Video Game / Princess Maker

The logo that started them all

The first of the Princess Maker games by Studio Gainax.

The player slips into the role of a knight of the kingdom. He played a big part in ending the war in the kingdom's favor, leading to an audience with the king that praises him.

The king offers him a place as a high-ranking officer in the army, but the player declines and mentions that many children have been left orphans by the war, and he wants to do something to help them. The king agrees with his ways and offers him a house in the city to move into, suitable to raising children.

One of the orphans is a little girl called Maria, who gets adopted by the player. She comes to live with him, and the player sets out to raise her well.

The game was originally released onto PC in 1991, receiving some minor improvements a few years later. A Refine version of the game was eventually released, with it being localized and available on Steam in 2017.

---

Princess Maker (Refine) contains the following Tropes

• Algorithmic Story Branching: The Player Character has seven Stats and a Reputation score, and the combination thereof at the end of the game determines which of the 30 endings she gets. Specifically, if her Reputation is 1200 or more, she gets the Ruling Queen ending; and if it's between 800 and 1199, the Princess ending. Otherwise, the ending is based on which Stat is her highest and, again, on her Reputation: each Stat has four endings, from the worst (0 to 49 Rep) to the best (400-799 Rep).
• Awesome Moment of Crowning: If daughter is literally Offered the Crown by the king, giving the speech listed in that entry.
• Beast Man: In Refine, Mountain Cats are one of the enemies that can be fought during Errantry. They're spotted furred, clawed Full-Frontal Assault-ing women, with tails.
• Bribing Your Way to Victory: The player can bribe the judges at the Miss Kingdom contest with 10G per judge to have them vote Maria as the winner of a category. This can take a lot of money, as there is a total of 1000 judges, but bribing 10 judges usually works well enough.
• Canon Name: The daughter is called Maria Lindtberg in manuals, revealing not only her first name, but also the last name of the player character.
• Cap: In Refine, there is a limit of 15 items able to be held. This includes equipped items, and certifications of education.
• Character Name Limits: In Refine, 8 characters for both places to input names:
  • The family name of the protagonist.
  • The daughter's name.
• Critical Hit: Possible in the battles, dealing about 4 times the regular damage. The message being "[Daughter's Name]'s great blow!"
• Department of Redundancy Department: In Refine, Martial Arts Tournament competitor, "Barbarian King King Iahukeah".
• Developer's Foresight:
  • If your daughter is Delinquent, she'll have sarcastic complaints about anything you make her do, ranging from working to vacation. Likewise, NPCs comment on this; for example, the brothel madame notes her sour-looking face if she works at the Brothel while Delinquent.
  • In the original release, if you find the fanservice Easter Egg to remove Maria's clothes, she'll refuse to do anything else until you get her clothes back on, you pervert.
• Dual Wielding: In Refine, Martial Arts Tournament competitor, "twin bladed swordswoman Coela Canth".
• Early-Installment Weirdness: The gameplay is actually simpler than in later installments, leading to it acting differently than the more well-known formula of the later games.
  • There is no annual salary given to the player around October. The player starts with 500G and any further money comes from what Maria earns by working part-time jobs or obtains while out on Errantry.
  • There is no butler or companion to help with the schedule or explain things, leaving the player on their own to figure it out.
  • There are only three classes, and only the Study and Military classes have levels. And to get into the higher classes, the player needs to pay an entrance exam fee, and answer two questions or defeat the class instructor in battle.
  • There are no extra clothes the player can have Maria wear to influence her parameters. She has four outfits based on the Seasons from the beginning, but changing them alters nothing and is merely cosmetic.
  • Items bought in the store get used to influence Maria's parameters, meaning to go into the inventory and pick 'Use Item'. This feature disappeared from the second game onward, where the items influence the parameters by merely being in the inventory or when bought. They're also consumed and disappear from the inventory once used.
