well...except for one.
The
only two characters that I genuinely cared about were Alec – a fellow
male classmate and the son of the guy who's basically the
president/king/emperor/whatever/ – and Fuuko – one of the girls in your
party. Alec, while first seeming to be a rather cliché stoic anti-hero,
is ultimately a student struggling with trying to live up to his
father's expectations of him and still do the right thing. Fuuko,
instead of being given a one note character trait and sticking to that,
ends up feeling, for lack of a better word, normal. Even her back story
is simple yet personal instead of some grand unrelatable tragedy so
common to anime heroines. These two were my only interest in seeing the
story through to the end. Aside from them, there isn't really much to
see here.
GAMEPLAY
In
the vane of any faithful Persona-clone, Conception II plays like any
standard turn based JRPG fused with dating sim/visual novel. During the
day time, you will spend time in the overworld menu, buying items and
weapons, creating star children, and talking to your classmates, before
gathering together to explore the many labyrinths to battle the monsters
that spawn from them. When you get low on energy/health, return home,
sleep, and repeat this cycle till the story progresses more.
This
formula is ripped right from Persona 3 and 4, and, to be honest, is the
thing that continually kept me coming back. It keeps things from ever
getting too dull and often throws in brief short story segments to keep
you interested. The only downside to this formula is the choice to use
an overworld menu in place or a free roaming overworld.
When
it comes to the actual combat, Conception II plays more or less like
any other standard, turn-based RPG. So expect a lot of grinding and
repeating battle themes. Thankfully this game takes a page from
Earthbound in that, if you are a high enough level above on enemy,
coming into contact with them will result in an instant victory. Aside
from that, the only notable addition being the ability to chose what
direction to attack your enemy from, in order to exploit their weakness.
Excluding your protagonist, you are only able to take a single heroine
with you into battle, with the remaining three party slots being
occupied by class-based fighters you create called star children.
This
is where the “Conception” part of the game comes in. So yes, this game
features a Pokemon-esque system by with you create childlike beings to
fight with you in combat through a ritual called “calssmating” with you
teenage classmates. And this has been the biggest point of controversy
regarding the game, (not helped by the game's lousy translation, I might
add). Now, the characters themselves make it clear in game that all
they are doing is holding hands which causes some magical do-da that
makes star children. Yeah, it makes no sense, but it's far more
preferable to making me play a character who's basically required to
sleep around with his classmates. That being said, I cannot find fault
with anyone who is unsettled by this aspect of the lore. While the star
children themselves are rather adorable, the lack of any meaningful
customization in their appearance or abilities prevents this mechanic
from being as deep or interesting as it probably should have been.
Like
in most JRPGS, the most exciting moments in gameplay are during boss
fights. And while the bosses themselves aren't particularly memorable in
either design, or story, they can definitely be a real threat if you
aren't prepared and paying attention to your actions.
Visuals & Sound
There
isn't much to say here. While I've seen more generic looking anime RPGs
in my time, nothing really stands out as far as the design of the
world. It all comes off as an attempt to fuse various modern, sci-fi,
and traditional fantasy settings and designs together. While prettier to
look at than many other modern games, the actual design and art
direction are ultimately unmemorable.
The
soundtrack fairs a little bit better. Combining bits of classical music
with an electronica-pop-rock to create a score that, while not to the
level of the better JRPGs of it's type, still manages to be enjoyable
enough with a handful of extra decent tracks.
Final Thoughts
Writing
this review, I realize I've been quite negative overall. So, here comes
the clincher: I kinda liked Conception II. Why? I think the reason is
that solid formula. The cycle of going from a casual daily life, to
slaying monsters, and back again works so well in keeping things from
getting too old too quickly. And while not a lot stands out as
extraordinary, nothing really falls into the especially bad category.
Overall I feel that this solid Persona-y formula, and the occasional
likable character are able to allow this game to rise just above
average.
