Hyperdimension Neptunia Victory

Hyperdimension Neptunia Victory
North American cover art
Developer(s)	Idea Factory Compile Heart Felistella (PS Vita)
Publisher(s)	JP: Compile Heart WW: NIS America (PS3) WW: Idea Factory International (PS Vita, PC)
Artist(s)	Tsunako
Composer(s)	Kenji Kaneko Nobuo Uematsu Kenji Ito[1]
Series	Hyperdimension Neptunia
Platform(s)	PlayStation 3, PlayStation Vita, Microsoft Windows
Release	August 30, 2012 HNV PlayStation 3 JP: August 30, 2012 NA: March 21, 2013 AU: March 21, 2013 EU: March 22, 2013 Re;Birth3 PlayStation Vita JP: December 18, 2014[2] NA: June 30, 2015[3] EU: July 3, 2015[3] Microsoft Windows WW: October 30, 2015[4]
Genre(s)	Role-playing
Mode(s)	Single player

Hyperdimension Neptunia Victory (神次元ゲイムネプテューヌV, Kami Jigen Game Neptune V, also known as Ultra Dimension Neptune V) is a 2012 action role-playing game developed and published by Idea Factory along with the assistance of Compile Heart. It is the third installment in the Hyperdimension Neptunia franchise. Set in the year 1989, the story takes place after Hyperdimension Neptunia Mk2 in an alternate dimension to Gamindustri,^[5] bringing more insight to the "Console War" story arc. The game was released on August 30, 2012 in Japan and in North America and Europe in March 2013. Like the first game, this game received a rating of "Teen" by the Entertainment Software Rating Board.^[6]

An enhanced remake for the PlayStation Vita, titled Hyperdimension Neptunia Re;Birth 3: V Century was released in Japan on December 18, 2014,^[7][8] in North America on June 30, 2015, and in Europe on July 3, 2015, the latter two under the subtitle of V Generation.

Gameplay

The gameplay is similar to its predecessor, Hyperdimension Neptunia Mk2, with one exception. The AP bar is gone so now characters can customize their combos but they are limited to one combo per turn. CPU's and Candidates can activate Hard Drive Divinity at the cost of 20% of their SP. Also included is the EXE Drive Gauge which fills up by the number of hits in a combo. This gauge can be expanded upon three times for a total of four gauges. When the gauge is full, characters can utilize an EXE drive, which is the equivalent of a special move. Joint attacks cost more than one section of the gauge.

In the remake, the EXE drive gauge is gone, so Special moves cost all SP, which is limited to 1,000.

Plot

After the CPUs (Console Patron Units) of the world of Gamindustri united to prevent the resurrection of Arfoire the Deity of Sin, these immortal goddess-like girls have taken to a life of laziness during peacetime and spend their days playing video-games together, much to the frustration of Histoire, the oracle of the nation of Planeptune (Sega). Finally deciding to take action, Histoire sends Neptune and Nepgear to better themselves and their nation by punishing an anti-CPU activist.

The activist, Rei Ryghts, acquires a mysterious power and uses it to send Neptune to another dimension where she finds herself back in the 80’s at the beginning of ‘the Console War’ (the plot of the original game) though things are very different in this world, particularly because she doesn’t even exist here, and has also lost her CPU powers.

Neptune befriends Plutia, a lazy, ditsy girl like herself who is the alternate Planeptune’s CPU albeit with a sadistic side, as well as future-CPU Noire (who personifies the Sony PlayStation). Together the three work together to track down artifacts known as CPU Memories to transform Neptune and Noire into CPUs, which they acquire by defeating the CPU-like sorceress, Arfoire, and her assistant Pirachu (Warechu in later versions).

