Despite some abso luxurious artwork and presentation here I'm left a little dry. One of the problems I keep running into w/ the princessmaker genre is in how little these games do to offer emergent expressions of lifegoal improv, i guess? Like once your child hits their middle age (13), you probably already have a ""build"" in mind, a desired outcome you're beelining to - in the form of hammering the same handfuls of classes or extracurricular activities to pump cold and unfeeling stats & numbers up. As funny as it is to have a scrunkly faildaughter, the game doesn't react to it in any holistic or meaningful way - lower stats means fewer doors open to you.
Granted, it's not a soulless spreadsheet simulator or anything - it really is a lavish production filled with events that trigger according to certain milestones being hit, the problem for me is in how much it rewards a straightforward and narrowminded grind rather than making tough decisions, reacting to your own daughters autonomy and wishes.
And there's little else to it, really - the cast here are a little charming and it's heartwarming to watch your lilbabie fill her boots in the vocation of your choice; but when the artifice falls out from under me i realise i've spent days clicking the same buttons, watching the same animations, hoping to increase my chances where I get an ending screen akin to whatever da hell I wanted my daughter's job to be. Full possibility my brain is not wired for this kind of game, I just wish it felt more like parenthood and less like EV training.