Megadimension Neptunia VII - Game Review

Platforms: PS4, PC(played)
DLC: Yes, lots
Copy: Bought it myself

Megadimension Neptunia VII is yet another game in the storied Hyperdimension saga. Although the name implies this is the 7th iteration, it really means "Victory 2"; many are confused to this day. If you've been with the Neptunia series up to this point, then you pretty much know what to expect with this iteration. If you're new? Well, I'll do my best to help you figure out if this game is right for you!

The Neptunia series is basically a visual novel with a simple combat engine thrown into it to break up the monotony. The strength of this game series has always been its writing. If you are a fan of video games and know its history, from retro to current, you will find some very interesting dialogue here. It's fairly meta, and many times the 4th wall gets destroyed, but it is always a fun time. There are 3 main sections to this game, too.

It starts off with Neptune and Nepgear getting sucked into another dimension by accident. Here they meet a sassy megaphone-wielding hard-ass by the name of Uzume Tennoboushi. After some inital clashing we find out the ruined world has been destroyed by a colossus. How will our plucky cast defeat the enemy and save the day? Tune in next week to find out! Just kidding.....

The cast this time around is absolutely gigantic. The downside is that you basically won't get to enjoy having all the heroes until your second playthrough due to how the game is divided up into sections.

Megadimension Neptunia VII is a more ambitious game than its previous iterations. You can tell after each version that they manage to polish their style just a little bit more and always find new ways to improve on their formula. This game introduces battles with giants as well as some mild platforming! I know, that sounds totally awesome, right? PLATFORMING! It blew my mind.

Speaking mechanically, the game is almost the same. You have 3 levels of attacks and they all function slightly differently. Your Rush attacks tend to hit multiple times for light damage, but they fill the EX Gauge. The Standard attack does more damage but fills the gauge less. The Power attack functions the way you suspect and does the most damage and fills the gauge the least. The EX Gauge returns from Victory but functions a bit differently here. Whereas in the previous version you would fill it up slowly to do a boss-crushing meter-dump after a guard break, this game resets the gauge after each battle but lets it be used much more freely. The gauge also starts out small but does get bigger over time.

The scouting system also makes a return from Victory. This time, it's vastly improved. You no longer have to journey into and out of dungeons to manipulate the system. Now, it is all handled temporally. You dispatch a scout to a place and it basically manages itself. There are some hidden bonuses on some scouts so do take care who you choose to level up. The scout leveling items are abundant enough but are easy to exhaust.

The battles themselves are almost identical to anything from Mk.II onward(and Re;Birth 1 if you count that). You move your characters within a predefined range and attack enemies based on that character's hitbox. It is very easy to understand and the enemies function exactly the same. It's also important to know that hitting enemies from the sides and back deals additional damage.

Another mechanic of note is the armor slapped all over enemies. While this isn't required to defeat the enemies, it is helpful to to get some unique items if you can manage to break said armor. The most effective ways tend to be the team skills since they hit all pieces of armor regardless of where the characters are standing.

Going back to what I said earlier about the giant battles: These are a new addition to this series. Your heroes all stand on floating islands surrounding the monster. You can position your characters all around the giant to take advantage of link attacks. Another thing to note here is that most attacks simply do not work. To compensate your characters always replenish a bit of MP each turn so you can spam your strongest skills! It's a really nice cherry on top full of flavor. The music for these fights is also extremely epic.

Also mentioned earlier was platforming. This is mild and, for the most part, it is rather easy. There are, however, 2 dungeons in which this becomes a major problem. There are 2 optional dungeons with a Spelunky theme and they operate very differently from the normal game. These are basically salt generators. Be careful with them.

The music, as always, is amazing. Many classic tracks return and many terrific new tracks are present. It ranges from the absolutely bizarre to totally epic. If you like a variety of music, you'll get it here.

My only real gripes with this game are that Tara Platt had to be replaced as Vert and that the PC port kind of blows. The first one is pretty self-explanatory, even if it is sad. The second one concerns asset streaming from the hard drive constantly rather than storing it in the RAM for easy retrieval. This leads to audio being chopping and mild frame drops constantly. This is fortunately not a deal breaker as this is not even remotely a highly paced game. Still, I wish they would take it a bit more seriously! It runs pretty well for the most part, though. Almost always a solid 60fps!

Conclusion
Let's be honest, this game series is kind of weak in the gameplay department. What most people like are the story segments and character interactions. I include myself in this demographic. That doesn't mean the gameplay sections are bad. They do add variety and break up sections of the game. However, there's a skip button for a reason!

That said, the story for this game is quite ambitious. My first playthrough was met with the normal ending and I HAD to get the true ending. If it happens to you, you'll likely know why. You get some extra goodies to make a second playthrough much faster, too. So don't sweat it. Just play and enjoy. Despite all this series' supposed shortcomings it always manages to stay engaging. It has a great sense of humor, fun characters, interesting universe, and attention to gaming culture is unparalleled.

Recommendation
I have been a fan of this series from the start. I would have to be a fool not to recommend this game. It's the best one in the series without a doubt. If you're not sure, then wait for a sale. Get this one, or one of them, for cheap and see if you like it. You might be surprised! It is not for everyone but I definitely think it's worth a try for everyone.