Conception II: Children of the Seven Stars – Good dinner game

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.

Shin Megami Tensei IV: Apocalypse – Almost finished but ran out of steam (endgame spoilers)

All through the game I was coached to go fight against Krishna and the Divine Powers. So I killed them. Vishnu-Flynn was tough, but manageable. Watching Krishna’s final meltdown was glorious. I was ready to watch my ending sequence and call it a day. Then some dude shows up, “No wait, you have to fight Necron this other guy first.” Yeah no, I don’t have to do anything. If you want YHVH gone so badly, go kill him yourself. I’m through being tossed to about by random dudes. I hereby declare Shin Megami Tensei IV: Apocalypse finished after 61 hours, hurray!

Brief final thoughts

  • I was pretty happy until the last dungeon sapped all my energy. That Cosmic Egg thing was way too big, way too ugly, way too empty of any interesting features. I’m not an expert or anything, but I’ve played my fair share of RPG final dungeons and I know how easy it is to lose focus and give up before the last boss when the last stages are too boring or unpleasant. The Cosmic Egg nearly did me in, but I soldiered on thinking I was almost done, just one more step, I just have to kill Krishna and… now you want to tell me I’m not actually done? LA LA LA LA I CAN’T HEAR YOU!

  • I kinda liked this horse guy thingy

    I made two saves before the big choice where you pick whether to destroy the Cosmic Egg or side with Dagda. Destroying the egg is obviously the “correct” decision that will get all your buddies to give you high fives while squealing about the power of friendship, but I derived a certain perverse pleasure from reloading my save so I could kill them all one by one. As a bonus, Asahi stays dead on that route, woo hoo! I haven’t had this much fun doing the ‘wrong’ thing since Elvandia Story’s Dark route. But I didn’t pursue Dagda’s route beyond that point because it doesn’t feel right being his little lapdog forever. Oh I’ll carve my own path alright, Dagda. Right through your smug little face.

  • Too cute!

    All in all Shin Megami Tensei IV: Apocalypse was a good game that I really enjoyed playing. Play play play, battery runs out, charge, play some more. It’s been a looong time since I played a game that avidly. Nanashi also made it up to level 95 and it’s been a loooong time since I even came close to capping my levels in a video game. This game is a lot smoother and easier to play than the original, especially when it comes to map navigation and ease of progression. You can tell they incorporated a lot of feedback from the first game.

  • This is where I would normally say “But…” and introduce some negatives but, eh, it wasn’t bad at all. The characters were a bit annoying but I’ve seen worse. Being able to kill them if I really want to makes everything okay. My biggest problem was that the end game dragged on too long. If things had ended with destroying the Egg I would have had the energy to say more. As it is I enjoyed SMTIV: A but I’m also tired and ready to move on. I’ve seen enough.

Move on to what? Ummmm……………… I want to play La Corda d’Oro again! It’s because I was reading a manga about their post-game university days where Kaho is in a “Not My Boyfriend” situation with Yunoki, Tsukimori and Tsuchiura. You hussy, just pick one and let me have the others already *grumble grumble*.

No but seriously, what should I play next? Tokyo Xanadu feels too similar to SMT. It’s too soon for me to play Atelier Meruru. Demon Gaze? I’ve played with too many demons just now. I don’t feel like picking up Legend of Legacy or Sorcery Saga where I left off. Octopath Traveller won’t be out for another two weeks and I won’t have the Switch till August anyway…

Let me look at my resolutions list… Oh! Sakura Taisen 4! Okay, we’ll go with that. I’ve gotta catch up before the newest game comes out anyway. Welp, see you guys later!

Shin Megami Tensei IV: Apocalypse – Longer than I’d thought (spoilers)

40 hours in. Chapter 4 out of 8 (?). Just finished yet another battle against a certain repeating boss who refuses to stay dead. Eh, I guess I could spoil a little bit. The boss is a giant snake called Shesha, annoying like all repetitive bosses tend to be but luckily not very strong. Actually I haven’t met any really strong bosses in SMTIV:A so far, but I’m only halfway in. Very easy game, TBH. But not so easy that I want to switch to the Hard setting, haha.

I was building a Phys-based main character, but after putting 200 points in Strength and only 50 or so in Magic I realized that -dyne magic was murdering the enemies much faster and more consistently than physical attacks. You also get access to -dyne magic much faster than Heavy physical attacks become available. Magic misses far less often, and gives you extra turns more easily than relying on criticals that may or may not come. If only I could reset my stat distributions to focus on Magic instead. It’s not too late though, so that’s what I’m working on now.

I made a silly mistake though. Somehow my eyes glossed over that Skill Slot+ option in the apps. I’ve been going through the whole game with only 4 skills on my main character, wondering when at all new skill slots will unlock. Level 20? Level 30? 40? It’s only when I hit level 60 and nothing unlocked that I took a second look at the App list. GAAAHHHHHHH…. Well, as I said Shin Megami Tensei IV: Apocalypse is a really easy game so it doesn’t matter anyway. I can think of it as an accidental challenge run or something.

Current Story – Everyone’s about to launch an all-out attack on the supposed Big Bads of the game. Except we’re only in chapter 4 of 8 so they’re doomed to failure. Either that or an even Bigger Bad will show up and make things worse. To be honest it feels like I’ve been playing SMTIV:A for a really long time now, so I’m ready for it to end so I can start something new. At the same time, gathering and fusing demons is still fun enough that I can keep going for a while now. If it ends around the 60-hour mark that will be good enough for me.

