This game is too long

[Ogami]

Dont get me wrong, i loved the Princess Maker series since the mid 90s.
But one of the big appeals of the series was all the different endings and that you
could finished one daughters life in an afternoon of playing.

While i really like all the new elements PM 5 introduces its just too freaking drawn out
and quiet frankly, gets very very repetitive.

My daughter is 14, i already have all her stats in the 80-90% full range with some maxed.
I have all the stat requirements for the best possible ending already.
Its been over 20 hours already.
In that time i could have gotten 7-8 endings in Princess Maker 2/3.

And now i bascially just press CTRL for the next 4 ingame years so i can reach the events i need and then the end.
I honestly think the current system with a 1 month schedule ( with higher stat improvements of course) would make this game so much more replayable.

There are 50 endings in this game but i doubt i will ever try another one after finishing this first playthrough.
Which really is a shame since this game does so much right and from a pure gameplay/system perspective is my favorite in the series.

But its just SO. FREAKING. BLOATED.

Always wondered if that was what killed the franchise after PM 5.
Any oldtime Princess Maker fan feels the same?

[Yukiko ~Snow Child~]

Grew up playing 2. 5 was fun at first, but now I just use it as a time waster. I do enjoy it, but not in large amounts of time. Kind of a love hate relationship going on with it. I got all the requirements for Manga Artist by age 15, then screwed it up by taking too many gym classes. I agree that it would have been better with the monthly schedule.

[Catlinica]

I really love Princess Maker 5, but I agree completely with what you say: The gameplay is really fun, but the length is a huge misstep in the game design, and can make the game really unfun. Especially when you combine the length with how much work it is to maintain certain things like friendship values and internal stats. Ugh.
I'm a stop-and-smell-the-roses kind of player, and my first game took over 70 hours to complete!
I don't think I would ever go CG hunting unless I was making a save game with branching saves, and then reload from a certain point to continue on. It's not really fun for me, though, so I don't bother.
I think the game that has the perfect amount of gameplay + story + length is Princess Maker 4. That has a once monthly schedule divided into periods, with an option to go into town and get events with characters as a rest option. There are 3 major and 1 minor male love interests you can get events with, and 3 major and 1 minor female friends/love interests (though of course the female x female romance is really light, it was 2005 Japan, and goes the "Romantic 2 girl friendship" route). But of course that one hasn't been released in English, and is an ordeal to even get to work on a modern computer with a machine translation. (I think it takes me something like 3 different programs that require manually inputting 2 different scans for text each time I boot it up)

[Catlinica]

Also, I don't know if it's ever been explicitly stated why there were more Princess Maker games after 5, but I've always assumed it had to do with Takami Akai, the main creator of Princess Maker, having to step down from a lot of Gainax stuff after he was involved with a pretty Gainax having a very unprofessional reaction to people criticizing Gurren Lagen in 2007. https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2007-04-27/co-founder-takami-akai-steps-down-from-gainax
(I mean, from a vocational standpoint, what he said really was immature and unprofessional, but from a personal standpoint, I found it hilarious.)

I know that in 2015, there was some kind of similar Princess Maker-like game by Gainax that Akai was involved with called Ramen Goddess that did...not end well. Basically all there is on the page is a 2017 update saying that they've stopped selling the game and they're sorry to everyone that purchased it that they were never able to finish it the way they'd like.

[Losk Osmanthus 路渐秋凉]

I can't bear purchasing 99 items by clicking 198 times and then use them by clicking 198 times. I for sure will only play this game once.

[Ogami]

Originally posted by Losk Osmanthus 路渐秋凉:

I can't bear purchasing 99 items by clicking 198 times and then use them by clicking 198 times. I for sure will only play this game once.

Yeah, that was really dumb. Especially since when you throw items AWAY, you get the option to just enter the amount.
But not for buying, oh no.

[Phoenix]

Personally, this is one of my favorite games ever. I like the experience, and I wish there was more, and I wish there were more games like this! The old ones are fairly boring to me. The item click and stress/system needs fixed big time though. Very unbalanced.

[Serpale]

All of this gets way worse when you need some time to figure out the ctrl-trick and do not speed things up.
I really can't imagine playing the whole game on normal speed (And then you get just ONE ending). Well the challange keeps me going, but it could be way more fun with less repition. It's a pity, the concept has so much potential. :(

[Riviera]

Yep, heck, I only played it once really, and save scummed for some endings, but there's no way I can play this twice. Even tried doing it again, but only made it to like year 3 before I stopped. They really should've kept a monthly schedule. I mean, don't get me wrong, it's a HUGE game and I tend to find more new things if I get in the mood to play it, but it's ungodly long and I think it's due to having a weekly schedule instead of a monthly, like the other games. A game that's like this on Steam too, Ciel, has the same problem.

[Ogami]

Yup. 30 hours is just too long for a single playthrough and that many different endings.
Thats like 10 times the length of the old games.

[HellaHangry]

same. Loved the franchise since the 90s, but I can easily go through playthroughs of 2 and go for another quickly, and with 5 it's just...not that whatsoever and it does grind at one's patience :(

[Ogami]

Its also totally unbalanced. If you just remotely play in earnest you will basically max out all the stats you need for even the best ending in year 5 or so.
And then what? You hold CTRL pressed and fast forward through 3 years so you can finally end that playthrough.

Thats not good game design. The old games you had to make tough decisions and ration your time to reach the desired stats for the end you wanted.

But here? You have so much time and its so easy to get money/items from the moment adventuring unlocks, the game has zero challenge in the end game.

[Riviera]

Originally posted by Ogami:

Its also totally unbalanced. If you just remotely play in earnest you will basically max out all the stats you need for even the best ending in year 5 or so.
And then what? You hold CTRL pressed and fast forward through 3 years so you can finally end that playthrough.

Thats not good game design. The old games you had to make tough decisions and ration your time to reach the desired stats for the end you wanted.

But here? You have so much time and its so easy to get money/items from the moment adventuring unlocks, the game has zero challenge in the end game.

This is actually true. I think there were only a few things I didn't have maxed out, like Swimming, at the end of the game, mostly talent stuff that I didn't really focus on. I think it's the fact you're on a weekly schedule rather than monthly, and you can use Sundays to get extra stats on top of it too and decrease stress in some situations.

I think the only real way to not get max stats is to basically challenge yourself. Like instead of going out on Sundays, have your daughter do what she wants instead, or give her a lot of free time to do whatever instead of sending her to classes/work. Or basically force yourself not to use stress decreasing items.