Conception II: Children of the Seven Stars

An unabashed celebration of modern otaku culture, Conception II is a dungeon crawler that hits a just right-balance of silly and enjoyable if you don't take it too seriously.

Conception II is a title I feel wanted to be a contender to P4G’s crown of the best Vita JRPG, and while it borrows some elements from the king, it falls short of its goal and presents a solid, albeit unremarkable title with its own unique quirks.

With its incessant jiggly boobs, drab story, naughty baby-making imagery, and harem tropes-a-plenty, I'd get why some would steer clear of Conception II. But I'm here to recommend it.

Don’t let the concept scare you off if you’re a role-playing fan. Yes, Conception II: Children of the Seven Stars does revolve around making “battle babies” with a collection of female companions, but there’s a Persona-esque addictive quality to the package, and RPG players shouldn’t be ashamed to tote this one around on the bus or plane.

It’s not a great RPG – it’s too easy for starters – but I feel Conception II: Children of the Seven Stars is good enough that I can recommend this B-tier social linking, dungeon crawler to the diehard JRPG fans looking for a unique twist on the genre for their Vita.

An adolescent males fantasy coming to life in your hands.

With a handful of interesting chances taken with the combat and core mechanics of Classmating, it is a shame that the combat itself becomes a grind.

Conception II: Children of the Seven Stars is a strange title, but it offers an intriguing experience that’s let down by a few issues. Indeed, the bizarre story elements, off-putting sexual material, and repetitive gameplay mechanics may turn you away from this eccentric title, but look past these problems and you will find a way to appreciate its otherwise interesting narrative and entertaining cast.

There's both a lot of JRPG and a lot of dating sims better than Conception II out there, especially on PSVita and 3DS, but if you want a taste of both genres in a single game, this is the way to go.

Conception II: Children of the Seven Stars is bland, tedious, and unexceptional.

It's a pretty decent RPG, even though its pieces don't really fit together. Still, it's a good experience if you know what you're buying.

Putting aside it’s controversial nature, Conception II is okay as a JRPG. If you can handle the identikit dungeons and by-the-numbers gameplay (and if you haven’t played the many other great JRPGs on both 3DS & Vita), then you may find some enjoyment here, but it’s unlikely to last very long.

The overall feeling that endures throughout Conception II is that it's a game that is by no means bad, but also not great.

Conception II overrelies on eccentricity to mask its unexciting game mechanics.

What ultimately brings down Conception 2, however, is that none of its elements manage to rise above a general feeling of mediocrity. The combat is too dull and repetitious to ever be addictive. The dating sim, jiggly boobs and all, is interesting, but too limited to carry the game on its own.

Outside of the dungeons, the racier half of Conception 2’s content will be the make-or-break point for most players.

Some of the most exciting RPGs work with relationship building, like Persona and Fire Emblem, but this just takes it in a bizarre direction. Merely giving players a chance to pair up isn't enough; the actual relationship building needs have genuine developments and substance, and Conception II hits all the wrong notes.

Crude mixture of dating sim and dungeon crawler that would appeal to boys in puberty rather than roleplaying aficionados.

It seems impossible that a game featuring multi-partner dating and demon-battling with an army of combat children could somehow be boring, but there it is.

Perhaps if Conception II added some challenge to combat and handled the plot and characters less like side attractions and more like plot and characters, the game could have been an above average title.

If your measure of a game’s quality is in its length, you won’t be disappointed by this 50-hour epic, but I couldn’t bring myself to dedicate that much time to it.

It's competent, certainly, but it's hard to shake the feeling that the stork could have left us something a little more interesting.