Trophies
| Trophy | Description |
|---|---|
| Battle Master (Bronze) | Fought 500 battles. |
| Blanc's Vengeance (Bronze) | Blanc joined the party. |
| C-C-C-Combo Attack (Bronze) | Created your own combo. |
| Caelus (Bronze) | Met with Caelus. |
| CFW Brave, Humbled (Bronze) | Defeated CFW Brave. |
| CFW Judge, Judged (Bronze) | Defeated CFW Judge. |
| CFW Magic, Poofed (Bronze) | Defeated CFW Magic. |
| CFW Trick, Tricked (Bronze) | Defeated CFW Trick. |
| Combo Champion (Bronze) | Achieved an 80-hit original combo. |
| CPUs, Bound and Gagged (Bronze) | View a certain CG Image. |
| CPUs, Unbound and Free (Bronze) | View a certain CG Image. |
| Delphinus Wrecked (Gold) | Defeated the secret boss, Delphinus |
| Dogootastic! (Bronze) | View a certain CG Image. |
| Evil's Nemesis (Bronze) | Fought 100 battles. |
| Freshly Grinded Girls (Silver) | Everyone reached level 99. |
| Gamindustri Graveyard (Bronze) | View a certain CG Image. |
| Gamindustri's Alchemist (Bronze) | Gust joined the party. |
| Gamindustri's Heroine (Bronze) | Nisa joined the party. |
| Gamindustri's Pop Idol (Bronze) | 5pb. joined the party. |
| Happily Ever After (Gold) | Viewed the True ending. |
| HDD Force Start (Bronze) | View a certain CG Image. |
| Histoire's Nostalgia (Bronze) | View a certain CG Image. |
| Human Ending (Silver) | Saw the human ending. |
| IF's Rehab Clinic (Bronze) | Performed battle for the first time in years. |
| It Ain't Alchemy (Bronze) | Developed an item. |
| LAN Party! (Bronze) | View a certain CG Image. |
| Lastation Training (Silver) | Saw the Lastation ending. |
| Lastation's CPU Candidate (Bronze) | Met Uni. |
| Leanbox Lover (Silver) | Saw the Leanbox ending. |
| Lowee's CPU Candidates (Bronze) | Met Rom and Ram. |
| Lowee's Readership (Silver) | Saw the Lowee ending. |
| Nep-Nep's Back (Bronze) | Neptune joined the party. |
| Nepgear mk2 (Bronze) | Nepgear's abilities enhanced. |
| Nepgear: Engage! (Bronze) | Started up a new game in Gamindustri. |
| Neptunia Master System mk2 (Platinum) | It's in your blood...a new strain of Neptunia! |
| Noire's Revenge (Bronze) | Noire joined the party. |
| Normal Ending (Silver) | Saw the normal ending. |
| Obligatory Hot Spring Event (Bronze) | View a certain CG Image. |
| Planeptune Forever (Silver) | Saw the Planeptune ending. |
| Planeptune Rescue (Bronze) | Regained Planeptune after its capture |
| Rom mk2 and Ram mk2 (Bronze) | Rom's and Ram's abilities enhanced. |
| Take Off, Every CPU! (Bronze) | Dealt over 100,000 damage. |
| The Big CPU Gig (Bronze) | View a certain CG Image. |
| The Blood of Many... (Gold) | Finished the Conquest ending route. |
| The CPU's Curse (Bronze) | Obtained the cursed sword of legend. |
| Uni mk2 (Bronze) | Uni's abilities enhanced. |
| Vert's Return (Bronze) | Vert joined the party. |
Hyperdimension Neptunia Mk2 is a game that tries really hard. It wants to be one of those old-school-feeling JRPGs that fans appreciate for both the nostalgic take on the franchise and for its take on current events. The Disgaea series has been able to fill this niche, but as the JRPG genre has been a bit barren lately, I suppose the makers of Hyperdimension Neptunia Mk2 also wanted to see if they could get in on the action. Unfortunately, it didn't go so well for them.
I won't pretend that I played the first game in the series, as this follow-up was actually the first time I had ever heard of Hyperdimension Neptunia. However, despite being extremely text-and-dialogue-heavy, the story gave me the feeling that I didn't really need to know too much about the lore of this world to jump right in. Apparently, there are three CPU characters that were captured at the end of the last game, and they have been imprisoned in a junk heap filled with old video game parts. It's a weird scene, but once you start getting some actual storyline, it starts making sense.
The events of Hyperdimension Neptunia MK2 take place in a magical place called Gamindustri. However, this place has fallen to ruin thanks to the evil Arfoire (say it out loud) and the group ASIC (Arfoire Syndicate of International Crime). Once-vibrant towns like Lastation, Lowee, and Lastbox have become shells of their former selves, and everything is pretty depressing. Well except for our hero Nepgear and her companions, who are all surprisingly upbeat, despite the chaos in their realm.
The story does have some intrinsic satirical value, but any valid criticism it tries to give the gaming industry is throttled by mountains of useless dialog and constant suggestive visuals. I understand nearly all JRPGs have some fan service built into their model, but the amount in Hyperdimension Neptunia Mk2 is over the top, bordering on ridiculousness. It's hard to take the game's anti-piracy message seriously when you are dealing with constant upskirts and peek-a-boo moments, especially when they are presented in a completely serious, non-funny way.
