Hyperdimension Neptunia PP - PlayStation Vita

Got this WAY before I was supposed to! Got it yesterday, I'm supposed to get it feb 9th. FAST shipping! Brand new never opened and no damage to case! Love this series!

*SPOILER-FREE REVIEW*This title is in no way meant for critics who aren't already fans of the series. The fact of the matter is, this is a game so niche, that if you thought the Miku series was niche, this is more niche. No, I'm serious. Hear me out.This reviewer has played every Neptunia entry. While you can get by without knowing the origins of the previous entries, you'll be at a significant disadvantage if you're not already familiar with each character. I personally think this was way better than anyone's really given credit so far, and for its audience, I think it's a pretty solid five stars. Maybe you won't think so, though, so here's a rundown.Because this is such a niche game, it's expected that you're interested in it to begin with. I'm just going by what anyone might want to know beforehand, assuming you're reading the review to either learn more about the game or check on if there's a deal-breaker for you.PRIMARY GENRES:- Event-Trigger-Happy: What the vast majority of the gameplay is. Literally everything you can do each day triggers at *least* one event per CPU, while some of your daily choices can trigger nearly 20 events each time you select one.- Visual Novel: Almost the entire game is watching the story unfold as a visual novel with a lot more story than it has gameplay. Some people may not mind that at all, considering the high quality of the overall story, voice acting, and writing. It's certainly on par with Neptunia Humor standards.- The End Justifies The Means: Each character has three endings apiece: Bad, Good, and True (yes, there are four "True" endings), and they're all worth watching. They're also all pretty easy to get, especially considering that the only requisite for a "True" ending is to A) Trigger all the "Key Events", and B) Make the correct choices during these events.- Never Say "Candlejack"/Butterfly Effect Ending Scheme: Make even one wrong key choice, even at the beginning, and you're instantly locked out of the True Ending, regardless of absolutely anything else. You will have no idea when this happens, because the other Key Events typically trigger, anyway. Thankfully, there are generally fewer than 10 of these per character, though knowing the correct answers is almost impossible without a guide.- Dating Sim: You spend a great deal of time romancing your goddess of choice by event-triggering. Each of them is capable of falling for you, which is something Neptunia fans will probably eat up.- New Game+: You'll be doing this many, many times, if you want to see everything for every character. Technically, you only need to play through any given character twice for 100% completion, but because it's so easy to accidentally win, and also because a handful of events can only be triggered if you have 21-25% Global Shares (hit 26% and you immediately trigger the ending sequences, stay at 20% or below and not all the events will be available) you may find yourself doing it three times or more.- The Door Was Unlocked/How Do You Trigger The Bath Scene?: Every CPU has a special event in which you walk in on them bathing, with a CG to match it. Additionally, some of the events can be based on your character's sexual attraction to each goddess. Expect a lot of innuendo between you and the CPUs.GOOD THINGS:- All the original VAs are here, and every single line (with a very select few withstanding, along with yourself, the MC who represents the player) is fully-voiced. It's great Neptunia fun, so if you like the Neptunia universe, odds are very high you'll love what's here.- As mentioned, there are a *ton* of endings, which will likely be what drives you to trigger every event.- The writing is very entertaining throughout, and being able to romance your CPU of choice during their particular story is actually very well-written, and sometimes sexy. There's some clear romantic tension between you and each CPU, should you pursue that with them. Fully earn their affections, and they'll always be happy to see you. It's a rewarding experience.- It's barely even worth mentioning that, technically, you have a fixed time limit to do everything in a playthrough--some people can't stand this (the Atelier games used to be downright cruel with this), but the 180-day limit you're given is *extremely* generous to do absolutely anything you want, and take as much time as you could ever need. It's literally more difficult to not accidentally win the game than to even come close to running out of time. It's totally likely that you'll easily win the game in fewer than 40 or 50 days with almost no effort. You don't *have* to, of course, nor would you want to win that quickly, if you're trying to trigger all the events and endings.- Almost everyone and their popular side-characters makes at least a brief appearance, with a good deal of emphasis on the CPU Candidates, as well as popular minor characters (Compa and IF even show up).- The game is actually pretty fun, primarily because of the quality of the writing and the dating-sim-heavy aspects. If you ever wanted to flirt with any of the goddesses, this is your chance to win them over, bar none.- Lots of unlockable costumes and accessories.NOT-SO-GOOD THINGS:- There are a total of five songs in the game (the fifth only being sung as every CPU's final concert), which can all be sung by any of the goddesses or group of goddesses. Now, you'll likely think this is nuts in a game which is apparently music-based, which no one would fault you for, but the fact is that the actual music-bit is completely secondary to the visual novel/dating sim bits. Seriously, you'll spend *WAY* more time following the story and characters than dabbling in the actual music in the game. In fact, only *three* concerts are necessary per character, plus another three (one in each other nation) if you're trying to unlock everything. For how sporadic they really are, concerts are still great fun with the customization options available.- It's not cool that it's necessary to see the "say goodnight" sequence to the CPUs at the end of every day, particularly considering that you can only do one activity per day. So after every activity, you'll be saying goodnight. This is cute the first few times, but after that you'll be heavily hitting that L button to skip previously-read text and just move on.- Unless I'm missing something, it's almost impossible to get the "True Ending" choices correct, as there's literally no indication I can see which tells you whether or not you made the "correct" choice. Often more than one choice has an obviously-beneficial outcome, so unless, again, I'm missing something, you may rely on a using a guide on one of your Vita tabs. Thankfully, all you really need to know is which choices are the "correct" ones, and there are mercifully very few for each character's storyline. Many of the choices you make are benign, but a select few will determine whether or not you get the Good or True ending.- Due to the huge emphasis on getting each event, you will be re-watching some of the same events quite often. The "L" shoulder button will become your best friend very quickly, as it quickly skips only previously-read text--if it comes across something you have yet to see, the game will stop there. You can technically skip *all* text with the Square button, but this also includes unread events, so there's no real reason to do that.THE IDEAL PERSON WHO WOULD LIKE THIS GAME:Anyone who wants to literally put themselves as the focus of attention by one or all the goddesses in the world of Gamindustri, would enjoy a visual novel that is faithful to the typical Neptunia universe, and thinks earning the romantic affection of any given CPU is a fun idea. Also, anyone who's simply interested in reading another Neptunia story. (though Histoire mentions that it's non-canon, which makes sense, since you, yourself, are brought into the universe.)I'd be glad to answer anyone's questions or comments, which I may edit into the review in a future update.As for me, this game exceeded my expectations with its excellent writing, full voice-acting with the original cast, and the admittedly out-of-character ability to personally interact with most of the Neptunia cast. Despite its flaws, they're made up for by the fact that it's all a great deal of fun, and a new take on the Neptunia universe that I think is very welcome. For some fans who always wanted to see if they could win over a given goddess' affections and be an active part of their universes, it's a dream come true.

It's good for what it is, but do NOT get this as a full priced game. Not enough substance to be worth it.

As my first foray into the idol management genre, I thought this was a fairly entertaining game. I've played through Neptune and Blanc's Producer Mode and have found the characters/story to be very in-line with the Hyperdimension universe. It's not particularly difficult, and there aren't enough songs, but there is a lot of (thin) story and plenty of events to unlock for each character. That said, if you are a fan of the Hyperdimension series, J-Pop, or just quirky Japanese games, this should be a good fit for you.

For 40 bucks you get a total of 5 songs. Not even EA, winner of two worst company of America awards, is that greedy. If you are still interested wait for it to drop at least half off. You have been warned.