I totally agree with what you say: And from the looks of it, Since VII, The only spin-off I really liked after VII's release was VVVTunia. One thing you might have forgotten to say is that since Super Neptunia RPG, The Candidates have been left out of the spin-offs three times in a row.
Haven't played Neptunia RPG or VVVTunia, though I have played everything before that apart from victory which I didn't see a point in playing as I have played rebirth 3 and producing perfect which I gave up on after a few hours. I hadn't looked into the character rooster of the newer games, but sad that the candidates were left out.
Criticizing something you like doesn't mean you hate it or something like that but the opposite, it means you like it enough to be invested in it and wanting it to improve. Something I personally don't like is how they seemingly don't care for the candidates and how they don't bring characters of previous games into the new ones. In Victory you only see the 3 of the candidates at the very beginning and very ending of the game, while the fourth one who even was the protagonist of the past game is just the butt of many bad jokes; no wonder so many people, myself included, hated how the game treated Nepgear. Then we got Victory II which tbf did a great job of giving the spotlight to each goddess and candidate but totally ignored Plutia and Peashy like they never existed. I fear the same will happen to Uzume and Big Nep in the next main game, and as far as it goes it seems that's totally what's going to happen. And let's not forget that the candidates aren't playable on many of the spinn offs and sometimes they don't even exist at all. As for Reverse, yeah it totally sucked and was unnecessary. There's so much I could say about it but I'll limit myself to saying that for the same price a new player could just buy the Re;Birth series during a Steam sale. If they really wanted a nice 10th anniversary remake they could have gone the Danganronpa route and release the 3 games in a pack with minimal upgrades to make it worth buying. I can only hope that the new Sisters vs Sisters game will be as good as it seems it will be, but at this point it feels like I'm only taking copium.
This is a really good review on the Neptunia series as whole. Straight to the point, no filler, and cutting right to the chase. I really appreciate that! I've been a fan of Neptunia since the Rebirth series that I picked up on Vita, and while it's not without it's faults, there's a lot of charm to these games that make them so enjoyable. That's why I find games like VIIR and ReVerse to be confusing more than anything else. I'm not really disappointed because I've played Neptunia games so I know what to expect in terms of what you're usually getting. But rather, baffled by some of the oddest decisions I've seen so far. You've already talked about VIIR so I'll talk about Reverse as I did on another video. Firstly, most of the Neptunia games are already available on PC via ports or the PS4, so that begs the question of why make a remake of a remake? I could understand porting the Rebirth series and giving them updates via a remaster and some QoL changes (I loved Rebirth 1 but it needs them) but instead, they make small additional changes that don't seem to matter as much, replace animated character sprites with plain character poses, used inferior transformation scenes when the newer versions were already available and even add details that the original story didn't really need. For example, did we seriously need a pair of big floating eyes in the beginning to tell us something spooky is going on during the fight with the goddesses? The original not only was much more subtle, but Neptune's comments made it clear already that something was off. They essentially made a really odd moment feel more like a joke. In terms of the new CGs, it's pretty serviceable, but I also agree that Idea Factory should at the very least upscale the art to look better for the in-game cutscenes. Especially when older games didn't have this problem. That and the models look noticeably worse-off in Reverse. They weren't as good on the Vita either to be fair, but considering this is a remake OF a remake, could they at the very least give them a bit more polish? I get Idea Factory is known for reusing assets, and again, I know what to expect, but I've played remasters with much more going for them than that. I dunno, I think Idea Factory is more confused if anything else about where else to take the franchise next. As you mentioned yourself, the remakes aren't necessarily the problem, but rather the execution. It feels like that they're stuck in a rut and that games like ReVerse were one of their side projects they decided to bring into the limelight *just* because they needed another Neptunia game. I wish the Rebirth series got the love it deserved because the idea (ha ha) itself is fine; bringing Neptunia to newer audiences via a relaunch of the the relaunch titles, but man, is it so underdeveloped. Not even having the original trilogy? **Just the first game with some minor changes for full price? Really?** I just wish they used those resources to make something more engaging than this because Neptunia has done some fun things in the past. It just feels like Idea Factory is stuck and it leaves fans even more concerned as to what this new direction for the franchise is supposed to be. The new Senran Kagura crossover game looks like an interesting step in another direction, but all I really want is to play another Neptunia game not focused on just remaking them.
i kinda get worried for this whole franchise of falling off the map in the West. I can see it as being a Japan only one day. when Nep first out, it had 2 things really going for it: the 4th wall breaking comedy, and the pseudo-ecchi fan service. But unfortunately for them and all the others who relied on ecchi, a new age rose up. A age of virtue signaling and censoring art that a small group of people who claim to be offended demand. And for unknown reasons...the mob always gets what they want. I just can't see Nep nor Senren Kagura surviving this. A lot of the stuff that made these games so great are now being cut out all together in the newer games and all future games. A good example of this is the new crossover with nep and senren. Had these two IPs crossed over back in about 2014-ish, it would have been so so much better. in new Nep/Senran game, how much fan service have you seen compared to what you might have back in the day??
