Recent reviews by n00b

I can't believe I have been playing this game for almost a decade and still haven't reviewed it. I am not going to go into why you should play the game. You already know the answer to that question.

The game crashed after like 30 minutes. I was just getting into my groove. I feel like I had fully mastered the mechanics but I didn't get to the final boss so I won't know if the game really provides a true challenge for more hardcore players.

Also there is no online multiplayer which is a missed opportunity. I wouldn't recommend until they add a online tournament mode and improve the stability.

I finally finished this game. Any review that says this game is easy is lying. On the final stage, there are a lot of parts where if you get knocked off a platform, you have to redo most of the stage. Also, those reptar coins are not optional. You have to get almost all of them to get to the final stage.

I did like the game and I appreciate having the ability to switch between 8-bit and HD graphics. I recommend it but tread with caution. This game humbled me.

Its got a great cast of characters with unique abilities and play styles and its just really fun to play. The story is also pretty good.

This game is a true gem. I don't remember the last time I got so hooked in a game that I just could not find a stopping point. The characters were all really well written and the simple plot of just having a good day was actually very interesting. Also, the few moments of humor this game had were actually funny.

The only downside I could think of is that the controls were kinda stiff but it really doesn't matter at all for this type of game. Highly recommend.

This game has some infuriating design choices. First of all, the movement doesn't feel as fluid as it should and I had a hard time trying to dodge and shoot at the same time. Another problem is that everytime you die, you start at the beginning of the level which makes having lives and continues pretty pointless. Another really annoying problem is that enemies respond the second they go off screen. This design decision would add a fun bit of challenge but when paired with the stiff controls I mentioned earlier its just not fun at all.

Also, the game does not have a fullscreen option and you can't remap your controls. If you can get passed the issues I mentioned then there is some fun to be had here but its not something I can recommend in its current state.

I personally used Aseprite to create all the sprites and tiles for my steam game. Its a great tool even if you don't have any experience with pixel art.

The controls in this game suck. I tried to get through it but I just couldn't tolerate it much longer.

This game is just really fun. If you are a fan of the anime then you will absolutely love this game. I really love the mechanic of switching dragons. The only down side it that once you loose a dragon you can't get her back the rest of the game.

When I first played this game, I couldn't understand why it got so many good reviews. I have played ReBirth 1-3 and Neptunia x Senran Kagura before this. You could say I got hooked on Nep. So I was expecting this to be really good and it definitely let me down in the gameplay department. That said, I definitely recommend this game.

THE BAD
I want to get this out of the way first. This has the worst gameplay in the franchise. Don't let the videos fool you into thinking its going to be some fun action combat like Senran Kagura. This is jank, and not the so bad its good kind. I hated every single moment I spent in combat in this game. All the other Neptunia games have addicting combat so I am not sure why they ditched the combat from there other games for this mess. Let me just the problems:
* Basic Combos suck - Everytime you attack, you loose AP. When your AP is 0, you have to run around and wait for it to fill back up. The system encourages you to keep switching characters mid combo but that has issues as well. Your combos can break easily since enemies stun time is kinda random.

* Special Moves suck - They waist your special gauge which is also used for stuff like using items (seriously, who thought this was a good idea). They don't do much more damage than your basic combo and they don't have any added stun ability that your regular combos don't.

* Goddess Form sucks - When you transform, the gauge at the left side of your character profile starts draining really quickly. You can extend this by equipping disc but it still drains way too quickly. That means you will not be able to stay in goddess form for that long. Its made worse by the fact that this guage takes a long time to refill. Which basically means you will be saving it for boss battles. Oh and if you want to do your EX move, kiss half your goddess guage good bye so you probably won't be doing that much either.

Outside of combat, there are a few other issues I had. The first is both a positive and a negative which is exploring Planeptune. This is the first game where you can actually walk around Planeptune and its pretty awesome at first. The problem is its really big and has practically nothing in it. You will have some story segments that require you to walk for long stretches of time to a quest marker to start the cutscene. It got old quick. There are also characters that are critical to the story that you never get to play.

THE GOOD
I started with the bad because I wanted to end on a good note. The one thing this game does better than any other game in the franchise I have played is its writing. The story is just incredible. The character dialog is also just really good which is saying a lot because character dialog is what this franchise excels at. And this game references a lot of real world events like Covid, Sega's arcade business, how scummy mobile games are, and how Nintendo loves to file lawsuits. The jokes are genuinely funny and the game does a good job of transitioning from darker moments to light hearted moments without downplaying the severity of the situation the characters are in at the time.

OVERALL
In conclusion, this game has some really bad gameplay but the story is so good that I didn't care. I would recommend if you want a good story.