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Princess Maker
Nov. 6th, 2023 09:19 pmSoo I did play Princess Maker 2 for a playthrough. I got the 'generic housewife' ending -_- I have no idea wtf is going on in that game tbh. But then I learned that PM2 is getting YET ANOTHER remaster, this time coming to modern platforms in December. So I'll be holding off on playing that one until then, so we're skipping ahead to Princess Maker 3 ~Faery Tales Come True~.
I was going to play on Steam but recently I've been addicted to my Switch (being able to play lying down is very appealing to a Slaking like me) and when I booted up on Steam I realized that the game has an endings gallery, so I can actually keep track of which endings I've gotten that way without having to rely on Steam achievements or making sure to carefully check on a checklist.
PM3 doesn't have adventuring and combat like 1 and 2, which is a bit of a let-down, as that really breaks up the tedium at times and makes for more interesting gameplay. But it does forego the ridiculous weight system of 2 (well, it DOES have a weight system, but AFAIK it's not advantageous to starve your daughter and required to be super skinny to even wear some clothes etc.)
It does have vastly improved graphics and animations, though, which is cool. Even the new remaster of 2 doesn't look as good as 3, lol. Granted, this version of 3 is a remake, so I guess it makes sense. But I actually even like the look of 3 more than 5 (though that's more of an aesthetics thing -- 5 has better quality of graphics at least).
I'm hoping for Regeration or whatever it's called, they will add a gallery feature, that would be AWESOME. But I'm not holding my breath; it looks pretty low-effort cash grab remaster tbh 9_9
To be honest, PM1 is shaping up to be my favorite at this rate. I've finished 1, 2, and 3 at least once each, and 5 is just... so long. But a lot of people like 2 way over 1 and like... it's definitely more complex, but sometimes simplicity is a nice thing. And your daughter has 32 different outfits (one for each season, for each age) as opposed to 2's like... mostly 4 that you will have in a normal playthrough. The clothes grow with her which is silly -_- I don't remember 3's clothing system but I don't remember her even ever changing clothes...???? I'm sure she can but I just don't remember.
3 is actually the 'black sheep' of the series -- so maybe I'll grow to love it like I do with Unlimited SaGa and Mega Man X7 and Final Fantasy II and... so on... I tend to like the unpopular ones :P Usually they're ones that tried new things and the execution wasn't exactly the best, but I appreciated what they were trying to do and found ways to love it anyway.
But with Princess Maker 3, I don't think they actually tried anything new...? They just... took out features??? Hahahaha. Or maybe removing combat counts as trying something new :P
Of the daughters, 3's Lisa is probably my second favorite design (with my favorite being 1's Maria). My least favorite is 5's unnamed daughter, and then Olive from 2 is just kinda whatever. Olive isn't terrible -- she kinda reminds me of Sarah from Romancing SaGa 3 in her hair kinda. Just kinda, though lol.
Anyway, my download is probably done so I'm gonna go play :3 I'll update again with my impressions of the game later (I don't remember my first playthrough at all, so this will be pretty new). All I remember is that I don't want to pick 'Traveler' as my occupation because 1. you get no income and 2. Lisa starts out as a delinquent 9_9
Hahahahahahaha OK my download is like stalled or something, it has 2 hours to go????? It didn't take that long to get to where it was so something must have messed it up ^_^ I don't know what to do about it. I'm going to close the software I'm using and see if that helps.
... Yup, it jumped from 2 hours remaining to 7 minutes remaining.
Well, let's talk about what I like and don't like about each PM game :D
PRINCESS MAKER 1
+lots of clothes!!!!!!!! very cute
+nice graphics in the Refine version, honestly looks better than PM2 Refine
+simple, in a good way
-maybe too simple once you learn the game, but that's only a problem to completionists like me :P
PRINCESS MAKER 2
+complex, also in a good way
+fun to figure out how to get jobs to go well
-stupid weight system
-endings seem kinda tedious? but I haven't played enough to know fully
-not great graphics compared to the others
-king isn't as hot as 1
PRINCESS MAKER 3
+nice graphics and animations
+stills gallery
-no more combat :(
PRINCESS MAKER 5
+lots of content
+friendship/love interest system
-really freaking long
-ugly daughter
Those are my main things I like and dislike about each game ^_^ Not a comprehensive list of pros and cons or anything.
