Despite half a dozen remakes and spinoffs over the last year and a half giving the impression that there was plenty of Gamindistri goodness to go around, it’s been nearly four years since we Nep’ed up some bad guys in the last mainline Hyperdimension Neptunia game. Gaining a following based on its lighthearted take on the game industry while wrapping itself in magical girl anime tropes, its characters often overshadowed its addicting combat, which had admittedly grown stale after remaining mostly unchanged since the second game. Knowing this, making the jump to the PlayStation 4 in its current gen debut is the perfect opportunity to create a new first impression. Thanks to some much needed changes to the battle system and larger dungeons to go with the series’ trademark humor, this is a goal that Megadimension Neptunia VII largely succeeds at.
Neptune is back in action.
For the uninitiated gamer who couldn’t tell the difference between a Dogoo and a Pixelvader, Neptunia revolves around the four goddesses of Gamindustri. Neptune of Planeptune, Noire of Lastation, Blanc of Lowee and Vert of Leanbox each rule over their own nation, (analogous of Sega, Sony, Nintendo and Microsoft respectively,) while maintaining a friendly rivalry for share energy, a manifestation of the public’s adoration and the source of their power. the girls have since each of which represents a different nation. As the protagonist, (which she’ll be sure to constantly remind you of throughout her fourth wall breaking escapades), Neptune steps aside a bit this time to share the spotlight with the rest of the cast. Split into three smaller stories that eventually converge into one large conflict, this is very much Uzume Tennouboshi’s tale. As the last living CPU of an alternate version of a post apocalyptic Gamindustri, Neptune and her little sister, Nepgear, find themselves transported to this world through a console that’s totally not a Sega Dreamcast. In an adventure that introduces plenty of new characters, multiple worlds and non-linear progression that shines the spotlight on all four main CPU’s, VII proves early on that it’s a huge departure from its prequels thanks to its narrative.
If you’re worried that the game sounds too doom and gloom in the same way the second game was, then fear not. Despite the the dark tone of the first few dungeons, this game finds a balance between making us laugh with its lighthearted and tongue in cheek script while creating a sense of urgency within the scenarios in a way that improves on the games before it. So if you know anything about Neptune and her world, that means plenty of winks to the audience with its parodies of video games, gaming characters, and even the business practices that occupy this hobby we all love so much. New characters like Gold Third, a group of humans who represent Capcom, Bandai Namco, Square Enix and Konami respectively, add even more depth to an already great cast, (especially nods to their company history, like Square’s S-Sha having two personalities after fusing with her former enemy, based on Enix), and the villains manage to be both hilarious and menacing when they need to be. While the fanservice is relatively tame this time around, what other game are you going to find two robot villains who are obsessed with busty blondes, only for one of them to go through an identity crisis after falling in love with the flat chested Uni?
Meet Umio, the know-it-all fish man who resembles a certain Dreamcast star.
The gameplay has always been one of my favorite parts of the Neptunia series, which is easily the high point of VII. Making sure that the story and cast wasn’t the only part of the game changed, a host of new mechanics debut to turn the game’s conventions on its head. Doing away with its Guard Break system that’s been a staple of the series for years, positioning is more important than its ever been. Bringing back the full range turn based gameplay that debuted in the second game, each character you control can be moved freely within a certain range, with their attacks allowing you to hit multiple opponents at once if positioned right. Enemies now have parts that boost their defense, which will have to be broken off with the new Parts Break system. Standing in the right position, using the right elemental attacks, or flat out overwhelming bulky foes lets you deal even more damage, serving as the only way to beat some especially tough baddies.
To maximize your turns, you’ll have to prepare your combos ahead of time, bringing more strategy into the mix. Each weapon has a starting attack, where up to three additional moves can be mapped to fit different situations. Broken down into Rush Attacks, Power Attacks and Standard Attacks, each fits a different purpose when you’re grinding out those extra levels. Rush sacrifices damage for more individual hits, building up the team’s shared EXE Meter, (which lets the party unleash their most powerful attacks), Power does more damage, but fewer hits, and Standard is a happy medium. Beyond these categories, each individual attack will usually have some kind of perk that boosts its properties as long as certain requirements are met in that turn. For example, one attack might do more damage if your previous attack was a Rush Attack, whereas another will get a boost if you haven’t used a Power Attack yet. In addition to varying areas of attack, individual weapons also have different amounts of total attacks and unique starting attacks, making certain weapons better in the long run, even if they’re not the most powerful. The game makes sure to give you plenty to think about when heading into battle.
But the most impressive change that the battle system has brought is its use of team attacks, allowing your group of four to deliver huge amounts of damage with the right partners. Aside from the SP attacks, essentially your magic skills that pull from a character’s SP Meter, and the EXE Attacks mentioned above, these team ups further show how much the game has grown since its last entry. While team attacks have been in previous games, you could just unleash them anywhere on the map as long as you had the right amount of meter. This time, your whole team has to be positioned around their target in a certain way for them to work. Three member moves usually ask them to stand in a triangle formation that encloses the enemy monster for example, while full party four person attacks asks to create a square. Seeing that field placement so important this time around makes it apparent that the AI has also been improved, to the point where they’ll usually avoid grouping together or move right outside your range. It’s frustrating at times, (in a good way), but it’s good to see that the game is willing to make you work for your wins this time.
