Update Two Hundred and Thirty-Eight: 6 October 2018
Hyperdimension Neptunia Re;Birth 1
24 hours, 45 of 45 achievements
6/10
☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆
Okay that took me a LOT less time than I thought it would.
I’ve heard a lot about the Neptunia games, and I figured I owed it to myself to try them out at least once. And they were… okay! It feels like for every strength there was a big drawback, so the overall impression of the game is one long shrug.
The positives:
- Girls! All girls! The character designs are (mostly) very cute and interesting, the animations for all the girls in your party (and there come to be a LOT of them) are all varied and different. My favorite characters ended up being Compa, Vert, and Nepgear.
- The gameplay loop is addicting, and I found myself ‘one more dungeon…‘-ing more than I typically do. The game is turn-based, but you can move around your characters during their turns to line up attacks and such. Some characters are long-range, so you’d have to back them up away from enemies to attack, which I liked.
- I really like the UI design and the ‘help’ title cards.
- Some of the enemy designs made me laugh, especially the whole class of enemies that were just VN screenshots that attacked with their text boxes.
The negatives:
- It’s Girls! All girls! … but…it’s not actually for girls. It’s hard to escape how this game about girls runnin’ around being cute and making friends is really for boys. The fanservice is abundant and ranges from ‘ridiculous’ (the standard jiggle physics) to ‘every day we move further from god’s light’ (anybody who gets off to ‘bouncy’ CGs where it looks like someone circled a little girl’s small breasts with the transform tool in Photoshop and click+dragged them in a fast circle needs some fucking help). Even something I actually thought was very cute (Iffy and Vert having crushes on each other) is ultimately soured - near the end Vert says something to the effect of “It’s just between us two women so it doesn’t count,” which, you know, yaaaay……
It’s a constant reminder that I am not the kind of fan this content is for. Beyond that, it’s alienating. That certainly affects my enjoyment of it. - The story is way, way, WAY stupider than I was led to believe. I thought this was a send up of the console wars culture, but that’s really only window dressing. Beyond some character design influences and some offhand meta jokes, it’s a pretty generic fantasy story with the Fantasy Nouns relating to the ‘it’s like the games’ industry, wink wonk!’ theme instead of, I dunno, Christianity.
- A LOT of the voices were verrryyyy annoying, especially Noire’s.
Will I play the other ones? Prooooooobably. At the end of the day I like cute content about cute girls, and if I have to take it with a helping of uncomfortable sexual vibes, well, I’m used to that. Maybe one every two years.
Next up: At the end of everything… come back to anything.
See you soon!
All achievements in 24 hours? That is surprisingly quick. I think I took even longer for my first playthrough O.o But I grinded for the better equipment which is not necessary I think. Still leveling all characters to level 99 should take a while back. Although there was some kind of DLC arena mode that threw experience at you.
I got the DLC for cheap not long before I started playing…. and, with all JRPGs, I cheated the hyuck out of it. Mama don’t got that time!
I thought levelling to 99 for everyone would take way longer than it did - I was playing through the Colosseum thinking ‘this will probably take me another handful of hours’ until I hit one motherfucker that gave me some absurd number of EXP and raised everyone’s levels by 50 in one go. That was a ‘welp!’ for sure.
Night in the Woods! I really hope you enjoy completing this; I had a great time with it and it was one of my fav games in 2017 and I couldn’t stop until I had everything discovered. Have fun!
I couldn’t get myself around the Neptunia games yet. I tried one of them (but only for about 2 hours?) and it haven’t impressed me but I will probably try it again. You rated it only for a 6 out of ten - but would you recommend it?
Me too!
I played it within the first week it came out, and while I liked it, something held me back from appreciating it. It was a combination of being, perhaps, too close to Mae at the time (disaffected former college student struggling to find/hold a job and dealing with mental illness at the same time) and also… I fell in love with the Kickstarter launch trailer, and whenever that happens I’m not falling in love with the game it’s advertising, I’m falling in love with what I think the game is going to be. When, inevitably, that game is not the game I play, it’s a struggle every time to put that aside to enjoy what it IS. (This is why I don’t watch trailers for games anymore)
Replaying it now, though? I’m having a fucking ball. Playing after the Weird Autumn update is great, everything feels tighter and more interactive. This game is really really special, and I’m able to finally get to feel all of that rather than that tension I brought to it before. I love the dialogue and the color palette. I love seeing all the hints sprinkled in the early game about What The Fuck Is Up here. I’m exploring all the nooks and crannies I couldn’t or didn’t see the first time around and it’s rewarding.
