Any fan of the game industry is aware of the ‘console wars’ that have pretty much always been going on between hardware developers since gaming hardware has been available. Of course, no real wars are occurring, but imagine if the concept was taken literally. Compile Heart certainly liked the idea when it made the Hypderdimension Neptunia series about ten years ago, and now the tenth instalment of the franchise, Megadimension Neptunia VII, has made its way over to the Switch. As you can probably guess just by appearances, Megadimension Neptunia VII is certainly an acquired taste that will only appeal to a specific audience. And, to be fair, it’s not a great RPG, but it has enough redeeming qualities to be at least worth a look for some enthusiasts.
For those of you unfamiliar with the Hyperdimension franchise, the premise is essentially an extended allegorical take on the never-ending push and pull of the real-world game industry, one in which beloved game consoles and companies are represented as characters by cutesy anime girls with mostly high-pitched voices. In Megadimension Neptunia VII, the narrative mostly takes place in the “Zero Dimension” which is very clearly based upon the Dreamcast. Here, a new CPU named Uzume is the last standing warrior left to battle a mysterious Dark CPU who’s hellbent on destroying all life, and it’s up to Neptune and her sister, Nepgear, to offer their support and help Uzume free her home.
The three-part narrative is fascinating in its own right, especially with all the sidelong references to the Dreamcast and general gaming culture instilling the narrative with a passive sort of novelty, but this quickly wears thin as you get knee-deep in the story proper. To be frank, the storyline is padded, shallow, and seems to be more focused on setting up lewd scenarios with its mostly female cast than on telling a well-spun yarn. For example, one early scene (which goes on for a painfully long time) sees one of the main protagonists deciding to take a shower and – through relentless flirting and mocking – eventually convinces not one, but two of the other protagonists to take off their clothes and join her in the shower. Suffice to say, you might want to play this one when there’s no risk of your parents or friends walking into the living room, as Megadimension Neptunia VII treats its fan service with all the subtlety of a hand grenade.
Gameplay follows that of a typical JRPG; most of your experience will consist of running through dungeons that are loaded with monsters and loot, slowly but surely acquiring the resources and experience to push onward. Combat is turn-based but features a nice extra wrinkle in which character positioning is just as important as the actions that they use. Each attack or skill has an area of effect and, depending on the move, you can sometimes hit multiple targets in one shot. If you’re savvy in how you aim certain attacks, you can even wipe out enemies before their turn is up, granting your characters more chances to dole out punishment.
On top of this, Megadimension Neptunia VII gives you a lot of options on how to approach combat. For example, a simple combo system for basic attacks grants you a decent amount of control over how quickly your characters can dispatch enemies. Depending on the order and type of strike you use, some attacks can have additional damage and compounding effects based on what was used earlier in the combo, which gives even the simplest attack option some nice depth. On top of this, filling up the EXE gauge through normal attacks then gives you the option of pulling off some cool multi-girl super moves or of temporarily changing characters into powered up forms. All of this comes together to make for a nicely detailed combat system with plenty of ways to play. You’re never overwhelmed with options in battle, but there are enough variables at play that even basic fodder enemy encounters are more thrilling than you’d expect.
The combat system is excellent, then, but problems arise with how much Megadimension Neptunia VII likes to pad out its runtime. Bosses get recycled ad infinitum, and both enemy and dungeon designs get reused in later acts, which lends the whole experience a sort of cheap and unimaginative feel. If one were to cut out even half of the silly dialogue and scrap a few of the reused dungeon themes, this forty-ish hour RPG could probably be around twenty hours long without really losing anything meaningful. Some may not be bothered by the repetition, but there simply comes a point where it feels like Megadimension Neptunia VII becomes needlessly elongated.
That being said, if you’re prepared to see it through to the end, Megadimension Neptunia VII offers up a decent selection of features for offering you more agency in party composition. For example, you can couple characters together to have them share stats and gain other in-battle benefits as their Lily Rank (basically a relationship level) goes up. On top of this, there’s a whole litany of in-game achievements that offer small stat boosts to characters as you unlock them, giving you the incentive to play the game a little different than you perhaps might in an ordinary run. Such features don’t negate the repetition of the repetitive game design present in other areas of Megadimension Neptunia VII, but make no mistake, they certainly do make it more bearable.
From a presentation perspective, Megadimension Neptunia VII mostly underdelivers, with ho-hum visuals and poor performance making for a generally inconsistent experience. Character designs are nicely drawn, but the dungeons you run through are laden with muddy textures and simple geometry that fails to impress in any meaningful way. On top of this, whether docked or handheld, Megadimension Neptunia VII is usually hovering around 20FPS, which gives the lacking visuals a choppy look.
