Into Daddies? Well have I got the game for you!
...Sort of.
Japanese gaming mag Famitsu revealed today on it's website a new title from developer Spike, known for the Dragonball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi series, that centers around, of all things, paternity.
No it's not the Fatherly alternative to Babysitting Mama regrettably, rather it's a new RPG titled Conception: Ore no Kodomo wo Undekure! (Conception: Please Give Birth to My Child!)
The title centers around a young man named Itsuki. On the day of his graduation he finds out that his cousin/childhood friend Mahiru is pregnant and before hilarity can ensue the two are whisked away to another world known as Granbaria. The magical land is under attack by monsters, and the only creatures capable of defeating them are known as 'Star Children.' It just so happens that the only way to create a Star Child is to go and impregnate the 12 legendary 'Shrine Maidens of the Constellations' and, of course, Itsuki is the only man for the job.
It's dating-sim meets JRPG meets Pokemon meets Big Love, with gameplay switching between interaction with the 12 maidens and battling alongside your collected offspring. The fruits of Itsuki's loins form your battle party and in order to make the little brats stronger you need to maintain positive relationships with their respective mothers.
You can't make this stuff up.
The 'fantasy love' RPG will be released on both the PSP and as a download the Playstation Network, but no release date has been specified just yet.
You can get more info, albeit in Japanese, and images at the official Famitsu website.
gogoedward
Posted to Japan, Video Games on 27 October 2011
· Comments (10)
Other stuff like this: conception, conception: please give birth to my child!, dating sim, famitsu, japan, jrpg, psn, psp, spike
Dear god, I'm a bad feminist and want this game.
I'd be interested if the game was gender-flipped, or if just the shrine maidens were shrine mens. :P
But seriously, I am rather disturbed by this... It keeps feeling like 'women are only meant to be sexualized/baby-making machines' to me.
So basically, they have to f**k their way into survival? I'm more disturbed by not being as shocked as I, supposedly, should be.
I'm just disappointed that it's not the Bara game filled with daddies that I was expecting from the post title. :p
As the eminent sexologist Alfred Kinsey (never) said: "Pimpin' ain't easy."
Yeah, I was hoping for some characters along the lines of Captain Avatar if he were drawn by Gengoroh Tagame. But alas... alack... of body hair.
Oh man. That makes me way more uncomfortable than some of the squickier "girl collector" sims I've seen out of Japan by far. Impregnating girls to save the world? Ya Don't get more misogynistic than that.
Goddammit Japan
I don't think it might be as mysoginistic as it first seems. From the report, it's more like a dating sim...in that you don't just grab the maiden and use her as an incubator. I assume you have to woo them some way. Also, other cultures have other social conventions...so I have no problem with the non-monogamy (if the maidens don't that is). Finally, you need to keep the mothers of your children happy for them to prosper, so it's not like "wham, bam, thank you ma'am!"
Of course, I am making a few assumptions about the game, so only time will tell.
Honestly, it just sounds to me like a justification for a sexually manipulative fantasy. Polygamy, at least in theory, is about falling in love with multiple people. This game makes sure to be specific about creating relationships with people who are chosen for what they are, opposed to who they are, and inseminating them in order to satisfy a purpose that has nothing to do with any sort of emotional attachment.
Keeping the mother happy in order to get more out of the kids/weapons sounds more like alimony than altruism.
I've tried imagining this with the sexes flipped or with both sides being the same sex to see if it would leave me with the same concern, but even with if it was guys giving, I don't know, their favorite puppies to the cause, it still seems so manipulative. The 12 are nothing more than tools for a purpose. I don't have enough information to figure out the main character's role and response to all this.
Don't get me wrong, I'm certainly not FOR the game, but I'm not saying it doesn't have a place in the gaming world. I'm not prepared to say what should and should not be represented. I do, however, think it best that we see this from all perspectives to more accurately know what it is we may be playing/supporting.