Hyperdimension Neptunia Victory

 PlayStation 3
User Score
7.6

Generally favorable reviews- based on 87 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 62 out of 87
  2. Mixed: 11 out of 87
  3. Negative: 14 out of 87
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  1. Jordo5280
    Apr 10, 2013
    7
    GOOD: Great Battle System, Funny Dialogue/Story, Scout System, Improved Frame-Rate, Tough Boss Fights, Multiple Endings, Dual Audio
    BAD: Designs for dungeons, baddies, weapons, costumes, etc reused from previous games Slow and excessively grindy start, cliche alt universe ploy.
    The third game in the Hyperdimension Neptunia series takes everything that we loved from the first two and    GOOD: Great Battle System, Funny Dialogue/Story, Scout System, Improved Frame-Rate, Tough Boss Fights, Multiple Endings, Dual Audio
    BAD: Designs for dungeons, baddies, weapons, costumes, etc reused from previous games Slow and excessively grindy start, cliche alt universe ploy.

    The third game in the Hyperdimension Neptunia series takes everything that we loved from the first two and gives us plenty more to enjoy! I spent about 60 hours clearing HDN: Victory through it's true ending and after I hurdled the first 20 hours this RPG is certainly a gem. If you are not already familiar with the HDN universe, the game is a complete satire of the current-gen console wars between Sony, MSoft, Nintendo and Sega (Yes, apparently Sega still lives on somewhere). CPU's (Console Mascots Girls) are leaders of their respective console-nation in Gamindustri, fighting for shares, only to unite to destroy a global threat. The writing, the art style, the story and more are meant to be over-the-top and I found myself laughing several times at some of the jabs taken, particularly at the PSN Hack crisis.

    HDN: Victory takes place after the events of MKII in Gamindustri (Home of the fictionalized console wars) and things quickly get rolling as Neptune is swept into an alternate past dimension of Gamindustri. The cast largely remains the same from previous titles with the edition of Plutia (Planeptune/Iris Heart) and Peashy. Both add even more dysfunctional hilarity to the collection of CPU's with Plutia's sadistic transformations and Peashy's 'endowments'. Victory's story was well paced and light-hearted with moments of strange, the usual Japanese tropes and even some surprises to be had. Dialog is shallow, but suits each character perfectly with their quirky sayings, emotes and other such oddities each CPU has to offer. Neptune and Plutia are the worse offenders and, on occasion, their banter feels purposely padded. Quest and share management are nearly all optional in Victory which I found as a relief after MKII. Instead, after each chapter you are rated on a scale of 40 on the amount of quests you completed, Planeptune's shares, the new Scout System and baddies KO'd. My scores were usually in the low 20's, save for one chapter where I intentionally took the time to perfect the review score, and the score has no effect on the outcome of the story, just a helpful item as a reward. Item crafting makes it's return using loot picked up in dungeons to forge powerful healing items, weapons, accessories and costume tweaks. An additional game development craft system is added to Victory's mix as well. By fighting off optional Tough Boss fights you can earn either medals to redeem for a blank game disc or chips to craft the game. Hidden in the craft system are 'godly games' and 'terrible games' which grant a powerful boost or a debuff. Final Fantasy, Super Mario and Call of Duty all make a cameo in this optional craft system.

    The battle system is great blend of action and turn based elements. Each turn you can freely move your CPU's around the area and line up an attack on the baddies. You are given three different kinds of attack that can: build up hits for an EXE combo, hit for maximum HP damage, or chip away at a baddie's guard points. Deciding on how to build each CPU's attacks for bigger battles became a strategic addiction, and once you had access to a larger pool of CPU's; experimenting with different parties and attacks were essential. It became apparent from the start (more on this later) that baddies hit much HARDER and also recover quite a bit of HP/GP every turn in HDN:V. This is countered with the ability to change into HDD form at any point during battle at the expense of SP points and the AP system from the previous games are gone. Even a small dungeon crawl could turn deadly if an enemy went viral, giving them the ability to one-hit each CPU suddenly. CPU's are now given overpowered EXE attacks that are executed by powering the EXE gauge.

    While the game makes it quite clear that the CPU's cannot age as part of their powers, aging them well beyond their looks, this series can sometimes push the mascot girl trope a little to the point of 'uneasy'. Another review pointed out the series' sexism towards men which could generate a whole new discussion, but was pretty interesting take on the story as well.

