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Story
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This game takes place another dimension (again) of Hyperdimension Neptunia called Gamarket. This time, Noire is the main character of the game, and she has been combating against other CPUs, with the assistance of her generals. One day, she made a mistake of causing the CPUs powers to be drained, robbing their powers to transform. Noire however, managed to retrieve back some of her power from someone, and she need to regain her shares back as well as recruit the generals to unite Gamarket.
The story is simple, yet may or may not be interesting to regular RPG fans or Hyperdimension Neptunia fans. For me, I feel the story is medicore, but it works well only if you like the characters. The game's to make The characters in this game are generally the highlights, where each character have a great deal exposure via their own events and make the game's story story light-hearted enough and funny. For me, the characters have likable personalities and great designs, yet may fall to stereotypical characters due to their personalities. The only exception is the player character, who I felt is unnecessary to be included in this game.
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Gameplay
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1) Exploration and Progression Section
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There isn't much exploration in this game, except you can interact with NPCs for some information, go to shop and purchase items, interact with your party members, and etc. One new feature in this game is the Sim Noire, where you can purchase furniture and other stuffs for Noire's room to get new Plans, new weapons for Noire, and an extended ending. You may also increase Noire's Lily Ranks with the generals to view their own events.
Progression is very linear, as you need only to complete the main Mission to progress in the game. Missions may have different requirements to complete, such as obtaining five specific items to clear it. Optional Quests can be completed to obtain rewards such as materials, money, and experience points. You may also choose to repeat any completed Main Missions as well as Quests to grind for levels, money, and materials.
2) Leveling, Upgrading, and Customisation Section
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Leveling is simple, as you gain experience points by executing an action such an attack on enemy, using Skills, and other actions. If you gain enough experience points for one girl, she will gain a level, which increases the character's stats, allows her to learn new Skill, and other. As gaining experience points in battle is independently for every girl, it is highly advised for you to ensure that you use every character and ensure that they have high enough levels to survive the next Mission.
You can also buy new weapons, accessories, armour slots and items from the shop by spending your money. Item Development is featured in this game, as you can create new stuffs by spending materials to create the item. Many of the generals weapons can only be obtained by doing Item Development, so plan accordingly. Many of the game's Plans can be acquired by completing the game's main Missions or the optional Quests.
3) Combat Section
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The combat is strategy and turn-based RPG, where you may control all of your characters in your turn to attack enemies or move to more desirable positions for defense. After you end your Phase, Enemy Phase will start and the computer will control their own units to take your own party members. The characters movement is grid-based, where your characters and enemies can move in grid pattern, such as by moving four grids horizontally or vertically. Each character can move as far or as short as she want depending on their MOV stat.
Each character can only take one action at a time, such as attacking, using items, or using her Skills. After that, she must end her turn if you decide not to move her around, unless you have moved her before commanding her to attack. Strategic positions play a good part in this game, as if your character is on a place higher than the enemy, she may inflict higher damage than usual to the enemy. Be aware that using normal attacks may cause the enemy to counterattack. However, your party members can do the same thing. Skills executed by your party members and enemies cannot be countered.
Each Mission and Quest may have specific limit of party members that you can deploy. Before doing it, you must choose a Party Leader from the girls. Each girl has her own pros and cons when deploying her as the Party Leader, such as making Noire the Party Leader increases the party members' MOV stat. A good planning of using which Party Leader and which girls to use in each Mission will lead you to victory easily.
One of the major aspects in battle is Lily Boost. Lily Boost is executed when your currently controlled character is using a Skill, and the girl next to her kisses her on the cheek as well as reducing the SP cost necessary to use the Skill. The more girls are next to the user, the more SP cost reduction. Not only that, activating Lily Boosts will fill up the LP gauge, which you can use for each girl's special move on enemies. Most of the special moves are offensive, but some of the girls may have different nature of special moves such as area healing move. Defeating enemies will net you money and materials. You can use the materials for Item Development to create new Items, Weapons, or Accessories.