  • There are only two contests in the Harvest Festival, the Martial Arts tournament and the Miss Kingdom contest. And winning either of those doesn't give any money, only increases to Maria's Reputation.
  • Bloodtype doesn't influence her parameters, but how well she may do when it comes to fighting battles.
  • The castle serves as a gauntlet of checkpoints for Maria to pass through, with her current Elegance determining how far she makes it — beginning by being allowed to proceed by the castle guard, passing by the military officer, etc — and getting a one-time Reputation boost for each checkpoint she passes. Once she gets to the final checkpoint, having an audience with the King, no more Reputation can be obtained, and the castle becomes obsolete.
  • The endings are separated into paths that focus on only two points: which parameter is the highest and Maria's Reputation. She will obtain an ending on the 'path' of what her highest parameter is, with how well she does being based on her Reputation. Getting the best ending on that path requires a Reputation minimum of 400.
  • Obtaining the Princess ending doesn't involve meeting or befriending a prince, at all. It's based solely on Maria's Reputation, which has to be at least at 800 to achieve it. The Ruling Queen ending works the same, with the Reputation having to be at least at 1200.
  • Maria actually comments on things instead of the game describing them — for example, she describes exactly how she messed up a job instead of a generic "Today didn't go so well". In addition, she makes snarky comments on everything if she's Delinquent.
  • Your daughter screwing up a job is tied to to her Spirit instead of the relevant stat, and even if you train Spirit, there's always a chance she'll screw the job up.
  • While later games take pains to show that the princess isn't doing anything more objectionable than pouring drinks or dancing even in the sleaziest of occupations, here, one of her jobs is explicitly a brothel.
• Earn Your Bad Ending: Obtaining the endings that require the Reputation to be between 0 and 49 are more difficult to achieve than the higher Reputation endings. Doing well at jobs increases Reputation, so the player needs to watch her Reputation closely, to make sure it doesn't rise too high.
• Flavor Text: In Refine, the shop's descriptions of the items seem to serve as the trope, where the actual statistical data is part of the item displays. For example:
  • Knife:
    Weak, but easy to use and conceal.
  • Cudgel:
    Though not much more than a wooden club, it deals out pain effectively.
  • Mace:
    Heavy and blunt, with a lethal metal cap.
  • Katana:
    A fine blade forged of folded steel in a far off land. Wielding this weapon is more art than practicality.
  • Herb:
    A medicinal herb that recovers your HP. A must have for all adventurers.
  • Iron Sandals:
    Exotic footwear that carries with it some amount of spiritual significance.
  • Book:
    Constant reading will improve your intellect. What tales await inside?
  • Poetry:
    Become more elegant, one poem at a time.
  • Iron Armor:
    Overlapping heavy iron plates grant the best protection from the outside world.
  • Bikini Armor:
    "Fashionable" armor designed specifically for women. May chafe.
• Fanservice: Par the course for Gainax. Two enemies in the Martial Arts Tournament fight in the buff, and several enemies are women and obviously so from their lack of clothing. The original MSX release had a cheat that lets you strip Maria. Two occupations are her serving drinks in a barely-disguised brothel, while one is working a brothel.
• Full-Frontal Assault: In Refine, one of the Martial Arts Tournament contestant, Tiny Fairy Spring Wind, only wears ankle coverings.
• Golden Ending: The Ruling Queen ending, where the daughter becomes the ruler of the land, requiring the incredibly high Reputation requirement of 1200, compared to the best of all other types of endings only needing 400. It's not as simple of a matter as just increasing one parameter, as getting that high of a Reputation usually requires balancing all of her parameters, and frequent Save Scumming being the only way to ensure that she'll end up getting as much Reputation as possible. Although, Errantry can be completed repeatedly, giving 50 for just completing it, with Stress reduction of every day not used. And every successful battle gives some too. Focused training can ensure consistent Errantry completion by around age 14, giving 3-4 years of constant Errantry. Meaning 600-800 Errantry, and that's not counting the Reputation from battles.
