[PS3/PSV/PC] Hyperdimension Neptunia series

[Mura]

Has those chapters been translated by anyone yet? I haven't seen them around if it is.

[Ray]

Originally Posted by Mura

Has those chapters been translated by anyone yet? I haven't seen them around if it is.

The first two were scanlated by EveTaku, I believe. They dropped it after that, though.

[xizro345]

The second volume of the manga will be released mid-June, if I recall correctly. There's also a light novel around but I haven't had the chance to check it out.

[asaqe]

Originally Posted by Aphrah

Somewhat. It's a monthly manga of which there are 19 chapters at the moment. It has characters from both games in it, and I wouldn't be surprised to see the new ones from V appear in it for a chapter or two, too.

Actually 20, every Tankobon has a special chapter with extra fanservice for everyone!

[Ray]

Originally Posted by asaqe

Actually 20, every Tankobon has a special chapter with extra fanservice for everyone!

Oh, that's news to me. If you've got the link handy, would you mind PMing me it?

[asaqe]

It was from a while ago when someone shown a bit of the tankobon. The only way I can get it from ordering it from a bookstore or from Amazon.

[Ray]

Originally Posted by asaqe

It was from a while ago when someone shown a bit of the tankobon. The only way I can get it from ordering it from a bookstore or from Amazon.

Ah, right. That's too bad. I assumed the scans were up somewhere on the internet.

[Klashikari]

Just played for few days MK2 and... is it me or the game is absurdely short in comparison to "standard" JRPG or even Neptunia I?
I reached the normal ending after.... only 13 hours, and that's include a lot of time wasted with some mechanic testing (etc), and involve unlocking all regular chirper events without any skip.

I can see a certain time needed for the plat trophy, but that involves mainly grinding than actual content (well, not as bad as share grinding in Neptunia 1). Color me quite surprised, considering how Neptunia I was moderately long, even if you ignore the share grinding for Noire, Vert and Blanc recruitment. Well the first game, did force you to go back and forth between landmasses more than necessary with a lot of recycled dungeons, but still, the plot and events were largely more numerous than in MK2, which seems really short.

[JohnNiles]

Originally Posted by Klashikari

Just played for few days MK2 and... is it me or the game is absurdely short in comparison to "standard" JRPG or even Neptunia I?
I reached the normal ending after.... only 13 hours, and that's include a lot of time wasted with some mechanic testing (etc), and involve unlocking all regular chirper events without any skip.

I can see a certain time needed for the plat trophy, but that involves mainly grinding than actual content (well, not as bad as share grinding in Neptunia 1). Color me quite surprised, considering how Neptunia I was moderately long, even if you ignore the share grinding for Noire, Vert and Blanc recruitment. Well the first game, did force you to go back and forth between landmasses more than necessary with a lot of recycled dungeons, but still, the plot and events were largely more numerous than in MK2, which seems really short.

I've got about 21 hours on my savefile and I'm close to the end of the game. Perhaps you skipped some of the plot conversations? Though I did extra quests for shares and levels, and I may have left the console idle at some point. The game IS short. Each landmass requires a few fetch quests and some boring conversation, and that's it.

MK2's pacing is horrendous. Most games do a better job of managing tension and relaxation. In MK2 it's just going from one fetch quest to the next. (I'm not saying I wanted to spend more time in dungeons, I would've preferred more opportunities to hang out with the party.)

The chirper system and lily ranks should've handled the pacing issue, but they didn't. You get a third of your characters early on, a third halfway through the game, and the rest near the end of the game. Tying lily ranks to time spent in the party was a bad move. I'm debating whether to get the remaining ranks, or just get it over with.

[xizro345]

I didn't have any issue with the plot pacing, which is better focused and makes more sense than the original. And I finished at about 40 hours, but I went straight for the true end since I didn't have time to replay it.

[Klashikari]

Originally Posted by JohnNiles

I've got about 21 hours on my savefile and I'm close to the end of the game. Perhaps you skipped some of the plot conversations? Though I did extra quests for shares and levels, and I may have left the console idle at some point. The game IS short. Each landmass requires a few fetch quests and some boring conversation, and that's it.

I'm pretty sure I didn't skip any plot conversations, unless they were locked by share requirement or anything of that kind: I simply have no chirper event left. Of course, I merely did few quests left and right, which lead me to the bare minimum of 50-60% for each landmasses' respective share, for Noire, Vert and Blanc recruitment.

I can see the game being around 20-25 hours for the true end, but that's still quite meager for a single walkthrough (in term of JRPG, that is).

MK2's pacing is horrendous. Most games do a better job of managing tension and relaxation. In MK2 it's just going from one fetch quest to the next. (I'm not saying I wanted to spend more time in dungeons, I would've preferred more opportunities to hang out with the party.)

