So, this is going to seem weird, but anyone who has followed my reviews in the past probably thought, "his next Hyperdimension game he reviews is going to be Victory, right?"

Well, no, see, as fun as Victory was, I didn't feel like anything truly changed between it and Mk 2. It felt like roughly the same game, and I didn't feel like it justified its own review. Just re-read the Mk2 review, and assume I liked it, but not a lot. It's a good game and it fits the series nicely, but isn't what I was hoping for.

Megadimension Neptunia VII (Vee-Two) on the other hand, has changed the formula ever so slightly, so I feel like there's something to talk about here.

You know the drill by now, I weight grades, and we add it all up, so without further ado...

Warning! There are slight spoilers, nothing that will ruin the plot of the game, but still, you have been warned! Except in the story section. The story section probably has more spoilers than the synopsis on a store page would have.

Graphics - 6

I cannot in good conscience give this a high mark, this is a PS4 game, and while that means the performance is higher than on the PS3, the graphical capability outside of a few scenes is nothing to write home about. There are good looking dungeons, but they are too infrequent, and usually, are copy pasted from other dungeons in the game/series.

The main beauty in this game, as always, comes from the cutscenes, where anime style art takes over, and we get the occasional gratuitous fanservice CG (if you are into that sort of thing). The CG in this game feels tamer than in previous titles, so those looking to let their inner animal out, you will be sorely disappointed, even if you have a thing for the CPU girls and their sisters.

The character design, as always is average, and while they tried to make some more complicated enemies, in all, the series is beginning to show its age. This game has not aged well, and it hasn't even been that long since its release. Not a game you hope for much in.

Sound - 7

The sound is about what you'd expect from an Idea Factory game. Nothing to write home about, but uplifting and quirky. It remixes old themes in pretty well, and adds some interesting new themes into the mix as well.

My main qualm is that if you've played one Neptunia game, you've played them all at this point, with regards to sound.

The voice acting in this game seems better than in games in the past, especially when concerning new characters, the characters (at least in English) sound as you'd expect them to. There's not much to really say about the very average sound, for better or worse, so I'll let this be a 7.

Addictiveness - 7

I'm going to have to put my foot down here. This game is incredibly fun when you turn off your brain, and just push buttons. In general, overthinking in this game can draw out battles and make an easy game harder than it has to be. Provided you don't just attack with rush over and over (in some cases it makes sense, especially in boss battles, when driving up your EX gauge), battles will be pretty quick, and healing items are easy enough to come by.

The problem here is the game doesn't expect you to know this, going in. It makes a pretty big deal of how strategic it is, with its parts break system, but never really makes it relevant outside of two boss battles. 99% of the time, you won't bother with breaking parts, because by the time you do break the parts, you'll have defeated the enemy.

Leveling in this game is quick, easy, and super gratifying. It may not seem like as big of boosts as in the previous games, but you can tell the difference between a level 30 Neptune and a level 35 Neptune pretty easily, especially when it comes to her ability to take damage.

Another qualm I have with the combat system is that while it is easy, there's no risk/reward to playing a different way. No matter what you do, you will generally hit opponents for the same damage unless there's an elemental factor at play. It also doesn't punish you much for using long range characters for whatever reason, go in with Ram/Rom and Uni, and just chip away.

Depth - 4

This might be a first, but as far as depth goes, this is definitely a one playthrough game unless you are a completionist. The game is rather longish the first playthrough (30-40 hours) but a ton of that is listening to cutscenes and grinding. On a second playthrough (new game+) where you keep all your levels, characters, etc, and skip cutsccenes, it is reasonable to beat the game in under 3-4 hours. Most of which is spent traversing overly large dungeons, and re-finding your way, since maps aren't carried over.

There are quests, as always, but you don't need to do many to even progress the story (there are like 3 or 4 mandatory quests), and if you do this, you won't progress past E-Rank quests. The higher ranked quests give neat items, but by the time you get them, you will be so strong it honestly won't matter if you get them.