• Harping on About Harpies: In Refine, Harpies are one of the enemies that can be fought during Errantry. They're Winged Humanoid Full-Frontal Assault-ing women, with blue hair and Pointy Ears.
• He Knows About Timed Hits: In Refine, the Laborer boss will let you know the second time you work for him that:
  When you do hard labor, your Spirit and Stamina will both increase.
• Hit Points: In Refine, called "HP", and even said in the Herb's description:
  A medicinal herb that recovers your HP.
• Inevitable Tournament: October is reserved for the Harvest Festival, which contains a Martial Arts tournament or a Miss Kingdom contest. Regardless of which one the player has Maria take part in, the other contest ends up getting observed. Or she can rest.
• I Was Beaten by a Girl: In Refine, for some of the competition in the Martial Arts Tournament, although, that might be also because, depending on what year the tournament takes place, they lost to a 10-year-old:
  • Von Mantoifel:
    Damn it! Losing to a girl?
  • Johen Piper:
    Losing to a girl...
• Katanas Are Just Better: In Refine, a Katana is the most expensive weapon in the shop, at the start, and while the War Axe has 5 more Weapon, it decreases Combat Skill, while the Katana gives 50 Weapon and 50 Combat Skill.
• Lost in Translation: For Refine, if the audio track is any indication... Where the English says "Sir" or something of that nature to refer to the father, the audio uses "Yuusha", a.k.a "Hero", since the father is a national hero, having fought back the Demon King as related in the Opening Narration.
• Mana Points: Called "MP", and magical beings like sorceresses and fairies are high in it.
• Multiple Endings: The Refine game contains a total of 30 endings, 4 endings for each of the 7 parameters, and the Reputation-based Princess and Ruling Queen endings. It originally included 32 endings, but the Father's Bride and Demon's Bride endings were removed.
• Nipple and Dimed: The Refine version freely displays Maria's nipples, but still uses objects, convenient angles, or steam to avoid showing her nethers. The original game does show a hint of Maria's lady parts when she's an adult and undressed. Two enemies in the arena are bare-chested women, too.
• Offered the Crown: The King can transfer power to the daughter by giving her his crown in an Awesome Moment of Crowning:
  King: You have delivered salvation to our nation. I do not have the ability to be the guardian of this nation, or even to give you a sufficient reward. In light of this, I wish to give my throne to you.
  Narrator: The king took off his crown and offered it to [Daughter]. The people cheered as they watched from afar.
• Our Fairies Are Different: In Refine, if Martial Arts Tournament contestant, Tiny Fairy Spring Wind is an example, they have Pointy Ears and are Winged Humanoids.
• Personality Blood Types: Averted, as her personality isn't determined by her bloodtype. It changes how well she might fight in battle, like giving her a Critical Hit early on.
• Repetitive Name: From Refine, in the Martial Arts Tournament:
  • Powerful Dwarf Ivan Ivanov
  • Sorceress Baran Baranov
• Third Eye: In Refine, the second question of the first level of intelligence exam, has this question, the correct answer is Pineal Eye:
  Synapsid animals, such as dragons, have a perceptive organ often called 'The Third Eye' that can detect changes in climate. What is the true name of this organ?
  [Pineal Eye] [True Eye] [Cystic Eye]
• Surprisingly Realistic Outcome: Two of the contestants in the Martial Arts Tournament fight in the nude, which means they lack defensive parameters and tend to take lots of damage.
• "World's Best" Character: In Refine, the first time the daughter tries working as a Lumberjack, she's greeted by her supervisor with this:
  Yo, I'm the world's best lumberjack, Satomichi!
• Years Too Early: In Refine, Martial Arts Tournament contestant, Coela Canth says this if the daughter loses to her:
  Hahaha, it's about ten years too early for a little girl like you to fight me!
• You Bastard!:
  • Getting any bad ending will have the game outright tell you that you're a very bad father.
  • In the original, trying to have Maria do any activity while naked will have her complain she's starkers — you can't do anything until you throw her clothes back on.

---