Cyberdimension Neptunia: 4 Goddesses Online Review
By: RJ (@rga_02)
- Cyberdimension Neptunia: 4 Goddesses Online
- Developer - Tamsoft/Compile Heart
- Publisher - Idea Factory
- PlayStation 4
- Rating - T
People often joke about the number of sports videogames out in the market, then you look at a franchise like Neptunia. The games range from traditional RPGs to idol simulation games and they seem to come out every other month. It also feels that every entry seems to be a carbon copy of another. While the characters and dialog are charming, the games themselves are nothing to be desired of as of recently. Until now.
I’ll just say this right out of the gate. This game is good. Not ironically good, but actually good.
Neptune and co. find themselves as the main characters of a MMORPG called, “Four Goddess Online.” That name might sound familiar as Vert as often dropped references to that game in previous entries. Anyway, the plot itself is your standard affair for a Neptunia game. The goddesses have to find four artifacts so they can save the world. It’s something you haven’t imagined of before. Like with any game in the franchise though, the dialog of the game is what makes your experience more enjoyable. You can tell right away that each character has their own personalities and quirks because of the wonderful and cheeky writing. Some might find the dialog a bit unnecessary at some points however it quite tame compared to other Compile Heart games out there. I’ve personally found it enjoyable despite some eye-roll inducing moments.
Due to the departure from a traditional turn-based RPG to a free-roam MMORPG, Neptune and co. find themselves out of their usual comfort zone. That means you are no longer bound to their traditional roles which helps freshen up the series. So for example, like with any MMORPG there are classes. So someone like Neptune is set to be a Paladin, Noire is a Dark Knight and Vert is fittingly enough set as an Enchanter.
Despite its shift from a traditional RPG, fetch quests that we all know and *love* from previous entries is ever so present in this game. However, they don’t feel tedious to complete. While you still have to gather items, or kill X number of monsters to please your guild it is more relaxed. As you progress through the game the fields become larger so quests will become much easier to complete. You will find yourself with a lot of downtime that you can use to buff up your party by either grinding or finding materials for your weapons.
As with another change from previous entries, you are no longer bound to a turn-based battling system. It is completely action based. Don’t expect it to be refined as games such as Final Fantasy or Tales of, but it is pretty competent in its own right but do expect to button mash a lot especially in the earlier stages of the game. The core mechanics from previous titles are still relevant in this game. You have your physical and skill attacks and you use those to find the break to your enemies’ guard shield. You will easily pick up the mechanics within a few battles which is pretty great as you won’t be overwhelmed.
You can also now customize the looks of your characters. It is perhaps the most favorite feature in this game. (For reference, I bought every single outfit in Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII and I spent a lot of time customizing Lightning’s outfits.) You can probably spend a lot of time messing around with the color palettes and various outfits for your goddesses. Each of them have unique ones but they don’t have an effect while in battle other than cosmetics.
Visually, this game is stunning. Nep Nep is now both powered by 8gbs of GDDR5 and Unreal Engine 4. The character portraits are more lively and vibrant. While the environment can get lacking, looking at it is no longer an eye sore because they are just so neutral and pleasing to the eye.
Despite being powered by Unreal Engine 4, there are some performance issues. Mostly being framerate drops. It doesn’t break the game but you will notice it at some points during battle which could be troublesome at times.
I enjoyed my time with this game. It was short (you can beat the main campaign in about 25 hours) and engaging. For those new to the series, I would recommend this as a starting point due to its simplicity and for those hardcore fans out there this is a great addition to your Nep Nep library.