Introduction
Opening Cutscene
Theme - Spicate ~ 7 Colored Celestial Sphere (English version I guess? Sure, we'll call it that.)
Welcome to the Conception II: Children of the Seven Stars LP! Some nutcase dug this out of his game library and decided that "Hey, I like reading LP's. Maybe I should do one. Let's start with a Visual Novel/JRPG hybrid! That'll be fun and easy and not require a fuckton of transcription!"
What is Conception 2?
Conception 2 is the sequel to Conception: Ore no Kodomo o Undekure!, a game developed by Spike and released in Japan on the PSP in 2012. That game never got an English localization, but that won't have any bearing on Conception 2. Despite being a sequel, Conception 2 shares none of the characters or story from the first one. Both games are self contained. An updated PS4 version of the first game was just announced, but whether or not that ever sees a western release is anyone's guess.
Anyway, Conception 2 is part JRPG and part Visual Novel. It was developed by Spike Chunsoft and released in August, 2013 on the Vita and 3DS. Atlus released it in North America in April of 2014 and the EU in May. In 2016 it was brought to Steam, which is the version I'll be playing for this LP.
The story follows a self insert avatar character in a world where monsters activity skyrocketed 20 years ago. The Star God then got off His almighty ass and started sending his power down to a bunch of teenagers in order to fight back (Star God is an ass). Our hero, named Wake Archus by default, is one such teenager. He heads to an Academy in a place called Fort City after his brand appears in order to train and fight against the monsters.
Then he has fantasy not-sex with other teens in order to birth an army of magical warrior spirit children, and the Church backs this completely. That's the basic rundown. Wake and the seven titular heroines go to a church, have mind sex, warrior spirit kids pop out of Matryoshka dolls, and they all go on a monster killing safari through the monster spawning Dusk Circles to put a permanent stop to this nonsense.
Who the hell came up with that premise?
Spike did, mostly. Spike developed the first game and it was published in the same month that they merged with Chunsoft to form what is today known as Spike Chunsoft. Spike Chunsoft then developed the second entry in the series. Chunsoft is responsible for stuff like Dragon Quest 1-5, the Mystery Dungeon franchise, and the Zero Escape collection (999, Virtue's Last Reward, Zero Time Dilemma). They became Spike Chunsoft in 2012 and now have the Daganronpa franchise under their belt as well (which had been started by Spike).
What kind of LP is this going to be?
This will be a screenshot LP, with some video and music links on the side for important pieces like cutscenes or character themes. I don't plan on this being a completionist run. You could 100% this game just by using a couple of save files (due to how the games Database works) and beating the game 1.5 times, but it requires a bit of save scumming and replaying scenes just to get slight variations. I will be putting in the actual dialog for the game, but I will also be having some fun with it. The intention is for this to be a humorous LP so everyone can have a good laugh about it (at least, that's the goal. Actual results may very).
There will also be some thread participation going on, assuming I have a thread that will actually participate of course.
You're opening up decision-making to us? The hell is wrong with you?
There's a list. It's itemized. Going to colour code it some day.
But anyway, here's a few notes on how audience participation is going to work, at least in the beginning.
-The game has 9 endings. One for each of the 7 heroines and 1 where the main character ends up with none of them. There's also a harem ending, because we still live in a time where there's a group of people that thinks dividing your time and your physical/emotional self among multiple partners at once is a desirable goal, instead of the horrifying waking nightmare it would actually be. No, the harem ending will not be an option. I'd like people to participate, but I draw the line at grinding out seven different routes at the same time, on top of all the other grinding that will need to be done. The 'protag ends up with no-one' ending is off the table as well, although we will still be seeing it. It doesn't really interfere with anything, so I'll be weaving it into whatever ending we wind up with.
-I'll be looking to the thread to steer us towards one of the 7 heroine endings.
-The thread will vote on Star Children to put compose Team A(wful). This will be done most likely before every dungeon (or when a bunch of new classes open up).
This seems like a lot of anime bullshit combined with inferior elements of Persona and Disgaea's gameplay. Why pick this game?
I mostly wanted to try and do something that hasn't been done yet. At least I don't think it's been done here. Conception 2 doesn't really fall into a good or bad category for me. I definitely wouldn't rank it in my top 10, but I also don't think it's a horrible game.
Overall, it's an average Visual Novel bogged down by tedious JRPG gameplay. It has a lot of missed potential which is so easily identified that it makes you think the limited budget/timeframe got slashed on short notice and the developers had to scramble to get it ready. Conception 2 needed some polishing that it just did not get. I'm not saying that some minor tweaking or additions would have turned this into a classic, but it might have lifted it out of the realm of average.
