Is this game any good?

[JokiseOlli]

I know it's neptunia board probably filled with fanboys, but is it worth getting this for 8 euros? Is the story any good? How long is it? Any optional bosses post game?

[Groen90]

The game is filled with optional stuff... and depending on how you play the first playthrough could take you 15-20 hours, maybe? I think it took me that long more or less but I like to take my sweet time.
The story is nothing special, it's not too serious and not too lighthearted either... it's enjoyable anyway and not hard to follow.
Combat system is nothing groundbreaking either and it might get boring after a while, but some bosses require you to play your cards right. Of course you can just grind levels and overkill anything if you want.
If you can get it at 8€... it's more than worth it.
From: a Neptunia fanboy

[NisseDood]

Story is generic save the world for evil thing story.
Main story itself is maybe 10h if you just go trough the story, but it will take a while if you want to do the game 100% because of the massive grind for materials for researching stuff.
Combat is pretty much if you cant beat enemy you just need better stats.

Biggest flaw is the brutal rehash of the same dungeons and enemies.
Like for every dungeon in the game there are 3 more that looks almost the same with just some really minor changes or no changes at all besides enemies.

So in the end the game is pretty fun but you wont find anything original besides the setting.

[Ifrit's ShadowA41™]

It's an alright game that may take a while to get into, but once you do, it's likely that you'll rarely want to play anything else for a while.
If it's only 8 Euros, buy it. It's an unbelieveable bargain.

[almost_smart]

Storywise Rebirth 1 is ok. Nothing super dramatical, emotional, mystical or sth. similar that keeps you on your toes. I would say the story is quite decent, but also nothing too special as Groen90 already had mentioned.

The dungeons and the battle system are mediocre, nothing really annoying or boring but in fact a bit repetetive.

Grinding isn't a real thing IMO. Never needed it besides for some especially strong enemies in the additional dungeons or the colliseum (some could be considered as post-game bossfights).
Also most of the costumes or accesories are not worth the effort anyway.

What really keeps me playing are the characters and their interactions and jokes.
All the CPU's have some characteristics of certain anime character archetypes (tsundere, gaming-otaku, having specific food-obsessions ...).
But if you're fine with that it can be a plus point cause the implemantation doesn't get annoying and leads to some nice mutual teasing in many situations.

It heavily depends on personal preferences but for me the humor in this game is just great.
The already mentioned teasing? Yay!
Breaking the 4th wall? More of it please!!
Making self-referencial jokes? Absolutely Yay!!!

And to mention it: the voice acting is really good. The actors are well chosen and do quite a decent job. Some of the lines have such a nice or cute pronunction that they even make me smile brightly time after time (Compa and Plutia <3 ).

Regarding the playtime: 20 hours could be a good estimation when you don't skip the story.
Would recommend it to anyone who has some interest in anime, videogames and doesn't mind that the battles can become a bit easy once you've got your tactic.

[Morphic]

Coming from someone who is mostly a "serious" RPG type gamer, playing mostly CRPGs like Baldur's Gate to Console titles like Legend of Dragoon ...

The "anime" style and "fanservice" made me originally think this was some joke/"loser" type game. Similar to something like Dead or Alive, you aren't playing the game because it's a good game but because of breasts or because it's part of your favorite series. When I voiced my opinion to a friend I saw playing this, he encouraged me to get and try it because I "didn't know what I was talking about". Turns out he was right.

Story: It's very mediocre at best, in terms of plot development and character development. The typically "Omegosh evil stuff is happening and we got to stop it!". However what I found pleasing was the parody of video gaming as a whole and the consoles and how they are represented. There are a variety of jokes, some elicit a chuckle, others either aren't funny or escape me. The characters interacting with each other is fairly solid but nothing to "noteworthy" to me.

Gameplay: While the combat mechanics may be "generic" ... I like them. You can customize comboes based on character combo skills, then you have combo finishers, special attacks/skills and finally super moves. On top of that most characters have some sort of transformation that either gives them additional skills or changes existing ones. To me, it feels like someone took a game like Final Fantasy and fused it with Legend of Dragoon. Therefore I like very much. Then you have some sort of Partner system that allows you to freely change out "equipped" party members, like Final Fantasy X, during battle... essentially letting you have up to 6 characters in battle with 3 fighting at a time. Furthermore your partner pairs confer bonuses based on their compatibility. Things like Damage reduction to accessing special skills/attacks.

Customization: Every piece of equipment shows on your character. I love that. Furthermore you can add in additional locations, items and even change monster stats or drops. Granted, you'll to get the materials to "create a plan" that does this but most of the materials are fairly easy/straitforward to obtain. All of this is purely optional and, unfortunately a lot of the extra dungeons begin feeling similar.

Overall I'm quite surprised at this game. The grinding actually isn't that bad, unless you want to do all the optional stuff and kill all the side bosses and get all equipment. At first I didn't like the "fanservice" and childlike characters. However some characters "even them out" with their maturity or their "cool factor". As a Western/"traditional" RPG player I'm glad I bought this lol.

[Groen90]

Originally posted by Setzway:

Similar to something like Dead or Alive, you aren't playing the game because it's a good game but because of breasts or because it's part of your favorite series.

Your friend was right indeed, you really don't know what you're talking about...
jk
I can see why you would mention DOA, but it is actually a good fighting game once you look past the boobs, maybe that wasn't the best comparison.

[Morphic]

Originally posted by Groen90:

Originally posted by Setzway:

Similar to something like Dead or Alive, you aren't playing the game because it's a good game but because of breasts or because it's part of your favorite series.

Your friend was right indeed, you really don't know what you're talking about... :evawhat:
jk
I can see why you would mention DOA, but it is actually a good fighting game once you look past the boobs, maybe that wasn't the best comparison.

I was referring to the later iterations of the game like DOA 5 and the infamous beach spinoffs. The previous iterations of the series, which featured a relatively even mix of male and female fighters were excluded. If you own DOA: Extreme Volleyball, chances are you aren't playing it because "it's a good volleyball simulator".

Perhaps a better comparison would be the "Visual Novel" Sakura Spirits. You probably aren't playing it because it has a riveting story. However my opinion that Visual Novel games aren't actually games made me draw a different comparison off my head, namely DOA.

Also note, what constitutes as a "good fighting game" is up for debate when it comes to Fighting Gamers.... but I digress and am heading towards off-topic. My point being: there are many games that aren't actually "good" and use a variety of tactics to get you to buy/play them. Hyperdimension at first appeared to be such a game to me, due to the variety of screenshots and descriptions ... however it's actually a solid game. unlike DOA: Extreme Volleyball.

[Lu2]

its parody "fanservice" rpg with well done turnbased competent combat system.
if you liked jrpg in general .you will probably like this. its good game.

game contains lot of references to all things in actual gaming industry. its actualy kinda funny and clever for me since i play videogames like 25 years

[LadGaga]

You've actually made me want to check out DOA: Extreme Volleyball now lol.

And fwiw I love the Sakura games/VN's.