Megadimension Neptunia VII

Megadimension Neptunia VII (Megadimension Neptunia VIIR for the remake) is a role-playing game developed by Idea Factory and Compile Heart. The game was published by Compile Heart in Japan, Cyber Korea Corp in Korea, and Idea Factory International worldwide for the PlayStation 4, Microsoft Windows, and Nintendo Switch. The game is a sequel to Hyperdimension Neptunia Victory and is the fourth mainline Neptunia game in the Hyperdimension Neptunia franchise.

Plot
G.C. 2015 — Gamindustri has entered a precarious season known as the CPU Shift Period. During this time of social unrest, deprecating rumors about the CPUs have begun to saturate Gamindustri. Neptune and the others worry the citizens will soon call for new leaders to replace them and that their rule will end.

In these critical moments for Planeptune, Neptune and Nepgear mysteriously disappear. Their destination: a divergent world, nearing its catastrophic end, called the Zero Dimension. They encounter the last remaining CPU of this world, Uzume Tennouboshi, who is desperately waging a lonely battle against a colossal evil known as the Dark CPU.

Will Neptune and Nepgear be able to work together with Uzume in order to save Zero Dimension from tragedy? So begins a new adventure for Neptune.

Zero Dimension Neptunia Z: Twilight of the Desperate CPU
A dimension that's on the brink of destruction. Neptune and Nepgear are sent here by mysterious happenstance and have begun searching for a way home. Here, they meet Uzume Tennouboshi, the last remaining CPU of this world, and together, they fight against the Dark CPU.

Hyperdimension Neptunia G: The Golden Leaders, Reconstructors of Gamindustri
The dimension Neptune calls home. Mysterious towers have appeared in Gamindustri, and with the appearance of a group of four called Gold Third, the existence of CPUs has almost been forgotten. You can choose to play as one of the four CPUs of Gamindustri.

Heartdimension Neptunia H: Trilogy Finale: Into Legend
An amalgamation of both Zero Dimension and Hyper Dimension. In order to track down the mastermind causing the troubles of both worlds, the CPUs travel to a strange, new dimension.

