GameLight - Hyperdimension Neptunia MK2

Official Site: http://nisamerica.com/games/neptunia2/index.php

Source: Youtube Channel MyKOEITV

Hyperdimension Neptunia MK2 releases very soon (19 days to be exact).  It is a moé-animé heavy Action-RPG that seems to target a very specific audience of RPG players (more so outside of Japan).  I have kept an eye on the first game ever since its release but have been reluctant to purchase it as it had an average price of $60-$70 (some online stores sold it for $180) with an average Metascore of 45/100 from critics.  I eventually found a copy at GameStop for $30 (surprising since it's a new copy AND it's at GameStop) and decided to make the purchase.  Thankfully, the game turned out to be pretty entertaining (albeit the beginning tutorial, that was long and boring).  Hyperdimension Neptunia MK2 takes place in a fictional world called Gamindustri as did the first one.  CPUs are gaming consoles personified as goddesses and each goddess protects the part of the land within Gamindustri.  As one might guess, the game references the Game Industry quite often with certain lingo or specific game characters.  The game plays like a turn-based, dungeon crawler, RPG but looks a lot like a visual novel during conversations as dialogues stretch for quite a duration sometimes.  The turn-based combat in MK2 will differ a bit from the first one as characters can freely roam the battlefield similar to Star Ocean or Eternal Sonata.  And instead of 3 party members on the field, a maximum of 4 characters can participate in battle.  Each character has their own special abilities and the player can customize the different attacks to create their own combination of attacks.  I'm not certain whether there will be an open world to traverse or if it will be similar to the first one where the player chooses a dungeon to explore for each mission and quest.

It worries me that MK2 is rated "M" for mature when the first was rated "T" for teen.  The first game did have some risqué images and moments, so I can only imagine that MK2 has furthered the fan service a bit more.  The fan service neither really "adds" to the gameplay or nor "deter" it in any way, it's just there and so one can take it or leave it.  It can be troublesome if one plays the game when others around as some images and dialogue can raise quite a few eyebrows or raise the obvious question of "what in the world are you playing?"  So with that aside, it seems the game focuses on the "portable" systems of the game industry (namely the Sega GameGear, Sony PSP, and the Nintendo DS).  I really like the first one and I'm hoping the 2nd will be even better by fixing the problems the first one had (an more organized item menu system, faster-paced battles, etc.).  Hyperdimension Neptunia MK2 releases on February 28th, 2012 exclusively for the Playstation 3.