Arfoire reveals that she and Warechu are both members of Rei Ryghts’ criminal group, the Seven Sages (A fourth member is revealed to be a children’s celebrity and international spy named Abnes). Plutia, who transforms into the dominatrix CPU Iris Heart, demands the three friends take an intimate bath together as payment for her aid in the difficult battle against Arfoire. The girls agree, which boosts Neptune’s friendship with Plutia, though Noire leaves soon after to found her own nation, Lastation.

Three years pass without contact from Neptune’s home dimension and she and Plutia have become best friends. Angered at the girls’ laziness, the alternate Histoire sends Neptune and Plutia to Noire in Lastation to learn how to act like true CPUs. Out of concern for her old friends, Noire hesitantly agrees to help and rejoins the group to teach the girls about national politics and the true nature of the Seven Sages; to create a nation without CPUs which they fund with organised crime.

Blanc, the CPU of the now declining nation of Lowee (Nintendo), hears of the alliance between Planeptune and the now prosperous Lastation, and declares a personal war on the two nations to reassert her authority, having previously been the only CPU. Blanc travels to Lastation alone to confront the trio, but neglects to attack them and returns home, much to the girls’ confusion.

Noire learns that Blanc’s brief arrival in Lastation was a diversion which the Seven Sages used to destroy one of Noire’s factories. Upon investigating the factory, the girls locate the culprit, the giant demolition robot, Copypaste, the so-called strongest of the Seven Sages, whom they successfully manage to destroy.

Frustrated over Lowee’s involvement with the Seven Sages, Noire (with some encouragement from Iris Heart) insists that the girls travel to Lowee to voice their concerns. In Lowee, Blanc challenges the trio to a televised dual for supremacy, which she regrettably loses. Blanc also loses her CPU powers having now also lost the faith of her nation. Exhausted from their battle, all four CPUs are imprisoned by Mr Badd, Blanc’s Prime Minister, who was secretly a member of the Seven Sages.

The girls are freed by Vert, the CPU of the new and elusive nation of Leanbox (Microsoft), who had infiltrated Lowee in an effort to assess the threat of the other CPUs. Disappointed, Vert withdraws soon after. Iris Heart places her faith in Blanc to restore her powers and together the four defeat Mr Badd who had constructed a large bipedal robotic suit by funneling funds from Lowee. Believing she has found a friend in Plutia, Blanc joins the party.

Upon returning to Planeptune, the two Histoires are finally able to make cross-dimensional contact and open a temporary portal to send Neptune home. The portal, however, is misused and sends Nepgear to the alternate dimension instead. The girls confirm that Nepgear has lost her powers just as Neptune did previously and so the party set off to Leanbox to request Vert’s help in locating another CPU Memory.

After tracking down Vert, the party learn that she possesses a spare CPU Memory. Vert agrees to part with the artifact in exchange for Nepgear’s loyalty. Fearing they may never find another, Nepgear and the party agree. With a new ally at her side, Vert challenges the other CPUs to a battle for supremacy. Nepgear hesitantly attacks Neptune but she and Vert are swiftly defeated. Nepgear apologizes for her betrayal and returns to the group, but not before being playfully punished by Iris Heart.

After working with Vert to defeat Arfoire and a rebuilt Copypaste who were rampaging through Leanbox, the group returns to Planeptune with a grateful Vert in tow, with Vert believing that she and Nepgear are now bound as ‘sisters’ despite Nepgear's true loyalty being to Neptune. From there, the CPUs return home to their respective nations after the Seven Sages declare an all-out assault on Lowee, Lastation and Leanbox. Neptune, Nepgear and Plutia hurry to each nation to offer support.

Anonydeath, the last of the Seven Sages, hacks Lastation’s security systems in an effort to spy on Noire, on whom he has a crush. The CPUs track Anonydeath, now equipped with a robotic suit, to a nearby lab where they swiftly defeat him at Noire’s request, though he manages to escape capture. In Lowee, the party reunite with Blanc and destroy a regretful Copypaste after his half-hearted attack on the Basilicom (CPU Headquarters). In Leanbox, the party are attacked by a group of mysterious new monsters but manage to drive them away with assistance from Vert. They then track the monsters to a secretive forest location where they find Mr Badd. The CPUs withdraw after defeating Badd again, who has chosen to protect these monsters as their proxy father.

