Most video games keep my hands so busy I can’t even grab a snack while playing, but since I auto all the battles in Conception II except boss fights, I can eat breakfast, lunch and dinner without missing a beat. I just leave the 3DS beside me on the table. Run into an enemy, let the kids do their thing. Run into the next enemy, repeat. It’s a very convenient game. See, I said something nice about Conception II’s combat. That’s the only nice thing I have to say about combat and dungeon exploration in this game, the rest is crap.

Everything else is good, from the character designs to the voice acting to the bright happy colors. And the little children as as cute as ever. As with the original Conception, the sequel too is a good dating sim and a bad dungeon crawler. If anything the sim parts are even better but the dungeon crawler parts are even worse because there’s no excuse this time.

Story: The hero (I named mine Giles Verdi) has special powers that allow him to create “Star Children” – adorable summon creatures that fight with him against monsters in mysterious new dungeons. Gildes is assisted in combat and in baby-making by seven lovely ladies, most of whom I really like so I can’t decide which one to get. What to do, what to do…. That’s the hardest part of the game.

Game progression: Enter a dungeon, fight a bit, defeat the boss, come out and watch some story segments, create new Star Children, go to the next dungeon, etc etc. It’s pretty much the same as the first game. Except there’s no horrible perverted sidekick like Mana to ruin the fun. Instead you have two bros named Alec and Chlotz who don’t really get in your way. The sleazy cutouts during Classmating are still present, but there’s waaaay less innuendo and the game goes out of its way to explain that you’re just holding hands and thinking of England each other.

Since I auto most battles there’s no need to talk about the battle system. The dungeons are still the same old box-corridor-box-corridor format as before. Spike Chunsoft added some extra treasure chests and some traps because I complained last time, but that’s about it. So let’s turn to a more important topic, which girl’s route should I pick? I’m only going to play Conception II once so I’ve gotta make it count.

Narika – Easiest elimination because she doesn’t have anything going for her. She’s nice and all but pretty colorless outside the “shy girl always needing a rescue” gimmick.

Fuuko – Chlotz’s childhood friend. Also nice enough and I would definitely get her if I were to do multiple runs. But she lacks a little pizzazz for a one-and-done playthrough.

Ellie – She’s cute. I like the little stars in her eyes. And I’m curious about her shared past with Giles and whatever she’s up to for the church. But curious enough to devote a playthrough to her? Nah.

Chloe – Giles’ homeroom teacher and Chlotz’s older sister. I started out dating her as a way to stick it to Chlotz, but he’s surprisingly cool with it. Disappointing! Plus Chloe’s “I’m just too perfect and everybody likes me” issues are like a whole route full of stealth-bragging. I’ve gotten pretty far with her events so it would be easy to keep going and get her ending but the last three contestants are pretty fierce competition. Maybe if I ever replay the game.

Feene – I like Feene, she’s nice. Very polite and willing to help. I just got to chapter 4 and met her so nothing much has happened yet. She might turn out to be boring, she might turn out to be great. Either way I like her looks and her background so I’ll play with her a little more.

Torri – Raised in a lab or something so she doesn’t know much about the outside world. Her black-and-white hair design is different, which is pprobably why she has the largest portrait on the cover. I also like her enthusiam for everything that happens, it’s very cute.

Serina – My number one contestant. TBH I like Torri a little better but Serina is much more fun to tease. Tsunderes usually are. The only thing is… she’s a tsundere. There’s like 23,000 other tsunderes in other visual novels, do I really want to chase one here? Actually I kind of do.

So Feene, Torri or Serina? Feene, Torri or Serina? Or create 3 save points and get them all? Nnghhh, if only the gameplay were a little better. These Conception games do so well at creating nice characters, but the combat is so horribly boring! I’ll chat them all up for another chapter and make my final decision.

As for why I’m playing Conception II: Children of the Seven Stars when I said I would play Sakura Taisen 4 last time, it’s because the ST girls are too high-maintenance and I don’t feel like dealing with their moods right now. And as boring as the combat in Conception II is, at least it makes a nice break from the tons of reading you normally have to do in a dating sim. So I’m going to finish this first and then if I haven’t had my fill of romance games I’ll move on to ST4.

Related posts:

Finished Fire Emblem: Awakening (ending spoilers) Conception – I like the characters, but the gameplay needs work Finished Conception. Verdict: Good dating sim, bad dungeon crawler. Stella Glow review – What an annoying game (massive spoilers)