Neptunia: Sisters VS Sisters needs no introduction for longtime Hyperdimension Neptunia fans. It's the latest in this greatly eccentric series from Idea Factory and Compile Heart, starting in the era of the PS3 and branching out into the present day, filled with zany plots that can get surprisingly heartfelt when you least expect it.
Series identity aside, however, there's a lot about Sisters VS Sisters that is unique to this latest installment. It plays like a spin-off, so full of new ideas, though its narrative feels more mainline. Players may find some of the new systems a bit much to grasp, so we've devised this guide.
Sneak King
If you've played a modern Persona game — and frankly, we reckon most fans of something as niche as Hyperdimension Neptunia will have at least dabbled in one — then you'll be familiar with that series' approach to initiating combat. And it's not exclusive to Persona, but it's an easy callback. We're talking about how enemies are visible in the field, but bumping into one shifts the screen to a battlefield. If you get the jump on your foe, they're left dazed, giving you an advantage at the start of the fight.
Neptunia: Sisters VS Sisters follows course with this. Always try to get around monsters and hit them before they hit you. Just be aware that the mechanic isn't quite as polished, we'll say, as you'd see in a Persona game. Don't get frustrated if the game doesn't always seem to count your effort. Take solace in knowing that it mostly will, and you'll have an edge on plenty of baddies.
Watch Your Step
Neptunia: Sisters VS Sisters is a good game, but it has its imperfections. Idea Factory's budget isn't so vast as, say, Square Enix's, after all. It's no great surprise to find a lot of copy-paste going on in the overworld, and especially in dungeons. In fact, we've found ourselves utterly confused during several dungeon dives due to the sameness of our environs.
That's no fun, but it's hardly a dealbreaker. Better still, there's a way to come to grips with it and stop getting lost. Your map handily illustrates footstep symbols in the direction you came from, meaning by consulting this graphical representation, you'll never forget where you're headed. It might not sound like much on paper, but give it a shot the first time you get twisted around. You'll see.
Power Gaming
Chirper, the in-universe social media app, is your ticket to most of Neptunia: Sisters VS Sisters' sidequests. You should check Chirper on a regular basis, at least at the start of every chapter. Do you need to complete every sidequest? Certainly not. Should you? Probably, yes.
Completing sidequests, you see, arms Nepgear and her cohorts with more than enough might to tackle just about anything the main game throws at you. You will always maintain a key edge over storyline foes by handling Chirper requests. That gulf in strength will only grow in time. In the later chapters, you'll be almost comically overpowered; perhaps, at that point, you'll actually choose to hold off on further ascension to godhood. Er, goddesshood.
Gamindustri Games Industry
As you complete Chirper requests, you'll sometimes unlock new scouts for disc creation. The disc creation system is Neptunia: Sisters VS Sisters' trendiest scene, something that Hyperdimension diehards will recognize from Hyperdimension Neptunia Victory. The gist? You're making video games. The reason to care? Game discs can be equipped for excellent abilities.
What we're getting at here is plain to see. Make lots of video game discs. Tap those scouts for their preferred genres, pay their fees, and keep playing as they do their magic. And if a scout ever asks for extra money, give it to them. That just means their finished disc is going to be even better, with two cool abilities rather than just the one.
Fashion Show
You might be wondering why so many of the promotional shots for Neptunia: Sisters VS Sisters feature cute camera shenanigans, a full-blown photo mode that you just cannot seem to access no matter how many systems you poke around with. Heartfelt Photo Mode, as it's cutely called, is a nicely in-depth system that one might find themselves whittling away the long hours of the evening in. (Or not. It's an acquired taste, maybe.)
Anyway, here's the sour news. You cannot access Heartfelt Photo Mode until you've cleared the story. The feature pops up thereafter, on New Game Plus files, along with the ability to recruit Higurashi and Shanghai Alice into your party.