Hyperdimension Neptunia Re;Birth 2-Sisters Generation: Grinding reigns supreme

Let's get straight to the point: I absolutely adore the Hyperdimension Neptunia series. If I had to establish a top ten of my favourite Vita games, the first two HN instalments would undoubtedly be part of it; and if I had to pick up my three favourite Vita series, HN would absolutely be one of them.

This may come as a surprise, given that I hardly ever mentioned the series on this blog and never reviewed any Hyperdimension entry. What happened is that I played HN Re;Birth 1 last summer, right before holidaying abroad; as a result, the planned review of that game was lost forever as holiday laziness and newer playthroughs pushed it out of the scene before it could even make an entrance. However, I absolutely adored that game and have the fondest memories of that playthrough; and one year later, I decided to treat myself again to a healthy dose of HN goodness by playing HN Re;Birth 2.

To my utter delight, I was reunited with all the HN staples I had come to know and love over the course of my HN Re;Birth 1: the adorable zesty characters, the witty story poking fun at the videogame industry, the pint-sized dungeons that are really more akin to grinding patches than genuine dungeons, the hardcore boss battles every two steps, the side quests by the truckload, the exhilarating special attacks and their over-the-top animations and, last but not least, the metric tons of grinding.

HN is nothing if not a series that strives on grinding and wears its grindy quality like a badge of honour. Dungeons may be pint-sized, colourful and bristling with hilarious-looking foes, but each one of them is a difficulty spike per se that requires a healthy amount of grinding to be navigated safely. And let's not even talk about the boss battles, which are ruthless engagements that can prove challenging even with a conveniently levelled up party—and utterly impossible to win with an underlevelled party. HN reprises the old-school trope of the Boss that's unbeatable unless you boast a Certain Level, and I fell pray to it during my playthrough of Re;Birth 1: due to a lack of regular level-grinding on my part, I totally failed to beat the final boss. Said final boss had a regenerating ability, and the combined attacks of my underlevelled party were not dealing enough damage to counter its automatic healing. (The amount of grinding that would have been needed to overcome that hurdle of a final boss would have been staggering, so I wisely—or cowardly—decided to give up.) I was determined not to end up in the same kind of bind again during my playthrough of Re;Birth 2, and I started grinding dutifully and regularly from the get-go. That was a most inspired decision, because Re;Birth 2 is harder than Re;Birth 1, if that's even possible. So far, my playthrough can be divided as such: 85% grinding, 10% boss battles and 5% story-related cutscenes and inventory management. You've been warned, fellow gamers.

Of course, I absolutely lap up this heavy grinding, and this is due to a sole reason that is none other than the fighting system. To put it simply, HN's fighting system is my favourite RPG fighting system ever, all subgenres combined. It clicked with me like no other fighting system ever did, because it combines everything I love from the three main RPG fighting systems. It sports all at once the exhilarating button-mashing of real-time fighting, the relaxing deliberation of turn-based combat and the fine-tuned positioning of strategic/tactical fighting—all sprinkled with sharp, glorious animations that make even the meanest fight a feast for the eyes. I'll spare you a boring technical explanation of how the whole thing plays out; any video will do a much better job at this than me. This fighting system is the ultimate RPG fighting system hybrid, and it's so sleek and utterly brilliant that I wonder why no developper ever thought of mixing these elements together before HN. Maybe is was not technically possible, or maybe it was too cutting-edge for most audiences; and given how little praise is lavished upon HN's fighting system and how mixed are the reviews of these games, I suspect that the latter might be the truth.

Although I adore it, I have to admit that HN is pretty much a hit-or-miss series. If you love grinding and click with the fighting system, then you're in for a treat; if not, then you can forget about the series altogether, before there is really nothing more than grinding to be found there. Exploration is totally absent because of the tiny dungeons and the fact that the next objective in line is always highlighted; and the story, although excellent, is too minor to justify playing the game solely for it. Seeing cute personifications of the Game Gear, the PSP and the DS as well as luminaries such as Compile Heart, Idea Factory and Nihon Falcom in RE;Birth 2 is certainly a delight—and I enjoyed it all the more as a portable gamer at heart, obviously—just like discovering all the clever puns about the gaming industry hidden in the game; however, it certainly won't help a player allergic to grinding to stomach the vast amount of it present in the HN series. Grinding is the meat and potatoes of HN, and all the rest is but accompaniments.

I'm currently 25 hours into Re;Birth 2, and I can feel that the end is drawing near. My current party comprises Nepgear, Compa, Cave and newly recruited Falcom and I'm pretty satisfied with that line-up—heck, Cave's Black Label supermove alone can terminate boss fights in a couple of turns. I'm starting to suspect that I may need a party made solely of CPUs to beat the final boss; but that shouldn't be too much of an issue thanks to the awesome inclusive levelling-up system, which gives experience even to the characters who are not in the party. At any rate, I'm planning to undertake a massive level-grinding marathon before the final boss, because said final boss will surely turn out to be an Everest-sized difficulty spike. See you in a few hours of grinding, dear fellow gamers! Thanks for reading, and be my guest anytime!