As much as Princess Maker 2 is a game about choices, it's ultimately a game about your stats. Almost everything you do comes down to your daughter's stats, and you need to carefully govern how they grow - and shrink - over the course of a playthrough. The first step to doing this properly is understanding how each stat works.
This guide will teach you more about each of the stats in Princess Maker 2. It is important to note that the names of the stats are often not the same in Princess Maker 2 Refine as they were in the original DOS copy of Princess Maker 2. Some of the names are also truncated in Princess Maker 2 Refine. This guide uses the full names of the stats from Refine, though we'll add in the original English translations as well.
You can check your daughter's stats - most of them, anyway - by clicking the top-left button on the main menu, above the Schedule button.
General Stats
Stamina
Original Name: Constitution
Increased By: Farming / Mason jobs; Dance classes; Robust Diet; some items
Decreased By: Slim Down / Weight Loss Diets
Your daughter's general health. Stamina is a minimum necessity for almost every job, and if your daughter's Stress stat passes her Stamina stat she'll become ill. Stamina's most important application is how it feeds directly into your daughter's HP, allowing her to survive more hits in combat.
Strength (Strnth.)
Increased By: Farm / Lumberjack jobs
Decreased By: Hairdresser job
The measure of your daughter's muscles. Strength is needed for your daughter to work as a Lumberjack. It also affects your daughter's Combat Attack, adding 1 to that stat for every 8 Strength your Daughter receives. Her Combat Attack also goes down if your daughter's Strength drops.
Intelligence (Intell.)
Increased By: Science / Poetry / Strategy / Theology classes; buying Books
Decreased By: Bar / Cabaret jobs
The measure of your daughter's mental faculties. Your daughter needs Intelligence to work effectively as a Hunter or a Tutor. She'll also need Intelligence to impress the Minister at the palace, if you want to build up Connections. In the long run, however, Intelligence is most important for your daughter's MP score, as the two values directly correlate with one another. Magic-using fighters must have have a high Intelligence to keep casting spells.
Elegance (Elegance.)
Original Name: Refinement
Increased By: Poetry / Manners classes; buying a Teacup; wearing dresses
Decreased By: Farming / Lumberjack / Hunting / Cabaret jobs
The measure of your daughter's refinement. Elegance largely plays a role in which ending your daughter gets, though it has other uses as well. Elegance coupled with Glamour will bring in random suitors at high levels, and it helps you speak to the Gatekeeper and the Imperial Guard Knight when visiting the palace. Two specific monsters (Dragons and Silver Wolves) will only speak to your daughter if her Elegance is high.
Glamour
Original Name: Charisma
Increased By: Illegal Bar / Cabaret jobs; Dancing classes; various items; wearing dresses
Decreased By: Babysitter / Plasterer / Gravekeeper / Tutor jobs; being overweight
The measure of your daughter's natural charisma and likeability. Glamour contributes to your daughter's performance at the Bar, the Illegal Bar, and the Cabaret. She'll attract random suitors and marriage proposals if her Glamour is high enough, and the General in the palace has an interest in Glamour when doling out Connections points. Glamour also plays a role in many of the more desirable endings, and you'll need it if you want your daughter to win the Dance Party at the Harvest Festival.
Morality
Original Name: Morals
Increased By: Church / Tutor jobs
Decreased By: Illegal Bar job
The measure of your daughter's moral compass. For the majority of the game Morality establishes the benchmark for when your daughter becomes Delinquent, based on how high her Stress has climbed. If it gets higher than Morality (or Faith) then Delinquency is likely to happen. Morality also causes your daughter to resist suitors on her own, and you'll need Morality to make several of the game's 'special' marriages happen, as well as a few endings.
Faith
Increased By: Church job; Theology classes
Decreased By: Illegal bar job; Science classes; attacking humans during Errantry
The measure of your daughter's belief in the divine. Like Morality, Faith helps determine how much Stress your daughter can accumulate before she becomes Delinquent. Once her Stress rises above either of these stats she'll start to misbehave. Faith makes it easier for your daughter to work as a Gravekeeper. The Bishop values people who have lots of Faith, and in the field your daughter will stand a better chance of running away from battles with a high Faith score.
