Hyperdimension Neptunia mk2

1. shdfgsdfh

   May 17, 2012

   10

   Fun story and a great new combat system. A really big improvement over first part. The only reason to not buy is having an allergy on anythingFun story and a great new combat system. A really big improvement over first part. The only reason to not buy is having an allergy on anything anime-like.… Expand

   • 6 of 9 users found this helpful
2. genericman

   Jul 8, 2014

   10

   In comparison to the first game, I really can't tell where this game stands.
   The game play is improved, but some of the story and settingIn comparison to the first game, I really can't tell where this game stands.
   The game play is improved, but some of the story and setting things were retconned a bit, it's not a bad change but in my opinion it's not the most intelligent changes, I didn't like that they scrapped the whole goddess worship thing, having that made the character seem more like goddesses, but that may be entirely personal opinion.
   
   Either way it's a decent sequel and if you didn't enjoy the first game because of the dungeons or combat i'd say give this a try. (the remake Rebirth 2 doesn't nearly have as many upgrades as Rebirth 1 has over the first game but it's still gonna be out sometime for Vita if you can wait)… Expand

   • 0 of 1 users found this helpful
4. Remmie

   Feb 28, 2012

   9

   I have to admit, I didn't enjoy the first Hyperdimension Neptunia much. I liked the characters and the setting, but the game mechanics wereI have to admit, I didn't enjoy the first Hyperdimension Neptunia much. I liked the characters and the setting, but the game mechanics were just terrible. So it was with great trepidation that I bought Hyperdimension Neptunia Mk2, hoping that it would just be a LITTLE better than the first game. My expectations were too low, Mk2 completely scraps the old mechanics of the first game and remakes them from the ground up, creating remarkably enjoyable gameplay to go along with the characters and setting we all love. Battles are much more dynamic; characters can roam the battlefield based on their movement stat and set up positional attacks, or block enemy movement. Everything feels much smoother, you won't be jamming L2 to skip attacks all the time like you probably did in the first game. Enemy encounters are also no longer random battles; enemies roam the map and you can choose whether to engage them or not. Random healing has also been done away with, items can be used at any time provided the character has enough AP.
   
   The new characters are all fairly likable, and there's plenty of time given to the old characters as well. The Lily System is a teasingly pseudo-lesbian meter of how much the other characters like the protagonist, Nepgear. It can be raised by fighting alongside characters as well as viewing events in towns. The system allows you to pair two characters together, with the back-row character providing passive bonuses to the character in front. Combo attacks are also available between certain paired characters if their Lily Rank is high enough. Lily Rank (along with character levels, items and money) carries over to New Game+, so if you don't want to worry about it too much in your first playthrough; you can always just see everything you missed in your second.
   
   There are a large number of possible endings, 7 in total, with 2 of them being significantly different from the others and one of them being a non-canon hidden ending that is surprisingly serious and dark in an otherwise cheerful game, no doubt one of the reasons this game received an 'M' rating (that, and a particularly perverse slimeball of a boss). Overall, my only complaint would be that the game is on the easy side overall, with the exception of the optional S-Rank Colosseum fights in New Game+. Those will really push your characters to their limits.
   
   If you liked the first game there's no way in hell that you won't like the sequel, it's an improvement in every way. If you didn't like the first game because of the gameplay but you enjoyed the characters, you may want to consider giving this one another chance.… Expand