Why It’s Next Generation

 * 1) The story this time around is split up into three acts rather than just one storyline. Each one could be treated as their own game since they're all played separately, and each one has its own plotline that connects with the overall story. For each of them, one of the four main CPUs is the leading character, except for the second arc in which all of them become playable at some point. In short, the story is a massive step up from Victory and is considered the best in the series so far. It's also the darkest story in the franchise, even darker than mk2, but it doesn't reach the point where it feels out of place and doesn't work, unlike the anime adaptation of the franchise.
 * 2) The game now allows you to switch up your combo skills, making it much more intriguing to mix up and make new combos rather than just using most of the same combo moves.
 * 3) The combat system in this game is easily the most refined in the series thanks to a few new mechanics/changes that are introduced, for instance, the EXE meter resets after every battle, making it less of a cakewalk from the previous games. To compensate for this, the characters have received more moves and abilities. Positioning characters is much more tactical and important than the other games due to the movements being limited.  On top of that, the combo system has also been revamped. Certain combination attacks can result in longer waits, which affects the character's turn order. Combo attacks can also do more damage if certain conditions are satisfied (such as performing a rush attack just before a power attack). The differences aren't dramatic, but if you're attempting to play through the game at low levels of experience, they can be pretty important.
 * 4) The game is highly challenging compared to the other Neptunia games, with the enemies hitting even harder than in Victory. Characters' movement in battle is now limited, combo structure has become slightly different due to removal of the Combo Points feature, and characters are no longer fully healed when leveling up and must return to a town to heal. The EXE gauge no longer carries over between battles but has become a consumable resource within a single encounter. To compensate for these, features from previous games (such as Guard Meter and Break Attacks) are replaced with a new Standard Attacks and Parts Break, as well HDD transformation now costing one EXE Drive gauge instead of 20% SP. However, even with all these compensations, it doesn't make things easier, as certain areas force players to go in solo or in pairs; in addition healing items/SP skills/EXE Drives are not as effective as before and HDD mode barely boosts stats. But even with all of this, it's still balanced enough to the point that it's not too rage-inducing.
 * 5) The grinding is a lot less demanding than Victory and the other previous titles in the series, making it easier to progress through the story without having to stop and heavily grind just to get past an enemy that's much more powerful than you, which helps.
 * 6) The game can give you the urge to keep playing it constantly even after everything is finished, which also shows an impressive amount of replay value.
 * 7) There are tons of story-required and optional quests to complete in the game. They are also a good way to get back shares that were lost in battle.
 * 8) Highly improved graphics that are a step up from the previous games. The colors are vibrant, blooming, and generally just eye-candy all-around, especially in VIIR, the remake of the original game.
 * 9) An absolutely glorious soundtrack that has some of the best music in the franchise, thanks to having a proper budget this time around. They even managed to get Nobuo Uematsu to be a part of this game's soundtrack, the same composer that is popular for his work on the Final Fantasy series, and with Square Enix in general.
 * 10) The environments, dungeons, and animations aren't recycled as much compared to the previous games, since each area has different types of enemies and layouts rather than the exact same.
 * 11) The characters are as likable and hilarious as always, except this time, all of the characters from the previous games have their character development kept from the past games and they've gotten even better as a result. Neptune in particular has her personality more aligned to the Re;Birth series (Where that version of Neptune is heroic through and through, outright stating she wants to protect everyone around her) and is now more willing to go and help her nation rather than having to pressure her into doing so. She's also a lot nicer to others, especially to Noire and Nepgear and her jabs aren't nearly as insensitive as they were before, making her a lot more pleasant than how she was acting in Victory.
 * 12) The new characters, Uzume Tennouboshi, Gold Third (C-Sha, S-Sha, B-Sha, and K-Sha), and the new villains/other characters are just as likable and well-written as the other CPUs with them also being based on certain companies and consoles (though this only applies to Uzume, the Gold Third, and the other characters).
 * 13) Like all Neptunia games, there are a huge amount of references to video games, shows, and other media, which is just as funny as it always been.
 * 14) There's a secret dungeon minigame called Neplunker, a throwback to the original mh:crappygames:Spelunker. These dungeons borrow elements from that game and have some hidden goodies to search for. Being based on Spelunker, this dungeon is very difficult to complete but is very much worth the trouble of doing so thanks to having some of the best equipment from that dungeon.
 * 15) The remake of the game VIIR (Victory II Realize) made a lot of changes and added features to the game, such as:
 * 16) * An enhanced combat system with the ability to counter, and an AP system;
 * 17) * The party members that are in your team actually follow you in dungeons;
 * 18) * The graphics are drastically improved from the original game and actually looks like a current-gen game;
 * 19) * Every character can now walk and has a walking animation to boot;