Spoilers?
No. I've already found out that at least two other people here have played this or are aware of its existence, which I honestly didn't expect. I kind of doubted there would even be anyone here who knew enough about this game to provide spoilers. I was clearly wrong, so we'll go ahead and put a big old 'No Spoilers' sign on the lawn after all. So no talking about plot events that haven't happened, or referencing events in a character's route that we haven't gotten to. Even if the thread locks in on a certain choice of routes, don't go talking about the ones we aren't doing. I'll be looking into doing a run down of every route at the end of the game.
Naughty Content
Always remember The Dark Id's rule:
It's an anime VN/JRPG, it's going to have risque content, although it's largely limited to particular heroine routes. It doesn't have any actual nudity, but there are a few CG's that you wouldn't want people catching sight of over your shoulder at work. There's also some blood in some event CG's.
The game has an M rating in North America. I will warn in advance of any particularly bad scenes. Also, I know first hand how great SSLP's are for reading during boring work days, so if we run into any embarrassing scenes I'll either censor them (I have an approach to this already in mind) or I'll just link to the CG so the decision is left entirely to you (probably the more considerate option).
That's enough talk though. Let's look to the introduction and kick this whole thing off. Just a heads up, a lot of stuff is front loaded into this intro. It is part VN after all.
Updates
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Prologue/Chapter 1
Update 1 - Take me down to the Fort City
Update 2 - I see a man at the back as a matter of fact; His eyes are as red as the sun
Update 3 - W-W-W-Wake's a mother-father gentleman!
Update 3.5 (Bonding Update) - A little bit of Narika in my life, a little bit of Fuuko by my side
Update 4: I'm talking 'bout you, and you, and you; You're an asshole too
Update 4.5 (Bonding Redux): Earth girls are easy; Whatcha gonna do, lil' buckaroo?
Update 5: I'm in love with my Lust; Burning Asmodeus to dust
Chapter 2
Update 6: Everyone is so fake when they shake your hand; And they kiss your ass 'cause their makin' cash
Update 6.5 (Serina Bonding): I'll never be able to forget you; I wish that I had never met you! (aka The Big Choice: Round 1)
Bonding Focus: Catching up with Chloe (Plus Vote Results)
Bonding Focus: Catching up with Narika
Bonding Focus: Catching up with Ellie
Update 7: Warrior, Disciple, In me the Wishmaster
Chapter 3
Update 8: No one ever looked so Fine
Update 8.5 (Torri Bonding): She's so cold and human; It's something humans do
Bonding Focus: Chapter 3 (Part 1): Ellie, Narika, Chloe
Bonding Focus: Chapter 3 (Part 2): Ellie, Narika, Chloe + The other heroines (Summary)
Update 9: It'll take a lot more than words and guns; A whole lot more than riches and muscle
Chapter 4
Update 10: With no reason to be; just to be somebody somewhere
Update 10.5 (Feene Bonding): Never concerned with status; But still leaving 'em star struck
Bonding Focus: Chapter 4(Part 1): Ellie, Narika, Chloe
Bonding Focus: Chapter 4(Part 2): Ellie, Narika, Chloe
Update 11: Vacation, need a little sun; to break up all the frustration and turn it into love
Chapter 5
Update 12: Let me give you some green color and you will ask for more; You will see that you never felt this way before
Bonding Focus: Chapter 5 (Part 1): Catching up with Feene
Bonding Focus: Chapter 5 (Part 2): Feene, Chloe, Narika
Bonding Focus: Chapter 5 (Part 3): Feene, Chloe, Narika
Update 13: The end of Chapter 5 is combined with the start of Chapter 6.
Chapter 6
Update 13: Part of me is fighting this; but part of me is gone
Update 14: I can't slow down, I can't hold back; Though you know, I wish I could
Bonding Focus: Chapter 6 (Part 1): Feene, Narika, Chloe
Bonding Focus: Chapter 6 (Part 2): Feene, Narika, Chloe
Update 15: Its a quest for glory; Accepting our fate with the power that we own
Chapter 7
Update 16: Have I changed things? Still I fear the answer’s “no”
Bonding Focus Finale: Chapter 7 (Part 1): Feene, Narika, Chloe
Bonding Focus Finale: Chapter 7 (Part 2): Feene, Narika, Chloe
Update 17: A stupid mission and a lethal fight
Final Chapter
Update 18 (Opening Half): First in the line of fire, first into hostile lands; Tanks leading the way
Update 18 (Second Half): First in the line of fire, first into hostile lands; Tanks leading the way
Update 19: In God's creation, supernatural high
Extra Updates
Heroine Endings and Character Analysis
Final Thoughts
Extra Stuff