It seems like I’ve been focusing a little too much on anime to even think about looking into another
form of entertainment I enjoy- video games. More specifically, we’ll definitely look more into
Japan-related games, but there might be some Western stuff here and there, who knows. Let’s start
things off in the land of the sun though, with NIS and Hyperdimension Neptunia, a Japanese RPG game.
Now before we begin, this is just a first impressions article. I plan to write a full review for
this later on, but only after I’ve completely gone through the game and have a fair impression
before judging it. Hopefully this article will help you in deciding if you’re interested in
purchasing the game for yourself or not.
So, let’s get right into it. The premise of the game is based around the goddesses of the
makeshift world Gameindustri, who each reside over a different region that resembles a popular
gaming company (Planeptune=SEGA Neptune, Lowee=Nintendo Wii, Leanbox=Microsoft XBOX,
Lastation=Sony Playstation). The story begins with the goddesses fighting each other in something
called the Console Wars, but the conflict goes nowhere. In order to avoid a stalemate, the
goddesses team up against the Goddess of Planeptune, Neptune (or Purple Heart) and take her out.
While unconscious, a voice that calls herself Histoire contacts Neptune and pleads for her help
in freeing her from her imprisonment. Neptune awakens in the house of a young girl named Compa
(Compile Heart, the game’s developers) who claims Neptune has shot to the ground like a meteorite
and she had been taken in for treatment of her wounds. When Compa offers to come along on the
quest to free Histoire (who only Neptune can hear), Neptune agrees and the quest begins.
Just as you’d expect, it’s a wacky story straight from the creative minds of Japan. It’s a fun
little plot that is obviously not supposed to be taken too seriously, and it plays on the concept
of the console wars and the competition between the biggest gaming companies of recent generations,
which is fantastic. You’ll notice little things here and there that portray a character’s connection
to their company, like Neptune’s D-Pad hairclips, for instance.
There are other cute characters who each have their own unique personalities and equipment lineup.
At this early point in my playthrough, my party only consists of Neptune, Compa, and another girl
by the name of IF (Idea Factory, Compile Heart’s parent company). Whilst Neptune and Compa share a
bright and peppy personality, IF has a somewhat tougher exterior that matches well with the other
two characters. As for each character’s abilities, they play around with some interesting
parameters that I’ll touch upon in the next portion that will involve the gameplay itself.
So yeah, the gameplay. At the base, it’s just like your run-of-the-mill RPG like Final Fantasy
XIII where you stack abilities on top of each other to create combos. However, you’ve got quite a
few innovations in play here as well. For instance, you are given the option to customize your own
button combinations and give them names as well, as long as you have enough action points to
complete the combo in battle. Hyperdimension Neptunia also utilizes a strangely unique healing
system that is very hit and miss, but more on that in the later portions. There is no open world
exploration system, but instead you select dungeons and scenarios to hit up and the game takes you
there. Enemy encounters are random and the game in itself is nothing difficult, once you get over
the initial bumps.
So what are the misses, you’re asking yourself. Let’s begin with that healing system I talked
about above. Instead of being allowed to heal at any time outside and inside of battle, you set
points to certain item abilities that auto-activate according to their requirements in battle.
For instance, Neptune has an ability called Nep Bull that auto-heals her by 30% of her health
whenever it drops below half. However, let’s say you set 50 points into this skill, it would
only activate 50% of the time. As you can see, this can cause some problems in the deeper
dungeons where you’re getting desperate for health and have no ability to heal. My advice for any
of you who pick up this game, pump all of your item ability points into your first ability that
heals you at 50% of your health. If you can get 100 points into those abilities, you’ll heal
every time, easy as that. Aside from that, the equipment system is nice and simple- you buy
better gear as you go and you replace your older stuff. You can’t sell anything back, so you’re
dependent on revisiting older dungeons to rack up experience and money.
In conclusion, it’s been a fun ride so far. The characters are colourful and there are a TON of
fun references if you don’t try and take it too seriously. Hyperdimension Neptunia can be purchased
by clicking on the link; from what I’ve seen it’s got a better shipping deal than buying directly
from NISA’s site, so save yourself some money if you can.