 * 20) * You can now sprint in the dungeons with the addition of a stamina meter that can get upgraded to be unlimited after completing Neplunker Zero.
 * 21) * New Tales-like loot system where most battles will give you 1-2 new weapons or armors;
 * 22) * The equipment has rarity levels (Rare is green, Super Rare is purple, and Ultra Rare is gold), ranks (The higher the rank, the stronger the equipment will be), random stats and effects, and finally, the equipment can be upgraded 10 times;
 * 23) * Every single cosmetic and equipment item now has a unique 2D image for an icon, rather than Accessories for example all having the same item icon. (A witch hat is a witch hat, and the D-clips look like D-clips);
 * 24) * New menu navigation sounds and characters don't tell you about their current condition every single time you pause the game;
 * 25) * A new redesigned HUD that's significantly more colorful than the original game's HUD;
 * 26) * The game now autosaves after every battle (Although this is kinda debatable if this is good or not);
 * 27) * There is an inventory cap of 1,000 and it only applies to equipment. (There are a total of 9 DLCs that increase the cap by 1,000 and they all cost $1);
 * 28) * Moving foliage in some dungeons;
 * 29) * Outfits like the nightwear, swimsuits, and all outfits that were previously DLC are in the base game;
 * 30) * Manual allocation of stat points (You don't have to manually add each point. It gives you some automatically for leveling and then you get BP (Bonus Points) to add manually);
 * 31) * After you do the hidden treasure challenges in a dungeon you unlock the rank challenge for that dungeon. It's a mode where you are tasked to kill a target monster in that dungeon;
 * 32) * Rush mode for the coliseum where you do multiple battles without resting;
 * 33) * The number of Credits you have is now drawn with commas so you can actually read the amount of money you have past 999999;
 * 34) * A new CG when meeting the true villain;
 * 35) * A 3D cutscene somewhere in the first chapter;
 * 36) * The Player Room and VR events that allow you to talk to the 4 Goddesses;
 * 37) * You can buy the weapons from Cyberdimension Neptunia: 4 Goddesses Online as DLC;
 * 38) * New skill animations for some skills. Every formation skill now has a unique animation (well, most of them anyway, some of them are reused animations from mk2 and Victory) instead of some of them just being single explosions;
 * 39) * Bounties where you have to kill specific powerful monsters with high reward;
 * 40) * A couple of new OSTs like the Player Room theme and Steamax's theme;
 * 41) * New opening and ending credits;
 * 42) * You no longer randomly encounter enemies on the overworld, something that was extremely;
 * 43) * You now get rehealed every time you complete a battle, which can be particularly useful especially when you get into accidental back attacks.;
 * 44) * If you get a game over, you get the chance to redo the battle you died in, just like the first game in the franchise;
 * 45) * There are now hair physics and inverse kinematics on the legs of the characters. So when you're standing on an uneven surface, your knees and feet will bend to reflect that.
 * 46) You can alter the dungeons however you want thanks to the Scout System (first introduced in Victory), scouts are special NPCs that are utilized in the Scout System. By sending them out to the various dungeons in Gamindustri, Scouts can change dungeon effects, find other scouts, find items, locate hidden dungeons, and even find lost places.
 * 47) The game introduces these new transformations called NEXT Forms for the 4 main Goddesses, which serve as a second transformation while in HDD Form. In gameplay, they don't increase the stats, instead, it keeps the stats from HDD increases the strength of all skills, decreases skill costs, increases the size of a circular area of effect skills (skills that hit in a line keep the same range), and gives access to an exclusive, powerful attack. It counts as a transformation above HDD, as such, Coupling and Formation Skills will only work with other Next Form CPUs. Instead of using the SP bar, it will consume 1 EXE level to activate the Next Form.
 * 48) The DLC this time around is a little cheaper than most other Neptunia games, usually, buying all of the DLC results in it being pretty expensive. Usually costing somewhere around $50 or so. Here, it only costs about $30.
 * 49) The pacing this time is much faster and smoother due to the new turn-based system, lack of unnecessary events, and lack of padding, something that was a huge problem in the previous game.
 * 50) Tons of post-end game content to do after the game is finished, leaving players with enough content to last for a long time.
 * 51) The CPU transformations are now made even more awesome thanks to the flashy and awesome-looking special effects utilized in all of them. Again, thanks to the much larger budget which the game loves to show off at every opportunity.
 * 52) The opening credits for each of the arcs are fantastic, especially with the ending credits considering that they reference Live a Live, Dig Dug, Pooyan, The Legend of Kage, and multiple other classics. Each story arc also has its own opening credits to add more flavor to the mix.
 * 53) Like what the series is mostly known for, the humor and dialogue are very entertaining as they've always been with some meta jokes about the previous games and the anime series.
 * 54) The Nepedia, like the previous games, gives you some history and lore about Gamindustri and tells you information about the characters, albeit, it doesn't have as much information about Gamindustri as mk2.
 * 55) New Game+ allows you to finish things you didn't complete like quests, getting hidden treasures from dungeons, etc.
 * 56) You keep your SP, even when you exit a dungeon, thankfully making it so when you leave, you no longer have to constantly refill the bar after leaving.
 * 57) The game is packed with tons of awesome moments when playing, especially when compared to the other games in the series.
 * 58) Fantastic voice acting for both English and Japanese, with some popular voice actors from certain anime shows appearing here as well.

