Let me start by saying that while this (Hyperdimension Neptunia) is a long-running series (it originated in 2010) I am new to the world of Neptunia. Still, any action RPG that has cool anime-style characters is a game that I want to check out and that is basically what you get with Cyberdimension Neptunia: 4 Goddesses Online.
How to Download Cyberdimension Neptunia: 4 Goddesses Online
The game can be downloaded from Steam. To start your download, click on the link which is provided at the end of this review.
The Game Review
The story is kind of fun. The four goddesses, Neptune, Vert, Blanc, and Noire get to beta test a new game. Inside this world, they are given RPG style roles like Paladin and Black Night for example. It is kind of fun and as a newcomer, to the series, I thought it was cool. I assume if you are a longtime fan, you will get a bit of a kick out of this.
Of course, once they are in the game, something goes wrong and it is up to these kickass girls to put the villain, The Demon King Jester in his place. The goddesses need to get their hands on the Sacred Treasures in order to save the world from the Demon King Jester.
The story is quite charming and the voice acting well done. I really like the art style, everything is so bright and colorful and it is hard not to smile at the main character designs. There are actually 12 playable characters in the game which is cool and while I have not seen them all, I do like the smart cell-shaded look of the ones that I have.
Now I cannot compare Cyberdimension Neptunia: 4 Goddesses Online to the past Neptunia games. However, I can tell you that this is a hack and slash style RPG. You will go from area to area, town to town, dungeon to dungeon. Killing enemies, fighting bosses, learning new skills and so on. There is nothing groundbreaking here, but the game does what it does very well.
There are plenty of skills for you to “awaken” as well as this there are a ton of cosmetics for you to unlock. This must be something that the series is well known for as there are a ton and in all honesty, I found it a little overwhelming. I liked the default character design so I did not mess with this. However, I think hardcore Neptunia fans will love how they can play dress up with the characters.
Combat was what I had the most fun with. You can play with three other human players or you can play with the AI. The AI, for the most part, does its job and as you can switch between characters you are always in charge. On occasions though the AI can act really dumb and this can be frustrating from time to time.
Playing with people you know so that you can coordinate your attacks is really cool and you can even start to be more strategic with how you attack. The combat is not the most in-depth I have ever encountered, but its fast-paced hack and slash style of combat is genuinely really exciting and fun to do.
Cyberdimension Neptunia: 4 Goddesses Online does have a couple of things that annoyed me. First of all the initial load time from when the game boots up to when you actually start can be as long as four minutes, what is this the Commodore 64?
Also, you do not actually explore the towns, this is all handled with 2D screens which look great, but I would love to have been able to explore this world more.
