Superdimension Neptunia VS Sega Hard Girls Gets Pretty Dynamic

Last time we talked about Superdimension Neptunia VS Sega Hard Girls, it was to go over some of the new heroines joining the CPU goddess’ adventures. But, that didn’t cover how the game actually played. At E3 2016, I was able to see how IF’s more active nature ended up actually influencing the PlayStation Vita JRPG’s gameplay.

IF is considered one of the more active heroines in the Hyperdimension Neptunia series. She’s a guild member, world traveler, and her Treasure Search ability have suggested a bit of a relic hunter as well. You expect those skills to show up in a game where she’s the star, and they absolutely do in Superdimension Neptunia VS Sega Hard Girls. She was able to bound around the world in a way the other heroines don’t in other Neptunia games. This goes beyond being able to jump from one place to another.

As IF went through the Grand Library in the Superdimension Neptunia VS Sega Hard Girls demo, which acts as something of a hub, it was possible to see her moves in action. She needed to get down on the ground and slither through holes in a wall to reach a new area. She climbed. She crossed dangling ropes. I came away with the impression that if a player put their mind to it, it might be possible to reach it. It reminded me a bit of the transition from Final Fantasy X to Final Fantasy X-2, where Yuna being able to jump and reach new places felt like such a big change at the time.

This extended into battle. When a Superdimension Neptunia VS Sega Hard Girls fight begins, IF and her allies will be in a space with a number of enemies. You position them to ensure an opponent is within range, then press the action and right trigger buttons to trigger various attacks. A gauge on the right side of the screen allows you to put in a number of actions. If you stay within the green portion of the sphere with inputs, your character will have normal turns. Going over lets you deal more damage at that moment, at the cost of a delay before her next turn.

IF and her allies will also be able to jump during battle. Superdimension Neptunia VS Sega Hard Girls has a Fever Gauge instead of an EX Gauge. Rainbow gems will occasionally appear during a battle, and the characters will need to run up and jump to grab them. You can trigger a 10% stat boost and keep enemy turns from coming up. While IF isn’t a console goddess, she can transform into an awakening form, where she’s stronger and looks slightly different.

She, and other characters, can also change their classes in Superdimension Neptunia VS Sega Hard Girls. (Maybe I wasn’t so far off when I compared it to Final Fantasy X-2 earlier?) IF begins the game as a Nomadic Adventurer. It’s a class with a high tech stat. Other classes are available for characters to use, each with their own class skills. Remember Megadimension Neptunia VII, where characters would be “like a kangaroo” when they jumped? There’s a Kangaroo class in Superdimension Neptunia VS Sega Hard Girls.

It was interesting to see the new features in Superdimension Neptunia VS Sega Hard Girls in action. We know that all of the goddesses and their allies are very active heroines. We see them constantly saving their world game after game. With this entry, it feels like IF is doing more to preserve and restore the world’s rightful history and behaving like the adventurer we know her to be.

Superdimension Neptunia VS Sega Hard Girls will come to the PlayStation Vita in North America and Europe in fall 2016.