    HyperDimension Neptunia Victory is a solid RPG and deserves your attention. The battle system is active and fun, the story is remains true to its satirical backstory with a crazy cast and goofy dialogue and there is a great deal of content to be explored. Aside from a few frustrations I completely enjoyed my time with this title and look forward to DLC content and future titles.    … Expand
  2. eyeball002
    Apr 2, 2013
    5
    Hyperdimension Neptune series is definitely targeted for those who can actually stand virtual woman with incorrect body proportion with overwhelmingly varied breasts size standing right in front of you talking about other's chest size. Which may not apply to some. Although many praises this game, it should be noted that it's result of this game hitting their targeted gamer's requirementHyperdimension Neptune series is definitely targeted for those who can actually stand virtual woman with incorrect body proportion with overwhelmingly varied breasts size standing right in front of you talking about other's chest size. Which may not apply to some. Although many praises this game, it should be noted that it's result of this game hitting their targeted gamer's requirement with tremendous preciseness, and the result is something that normal gamers, such as those who can't stand watching virtual woman with incorrect body proportion with overwhelmingly varied breasts size without feeling ashamed, should stay away.

    I must say, combat is pretty good. Mix of traditional JRPG's turn-based combat, and real time combat causes combat situation to be very engaging. Although game requires lots of grinding as normal mooks can kill your entire team if you're unprepared, this engaging combat system keeps you entertained as you grind your character's level. Whether you're careful strategy person who thinks every single move, or straight-up button mashing guy, you'll find enjoyment in combat of this game.

    It's everything else that this game falls short on. It has terrible story, despite having interesting subject of "console warfare" as its focal point, whole story basically is stopping bad guys from attacking good guys' territory, which have done by other games countless times, and I expected more from story because its uniqueness of background. Also, this game features a lot of dialogue, filled with Japanese-styled humors. Problem is, those who who are not up-to-date with Japanese humor won't find anything humorous, other than few chuckles here and there.

    Graphic is not really important as I for the one believes game is not decided by its graphics, but It will certainly disappoint some as it haven't evolved much from the its predecessor, and sometimes frame rate drops to 30, which is problematic for smooth gaming experience. I won't be complaining about these factors if game had graphic that surpasses or remotely resembles the shock Crysis have brought onto gaming industry at that time, but with its PS2 graphic, it leaves something to be desired.

    It's pretty evident that this game was meant for Japanese crowd. Those who likes Japanese culture and accustomed with these sort of media will definitely find something to appreciate here, which will probably boost the game's score to even as high as 8 or 9. However, if you are neither, then nothing will satisfy you other than its combat, which will quickly slide away from your focal point as other factors of game is flat.    … Expand
  3. Asheciel
    May 27, 2014
    7
    Story: 5/10
    - Not very interesting and it relies on fanservice often.
    Gameplay: 6/10 - Repetitive and frequently clumsy. Art: 9/10 - If you like anime, you will enjoy looking at these characters. Characters: 6/10 - Their personalities are interesting, but that's about it. There's almost no character growth throughout the game. Sound: 6/10 - Forgettable soundtracks. Enjoyment:    Story: 5/10
    - Not very interesting and it relies on fanservice often.
    Gameplay: 6/10
    - Repetitive and frequently clumsy.
    Art: 9/10
    - If you like anime, you will enjoy looking at these characters.
    Characters: 6/10
    - Their personalities are interesting, but that's about it. There's almost no character growth throughout the game.
    Sound: 6/10
    - Forgettable soundtracks.
    Enjoyment: 8/10
    - I enjoyed the game for what it was.
    If you are not fond of fanservice or pretty anime girls though, this game is definitely not for you.    … Expand
  4. AnimeGamer
    Aug 13, 2015
    6
    Critic Review Rating: 66/100.

    The game is pretty decent, however, the dialogue takes up 62% of the game. The graphics are fine as well, but it has such a low frame rate. I am not that bothered by it, but for a JRPG, I would only play it if I were to be bored. The battle system is awesome, the voices is heck of repetition.
  5. tomvs123
    Aug 27, 2018
    7
    Wow. It's better than I expected. This is a great game for people who have been following the console wars since the early 80's and are looking a unique representation of it.

    The best parts of this game are the dialogue and acting (Japanese voices). But be prepared for 30+ minute stretches of dialogue before you're able to save or get to the gameplay. Many other low-budget Japanese    Wow. It's better than I expected. This is a great game for people who have been following the console wars since the early 80's and are looking a unique representation of it.

    The best parts of this game are the dialogue and acting (Japanese voices). But be prepared for 30+ minute stretches of dialogue before you're able to save or get to the gameplay.

