1116: Neptunia Master System mk2

I finally completed the shit out of Hyperdimension Neptunia mk2 tonight. And by that I mean I did pretty much everything it was possible to do in that game. I feel confident in saying it’s one of the most consistently fun JRPGs I’ve played for quite some time — not necessarily the best, no, but certainly one that most definitely has its heart in the right place.

It was a really interesting game on the whole, and one that clearly knew its (small, niche) audience very well. I found it particularly interesting that instead of making a direct sequel to the first game, which apparently sold pretty well in Japan but bombed over here due to appalling review scores, they instead chose to reboot the setting and characters, creating a game which newcomers could happily start with but which those who played through its predecessor could appreciate on a deeper level. Neptunia mk2 wasn’t a retelling of the first game’s story — it was a completely new tale that pretty much assumed the first game didn’t happen. This was a little jarring at first, as characters showed up whom I thought should know each other having played the first game, and the characters IF and Compa were obviously retconned to be childhood friends. Over time it ceased to matter, though, and it became clear that Neptunia mk2 was intended to be taken on its own merits without the baggage of its predecessor — a sensible choice, I’m inclined to think.

Besides proving to be a good jumping-on point for the series (the physical package’s apparent rarity aside), Neptunia mk2 also dialed back its reliance on rather forced game and anime references for its humour, instead opting to focus on its distinctive and entertaining (if rather archetypal) characters. The one notable exception to this was in the game’s “true ending” path, where there’s a wonderful scene shortly before the final boss that features the “older sister” characters (meant to personify the seventh-generation consoles plus the ditzy Neptune/Sega, who has no idea what she’s doing and is more interested in cookies than ruling the world) arguing over whose console is best, while the “younger sisters” (who are really the main characters of the game, and who personify the current-generation handheld systems… and, err, the Game Gear) sit and play Monster Hunter together while talking about how awesome Shenmue was.

A side-effect of the above is that the game’s endearing sense of humour can be enjoyed by pretty much anyone, regardless of your knowledge of the video games industry as a whole. Those who have been playing for a long time, however, will appreciate the numerous sly nods and winks throughout — an area called Atari Marsh; a city called Sim City; characters called Cave and Falcom; and enemies that resemble everything from Tetris blocks to Dr Kawashima’s freaky floating head from the Brain Age/Brain Training series.

The overall plot, which is essentially an anti-piracy, pro-“reward the creators of the content you enjoy” parable, initially appears to be a bit heavy-handed with its message, but this is nicely subverted by the time the previous game’s protagonist Neptune puts in an appearance and berates the other characters for “sounding a bit preachy and stuff”. It has a good narrative arc, building to a suitably dramatic conclusion and one of seven different endings — including a shockingly dark one that is quite impressive in its brutality. (Though it could possibly have gone even a bit further than it did.)

One of the most interesting things about it is its female-centric nature. While there’s a lot of fanservice in it — within five minutes of starting, there are three quasi-“bondage” scenes; several characters are prone to flashing their panties at every opportunity (and the in-game camera is happy to encourage this); and a number of the “event” pictures feature a childishly amusing “jiggle” feature that… well, you can probably imagine — it’s difficult to look on the game as being particularly anti-women.

In fact, it’s very positive about a lot of things to do with sex and gender. The whole (enormous) party of playable characters is made up of women, for starters, and while many of these use anime archetypes as the basis for their personality, they’re all their own individual characters with their own quirks and ways of interacting with each other rather than being nothing but shallow stereotypes. This team of ass-kicking women doesn’t once rely on a man to help them out throughout the course of the entire story — and in fact, the few faceless appearances that men do make throughout the plot tend to depict them as shallow, image-obsessed borderline sex pests, with the exception of the boss character Brave, who is more of a Transformer than a man anyway. (Any good that Brave does for the male gender’s representation in the game is immediately undone by Trick, however, who it’s not an exaggeration to say is a revolting robotic paedophile, and one of the most delightfully odious characters I’ve had the pleasure of virtually beating up for a long time.)

There are also no unnecessary romantic scenes in the game, though there’s a subtle implication that all the main characters in the story are gay and that there’s nothing wrong with this whatsoever. (Because, you know, there isn’t.) This doesn’t mean lesbian melodrama or anything, either; rather, it’s simply accepted that some of these girls like each other a bit more than others, and this is depicted in the way that they interact with one another with obvious tenderness and care. It’s clear that these characters and their relationships have been written with genuine affection and a desire to make them believable people rather than just tits and arse, and I came away from the experience feeling like I had a good understanding of who they were, who they got along with the best and who they clashed with. It was one of those experiences where the final credits rolled and I felt like I was going to miss the characters, which is always a good sign.

So that’s that. It’s all done. No more Neptunia… at least until March, when the third game in the series arrives and I will inevitably become obsessed all over again.