While I do love this series to bits, every point you make about it I agree with. I'm also one of those people among the fanbase that thinks this series should tone down on the fanservice and focus on the lore building. They have something really good and unique going for it but sadly the constant spinoffs are making the game seem more like a fanservice cash grab. It feels like the companies don't care anymore. The games I personally dislike in the series are Re;Birth3/Victory (the worst story and character writing I've ever seen from it), Action U (too much filler and unnecessary fanservice), Re;Verse (because its just a copy of Re;Birth1) and sadly 4 Goddesses Online while a great game DID have a ton of bugs and issues with its first release. I haven't played the Senran Crossover yet either because I personally detest Senran Kagura and don't want Neptunia to turn into something along its lines. Ever. It may have been a fanservice game at first but with how the main story is written, I truly believe it can be turned into something much more than that. I utterly adore how Megadimension VII went with its darker more serious tone. It truly showed us that the series can write really good stuff if they try. All I can say is, I hope its ending doesn't let us down. Rather the us that think this story deserves better. Thats just me though. I liked this video a lot c:
This is so true! There's nothing wrong with fan service, but at this point, many see it as the only selling point in mediocre, low-effort games. They have such a great idea, lovable characters with a gorgeous artwork and so much potential to expand the lore.
I honestly think the Compile Heart employees could take some quality of life lessons from the Touhou Project and Epic Battle Fantasy series which both were my childhood. For example, they should make some Noire x Rom and Ram events to be able to bring up much more character personalities and aspects as I've seen with Reimu x Satori ones in Genso Wanderer (I'm aware it's a fangame) and Lance x Anna ones in EBF5.
well here's my opinion about this series and its quite of in a dead zone at this point and main reason i said this is because they are to busy making so many spinoffs and crappy remakes that are so frustrating that I just literally don't care like after four goddesses online people pretty much gave up with the series because after that we got super Neptunia RPG which PEOPLE BARELY TALKS ABOUT IT or even play it, like no one, in the switch version that heard from other people that it is unplayable with lots of glitches of the switch version. and top of that people barely bought on the ps4 cause of censorship reasons so uh yeah not only did that game became a dead weight but the whole series became flat like it went from having potential to be a greatest rpg series ever into now being just a cash grabbing series that I HOPE TO GOD that they make a next mainline game in near future (which I highly doubt that ever happen 😒) or it just gonna be a pretty underwhelming series which is quite ashamed because i first met the series around the anime and it was pretty quite interesting so i been doing research around this whole series around other youtubers let plays and the wiki even tho i'm not a HUUUUGE Neptunia fan this one is quite a enjoyable one i dare say
I appreciate that there wasn't a tirade about the "excessive fan service". Having said that... If more side story games are going to continue being published, well, I'd really love to see a collaboration between IF and Yuzusoft. Together, they create a Neptunia romcom visual novel eroge. And that it's Yuri and at least 7 routes for the 4 goddesses and 2 for the little sisters and maybe possibly a side route for ram and Rom (kinda isn't my bag iykwim).
all IF games are visual novel crossovers, that is pretty obvious I think... even in the latest senran kagura iteration you have 16 hours over all - 12 are visual novel time. Same for death end request.. Fairy Fencer etc etc.. This said I agree with everything else you say. Death end request 2 is much better than 1 tho, Mary Skelter Finale better than MS2 so in a way I hope compile manages to get back on track. I also have the impression the budget of their latest games is tiny bit higher than in the post VII times. Fingers crossed...
I actually like the Neptunia series (including most of the spin-offs) but my main complaint is the lack of CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT. The characters never truly learn, change, or evolve throughout the series. They stay the same eternally which eventually gets tiresome. They are all mostly one-dimensional and one-note (despite a few subtleties). I get they are all about meta humor, nerd culture, and all that; Compile Heart is capable of better though.
i wonder how many folks started this series like i did with the first ps3 game other then that i really enjoyed this video it sums up my feelings though i will admit i had a fondness with PP that out of all the vita games it's the only one i have imported.