Once you’ve gotten the hang of what the battle system has to offer, Giant Battles force you to put those formations to work. As a new type of combat, these fights only allow you to use SP or EXE attacks as you gang up on a towering opponent, surrounding it by jumping from various platforms around the stage. Forcing your team to split up across the field, your priorities will change compared to regular battles since you won’t be able to be near your teammates to heal them without giving up the potential to unleash your most powerful team attacks. Moving at a much slower pace, these fights ask you to become more methodical with how you approach them, which is a nice change of pace compared to the waves of enemies you’ll be used to defeating. Slowing down the combat could eventually wear thin, which is probably why you’ll only encounter these special scenarios a handful of times.
Some of the special moves look ridiculously cool.
Just when you think you’ve seen all there is to see, the content continues to grow about half way through. In addition to Disc Development, (allowing you to customize equipment to grant various benefits), a few new customization aspects lets you dive deeper into the inner workings of each nation. Saving up money will let you develop your shops, weapon development or publicity, which makes new items available for your group to purchase. Ranging from extra powerful gear to help you do more damage, unlocking unique items that can only be obtained through this method, or raising a nation’s shares to strengthen your CPU’s from each area, there are plenty of rewards to come if you invest in each country. Throwing in the ability to hire NPC’s to scout for secret dungeons and items, their traits that grant certain advantages and disadvantages to being in the dungeon with them, and using cash to build new paths through Route Building, even series veterans will be surprised with how much has changed since the last game.
Oddly enough, the only real flaws that the game has are when it goes half way with the improvements, which becomes painfully obvious due to how tedious these moments are. For one, the map has a bit more life to it since your main character now travels from point to point along the map, rather than just selecting a location from a list. Yet, when you move between dungeons, random battles make their series debut by popping up between areas. One of the better aspects about these games was that it gave you control over whether or not you wanted to battle by placing the enemies on the map, while allowing you to hit them for a pre-fight advantage. When you take that away, you’re adding in one of the more generic, outdated genre mechanics that the game would be better off without. I’m also in favor of the game eliminating auto healing when you leave dungeons and replacing it with having to move to specific headquarters in each area to recover, but coupling this with the random battles means you might get caught off guard.
The four CPU’s in their new NEXT forms.
Moving on to brand new Neplunker mini-game, the overall package would have been better off without it. Simulating the Spelunker exploration games of days past, Neptune and her team will travel through a cave with difficulty that increases as you descend. Using the same combat system for fights, the focus is more centered around exploration, platforming and eventual survival. Except… Neptune was never meant to be a platforming star, which is obvious as soon as you start trying to traverse these stages. Her awkward jumps and clunky movement is perfectly fine when playing the normal game, but when you throw in precision jumping and avoiding traps, it becomes a nightmare to play. To make matters worse, losing all three lives, (which are unique to this mode), results in a game over for the entire game. So if you forgot to save before falling into that pit, tough luck! The post game unlocks make it more bearable, but when you feel like you’d be better off avoiding a feature until after the story is finished, that’s obviously a problem.
Unfortunately, the game’s biggest issue is one of the most persistent ones throughout the series. Each game has had a bad habit of re-using dungeons, which becomes more and more inexcusable as the games continue to grow. As another half measure, VII does not repeat any of the maps from its prequels, but does re-do the dungeons IN VII! It’s hard to be too upset though, since each one features brand new, much larger areas to explore, complete with hidden paths and breakable items that hide better treasure. Surprisingly, the size increase doesn’t slow down the game at all. Registering at a smooth 60 frames per second throughout nearly the entire game, (aside from a few maps with a lot going on in the background), the game is the most technically sound yet. The character models are still fairly basic, but the visual upgrade is strong enough that it will make it harder to go back to the older games in comparison. Rounding out the areas with an updated soundtrack that contains almost all new songs, it makes it that much more noticeable when the enemies, maps and even bosses are eventually recycled. It’s a step in the right direction, but I’m hoping that future games will go all the way with creating a completely original campaign, especially as they continue to get more and more popular.
Did I mention the transformations look amazing this time?
While not without its annoyances, Megadimension Neptunia VII is everything a sequel should be. Neptune’s fourth game provides a lenghty adventure that vastly improves combat, exploration and enemy AI, all while maintaining its laugh out loud humor for great effect. Some of the new features feel either out of place, don’t go far enough, or feel cheapened thanks to the continued re-using of assets, but these points are neglegable when you see how this game took everything that could be improved upon and made an attempt at it while staying true to the core concepts that kept fans happy over the last few years. So whether or not you’re a longtime Gamindustri supporter, a JRPG fan who wants to try something new, or even someone who wants some self referential humor to replace all the self doubt and hurt feelings that the genre is associated with, you’d do well to give Neptune a shot.
Final Score: 4.5/5