Story is Easy to Follow
Despite Neptunia Victory being the third title in the series, it’s actually pretty easy to follow even if you’re completely new to the franchise. The story starts with the world in peace following the events of Neptunia MK II and Neptune/Nepgear failing at their jobs as a CPU. Shortly after you learn of a small group trying to remove Planeptunes CPUs in favor of a nation lead by laws. Some things happen, which leads to Neptune being sent to another dimension in the past, where things are quite different than her world. From here the story is about Neptune trying to get back and ultimately saving the world she’s in. Fans of the previous games will probably enjoy it, where as newcomers will have plenty of explanations to clue you in.
NOT
Money is Still Worthless
Like the previous Neptunia games, money is overly abundant in Neptunia Victory. I never once faced an issue where cash was a problem, unless I decided to waste it on a costume or something. Even then I was able to afford my gear after a few quests. Needless to say, this can make the game feel fairly empty, plus removes a lot of the excitement from facing higher-level enemies.
Painfully Slow Start
Despite Neptunia Victory having a fantastic battle system, it will be a while before you can really enjoy it. This is because you’ll have to read about 20 minutes of dialog before you start fighting and then another 10+ minutes before you can do missions. This break down is true for the games first chapter, so be prepared for a lot of dialog before you really get into Neptunia. After this you get bombarded by tutorials, although around the 5 hour mark things get better paced. This can be hard for some people to deal with, so just keep it in mind prior to starting Neptunia Victory.
VERDICT
Neptunia Victory is easily my favorite title in the Neptunia series and a blast to play. While the combat is practically unchanged from MK II, the small additions make a big difference. In addition to that, I found the story was a little better than the previous titles, so that is a huge plus for story lovers out there. Though be warned the game is quite dialog heavy at the start of the game. If this doesn’t sound like a problem for you, then you should definitely check out Neptunia Victory to get your RPG fix.
[Editor’s Note: Hyperdimension Neptunia Victory was reviewed on the Sony PlayStation 3 platform. The game was provided to us by the publisher for review purposes.]