Upon returning to Planeptune, the party learn from a restrained Histoire that the attacks on the other nations were diversions to keep the CPUs away from Planeptune so that the Seven Sages could attack the Planeptune Basilicom unhindered and abduct the three orphan girls who were being raised there by Plutia and Neptune. They chase the kidnappers to the mountains where they find and rescue two of the girls, Compa and IF, from Warechu and Arfoire respectively. Peashy, the third missing girl, is able to escape from Rei Ryghts after stealing an unknown artifact from her and returns home, though Anonydeath is able to 'legally' abduct her again by brainwashing her and posing as her biological father.

Appalled that the Seven Sages are capturing and experimenting on children, Abnes resigns from the group and reveals to Neptune the location of a Seven Sages base in the volcanic mines near Lowee. Upon raiding the facility, the CPUs find Mr Badd and his monsters, but neglect to kill them after Badd reveals that these new monsters are actually former human girls who were transformed during the Seven Sages desperate attempts to create their own brainwashed CPUs. After leaving the facility the party are attacked and defeated by a powerful new CPU named Yellow Heart (loosely based on the PC engine).

Ten years pass, and Compa and IF are now in their late teens. Copypaste has been rebuilt again, fully reformed and now serves Blanc in Lowee. Neptune’s party are busy trying to raise Planeptune’s shares (faith in the CPUs) to empower Histoire enough to open another cross-dimensional portal, though this proves immensely difficult as Yellow Heart occasionally interferes in the party's affairs. A new nation, Eden, formed by Rei Ryghts with Yellow Heart acting as its CPU, has also been amassing shares from the other nations.

Feeling unappreciated by the remaining Seven Sages, Arfoire resigns from the group, followed by a hesitant Warechu. Arfoire abducts IF again in order to stage a final showdown with the CPUs, but becomes paralyzed with fear when a vengeful Iris Heart arrives. Arfoire retreats, leaving Warechu to battle the party alone. After his brutal defeat, Compa nurses him back to health in return for information about Yellow Heart.

Warechu reveals that Yellow Heart's power output can be manually increased from Anonydeath's lab, which the party decides to destroy in order to even the odds. Now weakened, Anonydeath and Yellow Heart are defeated by the party resulting in Yellow Heart transforming back into her human form; revealing herself to be a brainwashed Peashy who loves Rei and Anonydeath as her parents. With some quick thinking by Anonydeath, the two manage to escape back to Eden.

The CPUs band together for an assault on Eden, defeating a retired Mr Badd in the process. Badd agrees to work with the CPUs in order to find a cure for his adopted daughters' conditions and relocates to Lastation. The party battles Yellow Heart once again and emerges victorious. Neptune is able to remind Peashy of their friendship and of her former life back at the Basilicom by finding several mementos from her past, resulting in Peashy joining the group.

With only two members remaining, Rei and Anonydeath agree to disband the Seven Sages and the two go their separate ways. Rei makes her way to Planeptune to surrender and apologize but she is stopped by Croire, an artificial life-form like Histoire, albeit with a thirst her chaos. Croire reveals that whilst the Seven Sages have failed in their dimension, Rei's new Citizen's Group in Neptune's home dimension now thrives in Neptune's absence. Though Rei refuses to use the power of her alternate self, Croire forces it upon her. Meanwhile, Neptune defeats Arfoire in an optional one-on-one dual where IF is once again used as a hostage.

Anonydeath sends an unexpected SOS message to the CPUs, resulting in the party battling through Eden and facing off against Rei’s defenses, including several clones of themselves, until they find and free the captive Anonydeath who reveals that Rei has lost her mind. The party then find Rei, who transforms, revealing that she is also a CPU. Insane with power in her CPU form, the party battles, successfully defeats and captures her.

