ahchurro11
PSLS Level: Bronze
Hyperdimension Neptunia is a franchise that is, at its core, a huge parody of the gaming industry in its entirety, and this is a remake of the original PS3 title. Re;Birth1 takes the gameplay from Hyperdimension Neptunia Victory, the story of the original, and adds a new remake system for that, well, remake feel.
the game is also complete with a rewritten story, redone voice acting, and updated visuals.
First up is the story, which in all honestly, is rather predicable and common for an RPG. It starts with the 4
goddesses fighting in Celestia as they have been before. White Heart, Green Heart, and Black Heart all have the idea of taking out the strongest of the 4, Purple Heart. They do so and send Purple Heart, who is now reverted back to her normal form Neptune, down to Gameindustri. She is found by Compa, a kind nurse-in-training and personification of the developer Compile Heart, and is shown to have developed amnesia. She is also told by Histoire, a tome of Gameindustri who records all that happens, that in order to recover her memories, she must find the 4 key fragments and release Histoire. From here, the two girls travel across Gameindustri in search of the fragments, running into other characters such as the other goddesses in their normal forms and other personified characters. And that pretty much sums up the story for the mot part. As said before, rather common and predicable.
The place where the game really shines, however, is the characters. You have the main character Neptune, who is even aware of that and breaks the 4th wall frequently. You also have Neptune's CPU goddess form, Purple Heart, who is almost an exact opposite to Neptune's character. Then you have your two party members: Compa and IF (nicknamed Iffy by Neptune), whose personalities work so well with everyone. There's the tsundere Noire, the gamer otaku Vert, and the calm-yet-hot-headed Blanc. The way these characters interact with each other, both when they're fighting against each other or working together, not to mention the numerous numerous gaming related references, is what makes the game so memorable.
The gameplay is a standard open-field turn-based RPG, similar to how HDN Victory handled it. You take turns either attacking, using items, using special moves, etc. What makes this game unique, however, is the combo system. you attack up to 4 times with either combo-raising rush attacks, high-hitter power attacks, or shield-breaking break attacks. Using the number of Combo Points you have, you set up what moves are available and when. Later on you can also gain a 5th EXE finisher attack, for more damage. Everything else, such as stats and equipment, is pretty standard.
The remake system: a literal game-changer
As much as I love the game though, there are some major problems with it. First and majorly, there is a lot of grinding to do and for various reasons. Now that is expected of an RPG, but this game seems to demand it much more than others that I've played. You have to grind for exp due to some boss being over leveled, you must grind for materials for a plan, you must grind for money to afford stuff in the store, etc. it's so bad that there are times where you must grind for one loan just to be able to grind for another plan. Second off, the writing and jokes can be rather inappropriate or even offensive to some. 'the girls will make jokes regarding breast size or how sexy they are, which I know can turn some players off. it didn't bother me, but I know it will determine whether someone likes it or not. Lastly, and this is for fans, how much they reuse from past games. The game does look and sound beautiful, but almost all of its assets, from music to graphics, all come from HDN Victory. Even dungeon layouts are alterations from Victory, which can potentially scream lazy to some. I don't have an issue with it seeing as it is a remake and not a new title, but some elements from the original game would have been nice.
Overall, Hyperdimension Neptunia Re;Birth1 is an RPG that does what it wants to well and has fun doing so. It's writing is clever, it's gameplay is simple yet strategic, and its presentation, though rehashed, is beautiful (even more so on the original OLED Vita). The few problems that it does have are purely subjective and all depend on the player, with the only exception being the grind walls. Overall, a really fun game that everyone should at least look at.
8.5 Neps out of 10
the game is also complete with a rewritten story, redone voice acting, and updated visuals.
First up is the story, which in all honestly, is rather predicable and common for an RPG. It starts with the 4
goddesses fighting in Celestia as they have been before. White Heart, Green Heart, and Black Heart all have the idea of taking out the strongest of the 4, Purple Heart. They do so and send Purple Heart, who is now reverted back to her normal form Neptune, down to Gameindustri. She is found by Compa, a kind nurse-in-training and personification of the developer Compile Heart, and is shown to have developed amnesia. She is also told by Histoire, a tome of Gameindustri who records all that happens, that in order to recover her memories, she must find the 4 key fragments and release Histoire. From here, the two girls travel across Gameindustri in search of the fragments, running into other characters such as the other goddesses in their normal forms and other personified characters. And that pretty much sums up the story for the mot part. As said before, rather common and predicable.
The writing in this is so funny.
The place where the game really shines, however, is the characters. You have the main character Neptune, who is even aware of that and breaks the 4th wall frequently. You also have Neptune's CPU goddess form, Purple Heart, who is almost an exact opposite to Neptune's character. Then you have your two party members: Compa and IF (nicknamed Iffy by Neptune), whose personalities work so well with everyone. There's the tsundere Noire, the gamer otaku Vert, and the calm-yet-hot-headed Blanc. The way these characters interact with each other, both when they're fighting against each other or working together, not to mention the numerous numerous gaming related references, is what makes the game so memorable.
The gameplay is a standard open-field turn-based RPG, similar to how HDN Victory handled it. You take turns either attacking, using items, using special moves, etc. What makes this game unique, however, is the combo system. you attack up to 4 times with either combo-raising rush attacks, high-hitter power attacks, or shield-breaking break attacks. Using the number of Combo Points you have, you set up what moves are available and when. Later on you can also gain a 5th EXE finisher attack, for more damage. Everything else, such as stats and equipment, is pretty standard.
So. Many. Options!
There can be a lot of strategy to this setup.
Costumes are fun.
The major change to this game is the remake system. You find plans in various ways, from talking to the NPCs on them to finding them in dungeons. With those plans and the needed materials for them, you can literally alter the way the game is: from adding or changing a dungeon to adding new gameplay elements like seeing hidden treasure. It is literally game-changing. There can be a lot of strategy to this setup.
Costumes are fun.
The remake system: a literal game-changer
As much as I love the game though, there are some major problems with it. First and majorly, there is a lot of grinding to do and for various reasons. Now that is expected of an RPG, but this game seems to demand it much more than others that I've played. You have to grind for exp due to some boss being over leveled, you must grind for materials for a plan, you must grind for money to afford stuff in the store, etc. it's so bad that there are times where you must grind for one loan just to be able to grind for another plan. Second off, the writing and jokes can be rather inappropriate or even offensive to some. 'the girls will make jokes regarding breast size or how sexy they are, which I know can turn some players off. it didn't bother me, but I know it will determine whether someone likes it or not. Lastly, and this is for fans, how much they reuse from past games. The game does look and sound beautiful, but almost all of its assets, from music to graphics, all come from HDN Victory. Even dungeon layouts are alterations from Victory, which can potentially scream lazy to some. I don't have an issue with it seeing as it is a remake and not a new title, but some elements from the original game would have been nice.
Did I mention the game's fanservicey scenes?
Overall, Hyperdimension Neptunia Re;Birth1 is an RPG that does what it wants to well and has fun doing so. It's writing is clever, it's gameplay is simple yet strategic, and its presentation, though rehashed, is beautiful (even more so on the original OLED Vita). The few problems that it does have are purely subjective and all depend on the player, with the only exception being the grind walls. Overall, a really fun game that everyone should at least look at.
8.5 Neps out of 10
I'll get to it eventually, Nepgear. Don't worry.
