I know, I know. Hyperdimension Neptunia Victory did come out quite awhile ago. However due to many outside commitments such as full time work and wedding planning I have only just got around to achieving the platinum trophy last night. Having spent many hours running through multiple endings, character building and disc developing, I have a pretty good perspective on t  he game.

The Good

Hyperdimension Neptunia Victory continues to deliver hilarious dialogue and pop culture references throughout the game. Prepare to have the fourth wall broken down at every turn and scratch your head at how someone could actually consider putting some of the scenes in the game. It will make you laugh, make you cringe and even make you feel some pretty serious emotions that are unusual for a game drowning in fan service.

The game continues from Hyperdimension Neptunia mk2 (unless you got the Conquest Ending…) and is generally much more upbeat and happy go lucky than it’s more serious predecessor. Neptune finds herself in an alternate dimension and has to befriend the new CPU’s from the dimension to help her return home.

The new characters are a refreshing addition to the cast with Plutia becoming an interesting addition to the mix. One part of me finds her absolutely ‘ad..ooorr.able’ and the other half is just a little scared of her. Having watched the anime before playing Victory, I was impressed with how Peashy was handled and I really enjoyed her characters involvement in the overall plot and in each of the three different endings.

The Bad

The only complaints I have for the game are complaints that I held previously for the last two. I had my game freeze on me multiple times whenever I would enter a command too fast after entering the Colosseum or menu screen. The music is generally repetitive in parts. The same pieces having been scraped from the bottom of the barrel and beaten until all that is left is the deranged humming as you find yourself rocking back and fourth to appease yourself.

The only actual game play complaint I have is the Item Dev requirements. Why make me have to acquire so many pigments and then have them randomly spawn at locations…Sometimes? I managed to get 100 different items with fairly little effort but if it I was any more I would have struggled to find all of those white pigments so that I could create pink pigments, That will haunt me.

…and The Ugly

I have said it multiple times before and I feel like I have to keep saying it. Graphics do not bother me. Give me a AAA game released today and a SNES game of yesteryear and I would not prever ones graphics over the other. I thought the game looked very pretty. The new character outfits were very nice and the OP and ED were amazing! Though I hope they move on and make some new enemies instead of re-skinning the enemies from the start. More variety in the dungeons and enemies would be a welcome addition to the game,

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Overall I would say that if you are into niche JRPG’s Hyperdimension Neptunia Victory is definitely worth your time. The battle system is a lot superior to the older games and the story catches you up quickly if you are new to the series. A must play for any serious JRPG fan.