Megadimension Neptunia VII Review (PC)

I sat quietly at my computer, clicking various icons on my desktop: Adobe Audition, Nvidia Shadowplay, OBS. I was getting ready to stream Megadimension Neptunia VII and save a recording for my youtube channel. At the last moment, I decided I was too tired and decided to postpone the session; however, I booted up the game anyway because 1: I loved the game on PS4, and 2: I could always just start a new save file. Let me just say, I was lucky to have called it quits on the stream before I booted up the game.

Game Name: Megadimension Neptunia VII
Platform(s): PC
Publisher(s): Idea Factory
Developer(s): Idea Factory, Compile Heart
Release Date: 7/5/2016
Price: $49.99

A Strong Start

Before I say anything else, let me express that I absolutely adore Megadimension Neptunia VII. In my time with it I have beaten it no less than four times… on PS4 (for which you can find the review here). On a basic level, the Hyperdimension Neptunia series is a line of  turn-based JRPGs that values area of effect and efficient attack strings. Every weapon has an effective hitbox that effects any and all enemies it touches and allows for a certain number of hits of any category: rush [hit count], Power [raw damage], and Normal [middle ground]. These attacks can be configured to create branching paths that can maximize damage through special effects or to suit different combat situations. 

Outside of combat, the game plays out as a visual novel following Neptune, the goddess of one of Gamindustri’s four nations, Planeptune, and her adventures with the other three goddesses: Noire of Lastation, Blanc of Lowee, and Vert of Leanbox. Generally speaking, the story is laden with anime tropes and characters with somewhat limited character traits, but the situations and use of characters are on point at all times. Sometimes it’s the mixture of characters interacting, and sometimes it’s just the situation, but every character has their time to shine and prove that they are more than the tropes some would like to label them as.
As far as the story itself, Megadimension Neptunia VII is actually three smaller games in one, each following major chapters of one large event. Neptune and her sister, Nepgear are sucked into an alternate post-apocalyptic dimension. There, they run into the mysterious Uzume Tennouboshi, the only living human in this nightmare world. Together, our three heroines must work to save this zero dimension and send the nep sisters back home.

That’s the first of the three games at least; you can’t talk about the others without massive spoilers.

Trouble in Paradise

So if the visual novel is quality, and the combat has nothing inherently wrong with it (and is in fact fairly deep), what made me glad I wasn’t streaming? Well, it appears that the PC port has a couple issues with optimization. First off, let’s look at the specs needed to run on PC: