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Princess Maker 4 – Review

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For those who have not heard of the series, the Princess Maker series involves you inheriting a child who you must raise from the ages of 10-18. Usually this has been defined an easy genre to play, however, let me tell you now… it can get difficult to get the ending you wish.

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An example of the vacation CG Images in the game. (TL: Spring 11yrs, TR: Autumn 10yrs, BL: Summer 10yrs, BR: 11yrs)

Graphics: The graphics have greatly improved from all the DOS versions of the game (PM 1-3) obviously. While there is not much to comment on it, as it is more a life management sim, there has been a great increase in the number of CG images that are used ingame (Currently I was not able to get anything but the Vacation images above) and not such much of the normal management same-old-same-old. Character designs have also improved quite alot, with there being many more costumes for your daughter than there used to and many more well designed characters to interact with.

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Just a few of the clothes your daughter can wear.

Music: The music I must admit is the best out of all the currently released Princess Maker games so far. There is a vast variety of music which suits all tones of gameplay, whether it be fighting, happy moments or sad moments, it is all there. Whilst maybe not living up to other games such as Final Fantasy or Metal Gear Solid 4, it is suitable for the genre.

Gameplay: The gameplay is done by the following:

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1. You start off at the beginning of a new month, where you can do things such as check the status of your daughter, talk to your daughter, buy and try on clothes etc.

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2. Once you click on schedule, you are allowed to choose either the school subjects, work or free time that you wish for her to do. Basically, classes improve stats greatly and decrease money, jobs improve stats slightly, increases stress more and gives money whilst recreation costs money and decreases stress greatly. Classes can be unlocked through events. Classes which go on include study, magic, dance etc.

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3. The schedule takes place. Throughout this, several storyline events and other events can take place. Which include the annual festival, birthdays etc.

Whilst the aspect of storyline isn’t as effective as Princess Maker 5, it is still very good for its time, as well as still offering the excellent features of the PM series. Also, the setting was very good for the series, and it worked well with the storyline. Since the storyline is rather intense in Japanese, I have not had the time to translate it all, but from what I have so far, it is very good.

Extras:

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Examples of Princess Maker 4 ~ A Day without cube CG Images.

This game comes with a small spin-off game called Princess Maker 4 ~ A Day without cube, which shows the father in one of the few times he is with the daughter without Cube. Which is all very kawaii in a way. It is only included in the Japanese PC version and has a good number of added CG Images, although it does not last very long. Also, the CG Images I have noted are not as high a quality as the ingame images, which was a bit of a disappointment.

Overall Review:

Graphics:4

Music: 3.5

Gameplay: 3.5

Extras: 4

Overall: 3.75 (B)

Final Review:

Depending on what type of life sim you like, would depend on if you would get this product… if you like medievil set life simulations then this might be a good preference for you, if you prefer real life simulators, get Princess Maker 5 and if you don’t care, get either or both, they are both good.

Sam
Sam
Founder of The Otaku's Study. I have been exploring this labyrinth of fandom these last fifteen years, and still nowhere close to the exit yet. Probably searching for a long time to come.

2 COMMENTS

  1. Not sure if you still follow this article. But I’ve got a question for you. My friend, Ying-lun got me interested in the Princess Maker Series, and I absolutely love them. Unfortunately, I can’t read Japanese or Chinese (which was the version she had), but I would really love to play this game on my own XD I’m actually learning Japanese right now, so I’m probably going to end up getting the game later anyway, but I was just curious: Do you know if they’ve released a version of this game (or any of this series, for that matter) that was translated in English? If you can, thanks. If not, that’s cool too, lol. 🙂

    • Hello Ja’Nae,

      You found one of my really old articles, but yes I am more than happy to answer your question – even though it isn’t all that good a news :-(. Unfortunately with the exception of the leaked English Version of Princess Maker 2 – no other version of the game has made it out in English through either release by a company or fan-translation.

      If you want to play the game…. while you might not be able to understand the language it is not all that hard to play the game itself, and there should be a few guides that translate the games menus around the internet.

      Good luck learning Japanese! It is not the easiest language to study but it is very rewarding considering how much it opens up your variety of game and anime options!

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