The second of the Princess Maker games by Studio Gainax.
The Heavens frowned upon the sinful ways of the humans and sent out the Prince of Darkness, Lucifon, to rage war against them. When a wandering swordsman sneaks into the enemy camp one night, he manages to defeat Lucifon in hand-to-hand combat.
The swordsman gains favor with the king, who thanks him for defeating the Prince of Darkness and vows to become a better ruler. He offers the swordsman to stay in the kingdom and an annual salary of 500G, which he accepts.
One night, the swordsman hears a voice calling him onto a hill. He finds a young girl enveloped in a ball of light, and hears her patron deity speaking to him. He is given the girl called Olive to raise to adulthood, to see if his meddling in their divine plan of destroying the kingdom was the right thing to do.
This entry in the series is the most well-known one in the West because of the English beta version. It expanded on pretty much every aspect from the previous game, polishing up on the amount of endings, parameter management to achieve them, and increasing the locations for Errantry from one to four.
The game originally released onto the PC in 1993, with a second release in 1995. It was originally going to be localized by SoftEgg, with an English beta version floating around on the internet, but the publisher went bankrupt and it remained in stasis. A Refine version was eventually made, with a localized release on Steam in 2016. In August 2023, another Updated Re-release, Princess Maker 2 Regeneration, was announced for the PS5, PS4, Nintendo Switch and PC, with a release date of December 21, but was later delayed to May 30, 2024.
Princess Maker 2 (Refine) contains the following Tropes
- Absurdly Youthful Father: Possibly; the game allows you to set your age as young as 10, meaning you could be not much older than your daughter. Nobody will question this, however, presumably since everyone knows she's adopted.
- Artificial Stupidity: The English beta version by SoftEgg contained cheats that allowed the player to activate Demo Mode, in which the game attempted to play itself. It has a tendency to cancel whatever it selected, and seemed to pick directions at random while out on Errantry, creating situations of moving back and forth along the same path or repeatedly walking into the same sign.
- Attempted Rape: If Olive has high Glamour and ends up losing to one of the three bandits, they will try to rape her. Cube will rush in and beat them up, before taking her back home.
- Barbie Doll Anatomy: Zig-zagged, as some vacation images and the opening combine this and position her in light or at convenient angles, but some endings and sprites do show her with nipples, though everything else simply isn't drawn.
- "Blind Idiot" Translation: The English script used by CFK Co. for Refine is clearly written by a non-native English speaker and leads to stilted, awkward text throughout the game. One of the more blatant mistakes is when Olive defeats a human opponent during the Combat Tournament or when challenged: it says that Olive loses the duel instead.
- Bragging Rights Reward: Multiple:
- Played straight with the Power Ring, Perfume, or Flour, which are the ultimate gifts given by Fay, Paimon, and Domovoi, respectively. Infinite MP isn't worth the money wasted on Magic classes to obtain it, and by the time the latter two are received, Olive can attract suitors and win the Cooking contest easily.
- Averted with Valkyria's Sword, as it can be obtained relatively early on with a bit of luck, and it's a very nice alternative weapon to use compared to the War God's Sword.
- Played straight with the War God's Sword itself, as defeating him means the player has already battled against the most difficult opponent in the entire game. The parameters it increased aren't worth it, either, unless you're overly concerned about dealing with Anita during the Combat Tournament.
- Canon Name: The daughter is called Olive Oyle in manuals, revealing not only her first name, but also the last name of the player character.
- Changing Gameplay Priorities: Early in the game, you'll want to build up Olive's Stamina stat so that she'll have a better chance at succeeding at other jobs when she gets older. Farming is good for this, since it offers the best starting wage of the early part-time jobs and builds both Stamina and Strength. Once she gets older, you'll want to sign her up for classes to build her other skills as more lucrative job opportunities open up.
- Child Eater: One of the warnings given by travelers while out on errantry is that kidnappers eat the children they capture.
- The Church: An important element, including Olive's involvement with it. Working at the church cleanses her Sin and builds character, and the Archbishop helps boost a faithful daughter's popularity. There's also a slice of corruption running through it, as the player can easily lower Olive's Sin by simply "donating."
- Cold Iron: The elf won't talk to Olive if she's carrying iron or steel weapons or armor.
- Combat Sadomasochist: Played for Laughs with Queen Jennifer, one of the people who can challenge Olive to a duel. For the record, she dresses all in leather and uses a whip as a weapon. When defeated via HP loss, she declares that it is both mortifying and thrilling to lose to a little girl. However, if she's defeated via Morale loss, she instead begs for Olive to stop.
- Crossover Cosmology: The Lord rules over the Roman gods of the planets, with some of them having been Gender Flipped, and Lucifon is another one of the Lord's servants. The Valkyria doesn't seem to have a connection to any of the other gods, and the War God is a separate entity, and not Mars himself.
- Deal with the Devil: Multiple:
- If Morality is Olive's highest parameter, P.D. Karl may arrive and offer to feed on her Morality, in exchange for 10G per 1 point of Morality.
