Conception II: Children of the Seven Stars

Overview

Conception II: Children of the Seven Stars is a dungeon crawler RPG developed by Spike Chunsoft for the Nintendo 3DS, PlayStation Vita, and PC. Just like the original PSP game the hero in Conception II has to find a mate and raise a family of "star children" to help him battle the forces of the Labyrinth of Mortal Sin. Spike Chunsoft released both version of Conception II in Japan on August 23, 2013 and Atlus USA has announced plans to publish the title in North America in 2014.

Gameplay

The game follows a cycle of dungeon crawling and a dating phase, both of which are necessary to advance the story. Level is increased by combat and relationship is increased by interacting with the characters. Both level values are used when determining the strength of Star Children. Star Children are minions used in combat that are created by performing the ritual of "Classmating" with one of the heroine characters.

It is necessary to create more Star Children as the game progresses, as the better your relationship with the mother is, the higher their level cap. Star Children that are no longer useful can be "released" into the town in order to unlock more purchasable items or quests.

Dungeon crawling consists of choosing a labyrinth to traverse, going through the randomly generated floors of the labyrinth, gathering items, avoiding traps, and fighting monsters. Battle is turn-based, in which the player can command 4 different squads: the main character + 1 female character the player brought has brought with them, and 3 squads with 3 Star Children each. Combat is heavily reliant on positioning characters and starting chains, during which the enemies' speed is greatly lowered and there may be more opportunities to strike multiple times in succession, resulting in safer battles and post-battle bonuses.

By forging stronger bonds and defeating dungeons based on the 7 deadly sins the story advances culminating in a different ending depending on what heroine the main character chooses to take to the Star Conception Festival.