That's probably my biggest complain with the game: the execution of the plot is really linear. Whereas Neptunia had a convulated dungeon grinding and landmass travels (since for "some reason", you can't even progress in a landmass storyline unless you progress on another landmass), the scope of the plot was extended to a certain degree, with various events connected to each other (Singe's plot in Lastation, Majekon's active role in her own revival, instead of being passive like in MK2).

Really, if it wasn't for Linda's "team rocket-style" returns all the frigging time, the game normal end would definite be possible below 2 digits for the time counter.

The chirper system and lily ranks should've handled the pacing issue, but they didn't. You get a third of your characters early on, a third halfway through the game, and the rest near the end of the game. Tying lily ranks to time spent in the party was a bad move. I'm debating whether to get the remaining ranks, or just get it over with.

The lily rank system was definitely a very odd addition: When you have Neptune joining you with rank 2 (neutral), it just doesn't make any sense. Suffice to say, I was expecting more interactions due to lily rank, such like... well, improved/additional abilities between both characters (and not solely focused on couple skills with Nepgear only), a bit like in Fire Emblem and its support system, but it merely unlock 1 skill for some couples (well, Violet Shwerstern is broken though) and used for the ending branch.
The big problem with chirper is that every interactions between characters are pushed on these, but the main plot rarely allow characters to expand themselves, past few things. Really, even if the plot was to be serious from the get go, I definitely can see why some people complained that MK2 was inferior to Neptunia 1 in term of characters etc.

Originally Posted by xizro345

I didn't have any issue with the plot pacing, which is better focused and makes more sense than the original. And I finished at about 40 hours, but I went straight for the true end since I didn't have time to replay it.

The plot pacing was "fine", although few cycling things really annoyed me to no end for their redundency (mainly Uni's inferiority complex was really shoved down to my throat I just couldn't tolerate it after her third appearance, and as stated above: Linda).

My beef with the main plot however is how things are really set on a straightline, with little to no detour. I really think they could have blended more side quests and side events than just the main plot, because at some point, I just couldn't handle how cheesy MK2 was (the overdramatization with piracy was a bit difficult in chap 5, and while Brave and Uni "debate" started fine, it became incredibly cheesy afterwards).
Cheese apart, there were far less interactions between the characters, and while I understand Nepgear was the "main heroine", it just impair a lot of possibilities you could have with this franchise.

Eventually, every characters got less quirky, amplified with NISA translation (good lord, it is like they multiplied Neptune's food mentions like 10 times, when you compare the script and the jp voice over).
I mean, things like "Noire Style" definitely was akin to what Neptunia 1 had to offer, and I was hoping more of this kind of content once you recruit the goddesses and go on in chap 5. Yet, Chap 5 turns out to be done with a single fight with Magic, then 6 being hardly anything long either.

YMMV I guess, but for some reason, I can't help but think MK2 was basically the complete opposite of Neptunia 1: good gameplay with comfortable points here and there, but story and characters were weaker overall.
In Neptunia 1, the main group was basically bunch of girls ready to kick some bad guys asses, and confront anything on their way, along with good ol' silliness. But in MK2, the whole deal with friendship etc made the whole point "more cliche" than it already was.
Hell, even the lore was sort of dampened: albeit vague, the first game has some backstory about Majekon, as well as the 4 goddesses being more or less sisters, along with the console wars, and established parties (political stuff with the nations churches, Guild etc). But in MK2, the lore is... merely giving a setup, without even expending anything (nothing really about the guild, nor the rare mention of "true goddess" and the likes). Hell, the origin of Neptune & co, as well as their sisters completely omitted just doesn't help in anything... and their attempt to expand material with the nepedia wasn't really enough.

[xizro345]

In Neptunia 1, the main group was basically bunch of girls ready to kick some bad guys asses, and confront anything on their way, along with good ol' silliness. But in MK2, the whole deal with friendship etc made the whole point "more cliche" than it already was.

I disagree, aside the core characters (Neptune, Compa, IF) everyone else was not really explored (NI, Gust, not taking into account RED and 5pb...).
Since you noticed NISA's butchering with the script I'm sure you noticed what they did with Trick? I was really, really annoyed at their choice on the matter.

[Klashikari]

Well, I can't say for Red and 5pb, since I didn't bother with their DLC, but NI and Gust were sort of "alright" due to their DLC origins (I guess they corrected it, but as far as I can see, Cave and Falcom barely are present without DLC, so heh), but surely enough, without their specific skits, you barely realize they are present in the party, even as guests.
In a way, they indeed failed to balance out character introspect and development in N1: quite fine with the initial trio, and pretty much void with the other playable characters (Noire, Vert and Blanc playability is way too late, plot wise).

That being said, I guess the scope and magnitude of the characters implication were more to my liking in N1, especially with various NPC (however lazy the design was) and third parties thrown in the mess.