Conclusion
Should you buy Megadimension Neptunia VII? Well, that depends on a few major factors. Can you stomach shamelessly pervy leerings at the bodies of the many females featured in the story? Are you okay with playing a poorly-optimized game that’s not very graphically impressive to begin with? If yes, then you just may be surprised at the quality of the gameplay that lies at the heart of this RPG. Despite its shortcomings, Megadimension Neptunia VII can be a fun game to play, and though there are plenty of better RPG’s to pick up on the eShop today, it’s impossible to deny the niche value being offered here. We’d lightly recommend this one, but with the important caveat that this is the kind of game that’s ideal fodder for buying on a big sale in the future.
Comments 39
"On top of this, whether docked or handheld, Megadimension Neptunia VII is usually hovering around 20FPS, which gives the lacking visuals a choppy look."
OUCH
Hopefully this gets a stability patch or two.
No reason a game like this should be struggling on the Switch.
These games were always OK, with a great concept, but held back by pretty poor actual gameplay. The fan service is slightly too much as well, it actually takes away from the rest of the game at times.
I got it. Only just started it but am enjoying it so far. Go ahead and burn me at the stake for my opinion, as usual.
Visuals and gameplay not running perfectly sound about what I expected, played almost all of the games from PS3 to Vita and PS4 and yeah you don't play them for that, it's something you get over quickly.
The repetition / padding is not something I'm too bothered about either so gonna play this one when my copy comes from LRG as I never got to it initially.
The fan service elements (of all kinds) is most welcome and only ever elevates it, hope this does well enough to get more of the series on Switch. Some of the Vita spin-offs would be lovely.
Shame they chose this one for Switch. The "darker" tone doesn't really suit Nep. I wish they had gone for the Re;Birth titles instead. They were great fun.
It's pretty much as expected tbh.
And I bet /v/ is still eating this up and proclaiming it to be absolute gold.
@Ralizah i have it on ps4 and had issues at launch and stuggles look like a ps3 title. but its a fun title but like others said above not the best out of the franchise.
If it isn't Seven, what is it?
@Heavyarms55 no need to burn you, there several games which were rated poor by gaming websites which I quite enjoyed
The only downside of "poor" games is, that if you need tips and hints, they are more difficult to find on the internet compared to big, popular games...
Nepu Nepu Nepu!
Preferred the combat in the original version tbh, should of brought the previous games to the switch first
...well, it's definitely much more "essential" than Super Neptunia RPG was (as well as the Re;Birth titles). No, seriously: That game was a dumpster fire, even for the series' low standards. In fact, Megadimension VII Switch's cons (Shallow story, Lots of gameplay and story padding, and Poor performance) are far more prominent with Super Neptunia RPG than this game.
Anyways, I haven't bought the game on Switch myself, but I have bought it on another system and while not my favorite in the series (that'd be Hyperdimension Neptunia mk2, though not so much for Re;Birth 2...), it's definitely one of the "good" entries in the series, mainly for fixing upon the many problems I had with its Victory battle system, having actual depth to the story and characters, and being an overall fun title around. It's definitely not up there with some of the greats like Paper Mario, Final Fantasy VI, Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of Dana, or Mother 2/Earthbound (that and its other two games in the trilogy NEEDS to come to Switch) even, but for a Neptunia game it's simply one of the best out there.
Therefore in my opinion, if Megadimension Neptunia VII is a 6/10, then that makes Super Neptunia RPG a 1/10. All that said, I've played through Megadimension Neptunia VII left and right numerous times already, so rather than jumping on it now on the Switch version, I'll wait for a bigger discount with this one like I had with every title in the series.
@Kev_Morrison From what I can work out from Wikipedia, it's pronounced like 'V2', with the V standing for 'victory', though I'm happy to stand corrected by anyone who's played the game.
@Incarna Megadimension Neptunia VII >>>>>> Re;Birth trilogy (I haven't touched Re;Birth 3 yet, but judging by the horrible times I had with the original Victory, I ain't getting my hopes up)
Megadimension VII fixed upon the many gameplay flaws that plagued the Victory/Re;Birth games for me in terms of polish, depth, and presentation. For one, you no longer have to grind out your EXE Gauge for minutes before a boss fight while keeping yourself healed from the many battles you had to go through to do that. Another thing is that you no longer have to pay a single credit to deploy scouts and on top of each of them having unique effects on a dungeon, there's no Scout Flag to find in a dungeon to trigger a different effect that ends up making the feature more confusing than beneficial.
As for the story...quirkiness is one thing, but I felt that the series only embarked on that route to make up for their otherwise lackluster gameplay (save for Hyperdimension Neptunia mk2, which I thought was amazing in my book in many aspects regarding story, characters, and gameplay...the last which is sadly not found in Re;Birth 2) and there's only so many times someone can get away with that direction before it all ends up going "Wayne's World" (and not in a good way). Therefore, it's about time the series starting having some meaningful depth to its plots, in my opinion.