Sin
Increased By: Illegal Bar / Cabaret jobs; attacking humans and killing monsters
Decreased By: Church job; donating to the church in town
The measure of your daughter's evil deeds. Sin primarily rises when defeating monsters in the field, though just about any bad deed will probably push it up as well. Sin affects the marriages and endings your daughter can get, and she'll be locked out of a lot of outcomes if her Sin is above 100. Dropping a lot of coin at the church (100 gold per 10 Sin) will quickly lower this stat.
Sensitivity
Increased By: Babysitting / Hairdresser jobs; Poetry / Painting classes; vacationing in the mountains; several items
Decreased By: Housework job; Strategy classes
The measure of your daughter's feelings towards the world. Sensitivity allows your daughter to work effectively as a Hairdresser, and makes it easier for her to talk, hide, or flee from monsters in the field, rather than having to fight. A high Sensitivity is also necessary to win the Cooking Contest at the Harvest Festival, alongside the Cooking stat. If Sensitivity is your daughter's highest stat she will randomly run away, wasting a month of your time, so try to keep her Sensitivity under check.
Stress
Increased By: Doing jobs; taking classes; various scenarios where your daughter is displeased
Decreased By: Free Time; Vacations; giving her pocket money; various items
The measure of your daughter's fatigue and general discomfort. When your daughter's Stress surpasses her Constitution she will become ill, and if her Stress surpasses her Morality or Faith (whichever is higher) she will become a Delinquent. Both reduce your daughter's ability to work or take classes, and she can outright die if she is ill for too long. Giving her Free Time (with occasional allowances) will keep her Stress low, and prevent performance issues.
Combat Stats
Combat Skill (Cbt Skill)
Increased By: Hunting job; Kung Fu / Fencing classes
Decreased By: Inn / Restaurant jobs
The measure of your daughter's combat aptitude. Increases your daughter's ability to hit opponents, as well as avoid their attacks. Combat Skill is indispensible for melee fighters, and is quite useful for magic users as well, since it allows them to block incoming melee strikes.
Attack
Original Name: Combat Attack
Increased By: Fencing class; equipping weapons; raising Strength stat by 8 points
Decreased By: Lowering Strength stat
The measure of how hard your daughter can hit. Attack is a necessity for melee fighters, as just equipping a weapon isn't enough on its own to dish out top-shelf damage. You can ignore this stat completely if you plan to use magic.
Defense
Original Name: Combat Defense
Increased By: Kung Fu class; equipping armor; finding Black Scales
Decreased By: --
The measure of how well your daughter can take a hit. Defense lowers the amount of damage your daughter will take from a physical blow that lands. The only reliable way to raise this stat (aside from armor) is taking advanced Kung Fu classes, but the stat rises so slowly that you may want to farm Black Scales at the Southern Lakeside. They're dropped by Black Mermaids.
Magic Skill (Mag Skl)
Increased By: Magic classes
Decreased By: --
The measure of your daughter's aptitude for casting magic. A high Magic Skill will allow your daughter to hit enemies with spells, as well as dodge their spells in return. An absolute necessity if you want your daughter to become a mage.
Magic Attack (Mag Atk)
Increased By: Magic classes
Decreased By: --
The power of your daughter's spells. Raising her Magic Attack will allow her to hit harder when casting spells, which is necessary if you ever plan for your daughtet to win a fight.
Magic Defense (Mag Def)
Increased By: Gravekeeper job; Theology classes
Decreased By: Science classes
The measure of your daughter's magical fortitude. Raising your daughter's Magic Defense will prevent enemy spells from hitting too hard. Enemies don't use spells very often, so this stat may not be all that handy, though if you wind up with Wendy as your daughter's Rival you'll absolutely want to raise Magic Defense before facing her at the Harvest Festival.
Reputation
The four Reputation stats are for the most part summations of your daughter's accomplishments, as well as her other stats. They figure into the ending of the game, and deciding which one you'll get. The Reputation stats are as follows:
- Fighter Reputation (Fgt Rep) - Gained by accomplishing combat tasks using melee weapons more than magic. Contributes to your in-battle Morale score, if higher than Magic Reputation. The King values a good warrior, and will provide your daughter with Connections points based on your Fighter Reputation.
- Magic Reputation (Mag Rep) - Gained by accomplishing combat tasks using magic more than melee weapons. Contributes to your in-battle Morale score, if higher than Fighter Reputation.