   • 10 of 13 users found this helpful
5. vahn

   Aug 1, 2012

   8

   It's surprising the amount of improvements this game made...even though it wasn't really that hard considering the amount of flaws theIt's surprising the amount of improvements this game made...even though it wasn't really that hard considering the amount of flaws the original game had; everything that didn't work in the previous game it's now all better and fully functioning, with some drawbacks at the same time. One thing I want to clear out first is the DLC: the previous game was plagued by useless and very frustrating dlcs that, even though not costy, some of them could have been included from the beginning (the level caps, the guest characters and probably half of those costumes on the list): however, now dlcs are much more reasonable because yes, you can still buy useless stuff, but it's a lot less needed: the 2 extra characters are totally unnecessary because your normal roster (12) is bigger than the previous game (6, excluding the 2 guests character). In addition, no extra level caps, and many items are free: I'm glad to say that the dlcs are more of an addition, rather than a cheap trick to make you spend more...for the most part. With the dlc fact out of the way, I'll start with the first thing that got me impressed: the battle system. You can bring up to 4 characters in battle, plus 4 support characters that you can always switch in battle, and since the roster is bigger you can easily do this tactic earlier and pretty often too. The battle system resembles a tactical game, meaning that you'll have to move your characters on the battlefield and attack the enemies and so on; unlike the previous system, which was extremely slow even though it had some nice ideas, now it's extremely fast paced (and you can finally flee everytime!). The difficulty selection has been removed, which means that your enemies will be harder or easier depending all on yourself now...and some luck, since the biggest flaw here is that some battles can be hard if you don't use the right setup but that's about it. The game still uses the dungeon crawler formula: go to a guild->take quest->do quest->profit, and so on: now and then you'll have to go somewhere specific in order to continue the main plot, but you're basically free to do any quest, anytime and anywhere in the land... and speaking of land, the lands of the previous games now are basically all in one, killing the dead times between travels; they also reduced the dungeons but cured them a lot more. They also added "cities", even though they are basically lobbies for every action you'll do and the idea is basically the same as the previous game, minus the Synth shop (absent from the previous game), and the guild (quests were dungeon-specified). My biggest complain here however is that, even if cured and much, MUCH more detailed than the previous game, it still has some flaws and, strange to say, I prefered the other way! For example, since the dungeons are fewer now quests are more flexible, but there's no proper quest tracker: you have to pause and go to quest log in order to check your progress or check the targets, making it more clunky than before. Even if cities are cured now, I still wish we could visit on foot, and i doubt it's a problem of the console...I mean this is a ps3 console, but I'm pretty sure this game could easily stick in a ps2 or a psp, for how weak it is. And at last, my major complain of the game: the story. Yes this series is basically a parody of the gaming industry, but while the first game had a humour based on irony other games quotes and fourth wall jokes, this game....has not, and that's why I'm having more trouble following the story because they removed a lot of jokes and tried to make it more serious, losing the "soul" of the game, which was the parody; I enjoyed playing the first game, even with its huge flaws, but it gave me 40 hours of fun and laughs and the most stupid yet awesome story I've ever saw: this game is a lot better without a doubt, with better mechanics and much better gameplay, but lacks basically in comedy and story (which it's way shorter than the previous game...and the previous game wasn't that long to begin with). As a game, it's great and fun to play and has everything a game should have, thus the 8, but whenever they'll make a sequel, I just hope the jokes and the irony that made me love this series will come back, together with better gameplay and, maybe, some proper exploration.… Expand

   • 0 of 0 users found this helpful
6. Zemeckis

   Jun 23, 2012

   8

   I think the worst thing about this game is the repetition. It's always the same way: you watch some scenes, go into a dungeon, defeat monstersI think the worst thing about this game is the repetition. It's always the same way: you watch some scenes, go into a dungeon, defeat monsters and a boss. There's nothing different to break the routine. And it goes to the soundtrack too: always the same for events, even for different places. Scenes also don't step away from repetitive graphics and animation, and sometimes they simply don't show who is talking in the screen. Recycled dungeons and poor enemies design. I got the impression that the game was made with low resources and/or in a hurry. And in my case, I suffered from some freezing in the first minutes of every dungeon. But let's talk about the good things: variety of endings, many playable characters, great set of skills (including team skills), cool battle gameplay and many items to customize and synth. This game is far from perfect, but if you're a fan of JRPGs you should give it a try, specially to support NIS America to continue bringing japanese content to the west.… Expand

   • 1 of 1 users found this helpful
7. Razzee

   May 5, 2020

   8

   Story: I don't know how good or bad it was for someone to have a gloomy, brand new character like Nepgear as the protagonist when this gameStory: I don't know how good or bad it was for someone to have a gloomy, brand new character like Nepgear as the protagonist when this game launched in 2012, but for me it was a good change of pace. She is more human and with wider margin for character development, compared to Neptune, who in contrast manages to keep her cool at all times no matter the circumstances. The guest characters this time, Gust and Nisa, are very well written and play important roles in the story; I just wish there were more events with them. One of the endings (Conquest) is unarguably one of the best alternate timelines in the whole series.
   
   Combat system: it scrapped altogether the combat, healing and combo systems of the original game, which were too unintuitive and complex. The characters are now able to freely roam the battle instance to position the characters, healing can be done at any time, and the combo system is more straightforward, with less customization required. Two things I truly dislike about it though is being unable to defend to reduce incoming damage and the SP system that makes turning on and keeping HDD form almost impossible given how much SP is required and how few is given through attacking enemies and using items. It's not the best battle system in the franchise, but ways better than the first game and paved a path for the developers.
   
   Envinroment/art: all dungeons in this game are fresh, with none being recycled from the first game or Trinity Universe. The graphics are not great and the performance is very poor in some areas. Instead of 2D sprites, 3D models are used during cutscenes, and I don't dislike this change at all, since it amplifies the characters expressions. Sometimes 2D sprites shows up, which adds to inconsistency. mk2 has way less CGs compared to the original and Trinity Universe, or they were poorly distributed.
   
   OST: not better than the original sound-track, but still solid. When playing with English dub, most of the events are voiceless, even the main ones.… Expand

   • 0 of 0 users found this helpful
8. Dynel

   Dec 26, 2014

   0

   This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. another game with the same plot as the previous game.
   
   isn't it ironic that the psp was used in a hack to own the ps3? because the story here is the exact opposite... the little sisters of the "big" consoles freed them. Yes, that's the story in a single line. Also... same graphics as the previous one... still sucks. Still bad.
   
   real score: -10 I will deny that this is called "RPG".… Expand

   • 0 of 2 users found this helpful

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