If one were to cut out even half of the silly dialogue and scrap a few of the reused dungeon themes, this forty-ish hour RPG could probably be around twenty hours long without really losing anything meaningful. ![]() Bosses get recycled ad infinitum, and both enemy and dungeon designs get reused in later acts, which lends the whole experience a sort of cheap and unimaginative feel. The combat system is excellent, then, but problems arise with how much Megadimension Neptunia VII likes to pad out its runtime. If you’re savvy in how you aim certain attacks, you can even wipe out enemies before their turn is up, granting your characters more chances to dole out punishment. Each attack or skill has an area of effect and, depending on the move, you can sometimes hit multiple targets in one shot. Combat is turn-based but features a nice extra wrinkle in which character positioning is just as important as the actions that they use. Gameplay follows that of a typical JRPG most of your experience will consist of running through dungeons that are loaded with monsters and loot, slowly but surely acquiring the resources and experience to push onward. Suffice to say, you might want to play this one when there’s no risk of your parents or friends walking into the living room, as Megadimension Neptunia VII treats its fan service with all the subtlety of a hand grenade. For example, one early scene (which goes on for a painfully long time) sees one of the main protagonists deciding to take a shower and – through relentless flirting and mocking – eventually convinces not one, but two of the other protagonists to take off their clothes and join her in the shower. To be frank, the storyline is padded, shallow, and seems to be more focused on setting up lewd scenarios with its mostly female cast than on telling a well-spun yarn. The three-part narrative is fascinating in its own right, especially with all the sidelong references to the Dreamcast and general gaming culture instilling the narrative with a passive sort of novelty, but this quickly wears thin as you get knee-deep in the story proper. Here, a new CPU named Uzume is the last standing warrior left to battle a mysterious Dark CPU who’s hellbent on destroying all life, and it’s up to Neptune and her sister, Nepgear, to offer their support and help Uzume free her home.Ĭaptured on Nintendo Switch (Handheld/Undocked) In Megadimension Neptunia VII, the narrative mostly takes place in the “Zero Dimension” which is very clearly based upon the Dreamcast. And, to be fair, it’s not a great RPG, but it has enough redeeming qualities to be at least worth a look for some enthusiasts.įor those of you unfamiliar with the Hyperdimension franchise, the premise is essentially an extended allegorical take on the never-ending push and pull of the real-world game industry, one in which beloved game consoles and companies are represented as characters by cutesy anime girls with mostly high-pitched voices. As you can probably guess just by appearances, Megadimension Neptunia VII is certainly an acquired taste that will only appeal to a specific audience. Compile Heart certainly liked the idea when it made the Hypderdimension Neptunia series about ten years ago, and now the tenth instalment of the franchise, Megadimension Neptunia VII, has made its way over to the Switch. Of course, no real wars are occurring, but imagine if the concept was taken literally. Any fan of the game industry is aware of the ‘console wars’ that have pretty much always been going on between hardware developers since gaming hardware has been available.
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