As… for… recommending Nep…
I guess it depends on what you’re looking for. If you want something kind of mindless (story-wise) and cute to look at, NepNep’s your game. This could again be my preconceptions getting me but I was really looking for a satire on the games industry (my ass loves those!) and it’s really not that. If you’re in the mood for candyfloss, it’s good quality candyfloss!
Yes, I see your point. I was in a similiar position back then and it felt stiftling while at the same time I appreciated it for exactly this. It felt so real to me =3= And I really do like it when games or other media go a step further and talk about those problems that other things still won’t risk without pushing it too far.
I never watch trailer anyway. Same reason as yours. I also don’t want to spoil anything. I like to have no idea what to expect. :^)
Oh, I haven’t heard about the Weird Autumn update?! I played it via family sharing back then but I don’t have the access anymore… But it sounds great the way you describe it (I may have to buy it after all..) and I hope you will enjoy it all way through with all different routes and characters to met.
Oh well. Nah. I’m not really looking for something like that. It’s via family sharing anway so I guess it can still wait until I try it out again. Thanks for your input!
Night in the woods! Kaleith made me want this it looks great
It is great! I hope you can pick it up soon, my friend
That was quick! But reading your review, it’s not like the game was super-duper great anyways, so I guess that’s okay. I’ve looked at the game(s) from time to time in the store, but thanks to your review I won’t do that anymore. It’s not down my alley anyway.
You already mentioned in your previous post that women are automatically associated with sexualized content in video games…and that’s really escpecially the case with asian games I feel. It’s really weird sometimes, looking at that from the outside, and actually kind of a turn-off. I mean, as a heterosexual male, I’ve nothing against sexy women in principle, but still…
That’s something I’ve never, ever understood, even as a woman who loves women. Like, the gulf between the two groups is so huge that it’s incomprehensible to me, and always has been.
Beyond the whole ‘EVERY woman needs to be sexualized in SOME way ALL the time’ - which is exhausting - there’s the grotesque body horror aspects that just fuck w/me. Take, like, the really ridiculous ‘bouncy’ CGs I described above, or something like this, or go to VNdb and hit ‘random’ no more than three or four times, or any example of snake women snapped in half out of any American cape comic. Women don’t look like that or move like that. Is that really, actually sexually thrilling? Really? If I have to sit through it all the fucking time, is it actually even working as intended? The goal is for the target audience (straight men) to be some level of horny? That often?
I’ve asked a few male friends of mine this and the answers ranged from ‘no’ to ‘i dunno lol never thought about it’, but my sample size is minuscule and too self-selected to give me any real information. And, you know, I don’t know if I want to know for sure. It might just be a mystery for the ages.
Anyways, if you somehow win a copy on SG it’s worth a play, just not anything to go out of your way for.
I know way to few gay people to even dare state that I know what they desire in a partner, so I’ll try to keep that huge gulf in mind for the future.
But keep in mind that speaking about your sexual preferences is hard for most people. They won’t admit to anything that’s not absolute standard in most cases. Especially when it’s something where it’s obvious that it’s frowned upon. Add to that a tsuper (where you know what she thinks about the issue) asking that question and I doubt many people would admit to liking that kind of content. Don’t get me wrong, it may very well not be the case for your friends, I’m just generally speaking.
It’s really educating to read a perspective from someone different, so thank you for taking the time to always answer to my posts.
It might be different in other cross groups (mlm + straight women, mlm + straight men) but that’s how I’ve found it re: wlw + straight men. Milages vary all over the place tho, and it’s a fascinating topic!
Oh yeah, 40000% absolutely your points are totally valid. I’m keeping that in mind, too.
Also, no, no! the pleasure is all mine! You’re answering my posts, anyhow. It’s always a good time talking to Vito, for sure.
My friend group was doing the get tipsy and then just talk for hours the other day and one thing that came up (never have I ever i think) was if anyone has ever watched a movie/show just because it had nudity and everyone said no… porn is…different like no one is sitting through a hour long movie just because it has a topless scene and no one is searching out stuff like that just because its there. So for the most part the fanservice is just…there.
Also i think the fanservice in say anime is aimed at preteens because adolecent guys/girls are more into that constant softcore stuff
That’s a real interesting perspective!
Thank you! That’s very nice of you to say. I very much enjoy our discussions as well.