Shin Megami Tensei IV: Apocalypse – Reads like a kid’s self-insert fanfic

I always have a hard time writing posts about Shin Megami Tensei games. I love them and all, but they all feel the same. Kill or befriend demons, kill or befriend various people, choose Law/Chaos/Neutral, kill boss, end. It’s usually fun, especially the demon-fusing collect-em-all aspect, it’s just not interesting to write about.

Current progress in Shin Megami Tensei IV: Apocalypse – Moon Phase 2/8 (or 3?), level 36, just finished retrieving the parts to make the monster-detecting radar. That should be non-spoilery enough. The story is a spin-off set shortly before the end of the original Shin Megami Tensei IV. Some random annoying kids get involved and mess things up for Flynn so it’s up to them to set things right and ultimately save the people of Tokyo.

I hear SMTIV‘s director is called Kazuyuki Yamai. I bet his son little Tarou Yamai read the original script and thought “Wow, Flynn is so cool! But y’ know what would be even cooler? If Flynn had a little sidekick who looked just like me! And the sidekick has a cuuuute childhood friend! And, and then Flynn gets kidnapped so I, um I mean the sidekick is all heroic and stuff and then he saves the day! Wouldn’t that be the coolest? Daddy do it do it do it do it please please pleeeeaaase???” And that’s how we got Shin Megami Tensei IV: Apocalypse. My uncle who works at Atlus told me everything.

Of course just because something is a derivative spin-off packed with recycled assets doesn’t mean it’s bad. In fact, I’m enjoying it more than I did the original with around the same amount of time invested. The pace is faster and more focused, for one thing. And the game just packs on the EXP so I’m always leveling up. What RPG gamer doesn’t enjoy level ups? Atlus also changed the demon negotiation system so demons pity-join you if you fail enough times. The whole negotiation process is just 100 times easier than in any other SMT game to date, which is great. The best part is how the maps are sooooo much easier to read so I never get lost.

The negative side… there aren’t many negatives. I probably shouldn’t have expected much new content from a spin-off game anyway, but the number of new locations is low so exploration is a bit dull. And the whole blah blah mankind needs this, no, mankind needs that, no, mankind needs such-and-such drill has gotten old. Who cares what mankind needs, you pretentious pseudo-philosophers. My MC is just gonna beat everyone up and “carve his own path” anyway. Always carving our own path, then the next SMT game comes out and we carve again. And again. We must have carved the whole Statue of Liberty by now but it’s never enough.

Eh, anyway, I’m having fun. Except for that night I played so much I started seeing flashing spots before my eyes. That was scary. I’ve slacked the pace of my playing a bit, but I’m still on track to finish SMT IV: Apocalypse by the end of the week. You can get a lot of gaming done even with one eye on the World Cup matches. After SMTIV: A, what should I play? I’ll think about that next week!

Picross e, SMTIV: Apocalypse and other adventures

I took more time off from gaming than I’d planned to, but it’s all good. When you’re not feeling it, you’re not feeling it. After lounging on my sofa watching K-dramas with my sisters for a month, I’m just about ready to get back in the saddle. I realized two things: 1) I love Picross, and 2) I need a break from Action RPGs for a while. Nothing personal, just that sim games and turn-based RPGs are more relaxing and that’s what I need right now. So here’s what I’ve been messing around with for the past two weeks.

Anno 1404 – I’ve played it before, so I just started it up as rehab. Getting back in the groove with some sun and sea and hungry peasants and all that. Such a gorgeous game… I started the story mode again but then I remembered that Guy Forcas and Cardinal Lukius are going to mess up my fleet and ports in a couple of chapters and got upset. This time they’re not going to have their own way! That said, I only play about 1 hour of Anno a week so they’ll be at large till 2019, probably.

Picross e – Obviously just Picross e is not enough to satisfy me. That’s why I have Picross e2, e3, e4, e5, e6, e7 and e8 lined up to play once I’m done. I play it in snatches during the day. Like, once every 10 minutes or so, nothing crazy. I’m really happy because now I’m good enough to play Free Mode (with hints). I used to get so nervous about making mistakes and having to start all over again but it’s not so bad as long as you don’t guess. Picross is the best!

Shin Megami Tensei IV: Apocalypse – Slightly improved sequel to SMTIV, which I quite enjoyed when I wasn’t getting lost in Tokyo. I’m enjoying the faster pace right off the bat, the more navigable map and the smaller cast. None of the faffing about with Jonathan and Isabeau for 20 hours that I suffered in the original.

This time I’m going to be nice to everyone and take my Law route as it comes. It sucks having to choose choices you don’t agree with just to get the route you want, so I’m not going to play along with that nonsense any more. I’ve played about 5 hours now, just hit level 10 and headed off to Ueno to find Nozomi. I’ll write a proper post about it when I hit level 20/play 10 hours, whichever comes first.

get off me get off me get off me get off me

Enkeltbillet – Mediocre otome game I tried to play but lost interest in before even meeting all the main guys. The character designs are okay, I got a good laugh out of the “English” and it has gameplay in the form of HanaIchi-style quests.

The problem is that the characters are too dumb. Especially the main character who goes running off with a stranger in a foreign country. Idiot. And the idiot strangers who take her in. And the idiot incompetent tour agency she was with. And the idiot foreign guys who randomly show up and start pawing at her. The whole game is just stupid. I want to say it’s dropped, but somehow I still want to play a little more. Even though it’s bad and I will regret it.

Right now my main game is Shin Megami Tensei IV: Apocalypse Picross e. Lying is bad. I pick up the 3DS meaning to play SMTIV but “just one puzzle” syndrome kicks in. But I’m making good progress in both of them so I’ll post about one or the other next time. See ya!