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Do note that this review is based on the PlayStation Vita edition and not the Nintendo 3DS version released simultaneously. While both should be fairly similar, my comments do not take into account any differences between the two.
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The PlayStation Vita has been lacking in JRPG’s since launch, and after what I would consider a rather sparse year during 2013, it is refreshing to see so many new titles being localized and published internationally for the console. The latest of these games is Conception II: Children of the Seven Stars, originally developed by Danganronpa developer Spike Chunsoft and published in both North America and PAL regions by ATLUS USA.
You could be forgiven for having not played the first game and endlessly searched around your local video game retailer for it. The fact is that despite retaining the “II” in the title ATLUS USA never released the first game, most likely because the PlayStation Portable era of gaming has now ended and the localization costs would quite likely be too high to merit a release. While this game might have been better named Conception: Children of the Seven Stars instead, it highlights the fact that within Japan at least the concepts were good enough to warrant a sequel. Fortunately you won’t need any pre-existing knowledge to enjoy this game, so pick up your Vita and get ready to make some babies Star Children!
Conception II: Children of the Seven Stars pits you as a custom named male protagonist who lives in the world of Aterra which has been ravaged by monsters for several decades. The outbreak of monsters has been due to Dusk Circles, eight different labyrinths that have appeared over time which continuously spew out new waves of monsters to attack the populace. As a means to protect the inhabitants, the Star God imbues select youth with a “Star Brand”, whom gather as a special school in order to train and become able to defeat the waves of monsters that emerge from the dusk circles. Through the power of their bonds, students are aided in this mission by conceived “Star Children”.
The issue is that nobody had the capabilities to survive entering the labyrinths… until (you) join the school. Earning the title of “God’s Gift” due to the amount of ether he possesses, he along with a single female “disciple” and their Star Children can enter the labyrinth and ward off the threat. As you make your way through the game, (you) learn the backstories of the seven different “disciples” as you form bonds, learn more about the mysteries of the labyrinths and begin to question if the organization managing the expedition “Angelmarker” is only interested in saving the world.
While it doesn’t come close to the standard set by ATLUS USA with their own Persona 4, Conception II features a fairly enjoyable storyline that embraces the dungeon crawling RPG gameplay system pretty well. Each of the major characters also receive individual development through social interactions that can be performed thrice a day between all the disciples. None of the characters particularly stand out, however it is good to see that they throw in plenty of character events rather than exclusively working off a compilation of canned dialogue repetitively played through. This is important as most of the storyline takes place between dungeons, and unfortunately these dungeons can take quite a while to get through with very little else to break it up.
For a change from most games of its type, most of the dialogue in Conception II takes place using 3D character models over a static background rather than the standard 2D portraits generally used in visual novels. The character models were well designed well, with most also receiving a second model for use on the field in lieu of their school uniform, with an option to customize them as well through unlockable costumes and DLC. Each of the male and female Star Children classes also have a unique 3D model and it is rather cute to see up to nine of them running around the field between battles. Star Children receive little customization from their standard models, only differing by their hair style determined through their “mother”.
While I would say the game dominantly relies on 3D character models, this is not to say that they exclusively use them. Each character also has a 2D character portrait which are used in some dialogue scenes, and despite not featuring lip syncing to have breathing animations and a handful of emotions / stances. Star Children are limited to static 2D images, but once again are really adorable to look at. A small selection of CG artwork and other pieces of 2D artwork are incorporated into the game.
Labyrinth designs in Conception II are very similar to what ATLUS themselves used in Persona 3. Each time you enter a dungeon the entire area is randomly generated with an array of winding paths, dead ends and a single warp to the next floor. The major labyrinths each feature a distinct colour / design scheme, however unlike Persona 4 don’t directly correlate to the name or concept behind the area. Battles generally take place in an empty, closed in arena based on the design theme for the dungeon.
Like Persona 3 and 4, Conception II: Children of the Seven Stars incorporates a number of lyrical songs into their soundtrack amongst other instrumental ones. Some examples include “Congratulations!” which is simply the words “Congratulations on your new arrival!” which plays as you customize your new Star Child and “dungeon battle 1～汎用戦(前半)” which serves as one of the major, upbeat battle themes. While it was nice to see them embedding lyrical music into the game and these were generally enjoyable, the rest of the soundtrack is pretty bland with little to make each memorable.
The entirety of the game has been dubbed into English and as with most releases by ATLUS USA does not include the original Japanese voice acting. The English voices handle the characters well, however as usual there is variability between what scenes are dubbed and what are undubbed.
To state the obvious first, as a dungeon crawling RPG your mean goal in Conception II: Children of the Seven Stars is to progressively make your way through the floors of a dungeon, get to the bottom floor, defeat a boss and then move onto the next one. While there are a number of little intricate battle mechanics they throw at you during the game which I tended to forget about soon after, the core battle system is turn-based where a grand total of four parties enter battle at one time. One of these parties is you and the disciple of your choice while the others MUST be comprised of three Star Children each. The game is very insistent that you have three Star Children in a party, meaning if you only have eight available than only two parties can be formed.
From there each turn the characters can opt to move to one of four positions surrounding the enemy of your choice, and then perform either a standard attack or skill. With different parties of Star Children there is quite a lot of versatility that can go into forming an attack strategy, with level, class, skills available and elemental strengths / weaknesses all coming into consideration when choosing to attack. While the bosses tend to have a difficulty spike, the difficulty of the standard enemies were comfortably around the middle and were neither too difficult or too easy. If anything the one flaw to this system would be that you tend to find yourself facing the same mobs of enemies over and over again as you make your way through labyrinths that begin growing deeper and more expansive. For those who like going into more detail, there is also the Mecunite system which allows a party of Star Children to become mecha units and other smaller systems that can turn the tide of battle should you decide not to just auto-play them.
The one major draw to Conception II: Children of the Seven Stars is its “Classmating” system, which as mentioned numerous times above allows you and a female disciple the opportunity to passionately make Star Children by holding hands and watching the child pop out of a device known as a Matryoshka. While each conception will set you back Bond Points earned through discussion with the girls, the abilities of a Star Child will vary depending on the level of yourself and the disciple and the stats, bond and mood of the disciple. With 30 different Star Children classes available with classes ranging from the basic Swordis and Thief to more complex Magic Knight and Bondsman, there are plenty of opportunities to enhance your party as you continue. In-fact with level capping throughout the game you are required to let older Star Children go for new ones.
But don’t fret, even though you will have to say goodbye to the characters you spent hours levelling since their birth, there is some benefit from doing so. Allowing Star Children to become “independent” will see them contribute to the development of “Fort City” which will grant you access to new services such as the Gift Shop and Guild. This is already on top of the more distinct services offered by the city including the Training Facility which provides harder versions of previously visited labyrinths (With no item / G drops) and the Comm Station which allows you to perform classmating with disciples from parallel universes (Aka. Other game cards via an Ad-Hoc network).
I personally really enjoyed the entire implementation of the Star Child system, and while it does occasionally get tedious hunting down new Matryoshka for extra perks or levelling other disciples for the sake of getting a Star Child with better stats, it is something different that is well handled.
While it doesn’t hit the same mark as Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc did, Conception II: Children of the Seven Stars ultimately proved to be a rather quirky game with some interesting ideas. More gameplay depth and direct character development would have been welcome, but otherwise it was a fun game that stands out for the crowd and a welcome addition to two consoles which are only now starting to gain momentum in terms of JRPG’s.
A digital PlayStation Vita copy of this game was kindly provided by ATLUS USA for the purpose of this review.