CH/IF making spin-offs rather than mainline games is definitely one of the big reasons why the Neptunia series has been declining, along with continuing to release games on the PlayStation platform. Since Sony has started censoring games like Neptunia, the Neptunia series has been continuing to go on a downward spiral even more. The recently crossover with Senran Kagura I heard wasn't great either. Speaking of that, now that Neptunia x Senran Kagura Ninja Wars recently got confirmed for PC and the Switch, this makes me hope that CH/IF abandon the PlayStation platform in favor of the PC and Switch platforms, because that's where anime games belong on now. Some anime games have sold more on Switch compared to their PS4 counterpart, as in the case of D3's Omega Labyrinth Life. Man, what a time we live in now that Nintendo can accept anything as long as it complies under rating systems. Thank Mortal Kombat 1 on SNES for this. I hope that CH/IF bring more Neptunia games to the Switch as well (like the ReBirth trilogy), despite performance issues with previous efforts.
I will comment on the fact that I don't think the "poor implementation" of CGs matters because in the end if it does it's job that's fine with me. But I agree Reverse seems like an unnecessary remake and it looks WORSE somehow despite me liking the fact the models n environments have been updated. I'm also salty we didn't get Rebirth1 PS4 in English because WHAT THE HELL MAN
I honnestly don't mind the spin offs, they allow for experimenting, change of gameplay and theme with the same character you like, it also make sense as they basically represents video games. I liked Blanc vs Zombie for the setting and having Blanc as MC, I loved 4GO as they were a lot of new assets with improved graphics/animations. I've heard good things about Super RPG regarding the story but I have to try it myself. I just enjoy Neptunia games for the characters and interactions they have, they could live their life or go to an adventure I wouldn't mind either. What I don't want though is something like Hyperdevotion not because the gameplay was bad but because it was so damn slow especially on later stages with a tons of units on the map, maxxing out lilly ranks with Noire and every characters took so long because of game crashing losing progress and the game being so damn slow.
if i had to guess i think they'll focus on getting the rest of Neptunia's past games to the PS5 before starting something new or do a entire remake either way i'm interested to see where Neptunia goes
I predict the series will die out by the end of this decade or at best have a almost non existent fanbase (mostly just of people orbiting around fanart as always) real fans will eventually leave if they don't step up there game and make something good.
I just started getting into Neptunia. Luckily I bought the Vita games while they were still doing Vita sales. To expand my collection I wanted to buy the PS4 games but I was wondering what is the difference between Mega Dimension Neptunia vii and Mega Dimension Neptunia viiR?
Megadimension Neptunia ViiR changes up the combat in my opinion for the worse. It also introduces VR scenes that you can go through either with or without VR. These can be fairly nice though they are poorly integrated into the game they don't really fit the rest of the game well and at some points you get a VR scene after story segments and I think these generally work against the story. Basically they introduced something into the game that doesn't seem to fit at all. It also removes some things, the original has two different endings a normal and a good ending. While ViiR removes the normal ending so you lose out on that if you wanted to go for both. There are also 2 dlc characters with short stories that you can buy for Vii that are not available for ViiR. I would personally recommend Vii
I have beaten VII but I did not replay VIIR a lot (I have the LTD ed for my collection that is all) still I noticed minor differences plus VR is not mandatory (the VR parts are sparse and secondary.. VIIR is not a "VR game"). So if I were u I would just pick the best deal you find: Neptunia VII is in my opinion still the best nep game out there (maybe with sega girls which is very very funny I have to say.. among the spinoffs I also liked the zombie one, it had me laughing a lot ;) )
The DLC party members is a big issue. They don't bring anything to the story and they're only for fans of a particular character and worst of all they're an "I Win" button. The DLC characters are way to OP that they ruin the game so you end up wasting your money.
While I agree with complaining about the censorship Sony does against anime style games I think the main problem with the Neptunia series is with its own development rather than the censorship.
This isn't your first video yet you talk quite slow I had to speed up this video to 1.25x. There's no way this video was unscripted when it is this long you had to improvise. Aside from that, nothing else is wrong with this video.
thanks for the feedback, ye I should probably try to speak faster, at the moment I am not really that good at making videos though so I have a fair amount of things I need to work on in general before my videos hopefully becomes decent.
