15/07/2022

The New Classics #6: Super Neptunia RPG

 

 
 

The Backstory: As a raving Hyperdimension Neptunia fan, I obviously had to get my paws on that 2.5D spinoff despite its ridiculously uninspired title. Not only does said title sound like the name of a vanilla SNES game, but it’s also quite misleading. B*tch, all canon HN games are RPGs; if you wanna point out what makes SNRPG different from the rest of the crew, Neptunia Sidescrolling Galore or Super Neptunia Platformer would have been better suited. 

 


 

The Game: Indeed, the Platforming is strong with this one. I have nothing against some platform action in my RPG, as my love for Astria Ascending proves; unfortunately, SNRPG’s brand of platforming is far from being as stellar and delicious as AA’s one. The physics are wobbly at best and unreliable at worst and when I say ‘worst’, I mean jumping. It’s unprecise as heck, with jumps being either too short or too long. Not only that, but platforms have some slipperiness around the edges that makes jumping even less reliable. I cannot count the number of times I fell from a platform because I landed too far on it and slipped on the other side, or because I tried to run and jump at the very edge and slipped. 

 

 

Platforming is all nice and well (or not so much in that case), but how does the RPG part fare? Well, let’s say it’s complicated. Artisan Studios wanted to inject some exploration by allowing players to progress left and right, but also up and down between side-scrolling sections think Stage 1 of Platoon on the NES. Alas, that noble intent backfires on the player; with sections being very samey and dungeon maps very unprecise, it’s all to easy to get confused and lost. Mind you, the side-scrolling sections are obviously not meant to be labyrinthine; they just end up feeling that way, because of poor level design. 

 


 

Combat could have been the game’s saving grace and let’s be honest, it was at first. Hitting the A, B, X or Y buttons at precise times to trigger one of the four party members’ regular attack was something I had never encountered before; and it felt both nicely simple and pleasantly hypnotic. Flashier skills and better attacks were obviously on the way, and I expected a nice roll with that fighting system; however, my enthusiasm died on the spot when the game forced me to use break attacks to get rid of an HP bag boss. Break attacks are triggered through the Break meter, which has to be filled by using regular attacks; and it takes forever to fill it. It took me fifteen friggin’ minutes to clear that fight; fifteen minutes of hitting a foe that healed every turn to fill my Break meter, being hit by attacks that dealt 3-4 points of damage, healing when my HP got too low, and finally releasing a Break Attack after what felt like a million hits. Zero challenge, total boredom. This is the complete antithesis of canon HN combat — all flashy skills, endless combos and fast-paced battles.  

 


 

The Verdict: We all know where this is headed, dear fellow gamers: Super Neptunia RPG is by no means a New Classic of mine. It lacks everything I love in canon HN entries; and the things it brings are definitely not to my liking. Next please! 

 

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