It can be frustrating when you know a game that is fun and has real merit is marred by issues that could keep it from being appreciated by a larger audience. Princess Maker 3: Faery Tales Come True has suffered from this quite a bit. The PC worldwide release had problems. Now, the Princess Maker 3 Switch version does too. While some of these quirks are relatively harmless localization issues, others can really make parenting more challenging or frustrating.
The Princess Maker 3 Switch localization is largely unchanged from the PC one. It is the sort of situation where it can be amusing, so long as it isn’t actively sabotaging you. Fortunately, the quirks here tend to be more amusing than malicious. Sense seems to be referring to sensitivity, which can lead to some funny moments. Awkward phrasing is extremely common, leading to sentences like “Living without thought is not humane.” I’m also a big fan of “Sigh, for some reason, I think I am some uncultured woman.” There are some real groaners too though, like “Must be calculating numbers in my head while body is preparing for sale and shouting lungs out to gain customers…” There are times when it can be genuinely good and clever! The daughter’s self deprecation can be amusing, and she’s hilariously blunt at times.
But then there are the bugs. This was mentioned before Christmas 2019, but the Princess Maker 3 Switch version has a lot of bugs. I haven’t experienced the aging one myself, where your princess becomes an unchanging Dorian Gray and never grows up. I have, however, experienced the terrible misfortune of missing out on events or not receiving yearly funds from the palace.
The yearly stipend is the more dire of the possible circumstances. Each year, you are supposed to get a salary. I went with the Retired Knight profession, for its initial $1,500 starting sum and guaranteed $700 per year. You should hypothetically get the money around your avatar’s in-game birthday each year. In my case, it should have always appeared in November. However, when my daughter was 14 and 16, the money appeared in March and August. When you plot jobs and schedules around income appearing, both in games and in real life, it can be disastrous when the money doesn’t show up.
I also had an issue with the game ending. Namely, it wouldn’t. It hit the end of my eight years of child-rearing and show the “complete” box, but it wouldn’t offer the prompt to see her off. It seemed caught in a loop of that last moment even after repeatedly choosing to execute the schedule. It was only after I closed the game and reloaded the save that I finally received the option to see her off or spend a little more time like that. It wasn’t a permanent hurdle, but it was annoying.
The other quirks were fortunately more minor. Twice during my first playthrough, my daughter didn’t appear “in her room” for the regular schedule change and arrangement. Instead, the game brought up those menus where she last attended class or worked. The Korean text for the festival screens was untranslated, as was the highlighted version of the main menu text. There would be issues with line-breaks. None of these would set me back terribly, but rather would bring up the idea that the Princess Maker 3 Switch version might not have been ready for prime time.
Princess Maker 3: Faery Tales Come True is still in a playable state. I’ve been having a lot of fun with it, especially since the current format makes it easier to play on the go and in short bursts. However, this is a game that has its issues. The localization and translation aren’t perfect. Some images aren’t translated. Also, you can expect bugs that may hamper progress.
Princess Maker 3: Faery Tales Come True is available for the Nintendo Switch and PC.
Published: Jan 2, 2020 12:00 pm