PM4 is made by a different company and not released on PC or modern consoles nor in English (I think it's exclusive to PS2 and PSP in Japan?) and I know pretty much nothing about it. There's also some "spinoff" game on SNES that I think is just a reskin of PM2 that I also know very little about. So I'm not including those ^_^
I was going to play on Steam but recently I've been addicted to my Switch (being able to play lying down is very appealing to a Slaking like me) and when I booted up on Steam I realized that the game has an endings gallery, so I can actually keep track of which endings I've gotten that way without having to rely on Steam achievements or making sure to carefully check on a checklist.
PM3 doesn't have adventuring and combat like 1 and 2, which is a bit of a let-down, as that really breaks up the tedium at times and makes for more interesting gameplay. But it does forego the ridiculous weight system of 2 (well, it DOES have a weight system, but AFAIK it's not advantageous to starve your daughter and required to be super skinny to even wear some clothes etc.)
It does have vastly improved graphics and animations, though, which is cool. Even the new remaster of 2 doesn't look as good as 3, lol. Granted, this version of 3 is a remake, so I guess it makes sense. But I actually even like the look of 3 more than 5 (though that's more of an aesthetics thing -- 5 has better quality of graphics at least).
I'm hoping for Regeration or whatever it's called, they will add a gallery feature, that would be AWESOME. But I'm not holding my breath; it looks pretty low-effort cash grab remaster tbh 9_9
To be honest, PM1 is shaping up to be my favorite at this rate. I've finished 1, 2, and 3 at least once each, and 5 is just... so long. But a lot of people like 2 way over 1 and like... it's definitely more complex, but sometimes simplicity is a nice thing. And your daughter has 32 different outfits (one for each season, for each age) as opposed to 2's like... mostly 4 that you will have in a normal playthrough. The clothes grow with her which is silly -_- I don't remember 3's clothing system but I don't remember her even ever changing clothes...???? I'm sure she can but I just don't remember.
3 is actually the 'black sheep' of the series -- so maybe I'll grow to love it like I do with Unlimited SaGa and Mega Man X7 and Final Fantasy II and... so on... I tend to like the unpopular ones :P Usually they're ones that tried new things and the execution wasn't exactly the best, but I appreciated what they were trying to do and found ways to love it anyway.
But with Princess Maker 3, I don't think they actually tried anything new...? They just... took out features??? Hahahaha. Or maybe removing combat counts as trying something new :P
Of the daughters, 3's Lisa is probably my second favorite design (with my favorite being 1's Maria). My least favorite is 5's unnamed daughter, and then Olive from 2 is just kinda whatever. Olive isn't terrible -- she kinda reminds me of Sarah from Romancing SaGa 3 in her hair kinda. Just kinda, though lol.
Anyway, my download is probably done so I'm gonna go play :3 I'll update again with my impressions of the game later (I don't remember my first playthrough at all, so this will be pretty new). All I remember is that I don't want to pick 'Traveler' as my occupation because 1. you get no income and 2. Lisa starts out as a delinquent 9_9
Hahahahahahaha OK my download is like stalled or something, it has 2 hours to go????? It didn't take that long to get to where it was so something must have messed it up ^_^ I don't know what to do about it. I'm going to close the software I'm using and see if that helps.
... Yup, it jumped from 2 hours remaining to 7 minutes remaining.
Well, let's talk about what I like and don't like about each PM game :D
PRINCESS MAKER 1
+lots of clothes!!!!!!!! very cute
+nice graphics in the Refine version, honestly looks better than PM2 Refine
+simple, in a good way
-maybe too simple once you learn the game, but that's only a problem to completionists like me :P
PRINCESS MAKER 2
+complex, also in a good way
+fun to figure out how to get jobs to go well
-stupid weight system
-endings seem kinda tedious? but I haven't played enough to know fully
-not great graphics compared to the others
-king isn't as hot as 1
PRINCESS MAKER 3
+nice graphics and animations
+stills gallery
-no more combat :(
PRINCESS MAKER 5
+lots of content
+friendship/love interest system
-really freaking long
-ugly daughter
Those are my main things I like and dislike about each game ^_^ Not a comprehensive list of pros and cons or anything.
PM4 is made by a different company and not released on PC or modern consoles nor in English (I think it's exclusive to PS2 and PSP in Japan?) and I know pretty much nothing about it. There's also some "spinoff" game on SNES that I think is just a reskin of PM2 that I also know very little about. So I'm not including those ^_^
