The fine folks over at Idea Factory were nice enough to let us check out their latest game, “Megadimension Neptunia VII,” which is the latest in the “Neptunia” series. Having never played any of these games myself, the only thing I really know about them is that the characters represent video game consoles. If that’s not meta enough for you, the titular Megadimension is apparently called Gamindustri, and the first game featured a Console War. Maybe I’ll leave the description to Idea Factory:
G.C. 2015 – Gamindustri has entered a precarious season known as the CPU Shift Period. During this time of social unrest, deprecating rumors about the CPUs have begun to saturate Gamindustri. Neptune and the others worry the citizens will soon call for new leaders to replace the them and that their rule will end.
In these critical moments for Planeptune, Neptune and Nepgear mysteriously disappear. Their destination: a divergent world, nearing its catastrophic end, called the Zero Dimension. They encounter the last remaining CPU of this world, Uzume Tennouboshi, who is desperately waging a lonely battle against a colossal evil known as the Dark CPU.
Will Neptune and Nepgear be able to work together with Uzume in order to save Zero Dimension from tragedy? So begins a new adventure for Neptune…
D’awww, she’s gonna murder me to death with that energy sword.
At any rate, the game itself look bright, colorful and full of the kind of cute that makes your eyes roll back into your head (also known as moé). This time around, you’ll play three different storylines, including one that follows a character based on the late (but great!) Sega Dreamcast, who sounds like a total tsundere. I mean, it would make total sense for the Dreamcast to be a tsundere.
Oh, you best believe she’s a tsundere.
I’ll leave the intricate discussions of gameplay to our review, but for now, the press release highlights:
- New Battle Features Characters can link up for stronger attacks, “Parts Break” allows you to split enemies into pieces to lower their stats and disable special attacks, and “Giant Battles” impose limits that will challenge the strategist in you!
- NEXT mode A second transformation is now available! You can break those big baddies into bits with NEXT mode, which features new special skills and a new costume for the CPUs!
- Three Worlds, Three Stories Three different story modes! With new CPUs and characters at your side, you must fight through three dimensions to save Gamindustri!
- New Dungeon Minigame! An homage to the classic “Spelunker,” you receive special items when you clear this dungeon under the time limit!
As someone who literally can’t stay awake playing turned based JRPGs anymore, I’m not sure if this is the game for me, but it does look fun. More on the inevitable, crushing advance of old age later. The game also touts a “Unit Turn-Based” battle system to mix things up, which actually sounds far more interesting than the “characters stand across from each other and gesture” system of old.
Stay tuned for our review, assuming Andrew isn’t dead of cuteness-induced diabetes before then. If nothing else, we’ll have a great obituary to write.
Lookin’ an awful lot like the Hi-Nu Gundam there.
Megadimension Neptunia VII will be released on Feb 2nd for PS4. You can read up on more information about the game here.