The release of Hyperdimension Neptunia Re;Birth2: Sister’s Generation is just around the corner. I have been playing this for a while for a full review that will be coming up a bit a later on. For now, I just wanted to give you folks a taste of what’s in store for you. The release dates are January 26 in North America — this is for both the physical and digital releases. The game releases physically in Europe on February 6 and few days later on the 11th for digital release.
For those unfamiliar with the series, this title is a remake of Hyperdimenison Neptunia MK2 which released on the PS3 in 2012. The story, for the most part, is unchanged. The CPUs and Nepgear have been captured by the Arfoire; Syndicate of International Crime, or ACIS for short. This evil group wants to destroy Gameindustri by taking away all of the CPUs shares in order to resurrect the evil Deity of Sin Afoire. IF and Compa manage to free Nepgear, who sets out on quest to gain the help of the other CPU canidates in order to save their sisters and Gameindustri.
The basic story hasn’t changed all that much. You will also notice some changes in the localization like Pirachu’s name has been changed back to Warechu, and other slight differences. Overall, Idea Factory International has done a fantastic job with the localization of this title. I was very impressed by the work they did on Hyperdimenison Neptunia Re;Birth1, and this release is done just as well.
The combat is pretty much the same as in Neptunia Re;Birth1, but there is one big difference; you can now have four party members in combat instead of the usual three. Now you can have all four CPUs or all four Candidates in combat at once. The game balances this out by giving enemies more HP or adding more monsters on the field, so combat feels as great as ever.
There are also a few new characters added to the combat roster. Now, each landmass’s oracle can be unlocked and added to the combat party. In addition to these four characters, Red, who has been absent from the series since the very first Hyperdimension Neptunia game, has returned. She is still very much on the hunt for waifus, and it is as funny as ever. 5PB also returns to combat in this installment, and the Leanbox idol is as great as ever.
The Plan System, where you find, plan, and spend so much memory to unlock items, stages, costumes and other goodies, also returns. In addition to this, a new mini game called “Stella’s Dungeon” has been added. You basically send Stella and Fella into each dungeon you have unlocked to find additional plans, materials and other treasures.
This game works like a simple dungeon-crawling RPG sim. You will equip Stella with various pieces of equipment and send her to the dungeon depths. Each dungeon will contain a different amount of floors, and it will take a certain amount of time for her to complete each one. So, to explore an entire dungeon can take anywhere from an hour and half to four hours in real time. Luckily, the Vita counts time if you put it to sleep while she is exploring. If Stella fails to reach the designated floor, you will lose all the items she has equipped and you will have to start back over at Level 1 of that dungeon again.
This sounds like a giant pain, but it really is not that bad. Though, you do need to get out of the mindset that, if she couldn’t beat the boss of the last dungeon, you should not try the next one. However, she may be able to complete some floors in the next dungeon and find better equipment to help you get past where you were previously having issues.
All in all, folks have a lot to look forward to here. With the revamped script, stellar combat and a bunch of different endings, this one has tons of goodies to keep you playing for a long time. I will have a more in-depth review coming in a few weeks, but, until then, keep it right here for all the latest information.