4) Gameplay Conclusion
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The overall combat is good, as the combat can be easily learned as the game's tutorials make it clear on how to play the game. The game's status effects are actually fun to ulitise on enemies, as they can give you better advantage on beating them. Some may be annoyed that the game's main Missions have mostly same objectives of beating it. Optional Quests can be quite repetitive, even if most Quests share the same stage layouts with the main Missions' stage layouts. At many points in the game, you may be forced to grind levels to proceed as your party member levels are not high enough to beat enemies in upcoming Missions. The game progression likewise, is too linear and simplified. Overall, the gameplay is good, but not revolutionary.
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Graphics
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The graphics is average, typical of Hyperdimension Neptunia games' graphics quality. The chibi character models during battles are adorable to look at. Level designs are colourfully designed yet repetitive at the same time. 2D portraits and CG cutscenes are also present in this game as well, appeasing any Hyperdimension Neptunia fans.
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Sound
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The voice acting is good, where each voice actresses did fitting job for their character roles. Unlike previous Hyperdimension Neptunia games, this game has a lot more voice acting sections. There are some errors present however, such as the English voice actor for Neptune/Purple Heart uses her Neptune voice during the character's goddess form.
The soundtrack is mostly recycled from previous Hyperdimension Neptunia games. Some pieces do work, but that cannot escape the fact that many of the game's music is recycled from previous games. The main menu theme, opening song, and the ending song are perhaps the only original pieces, and they are certainly likable for me to listen several times however.
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Replay Value
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This game has only moderate replay value. You may opt to complete all Quests, get all Endings in this game, or collect all Trophies. However, the repetitive nature of this game may discourage people from playing the game twice or more.
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Conclusion
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This game is a good spin-off of regular Hyperdimension Neptunia games, but it is not great to the extent that it is better than Disgaea games or Final Fantasy Tactics. This game is funny, has lighthearted story, easy to learn, and fun to play. However, this game has the most amount of fanservice CG scenes compared to other Hyperdimension Neptunia titles, so this may be an issue to some players. If you are a big Noire fan and want to try out a different Hyperdimension Neptunia game, try out this game since this game focuses much more on Noire. Otherwise, there are not much incentives to try out this game for it's genre, as there are many other better strategy games available in the market.
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Score
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Story: 7/10
Gameplay: 7/10
Graphics: 7/10
Sound: 7/10
Final Score: 7.0/10.0 or 28/40
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Pros and Cons
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Pros
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- Funny and lighthearted story.
- Fun combat.
- Easy to learn gameplay.
- Status effects are varied and fun to utilise.
- Adorable chibi models.
- Many party members choices.
- Each party member has unique skills and stats.
- Good English voice acting.
- Dual audio.
Cons
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- Unnecessary inclusion of player character.
- Predictable storyline.
- Characters may feel stereotypical like anime characters.
- Repetitive process of game progression.
- Many recycled musical themes from previous Hyperdimension Neptunia games.
- Some English voice errors during cutscenes.
VGChartz's Adam Cartwright: "Console wars have been around pretty much since the dawn of videogames, but the Hyperdimension Neptunia series makes light of these arguments by personifying consoles and their manufacturers as cute goddesses and has them battle it out for supremacy. It proved to be a sleeper hit for publisher Compile Heart, who after an initially shaky start with the first entry transformed the series into its most compelling franchise."
Jorge S Fernandez: "All in all, Hyperdevotion Noire is a decent sidetrack from the standard Neptunia games, but it could have used a bit more streamlining and quality-of-life mechanics to bring it up to current SRPG titles. It also fails to take advantage of the PC platform to improve its performance, with a few controller-unfriendly quirks that hinder it further. Still, fans will no doubt be able to look past the technical annoyances to enjoy more slapstick and fanservice with the Neptunia girls, while the rest of us may be better off looking elsewhere."
The Neptunia series has always been an "acquired taste" sort of series, not really to everyones taste. I enjoy them, for the humour and the cuteness.
6/10 I'd say is actually a pretty fair score from someone who isn't too into the series. You have my approval.
A superior version of the PS Vita original that should suit fans of the never-ending Hyperdimension series just fine.
Full review by Cory Galliher on Popzara Press
Good review. I'm waiting for a price drop soon