Conception 2 is a Dungeon Crawler RPG with a unique twist on party creation/management that involves creating "Star Children" with the games 7 heroines. These Star Children are similar to the monster creation in Shin Megami Tensai games, as they are characters of different classes and abilities that will aid you in your labyrinth battles.
Outside of the Labyrinths, you can chat with the heroines, visit training grounds, create Star Children, organize your party at the dorms, and shop for new weapons or items at the store.
Concpetion 2 looks great, the 2D sprites are slightly animated for all of the story interaction as well as some 3D animation for chatting with the heroines. The game also features some nice animated sequences for the story and transformation scenes. A good portion of the game looks to be fully voiced and a few of the characters so far are well voice-acted.
The battle system features a very simple turn based attack pattern where position relative to the monster you are fighting is important. Depending on your speed stat, you will be able to see the turn order for you, your Star Children, and the enemy. You can position yourself to the left, right, behind, or in front of the enemy to attack them with basic attacks or use special abilities, each monster has different attack patterns that can inflict damage on you depending on where you are positioned.
A few mechanics are added to make the fights more entertaining, such as attacking an enemy head-on where you know he will be unleashing a devastating attack on his next turn. In doing so you will be able to increase the "Chain Gauge" which can slow down the enemy significantly, allowing you and your star children to attack multiple times in a combo.
In Conception 2 you play as the main hero of the story known as "God's Gift", a disciple born with an immense amount of "Star Energy" or "Ether" that is needed to purge the world of "Dusk Circles" that see monsters spew forth onto the world at an alarming rate. The Dusk Circles are mostly dormant and it's up to the disciples of the Fort City's Academy to save the world.
The game features 7 heroines where you will be able to chat with them and increase your bond between each other, once you have gained 100 Bond Points you can create a Star Child with any of the heroines, as long as you haven't made them upset or angry at you. You need 3 Star Children to create a new party to bring into a dungeon, up to a maximum of 3 parties (not including yourself). You can also bring along any of the heroines to fight alongside you, as each heroine has different stats and abilities. Another interesting factor is having the family bonus where you take a heroine and the Star Children of said heroine for an extra bonus to your combat.
Overall I am really enjoying the Demo for the game on the Vita and 3DS, and while the Vita version does take advantage of the large LED screen, the core gameplay is similar across the board with no concerns. I can't wait for the game to be released come April 15th.
Official Conception 2 Website
~Djr7