- If Olive sleeps near the Demon's Abode's cave in the desert, she may awaken to Lucifon and his cohorts drinking. If she refuses, Lucifon will offer to increase one of her parameters in exchange for some of her Faith.
- If Olive has the Demon Pendant, a demon in the above location will offer to buy it off for up to 1500G or exchange it for an increase of 100 Glamour, 100 Elegance, and 10 Magical Attack, though this will remove any Morality she has.
- In less literal terms: the sexual occupations (working at a "Sleazy Bar" that's likely a front for a brothel, being a Showgirl at a cabaret, and becoming the mistress of a wealthy old pervert) actively drain Olive's morality and faith, as well as increasing her sin.
- Deliberate Values Dissonance
- Emphasis is put on Olive getting married and having children, with her patron deity expressing disappointment if she remains unmarried or she has a low Maternal Instinct.
- Sins can be forgiven by simply buying them off through donations to the church, which was a reasonably common thing to do during the Middle Ages.
- Sex work is evil, and literally taints Olive's soul. While it's clear there's an element of exploitation, Olive doing it enough leads to her becoming wicked and ungrateful to her dad, especially if you get an ending occupation that involves sex work.
- Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?: With high enough stats, Olive can defeat the God of War.
- Digital Bikini: The SoftEgg version of the game covered up Olive in some of the vacation pictures, where she was sunbathing or swimming in the nude.
- Dirty Old Man: The Dirty Old Man, who asks Olive to become his mistress if her Charisma (beauty and, uh, other things) is high enough.
- The Old Dragon also counts, since he'll lick Olive and comment on her figure if she's at least 15 and has high Charisma/Glamour.
- Dominatrix: The Bondage Queen ending has a sinful Olive end up as this, ruling over rich men in a tight black outfit.
- Do Well, But Not Perfect: The difference between the queen and concubine endings falls down to how high your charisma stat is with the requirements being otherwise identical. If you go over 500, she becomes a concubine, but below that, she's queen.
- Exposed to the Elements: Played with, as Summer and Winter can end up with extreme temperatures and Olive's parameters will suffer, if she doesn't have the Summer Dress or Winter Coat to change into. However, there is no penalty if the player opts to switch outfits immediately after.
- Fetal Position Rebirth: Olive descends onto Earth this way.
- Flat-Earth Atheist: The Science class teacher believes in magic and miracles, but also believes that they can be explained through scientific principles. This is despite living in a world where it's clear that deities exist, since the Prince of Darkness was waging war against humans just a few years ago. Sure enough, taking enough of his classes can lead your daughter to espouse the same antitheism, despite being sent by the Gods themselves and possibly having met Ares, the War God himself.
- Handicapped Badass: Multiple:
- The Combat teacher Carl is blind.
- The Fencing teacher Leftor lacks an eye.note
- Hand-or-Object Underwear: In the cover
◊ for the soundtrack for Refine, the daughter, in her 18-year-old form, is sitting with her right leg covering her groin, and a Seashell Bra, a short dress, and arm and leg warmers. - Heaven's Devils: The Prince of Darkness (or Princess) is a servant of the Lord. His function is to keep demonkind under control and prevent them from rampaging across the world, to tempt and corrupt weak mortals, and to bring God's punishment to humanity when it falls to evil and decadence. In the beginning of the game, Prince Lucifon attacks the kingdom, and when the Father stops him, Lucifon says that he was obeying the Lord's will and "he killed only fools," a statement which the Father has no answer to.
- Humanity on Trial: If you build Olive's stats high enough and/or get one of the better endings, her patron will reveal that their purpose in sending her to Earth was to determine the potential of humanity, which you have brought out to the fullest. This is also alluded to in the ending where she marries Lucifon, as her patron says that there may be no hope for humanity if things went that badly.
- Improbable Age: Multiple:
- The player can input an age their character is supposed to be, with 10 being the youngest option, and making them a Kid Hero that defeated the Prince of Darkness, and then adopted their own 10-year-old daughter just a year later.
- Olive can achieve things at a young age, including defeating the War God, and gets a reputation boost when she goes out on Errantry and arrives home safe and sound.
- Inconsistent Spelling: The names in battles are spelled differently, making it unclear which one is the actually intended name.
- Leftor ends up spelled as Rheftol.
- Wendy Lachesis has her last name changed to Laxis.
- Massal Habal gets called Muscle Habbal.
- Inevitable Tournament: October is the time of the Harvest Festival. The player can participate by having Olive enter the Combat Tournament, compete in the Cooking or the Dancing contest, and enter the Art Festival, if she has created a painting after art class. The player can also choose to rest for the entire month.
- Infinity +1 Sword: The War God's Sword, which is obtained by defeating him. It raises Combat Attack by 30 and Combat Skill by 20 when equipped, though it's nearly useless by then.
- Interspecies Romance: Olive can get married to the Prince of Darkness Lucifon, her demon butler Cube, or the Young Dragon.
- Katanas Are Just Better: The Katana is the best shop-available weapon, though it can also be found in a treasure chest in the Northern Mountains.