Returning to Planeptune, the now powerless Rei reveals that she is an ancient CPU who turned on her own nation, Tari (Atari) and so lost her powers, and gave what little remained of her powers to her alternate self in Neptune's dimension. Having only been able to transform by the fragment of power (Sharicite) forced on her by Croire, she confirms that her powers are now gone once again, but reiterates Croire's earlier comment that whilst she has failed again in this dimension, her alternate self grows ever stronger.

Croire intervenes and reveals that the alternate Rei is now so powerful that she is attempting to destroy Plutia's dimension. The alternate Rei ruptures the dimensional barrier and begins showering Gamindustri in magical debris. After the CPUs evacuate their respective citizens to safety, the two Histoires successfully create a permanent portal between dimensions allowing the entire party to cross over. The party regroups with Nepgear’s friends; the CPU candidates Uni, Ram and Rom, and with support from the alternate CPUs, they successfully battle through the ruins of Planeptune and defeat the second Rei Ryghts. Croire threatens to transfer Rei's remaining power to a third Rei Ryghts before escaping, but Iris Heart quickly absorbs it with help from an apologetic Rei and the two emerge unscathed by sharing the burden.

The CPUs continue their cross-dimensional friendships through regular use of the portal, whilst Anonydeath is able to transform Mr Badd’s monster-girls back into human form by hacking their CPU Memories. Copypaste continues to use his strength to help Lowee, whilst a vengeful Arfoire works to find a way to finally defeat Neptune, with half-hearted support from Warechu. Meanwhile, Rei and Abnes reform the Seven Sages as CPU supporters, whilst the alternate Rei works around the clock to rebuild Planeptune.

Additional scenes in the Re;Birth 3: V Generation version of the game show Vert experiment with Idol Simulation games, resulting in her wanting to make real idols of the CPUs, thus setting the events for spin-off title Hyperdimension Neptunia: Producing Perfection. Also, Croire is captured by the alternate Neptune (who was previously thought to be deceased) thus outing her presence in the sequel, Megadimension Neptunia VII. The CPUs also reunite for an all-out war against pay-to-play mobile gaming.

Music

The music for the game was composed by Kenji Kaneko. Nobuo Uematsu, along with his band Earthbound Papas, and Kenji Ito also contributed four songs each.^[9] The opening theme song is Kami Jigen! Fortune Material (神次元!ふぉーちゅん・まてりある) by nao of 5pb., and the ending theme is Venus Megamix! (ヴィーナス女神っくす!) by Afilia Saga.

The opening theme song of the Hyperdimension Neptunia Re;Birth 3: V Century remake is titled "Rave:tech(^_^)New;world", with vocals performed by nao and written by Shinchiro Yamashita, track composed by Ryu, and guitar by Demetori.^[10] And the ending theme is True End Player (トゥルーエンド プレイヤー) by Idol College.

Reception

Original version

Reception
Aggregate scores Aggregator Score GameRankings 60.53%[11] Metacritic 55/100[12] Review scores Publication Score Destructoid 6.5/10[13] GamesRadar [14] IGN 5.4/10[15]

The original version received mixed reviews. It received an aggregated score of 60.53% on GameRankings based on 17 reviews^[11] and 55/100 on Metacritic based on 19 reviews.^[12]

Remake version

The remake received mixed reviews. Aggregating review websites GameRankings and Metacritic gave the PlayStation Vita version 70.25% based on 12 reviews and 70/100 based on 14 reviews^[16][18] and the Microsoft Windows version 60.00% based on 1 review.^[17]

See also

• Hyperdimension Neptunia: The Animation

References

External links

• Official website for the PS3 game
• Official website for the PS3 game (in Japanese)
• Official website for the PS Vita remake
• Official website for the PS Vita remake (in Japanese)