    Many other low-budget Japanese RPGs have their dialogue drag on without any story progression or additional characterization (Digimon: Cyber Sleuth comes to mind). This game doesn't do that: Almost all dialogue has value, primarily by giving console war references or by having the characters interact with conflicting characters in interesting ways.

    The story is an anime girl representation of the console wars. There's many clear references to the console wars and many more vague ones. At some point, you're led to believe that particular characters and plot points aren't at all related to the console wars, but the game gives you a great twist near the end that ties everything together very satisfyingly. Though you might not understand the twist or some of the references unless you've been playing video games since the early 80's.

    The characters are simultaneously serious and not serious. They're constantly aware of the player's point of view and that this is a game, but at the same time, they treat the game events as real. The characters don't occasionally break the forth wall, like in similar games. Instead, the fourth wall is constantly broken. This sounds like it would be a mess, but they somehow pull it off beautifully, I think primarily due to the great Japanese voice acting.

    As for the contents of the dialog, you'll get console war references, video game references, breast size jokes, references to how characters in previous Neptunia games were portrayed/received by fans, and interactions between duplicate characters from two dimensions. Throughout the dialogue sections, I never went long between bouts of laughter or having my mouth agape in shock. Though keep in mind that the dialogue will appeals most to people who can tolerate typical comedy anime shows.

    My primary issue with the story is that the most interesting dialogue and console war references drop off at around the mid-point and don't pick up again until near the end. This is also the point in the game where things start to feel a bit generic and you become more aware that you're just going from bad guy to bad guy (and frequently repeating bad guys) until you get to the ultimate bad guy.

    I had a great time with the story and characters, though the mid-section was about 15 hours too long.

    The combat is turn based and position based. There's a large number of skills, but I only used the most powerful ones. As I got new skills, older ones just weren't used anymore (except for healing skills). Though the special "Inafune" skills are hilarious. There's an EX gauge that increases as you take actions in combat. If you fill it up enough, you can perform a super attack that does 5x-10x your normal damage. That's pretty much it. After you get past the visual flare of battle, it's all quite basic.

    Grinding, good god, the grinding. The game is obviously influenced by early MMOs (and some current Asian MMOs) where people somehow have fun by killing the same monsters in the same manner for hours at a time. You can easily get through a dungeon only for the boss to one-shot your party. Then you must reload, gain 3-5 levels for each of your characters and try again.

    Quests in the game are as fetch-quest as you can get. They only exist to get you a bit of extra money, items, and more score at the end of each chapter (which thankfully isn't required to see the best ending). You'll be able to complete about 40% of the quests through your normal dungeon runs, but the rest require rare items or rare spawns. So be ready to get your grind on if you want to complete them all or get the best quest score.

    Item crafting is how you get the best items in the game. The system is very basic. You just give certain monster drops to the shop and they give you the item. And you guessed it, the good monster drops require lots of grinding.

    3d graphics, models, and animations look like they're from a low-budget vita game. All of the characters have only one real costume. The other costumes are just color swaps.

    It took me over 55 hours to complete the game, and I was trying hard to do as little grinding as possible. The game will easily take you over 80 hours if you like to grind. On the plus side, it's easy to get the best ending, as long as you watch all events, and locate all of the hidden dungeons (through Scouting).

    This game is for people who are interested in the console wars, like comedy anime, like good Japanese voice acting, are a bit perverted, like turn-based combat, like grinding, and don't mind low production values. If you match most of those, give the game a try.    … Expand

Awards & Rankings

77
#77 Most Discussed PS3 Game of 2013
98
#98 Most Shared PS3 Game of 2013

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
55

Mixed or average reviews - based on 19 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 2 out of 19
  2. Mixed: 13 out of 19
  3. Negative: 4 out of 19
  1. GameCritics
    Jan 14, 2014
    75
    With top-tier writing and characterization, Hyperdimension Neptunia Victory does its series proud.
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  2. Thunderbolt
    Jul 17, 2013
    30
    For a JRPG, having no worthwhile character development or well-written plot is a death sentence, and Hyperdimension Neptunia Victory is guilty on all accounts. Its annoying characters will test even the most ardent of JRPG players and its ho-hum, dungeon-crawling gameplay leaves much to be desired. Even with the excuse of being a niche title, Hyperdimension Neptunia Victory doesn’t meet even the most basic requirements expected of the genre.
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  3. PlayStation Universe
    May 2, 2013
    85
    An hilarious RPG that tries to be light-hearted, yet deep at the same time. Those who love Compile Heart style RPGs will fall in love with this sequel, but detractors will turn their nose up at it. Great for the fans but not a gateway game to bring non-fans into the fold.
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