- Lost in Translation: The SoftEgg translation had Wendy going on about Ma-gi-ci-an girls a lot, which made no sense. The original and Refine script show that she makes a clear distinction between Magical Girl and magician. It may be a pedantic difference, but not pure nonsense.
- Misplaced Vegetation: The Southern Lakes aren't tropical, but still have a rafflesia flower.
- Multiple Endings: The game features 74 endings in total, with 6 of those being Special Marriage endings that get attached to the career-based ending.
- Not Wanting Kids Is Weird: Increasing Olive's hidden Maternal Instinct parameter is important to earn points to the final score, as her patron deity will factor in her being married or how well she may be prepared for children. The only way to determine how high the parameter is involves talking to Olive, as she'll sometimes comment on her opinions towards children. If Olive doesn't marry, your God will treat this as a failing and lament that she will never have kids.
- Optional Boss: The Skeletal Knight, who can be encountered randomly while working the Gravekeeper job if Olive has a decently high Fighting Reputation. He has pretty good defense to physical and magical attacks, so it requires a balance to defeat him. Defeating him nets the player around 2500G.
- Parental Incest: It's possible for Olive to marry her father. Her patron is a little weirded out by this, but because the relationship is adoptive, he decides that it's okay (and it doesn't ding your score).
- Parental Sexuality Squick:
- When Olive meets the Old Dragon for the first time, he'll sometimes mention that he's an old friend of yours and you used to like the ladies quite a bit back in the day. Olive's response to this is a look of pure shock and speechlessness, though the Dragon will say he's joking afterwards. Made funnier when you realize that depending on the age you set, you may still be a child yourself.
- If you managed to get your Daughter to marry you, it's mentioned that people are going to frown on it for very obvious reasons, even if you're not related by blood.
- Personality Blood Types: Your daughter's blood type determines which of her stats will increase or decrease at the end of each month.
- Type A: + 2 Morality, + 2 Stress
- Type B: - 2 Stress
- Type AB: + 2 Sensitivity
- Type O: No change in stats.
- Physical Heaven: Located in the Northern Mountains, up a literal stairway that is guarded by the War God. Making it up there, Olive will meet her patron deity and get a one-time boost to the deity's associated parameter, as well as getting Ares' sword.
- Physical Hell: The Demon's Abode, located in the Western Desert past the ruins. Sleeping in the vicinity of it may lead to Lucifon appearing and offering the daughter alcohol.
- Psycho Lesbian: The female bandit Bloodrose Vanesta can praise Olive's beauty before assaulting her.
- Relationship Values: Key part to obtaining most of the Special Marriage endings.
- Rescue Romance: One of the fastest ways to get a Cube/Princess marriage is the relationship boost Cube gets when he rescues your princess from the wanted bandits if she's defeated in combat with them during Errantry.
- Science Is Wrong: Rationalism gets treated as an incomplete view of things, at best. Studying science will raise Olive's Intelligence, but higher class levels will lower her Faith, which can lock some events and also makes her more prone to stress-related breakdowns and delinquency.
- Screw the Rules, I Have Money!: As long as the player keeps giving 'donations' to the church, Olive can raise her Sin as much as she wants.
- Shout-Out: The titular princess' Canon Name is Olive Oyle.
- Superboss: The War God, who guards the literal stairway to heaven. He's much tougher than any other opponent in the game, and succeeding allows Olive to meet her patron deity, which gives her a 100 point boost to the parameter associated with the deity. But guides show that the War God can be beaten relatively easily, if the right parameters are exploited.
- Victor Steals Insignia: One of the combat-oriented training classes you can put your adopted hopeful-princess is a Fencing school. There is a random chance that an adventurer seeking infamy will come to challenge the school, in hopes of taking the school's sign for glory. If they beat your daughter in combat, true to word, they'll take the sign and classes will be cancelled for a few weeks.
- What the Hell, Player?: Maxing out your inventory has your Patron God tell you that you've got way too much stuff if you try to buy anything. Venus outright tells you "you have too much crap".
- "Where Are They Now?" Epilogue: The endings tend to add an epilogue talking about how well Olive does in her chosen profession, if none of the special marriage options have been achieved. Usually, what epilogue is gotten is based on how high a certain parameter is.
- Wingding Eyes: If the daughter is rescued by Cube from errantry, she has X-es for eyes in the art for it.
- Wowing Cthulhu:
- If the daughter has high enough stats and/or a high tier profession, your patron deity will praise your efforts, referring to you as a "mighty parent" and allowing you to be reunited with the daughter in heaven at the end of your respective lives.note
- Lucifer expresses appreciation for the player's fighting prowess in the prologue. If you're bad enough, he might even fall in love with her.
- You Bastard!: Attain any bad ending and your Patron God will give you an ass chewing for being a horrible failure of a father. Manage to marry her off to Lucifer or even make her Lucifon's replacement, and the Gods will not be pleased.
- You Can't Go Home Again: If you get a poor score, the daughter is tainted by the mortal world and can never return to Heaven. Only the highest level of success explicitly averts this; then, she'll live out her life as a mortal before returning to Heaven in death. A medium score simply says that she'll live out her life on Earth.