@Heavyarms55 "Go ahead and burn me at the stake for my opinion, as usual."
So dramatic!
@Deltath I prefer "honest".
Have it on PS4. Not a good game.
Another poorly optimized Switch port. They are just dumping these games at this point.
edit only $20.
@Averagewriter were you expecting a Nintendo Life article to give you the complete information? Think again.
@Heavyarms55 If you feel everyone is out to get you, why do you post?
@Averagewriter It was all sorted between me and Dunning by the time I left Hotel Dusk. Saw him once at a petrol station years later. He'd let himself go a bit. Gave each other an awkward nod and a half-smile. Wish Mila would call me back, though.
I watched the anime years ago and thought that it'd be nice to play the actual games, but it seems like there's never a good time to enter the series.
Speaking of, it'd be nice if Nintendo Life mentioned whether or not newcomers to the series would understand the current game's plot or not.
Surprised article didn’t compare it to the other Neptunia Switch game, Super Neptunia RPG; normally there’d be a comparison of some sort.
On the topic of the names, tried looking it up in Japanese, which should know any weird pronunciations that exist. Apparently VII is said "Victory Two", and its VR remake-sequel "VIIR" is "Victory Two Realise".
As for a physical release, seems Idea Factory likes only releasing limited physicals through Limited Run Games for the Switch lately... They are doing one for Neptunia VII, available until the 30th, but it's $55 (~£42) once you add shipping to UK. And since they decided to make UK and US different versions, you'll need a US eShop account for DLC too.
@Kev_Morrison It’s “Vee 2” short for Victory 2, since it’s the follow up to Hyperdimension Victory. Don’t worry, only most of the titles are confusing
Another anime game they hate, keeping the meme alive.
@Rika_Yoshitake No judgment, I'm actually just curious, where do you get this notion that we're unfairly biased against 'anime' games? This review score isn't an outlier, it's legitimately just an 'ok' game. What other reviews have we published that you feel were unfair?
.......shots fired!!!!!!!!!
/NL_AnimeWars.jpg
@Deltath I don't feel they're "out to get me" simply that whenever I dare to disagree with an opinion on this site, it makes people angry.
@Averagewriter I can't speak for other reviews on the site, but I can personally attest that I've never seen another dime in exchange for a higher score, nor have I ever been leaned on by the editorial staff to water down my opinions because of the game being judged.
As with anything, though, I'd say to take reviews with a grain of salt, as they can't be anything more than the product of the person who wrote them. My reviews may be published on Nintendo Life, but they are still explicitly MY views, which are no greater or lesser than those of anybody else that comes to the site, reviewers or not.
For me, it's mostly a matter of discerning which comments are just noise and which ones actually indicate a bigger problem. I try to write quality content no matter the topic, but I'm always aware that I have blind spots just like anyone else.
@SwitchVogel Don’t you know? The anime police will give you £50 and a tube of Pringles if you give middling scores to these sorts of games!
@Heavyarms55 While I don't disagree with you, it's not just this site. That's the state of the world we're in. Burning opinions that have no room to stand with anything else. Majority public opinion in any corner of the net is absolute and those that disagree are to be shamed and beaten down. Discourse becomes nearly impossible so often now.
The new normal.
@nessisonett Is that the new rate? They only gave me a bag of Doritos and some Pockies!
@Ralizah I have only played one game in the series, Hyperdinension Neptunia Re;Birth1,and as far as I remember it had the same issues. Poor visuals and bad performance, even though I was playing on PC.
@Deltath You're not wrong.
@Heavyarms55 holy hell that last sentence was incredibly condescending. no one cares if you do or don't like a game, especially if you just started it and therefore know next to nothing. but hot damn that least sentence was incredibly condescending and rude. completely unnecessary.
@Carck Thanks for the correction. At that price cloud be worth the try for the super fans
@SwitchVogel I'd suggest you take a look at the sites review log and look specifically at the anime reviews and you'll see what I mean.
Any flavor of the month indie is guaranteed a 8-9 but an anime game piss poor scores.
That's why I'm shocked that whoever reviewed Danmachi (the latest review) gave it a 7... guess they knew we're paying attention because out of the recent anime games, if one was to get a low review score it was probably going to be that one and rightfully so... Also noone accused you of taking money for reviews you guys aren't IGN.
Despite having mixed feelings for the Re;Birth games, I'm not against them being brought over to the Switch (assuming if they're up to par in the optimization department). I would personally like for the Switch to receive more Neptunia games (especially the good ones) in the future, though how far Idea Factory and Compile Heart are willing to support this system is in the dice.
Tap here to load 39 comments
Leave A Comment
Hold on there, you need to login to post a comment...