As for Trick... yeah, the NISA treatment just made him even more creepy than he originally was. It really makes me wonder what the translators or localising staff were thinking. That said, while Trick was made even more "morally wrong", I was more annoyed by the weird change that nearly affect relationship between characters (just reached the maid event, and Noire sounds like a strict sister having hard time to admit Uni's cake looks good (lol?) while she was simply praising her in jp).
I wonder if I shouldn't just grab V in jp, as I don't expect any improvement with NISA.

[Mura]

So the release date has been announced for August 30th. The day can't come any faster.

[Klashikari]

Done with True and Conquest End. I wish Compile Heart could just do the same than Neptunia 1: a save state before the final boss, and then the possibility to clear save for a new game+. Going through the game 7 times to have all ending CG in a single save is a HUGE PITA.
Anyway, True end was sort of satisfying, albeit they really pushed every "good" stuff in chapter 7, so it leaves some unbalanced impression compared to the rest of the game.

Conquest end was however... well, close to a kick in the nuts: really, it literally make a 180° and just push dramatic point, as if Compile Heart staff had sudden sadistic urges. A "bad end", but that takes quite a long time to grind through and really add nothing but a huge depressing note. Hell, I'm unsure about the circumstances that lead to this mess, considering that shares issues were hardly explained thoroughly (I mean: it isn't like all 4 nations were in a good shape with shares before Nepgear adventure, so merging them into only one wouldn't be so dramatic, especially if the process can be reversed).
Hell, the trigger for this ending doesn't make much sense: why would Planeptune global share lead to such situation anyway? I could understand if Magiquone shares were dominating (which would explain why Goddesses would feel so overwhelmed and desperate for an alternative), but the setup is really shoehorned on the player. Well, at least, I can give pops to CH for this bold move, as it sure was depressing. That said, I really hope they won't pull that kind of stunt in V.


Speaking of which, someone on Siliconera posted few scans for V, mainly depicting characters among the 7 sages.

http://i.imgur.com/lVlzw.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/FJPVG.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/xkOmy.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/HmRGf.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/EBXXH.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/gfaco.jpg

The return of Pirachu doesn't ring me good news, especially if they are going to put more team rocket-like stuff with linda in there... And what the hell is that Ishiara-look alike doing there?
Anyway, the "antagonists" look more colorful than ever, hopefully a bit more developed than MK2 Magiquone.

[SilverSyko]

Damn, I guess this means Iris Heart isn't Arfoire before she went to the "dark side"? There goes that theory. I guess there's still a chance she may turn traitor regardless though.

And I was almost fooled by Anonedeath, but then I read the subtitle under their name.

Liking the villain variety here though. Never thought I'd see a realistic-looking elderly Japanese man as a character in this game of all things.

[fict_ticious]

Nobou Uematsu and Earthbound Papas. V is really, really shaping up.

[Nerroth]

Some more pics, too. (And a look at the cover art for the upcoming Noire/Uni duet song.)

[Scarletknive]

Originally Posted by Klashikari

Done with True and Conquest End. I wish Compile Heart could just do the same than Neptunia 1: a save state before the final boss, and then the possibility to clear save for a new game+. Going through the game 7 times to have all ending CG in a single save is a HUGE PITA.
Anyway, True end was sort of satisfying, albeit they really pushed every "good" stuff in chapter 7, so it leaves some unbalanced impression compared to the rest of the game.

Conquest end was however... well, close to a kick in the nuts: really, it literally make a 180° and just push dramatic point, as if Compile Heart staff had sudden sadistic urges. A "bad end", but that takes quite a long time to grind through and really add nothing but a huge depressing note. Hell, I'm unsure about the circumstances that lead to this mess, considering that shares issues were hardly explained thoroughly (I mean: it isn't like all 4 nations were in a good shape with shares before Nepgear adventure, so merging them into only one wouldn't be so dramatic, especially if the process can be reversed).
Hell, the trigger for this ending doesn't make much sense: why would Planeptune global share lead to such situation anyway? I could understand if Magiquone shares were dominating (which would explain why Goddesses would feel so overwhelmed and desperate for an alternative), but the setup is really shoehorned on the player. Well, at least, I can give pops to CH for this bold move, as it sure was depressing. That said, I really hope they won't pull that kind of stunt in V.


Speaking of which, someone on Siliconera posted few scans for V, mainly depicting characters among the 7 sages.

http://i.imgur.com/lVlzw.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/FJPVG.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/xkOmy.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/HmRGf.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/EBXXH.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/gfaco.jpg

The return of Pirachu doesn't ring me good news, especially if they are going to put more team rocket-like stuff with linda in there... And what the hell is that Ishiara-look alike doing there?
Anyway, the "antagonists" look more colorful than ever, hopefully a bit more developed than MK2 Magiquone.

Va... Its the tuned Vagan unit...(That body looks like a Vagan unit+ EVA... Or maybe AW's Silver Crow.(abit))

[Ray]

High res. scans: