For those who want to start exploring the vast fields of the JRPG genre, I have a couple of things to say regarding this game in particular:
- Neptunia 1 just reeks of bad game design -
There are some basic rules each JRPG, no matter how complex it might be, has got to have:
а) Difficulty select option (::Not present in Neptunia One::)
If the game is plot driven, there might justFor those who want to start exploring the vast fields of the JRPG genre, I have a couple of things to say regarding this game in particular:
- Neptunia 1 just reeks of bad game design -
There are some basic rules each JRPG, no matter how complex it might be, has got to have:
а) Difficulty select option (::Not present in Neptunia One::)
If the game is plot driven, there might just be a chance some players would want to experience the narrative without too much trouble or senseless grinding in this case.
The plans that are present in the game do not make the game easier or harder, yet the boss fights become a complete chore.
b) Well designed enemies and dungeons (::Not present in Neptunia One::)
This is where it gets ridiculous. There are so few original enemies in the game, that you will fight the same lazily done cliched 3d models of slimes, flowers, gross hairy slimes, and space invaders (yep, those exact pixelated sprites from the original game) over and over again! What's more, it feels like at some point the developers just gave up on coming up with original ideas for your regular fiends and made these: a green PIPE (!), tetris blocks (!!), and a regular 2d PICTURE from some visual novel (!!!) . I mean COME ON, how lazy or maybe even bored with his own creation can a dev possibly get?
To a Neptunia Re;Birth 1 state.
The same goes for the dungeons, which not only are increadibly small and simplistic, but are repeatedly used throughout the game not even once in 'new locations' ! And guess what, they reuse some of them in Nep-Nep 2! Wow, that's rich.
c) A proper tutorial, that explains every aspect of the game systematically (::Not present in Neptunia One::)
In Neptunia the tutorials are presented chaotically, with no sense of making a complete system that you can refer to each time you struggle remembering something like... enemy types, for expample, which are not so obvious due to b.1) bad functional art desing in that regard and b.2) weird and senseless names which are neither puns nor some clever/funny references which makes memorizing them a problem. However, you are supposed to know that some magic affects cetrain types of emenies, yet at chapter 3, being lv.21 (almost 15 hours in~) and have already struggled to beat Ganache, I haven't seen a single explanation about that!
That Ganache do-u-ch-e was my breaking point. It was the apidemy of bad game desing. Insane amount of grinding, bad explanation of basic game mechanics (as if you have already played the game and not even once), very little story inbetween made me stop playing this game now for at least a week. I just can't. The same thing happened to me when I was trying to play Phantasy Star 2. It was a bad experience, but I could give it some slack, since it was released 20+ years ago. This wasn't. There is no excuse for this poorly made game to be out there. Hope, the devs managed to fix some of the issues in Nep-Nep 2.
/ / Aside from general design problems, this is a bad PS Vita port. Have you ever heard of softlocking before? If not, this game will sure teach you how to set an app on the highest priority possible for it not to softlock each time it's your enemies' turn. / /
As a conclusion, it would be prudent to admit that THIS SHOULD NOT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES BE YOUR FIRST JRPG EXPERIENCE! This is one of the most mediocre examples in this gerne that even those adorable heroines could not save for me. Too sad.
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Summary:
+ Adorable and well-designed (visually) characters
+ The plot is somewhat interesting
- No proper tutorial system (half-baked pictures instead which appear long after you find something out if it is obvious and are absent when you actually need an explanation for some basic mechanics)
- Boring quests (they are always the same. literally the setting, the requirements do never change)
- Bad dungeon desing
- Lazy to the point of being absurd emeny desing
- The dialogues are primitive
- Bad fuctional desing (enemy classes and their names are at the top-left corner are barely noticable)
- Poor difficulty setting implementation
- TOO MUCH GRINDING (no matter what difficulty)
- Stupid references to the gaming culture even when uncalled for (one of the songs begins with a checkpoint theme from Virtua Racing... is that supposed to be funny?)
- Technical issues ( *softlocking* )
P.S Believe me, I sincerely tried to enjoy the game and give it a benifit of a doubt.
And yes, there are LOTS of intrusive references to the gaming culture present in the game, however, the devilery on that part is so legendarily bad, only a few people would be able to truly appreciate them.… Expand
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