But even if you can deal with the ridiculous story and constant fan service, the game still doesn't offer much. The battle system is extremely simplistic and involves a turn-based system where allies can roam around a predetermined "range," and then land hits and use a certain amount of skill moves based on AP.
The only aspect of the battle system that feels even the slightest bit unique is a partner system that is based on the relationship-building element of the game. As new characters are introduced, you can participate in voluntary conversations with them and build trust with them. This begins by monitoring a social network known as "Chatter" (can you guess what it's modeled after?) and if you see something interesting, you can select it and launch into a small three-to-five-minute vignette where characters discuss their problems, goals, etc. This would actually be a pretty cool feature if the partners feature wasn't so useless in battle and the dialogue scenes weren't so boring. If you've ever been in a lengthy conversation with someone and had no clue what they were talking about afterward, then you know what sitting through these dialogue scenes is like.
As you explore more of the world of Hyperdimension Neptunia Mk2, you'll have the opportunity to explore higher-level dungeons filled with monsters and bad guys. These extra-narrative quests are actually the only part of the game that is somewhat enjoyable, and if you can get past the ultra-basic battle system and try your best to ignore the main characters, you might actually enjoy the dungeon crawling aspect of the game. But really, one satisfactory component doesn't pull this game into decent territory. Not by a long shot.
Trophies
| CODE | Effect |
|---|---|
| It's in your blood...a new strain of Neptunia! | Neptunia Master System mk2 (Platinum) |
| Started up a new game in Gamindustri. | Nepgear: Engage! (Bronze) |
| View a certain CG Image. | Gamindustri Graveyard (Bronze) |
| View a certain CG Image. | CPUs, Bound and Gagged (Bronze) |
| View a certain CG Image. | HDD Force Start (Bronze) |
| View a certain CG Image. | Dogootastic! (Bronze) |
| View a certain CG Image. | The Big CPU Gig (Bronze) |
| View a certain CG Image. | Histoire's Nostalgia (Bronze) |
| View a certain CG Image. | CPUs, Unbound and Free (Bronze) |
| View a certain CG Image. | Obligatory Hot Spring Event (Bronze) |
| View a certain CG Image. | LAN Party! (Bronze) |
| Created your own combo. | C-C-C-Combo Attack (Bronze) |
| Developed an item. | It Ain't Alchemy (Bronze) |
| Met Uni. | Lastation's CPU Candidate (Bronze) |
| Met Rom and Ram. | Lowee's CPU Candidates (Bronze) |
| Neptune joined the party. | Nep-Nep's Back (Bronze) |
| Vert joined the party. | Vert's Return (Bronze) |
| Noire joined the party. | Noire's Revenge (Bronze) |
| Blanc joined the party. | Blanc's Vengeance (Bronze) |
| Nisa joined the party. | Gamindustri's Heroine (Bronze) |
| Gust joined the party. | Gamindustri's Alchemist (Bronze) |
| 5pb. joined the party. | Gamindustri's Pop Idol (Bronze) |
| Performed battle for the first time in years. | IF's Rehab Clinic (Bronze) |
| Fought 100 battles. | Evil's Nemesis (Bronze) |
| Fought 500 battles. | Battle Master (Bronze) |
| Nepgear's abilities enhanced. | Nepgear mk2 (Bronze) |
| Uni's abilities enhanced. | Uni mk2 (Bronze) |
| Rom's and Ram's abilities enhanced. | Rom mk2 and Ram mk2 (Bronze) |
| Defeated CFW Judge. | CFW Judge, Judged (Bronze) |
| Defeated CFW Brave. | CFW Brave, Humbled (Bronze) |
| Defeated CFW Trick. | CFW Trick, Tricked (Bronze) |
| Defeated CFW Magic. | CFW Magic, Poofed (Bronze) |
| Regained Planeptune after its capture | Planeptune Rescue (Bronze) |
| Met with Caelus. | Caelus (Bronze) |
| Obtained the cursed sword of legend. | The CPU's Curse (Bronze) |
| Achieved an 80-hit original combo. | Combo Champion (Bronze) |
| Dealt over 100,000 damage. | Take Off, Every CPU! (Bronze) |
| Everyone reached level 99. | Freshly Grinded Girls (Silver) |
| Saw the normal ending. | Normal Ending (Silver) |
| Saw the human ending. | Human Ending (Silver) |
| Saw the Planeptune ending. | Planeptune Forever (Silver) |
| Saw the Leanbox ending. | Leanbox Lover (Silver) |
| Saw the Lastation ending. | Lastation Training (Silver) |
| Saw the Lowee ending. | Lowee's Readership (Silver) |
| Defeated the secret boss, Delphinus | Delphinus Wrecked (Gold) |
| Finished the Conquest ending route. | The Blood of Many... (Gold) |
| Viewed the True ending. | Happily Ever After (Gold) |
I love constant upskirts and peek-a-boo moments!
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