In the post game, you can murder almost anything with ease, so there's just no point to playing beyond the first playthrough. Like with any RPG, there are strong enemies, but it's a pride thing more than anything, and not worth investing the time into doing.

In addition, there are only 3 endings, which is a record low for the main series Neptunia games. One ending you get by failing to witness four cut-scenes that are unlikely to skip unless you have no interest in the game or its characters to begin with. It takes legit 5 seconds to view the cutscenes and skip them if you aren't interested, so that's your own fault. One ending almost everyone will get. And the final ending is so out of the way, that you can only get it if you have met really out there conditions. Odds are you won't see it without a guide.

Story - 9

The crowning glory of this game is definitely the story. Without spoiling a lot, the game is split into three "parts".

The first takes place, primarily in the "Zero Dimension" where you meet one of the central characters of the game, Uzume. Uzume is seemingly the polar opposite of Plutia from the previous game. Where Plutia was quiet and relaxed, Uzume tends to be a mile a minute, and super loud (or is she?). Uzume is the last CPU in a dying world (hence Zero Dimension) and you meet her and her impossibly happy self in a lose-lose situation, where she's the only one fighting impossibly huge monsters. Not only that, but she's not even defending people, but friendly monsters. All the people of her world died. Without saying much, it's the darkest the Neptunia series has ever gotten, and probably ever will get.

The second takes part back in Hyperdimension, and involves 4 sub-stories, each featuring one of the 4 main CPUs of the series, and their story with their respective Gold Third member. Without spoiling who Gold Third are, their inclusion in the series is simultaneously a breath of fresh air, and a bit annoying at the same time. The characters are not without depth, but their characters as presented are not complete, and were seemingly tacked on to add play time to the game. The stories themselves are fairly interesting, but this is where the game suffers a minor difficulty spike (since in one case, you control the weakest CPU of the four, while solo, which can result in many a frustrating game over if you don't heal often and avoid grinding).

The third and final one... takes place in a third dimension that I won't name. Essentially, this is where the first two stories tie together, and makes for a somewhat epic final clash between the big bad of the game and the heroes. Without going into depth, it returns a bit, to the darkness the first chapter showed, while also showing the typical "save the day" moments that the Neptunia series is known for.

On the whole, this game's story is probably the darkest in the series, has the darkest humor (while also the most sexual humor), and some of the most genuinely WTF moments in the Neptunia series. This is probably where the series jumps the shark in terms of what it can and will do. The characters are all welcome, even if some seem tacked on.

Oh, and there's a ninja. That's cool. But now Pirachu is Warechu.

Difficulty - 1

I can't ever call an RPG hard. There's a difficulty spike in the game but it's nothing unusual. You can get by it without much issue. The true issue comes from the lack of difficulty actually. With no way to really raise the difficulty, you have to handicap yourself. So that sucks.

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GRADING FOR MEGADIMENSION NEPTUNIA VII
Graphics - 10% (10% of 6 is .6)
Sound - 10% (10% of 7 is .7)
Addictiveness - 35% (35% of 7 is 2.45)
Depth - 20% (20% of 4 is .8)
Story - 25% (25% of 9 is 2.25)
Difficulty - 0% (0% of 1 is 0)
Total - 6.8

Overall - 6.8

Every so often, I come across a game like Megadimension Neptunia V2, that while not a technically good game (as the 6.8 shows), I enjoy rather greatly. Is this a game that will be in the top 20 of any game award involving gameplay, graphics, or innovation? No. Is this a game that will even hit the top 50? Again, no. But it is a game that you can enjoy playing if you just remove inhibition, and take with a grain of salt.

The humor is hilarious, the meta, as always, is appreciated, and there's a talking fish named Umio.

I await the sequel that will no doubt come out in the next year or so. Maybe once they get done with silly spin offs.