- Social Reputation (Scl Rep) - The sum of your daughter's Decorum, Speech, and Art stats.
- Houekeeping Reputation (Hkp Rep) - The sum of your daughter's Cooking, Cleaning, and Temperament stats.
All four Reputation stats will go down if your daughter runs away from home for a month or is arrested, while the Fighter and Magic Reputations will go down if you decline a fight in the streets.
Skills
Decorum
Increased By: Manners classes
Decreased By: --
The measure of your daughter's social etiquette. Decorum determines which officials your daughter can successfully visit at the palace. The further down the list you go, the higher the Decorum you'll need, with the King requiring 95 points.
Art (Art Skl)
Increased By: Painting / Dance classes; several items (Master Brush and Royal Harp)
Decreased By: Selling associated items
The measure of your daughter's artistic skills. Art contributes to your daughter's performance in the Hairdresser, Plasterer, and Cabaret jobs, and partially determines how well she'll do in the Dance Party portion of the Harvest Festival. When taking Painting classes your daughter will randomly receive an offer to create a painting, and her Art stat determines the quality of the painting - and how well it will do in the Royal Art Festival, again at the Harvest Festival.
Speech
Original Name: Conversation
Increased By: Bar job
Decreased By: --
The measure of your daughter's conversational skills. Speech is necessary if you want your daughter to speak to the Favorite Mistress or the Clown at the palace, and contributes to her Social Reputation. Aside from one visit by Paimon, you can only raise your daughter's Speech score by working at the Bar.
Cooking
Increased By: Housework / Restaurant / Bar jobs
Decreased By: --
The measure of your daughter's culinary skills. Cooking contributes to your daughter's performance while working at the Restaurant, and is necessary if you want her to win the Cooking Contest at the Harvest Festival. It also contributes to her Housework Reputation.
Cleaning (Cln/Ldr)
Increased By: Housework / Inn jobs
Decreased By: --
The measure of your daughter's cleaning skills. Cleaning only contributes to your daughter's Housework Reputation, and is otherwise a pointless stat.
Personality (Personal.)
Original Name: Temperament
Increased By: Housework job
Decreased By: Illegal Bar / Cabaret jobs
The measure of your daughter's emotional stability. Personality helps determine whether or not your daughter will run away from home, assuming her Sensitivity is high. The Queen also values visitors who have a high Personality.
Measurements
If you click the top-right button on the main menu, above the Schedule button, you'll open your daughter's profile. In addition to information regarding her name, age, health, and so forth, you'll find a listing of her measurements on the right. They include:
- Height
- Weight
- Bust
- Waist
- Hips
Height increases with each birthday. Bust increases if you give your daughter Buxomize Pills, and slightly changes her appearance. Otherwise, the only stat here worth worrying about is Weight, which affects the dresses your daughter can wear. You can put your daughter on a slimming Diet, or give her some Ancient Milk, to lower her Weight.
Relationship Stats
In addition to all of the 'visible' stats listed above, your daughter has four additional stats that only show up when you've reached the end of the game. These are the measure of your daughter's relationships with specific characters, and they help determine whether or not your daughter will marry anyone in particular.
- Relationship with Father - Raised by giving your daughter money, talking to her on a regular basis, giving her birthday presents, and tending to her when she's sick (which costs a bit of money). A high relationship score will made Scoldings more likely to dispel Delinquent status, and reduces the likelihood that your daughter will run away. (And, yes, with a high enough score the father will marry the daughter. Weird, but... she's adopted.)
- Relationship with Cube - Raised during any interactions between Cube in your daughter, such as bringing her items in the field, saving her from bandits when her Charisma is high, and tending to her when she's sick. If this value is high enough Cube and your daughter will get married at the end of the game.
- Relationship with Prince - Raised by meeting with the Young Military Officer every January, at the palace. (Yes, he's the Prince.) If your daughter meets with him every time, and doesn't otherwise fall in love with any other suitors, the pair will get married at the end of the game.
- Maternal Instinct - Raised by working as a Babysitter or a Tutor, and lowered by working as a Hunter. As long as your daughter doesn't marry any specific characters her patron god will discuss her maternal instincts during the ending, and this score will determine what the god has to say.