Bad Qualities

 * 1) While the world map is cool and all, there are random encounters in it, making it very annoying and tedious to traverse the map, thankfully once you've beaten the game for the first time, you can turn this off in New Game+.
 * 2) Even though there's a significant amount of new stuff here, some areas, animations, models, and music are still recycled from previous games.
 * 3) Some of the DLC characters don't return from previous games.
 * 4) The giant boss fights can get really repetitive after fighting them for the third time since they're barely different from each other and despite the epic music, it basically boils down to moving to different spots and selecting one of your very strong SP Skills/EXE Drive Skills.
 * 5) There are still some parts where you have to heavily grind just to progress the game.
 * 6) Even though the increased difficulty of this title is mostly a good thing, it can get way too difficult at times, particularly during the fight against the 4 brainwashed CPUs due to the fact that they're already in their HDD Forms, meaning that they already have all of the advantages that they bring with them, including increased attack power, defense, focus, and mobility. Their basic attack combos can deal a large amount of damage, even if your party members are properly even-leveled by that point. And to make matters worse, they have access to skills and EXE Drives, which they can spam without the EXE Gauge limit.
 * 7) The remake, despite improving some of the original game's issues, did a lot of questionable changes that not only crippled the game's quality but also made fans of the series consider the remake inferior to the original in plenty of ways. These were the reasons:
 * 8) * The game is now locked at 30 FPS for no reason at all. Considering how the original ran at a perfect 60 FPS, it's a wonder why they decreased the framerate, especially since the game runs at 60 FPS when there's no 3D;
 * 9) * The bad ending and the normal ending (Ascension Ending) were taken out of the game, with no new endings to make up for it, leaving only the true ending;
 * 10) * The DLC characters aren't playable, nor are they available for purchase anymore. This leaves the characters, Nepgya, Umio, God Eater, Million Arthur, and Nitroplus unavailable for playable characters now;
 * 11) * The New Game+ has been stripped away from the game for no discernable reason;
 * 12) * At least 95% of the campaign is a total cakewalk.
 * 13) * While, yes, the inclusion of VR is a neat addition to the game, it isn't used for anything other than the aforementioned VR events. It doesn't really help that the whole VR part of the remake was advertised the most out of everything else.
 * 14) * The game's combat has a noticeable spike in quality compared to the original;
 * 15) Like all Idea Factory and Compile Heart games that get ported to the Switch, the Switch port of the original game suffers from a choppy and inconsistent framerate, plus some graphical and visual downgrades, though thankfully, it runs much better than the other titles, to the point where it can be an alternative way to play the game.
 * 16) The PC port for VIIR has tons of bugs and errors that had been reported during the port's beta testing phase yet still made it into the final product untouched. It's also missing some content from the PlayStation 4 version.
 * 17) * The VR events are also broken on the PC port, trying to use it as intended will result in the game crashing.
 * 18) Getting the true ending (Revival Ending) requires a long and delicate series of conditions right from the get-go and can be screwed up at any point with no indication you've done so. Specifically, you have to see every optional event in the Z Dimension chapter, no matter how inconsequential most of them seem. You further have to view a shares-based event for each nation in the Hyperdimension during the G Dimension chapter, which is completely un-hinted-at, and complete several time-sensitive quests in the Planeptune sequence, which can be timed out ridiculously easily. None of this directly pertains to the true ending except in hindsight, and the normal ending doesn't hint at any of the specifics.
 * 19) A lot of the DLC can be incredibly game-breaking, although this is usually how DLC is like for the Neptunia franchise.
 * 20) The scouting system has some improvements compared to the previous games it's been in, but having bonus dungeons, tougher monsters, and hidden treasure requirements as random finds through the system is annoying, especially since the Remake system in the Re;Birth games let you just unlock such features on your own volition.
 * 21) * This game doesn't have innate experience share, meaning that each character has to be leveled up separately. Unused characters or those in the back row get nothing except when using a very late game chip or with some characters (Uzume and S-Sha) having it as an innate skill.
 * 22) Million Arthur was removed from the PlayStation 4 and Steam stores on January 22, 2020, due to Idea Factory's license with Square Enix expiring, making it impossible to obtain her unless she was already bought previously. The license was renewed on April 23, 2020, resulting in her return for the Switch port and subsequent relisting on the PlayStation Store, albeit only in Japan.

Reception
Megadimension Neptunia VII has received mixed-to-positive reviews from critics, scoring 71/100 on Metacritic.

The game received a review score of 32/40 by Famitsu. Meanwhile, some of the review scores outside of Japan weren't as well-received from fans of the series; Marcus Estrada of Hardcore Gamer gave the game a 3 out of 5 saying, "Megadimension Neptunia VII is slightly refreshing, but not enough to really revitalize this aging series." CJ Andriessen from Destructoid post rated the game a 6.5/10 saying, "Megadimension Neptunia VII opts not to use its transition to the new hardware as a reason to try and expand its audience beyond the current player base."

The game sold 22,609 physical retail copies within its debut week of release in Japan.

Trivia

 * The Japanese voice actors of C-Sha, K-Sha, and B-Sha are the same voice actresses of Asuna, Silica, and Leafa from Sword Art Online.
 * Vert's usual English voice actress, Tara Platt, was unavailable to reprise her role, so Rom's English voice actress, Carrie Keranen, was tasked with taking over her role.
 * All of Noire's English dialogue in VIIR was redubbed by Erica Mendez to maintain consistency with the VR scenes.
 * The initials "VII" in the title have two meanings. One is that the game is a sequel to Victory (as in, V II - "V Two"). The second is that, if you count the Producing Perfection, Action Unleashed and Hyperdevotion games or the remakes of the three main series games, this is the seventh game of the franchise.
 * Compile Heart had initially wanted to release each story as separate titles, akin to the Metal Gear Solid V duology. They later combined all 3 stories into a single title.

Videos
TheTwitGamer's Megadimension Neptunia VII Playthrough playlist

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