The only Neptunia game I've tried playing. I wanted to like it... The concept is interesting, the character designs are cute, but it's just so bland and uninteresting everywhere else. Long, boring dialogue, dull environments, combat that simply isn't fun. Even the music is so generic-sounding. I can handle even the slowest, most monotonous, most tedious games if there's something else there to hook me in (see here), but there was nothing here I was able to latch onto or care about. Maybe I ought to revisit it or try the original version with a fresh perspective.

I came into this game straight off the back of Crymachina, I expected it to be pretty chill and something I could turn my brain off to, I didn't really get any of that, I spent most of my time looking up where to find materials and walking through the same dungeon layouts repeatedly, it was really boring, even more tragic is that the characters, the games best selling point completely failed to grab me and so I was left uninterested in them which I think hindered my enjoyment of the game a lot, ultimately I got the experience that I did and nothing can really change that, so. Sorry to disappoint.

A much needed remake of 1, some things were missing from it but Original 1 is so bad to play. Some additions too and a shit ton of characters. Uses Victory style of gameplay. a 5 only because it was the first time they used that style to remake/spinoff. Later that would be a minus point.

There is also a filter point with the 1st Noire fight which is funny af, many people got filtered here. It was hard but not too much by previous standards. Its really not that grindy, and if you really wanted to, its easy to grind.

The xplay jrpg. Introducing this game to specific sections of the younger queer community was like the CIA introducing crack to black neighborhoods. I mourn for those impacted, you know who you are.

This isn't the worst JRPG I've ever played, or close to IdeaFactory's worst, but it is the most embarrassing, including all of their games that had to be "censored" (removed child pornography) so they could be sold in the west. If this game came out in 2007, when VGCats was the height of popular culture, this would have caused white 9/11. It's humor is an artifact from a different time, but this series persisted long after we progressed as a society past it.

The game itself goes out of its way to be boring. Having fun with the game? No you aren't, and please refrain from lying to me in the future. If you get joy from this game, then rejoice! You will enjoy almost every other JRPG out there, because this accomplishes the bare minimum to not be incompetent, and jack shit otherwise. Again, another example of how this game feels out of time, this seems to have the same design ethos that drove the famicom Dragon Quest clone deluge, down to "progress is relegated behind your raw stats, grinding is intended game design".

I don't have any numerical rating for this game. If I had a coworker of mine say that they played Neptunia, I would suggest they refrain from sharing that fact in public.

This game brainwashed me into becoming a Kusoge enjoyer.

In all seriousness, play with "weaken enemies" on and don't bother to 100%. If you treat this game like a typical JRPG you'll be sucked into a black void of material grinding and unchanging battles. The combat system is full of annoying benchmarks and despite having the potential for depth and strategy, ultimately bosses come down to stats every time. I beat in about 20 hours with most of my party members in the high 50s, but I could easily see someone playing for 100+ if they really wanted to.

Aside from that, the game is incredibly charming and doesn't overstay its welcome. It doesn't try to do anything crazy, it's just funny, has cool animations, fun references to gaming companies, and a good vibe.

Not a game you could recommend to anyone, but for the right person it's incredibly refreshing and a nice pace breaker.

Review originally posted on steam
it took me almost 2 years to beat this game and i gotta say its a damn fun game despite playing a total of 40 something hours ingame neptunia is the most funnest rpg i have ever played the 4th wall breaks the funny cutscenes the music it was all great my biggest annoyance in this game was some of the bosses some of the bosses were hell to beat at some moments in the game like the one i was stuck on for almost 2 years now i give this game a 10/10 i recommend anyone who is a fan of games with 4 wall breaking but be warned there is some fan service in this game so be advised also sidenote i recommend anyone to buy the plutia and peashy dlc it makes some parts of the game way easier

It's sad when you make a trilogy of games and they are so dogshit you have to remake them all over again...

Hyperdimension Neptunia Re;Birth1 is a remake of the odd and forgotten Hyperdimension Neptunia which was totally overshadowed by its own remake, I actually had no idea how different the original game was from its remake, I thought Re;Birth was just a texture enhancement job but it's actually a complete conversion of the game that pretty much act as a reboot of the franchise, giving the franchise a new life, and seeing bad games becoming good is what I love to see.

The gameplay is quite similar to something like Final Fantasy 13 or Xenoblade Chronicle where you can move your character in a circle with the enemies inside and the goal is obviously to kill them in a good old turn-based fashion. One main complaint I heard about this game was how grindy it was and honestly, I understand why people see this as an issue but personally, I love grinding if the gameplay is fun and if the game pretty much lets you fuck around with its system like how Disgaea does with its cheat shop that is oddly similar to some of the feature in the game called "Remake Plans", they let you mess with some of the game systems in exchange of enemy drops or other items to unlock them. It also reminds me of how Final Fantasy 10 gave us the ability to break the damage limit and the freedom of the character sphere system, you really feel the freedom in this game and that's my favorite thing in a turn-based RPG.
For the grinding issue, I do agree that it's an issue early game during chapter 2 when the game is still limiting your option and just doesn't give you much to work with other than grinding basic enemies till you can beat story bosses. Once chapter 2 is complete it's when the game becomes a ton of fun and pretty much drops everything at your disposition, it never takes too long to level up if you know what you are doing.
I could go on and on about how the battle system works but I'll just let you try it out for yourself and find out if you find it satisfying or not.

Story wise this game is miserable, but I don't mind it. It's a damn Neptunia game so I really wasn't expecting anything story-wise and I think that's ok! I mean when you watch a slice-of-life anime I don't see anyone complaining about them not having an epic story, not all turn-based RPGs must be the next Final Fantasy 7, this game is the slice-of-life of JRPGs.

Now for the rest, I think the soundtrack is really, really good I actually never see anyone mentioning it when talking about this game, It's nothing as good as Final Fantasy 10 but it's good in a Nintendo type of soundtrack way where it's just bubbly and fun to have as background music, it fits the tone of the game. The art style is great! I'm a big fan of Tsunako's artwork in this game and I'm glad they never changed the art direction for the future games.

Now for a few complaints, the stages. The world stages or whatever you want to call them are visually lame, they kinda missed out on making them more "video gamey" by adding consoles, games references in the background, and whatnot. Another issue with them is that they are repeated over and over and over! Same with the enemy models! It's not a big issue as I don't care much but the amount of copy-paste in this game is crazy, but it's still decent for a budget JRPG.
One of my least favorite parts in the game was to equalize the shares for the true ending, it was really tedious, and also getting 30% and 50% for the CPU candidates, I wish shares were easier to manipulate.

Overall this was a really decent JRPG that I could not finish for the life of me when I was younger, I would always play chapter 1 and then drop at chapter 2 because I was young and didn't like turn-based RPGs all too much back then, though now I'm smart and I love fun games so it was right up my alley!
To anyone who likes turn-based RPGs with breakable systems like Disgaea should definitely try out this game.

A flawed game, with flawed combat, somewhat mid EN voice acting, and occasionally annoying fourth wall breaks that become excessive very quickly. The story is nothing to write home about, and the characters didn't leave me feeling any kind of way. And yet, for some reason, my hour count won't stop going up. It's got charm. I want to see where the rest of the series takes this; if it gets any better. The potential is undoubtedly there. This is a series that I WANT to call good, and that I WANT to like. So let's see what the future installations hold for me. (That is, after I beat NG+... I really want to go unlock the other characters.)