Cyberdimension Neptunia 4: Goddesses Online [Review]
Cyberdimension Neptunia 4: Goddesses Online is one of the many games in the Neptunia franchise to be released dating back to the PS3 era. With a colorful cast of characters, all meant to represent the various video game consoles, generations, and genres. The series has always done a great job with its witty satire and poking fun at the personalities of the characters, and representing the fan base of the characters whom they represent. For example:
Noire IS PlayStation—She's arrogant and full of herself but fun to be around and tends to be single-player.
Vert Is Xbox, —She loves group activity and loves friends gaming and multiplayer, although she is very selfish.
Blanc is Nintendo. She is calm and quiet. Values family and friends overall. People have fun with her, and then she randomly snaps and gets pissed off and wants everyone to die. She gets angry fast and will try to take people down for really any reason. Kinda like Nintendo in the court room.
Cyberdimension Neptunia 4 Goddesses Online is a lot like Sega's Phantasy Star Online series. After a long-winded visual novel with a lackluster story, players will be able to select missions and their characters. The available characters from the start of the game are Neptune, Noir, Vert, and Blanc, who all use different weapons and play styles. As you progress, more characters will unlock, up to a total of 12. As stated before, this game, at its core, is very similar to Phantasy Star Online. The game will have you dungeon crawl through 15 different biomes with about 50ish hours of gameplay, although mileage will vary depending on your play style. Cyberdimension Neptunia 4 Goddesses Online can be enjoyed in 4-player co-op online, although for my review I was unable to do so.
The combat in this game is very fun and satisfying. Any fan of the Sword Art Online and Phantasy Star Online game series will feel right at home. The game has basic combos that you would expect from an action dungeon crawler game, and then an action MMO button combination for extra attacks to extend your combos and add more flair and damage. One downside to this game is the amount of bugs and glitches it has. Many times, my healer would be stuck in a wall, so I was unable to be healed. Honestly, you can't rely on your AI team members. They are all very buggy and will get stuck on things during combat. It's best to bring healing items and worry about yourself. Also, sometimes enemies and bosses will glitch out and just sit still allowing you to hit them a lot, and they will get stuck to walls or in their battle position as well, making them very easy to kill. This game was pretty fun and a good departure from what usually comes out nowadays. The classic dungeon crawler is few and far between, and this game was a breath of fresh air. Anyone looking for that Phantasy Star Universe itch to be scratched? Well, here is a decent good back scratcher.
