Sonic Zone

For anyone who doesn't know, Hyperdimension Neptunia is a PS3 exclusive series of games about... well.. games.

The gameworld itself is called "Gamindustri", and is made up of four nations, which represent four different Companies in the industry. Planetptune, which is (essentially) SEGA, Leanbox (Microsoft). Lowee (Nintendo) and Lastation (Sony). Each nation is protected.. and essentially represented by a "CPU", Console Patron Unit. They would be the central characters of the game. THey are human, but transform, rather magical-girl-like, when they activate "HDD", Hard Drive Divinity. So as you can already tell, the game world is chock full of gaming, industry and hardware references.. the game even has it's own social network, called "Chirper". Go figure..

Anyway, moving on.. It's a Japanese RPG, created by Idea Factory, Published by Compile Heart and SEGA in Japan, NIS America in North America and Tecmo Koei in Europe. It has a typical "anime" look and feel to it, and story is told in a visual novel style, with accompanying Voice Acting. The gameplay itself is what sets it wildly apart from most traditional RPGs.. while it is a turn-based system of combat, it has free-roaming elements, giving you a specific area to move in and as much time as you like to plan an attack. The combat itself relies heavily on pulling off combos, which are limited by how much "AP", action points you have. There are key differences between the two current titles, and I assume, the upcoming sequel, but they are essentially the same base system.

The games were released (Suprisingly, given the amount of content) in dates a year apart.

Hyperdimension Neptunia: JP: August 2010, NA: February 2011
Hyperdimension Neptunia Mk2: JP: August 2011, NA: February 2012
Hyperdimension Neptunia V: JP: August 2012

The first title was a more tame, PG rated experience, while the Sequel got an "M" due to, I assume, one of it's rather tragic endings (And there was some breast jiggling, but that can't be it...). I'm not sure of the sales figures to be honest, but it has been released in all major places in the world, heck, it even made it over here to Australia. Even so, it could be somewhat rare to find anywhere other than the net. Of course, it's region free anyway, being a PS3 game.


So uh.. now that I've explained what it is, can anyone say they've played it, or seen it at least? Maybe I've made you curious to try it out? Anyway-- this is my attempt at making a topic. I look forward to seeing some... decent, appropriate responses.


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Very recently in Japan a new sequel, "Kami Jigen Game Neptune V" (God Dimension Game Neptunia V would be a translation, Hyperdimension Neptunia V would be it's english name when it's localised) was released.

It has a 15+ rating and the same combat style as Mk2- i haven't had much of a chance to play it but it's got many improvements I'll speak about in another post.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=avW1GELWND0

I've actually wanted to play these games. I've been holding off on it though, because I haven't been in the mood. These are the RPGs with date-sim features, right?

Quote from: jkid101094 on Aug  1, 2012 12:48 PM
I've actually wanted to play these games. I've been holding off on it though, because I haven't been in the mood. These are the RPGs with date-sim features, right?

I wouldn't call it a datesim feature.. but the Lily rank system seems to form some kind of relationship between characters. It can affect the story, and teach your characters new partner abilities. But it's not really dating.
Nonetheless, fantastic games. I recommend the second one, at least, it's better than the first, and it's set in an alternate continuity-- basically, you don't need to know the story of the first game.

If you want to try it, it's not expensive. Not by my standard at least

Quote from: Iris Sapphire on Aug  1, 2012 12:52 PM
I wouldn't call it a datesim feature.. but the Lily rank system seems to form some kind of relationship between characters. It can affect the story, and teach your characters new partner abilities. But it's not really dating.
Nonetheless, fantastic games. I recommend the second one, at least, it's better than the first, and it's set in an alternate continuity-- basically, you don't need to know the story of the first game.

If you want to try it, it's not expensive. Not by my standard at least

Well I have Gamefly for that. I'll give it a shot. x3

Great :3 Tell me what you think when you do~

Quote from: Iris Sapphire on Aug  1, 2012 12:52 PM
I wouldn't call it a datesim feature.. but the Lily rank system seems to form some kind of relationship between characters. It can affect the story, and teach your characters new partner abilities. But it's not really dating.
Nonetheless, fantastic games. I recommend the second one, at least, it's better than the first, and it's set in an alternate continuity-- basically, you don't need to know the story of the first game.

If you want to try it, it's not expensive. Not by my standard at least

So it's kind of like Mass Effect with it's loyalty thing?

Quote from: MikeyLevi on Aug  1, 2012 02:03 PM
So it's kind of like Mass Effect with it's loyalty thing?

I haven't played Mass Effect, sorry ^^;

Well, since it's only $30.00 on PSN, I'll actually try it out ^_^

Quote from: windlessusher on Aug 16, 2012 10:41 AM
Well, since it's only $30.00 on PSN, I'll actually try it out ^_^

It's on PSN now? O:

Quote from: Iris Sapphire on Aug 16, 2012 11:12 AM
It's on PSN now? O:

It's been there for awhile now... I just never bothered to check it out.

Quote from: windlessusher on Aug 16, 2012 11:46 AM
It's been there for awhile now... I just never bothered to check it out.

The original or the sequel?

Quote from: Iris Sapphire on Aug 16, 2012 02:17 PM
The original or the sequel?

Iv'e only seen the sequel, but I think both are on there...

Quote from: windlessusher on Aug 16, 2012 03:05 PM
Iv'e only seen the sequel, but I think both are on there...

Ah, okay. Well, they don't follow the same story, so you're probably better off playing the sequel. It's an overall better game ^^

http://www.crunchyroll.com/anime-news/2012/08/28-1/hyperdimension-neptunia-rpg-series-goes-anime (http://www.crunchyroll.com/anime-news/2012/08/28-1/hyperdimension-neptunia-rpg-series-goes-anime)

Well.....................................oh mai.

Anime about a video game making video game references?

Updated OP, also going to copy this post I made about a week ago on Playfire regarding the newest game in the series.

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A few things to say about Neptune V..  I am quite enjoying it so far, despite my lack of understanding the japanese language. :P

The opening was awesome. (Not the OP, the actual 'new game' intro) A fight scene which was actually rather well animated unlike some previous games' cutscenes.

The overworld (Or I suppose it would be.. the city) is now a lot smoother to navigate, and there'splenty of places to go, it's a bit like the chirper system from number 2 except in an actual neighborhood.

Once you accept your first quest you go out to the world map which is almost the same as Mk2's, and then you enter your first dungeon...

This first thing I noticed about dungeons... you can now jump. xD

But the dungeons are no longer very claustrophobic areas, and they have multiple pathways and lots of little details and items laying around, and all the ememies respawn quicker as well, giving a lively feel. (It was a forest unsurprisingly.. har har)

The battle system is the same-ish as mk2, but it felt more fast-paced, and the characters talked as they were fighting, making battle seem lively, and the combos felt great to do.

Another thing I noticed is that the animations were smoother and even though the graphics were even prettier than previous games, the framerate was absolutely stable (even in 1080p, which this game runs at.. the previous games suffered some 'lag')

The visual novel cutscenes have been improved slightly too, with the characters, despite being 2D images, being not static, but rather they are actually animated.. their mouths move when they talk and the even move their head and make breathing motions with their bodies. The 3D style of the previous game was a bit bleh to look at.

Also, load times are top-notch thanks to their being an install feature, which the previous games were lacking (along with most games)

The load times are practically instant.

There's a lot more, but I only played through the first dungeon, messed with a few combos and tried to get a feel for navigation since I couldn't understand the menus.