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[FLD]

Uh...not to criticize, but I think the Killachine is perfectly beatable before the 20s. Just what exactly is happening in that fight?

The real difficulty with chapter 2 is all the Mech enemies you fight really. The species has an innate trait that halves physical damage I believe.

Also, be sure to save after that fight if you beat it.

Well then either I'm doing something very wrong or I just plain suck because I was around 23-24 when I lost. I mean, it was close but I can't imagine having a fighting chance before the 20s.

Anyway, I did all the optional dungeons I was able to unlock and I'm back up to 23 so I'll give it another shot later on tonight.

 

[Kresnik258]

Been really enjoying this game so far. I've been doing the optional dungeons just because I want to (it's nice to unlock all this kinda stuff as I go along) so I haven't had any problems so far. There were a couple of quests I wasn't able to do yet (party is about ~ 28 and I'm in chapter 3 with Vert in party) but otherwise I haven't struggled much.

Exploring dungeons is fun, although it's a shame there's so many copy-pastes. Battle system is excellent.

Characters are fun too. Surprisingly, I think Vert is my favourite so far.

 

[SerTapTap]

Characters are fun too. Surprisingly, I think Vert is my favourite so far.

The game is unfortunately extremely lacking in everything endearing about Noire and Blanc, especially with the redone (and missing) english voice acting.

 

[Rizzi]

Noire just left my party. She took a life ring with her!

 

[HGH]

Well then either I'm doing something very wrong or I just plain suck because I was around 23-24 when I lost. I mean, it was close but I can't imagine having a fighting chance before the 20s.

Anyway, I did all the optional dungeons I was able to unlock and I'm back up to 23 so I'll give it another shot later on tonight.

Honestly you should beat it easily now.
But seriously, tell me what you're doing in battle. I mean, I beat Noire at 10 and the Killachine at 18, so I gotta know. Are you using your buffs? Bunching up characters? Not having a dedicated reviver/healer?
Usually you want your formation to be a sort of triangle, not too wide so you can use AoE heals but not too small so you aren't hit by AoEs yourself.

Noire just left my party. She took a life ring with her!

Aaaand that's why I said to save after that fight. On the plus side, the next chapter shouldn't be that much more difficult.
Although, you must have saved after the Killachine right? Can't you load that back up?

The game is unfortunately extremely lacking in everything endearing about Noire and Blanc, especially with the redone (and missing) english voice acting.

While Vert may be the nicest and has the best scenes, I don't think Noire is that bad. Blanc got it the worst unfortunately, but even she's ok every now and then. Honestly HDN1 Blanc was waaay worse.
Also you keep mentioning the lack of voice acting but seriously, this is a blessing compared to V. Like, honestly, that game was almost more visual novel than RPG.

 

[SerTapTap]

Noire just left my party. She took a life ring with her!

It's not gone forever or anything. But the series has the extremely annoying habit of constantly adding and almost immediately taking away party members.

Spoiler

There's even an entire chapter that is just literally that.

While Vert may be the nicest and has the best scenes, I don't think Noire is that bad. Blanc got it the worst unfortunately, but even she's ok every now and then. Honestly HDN1 Blanc was waaay worse.
Also you keep mentioning the lack of voice acting but seriously, this is a blessing compared to V. Like, honestly, that game was almost more visual novel than RPG.

Noire's voice is pretty bad in this and she had much better parts in Victory. I guess my memory's failing me, but I recall Victory being at worst as bad as Rebirth. Almost every scene with Blanc is voiceless too.

 

[FLD]

Honestly you should beat it easily now.
But seriously, tell me what you're doing in battle. I mean, I beat Noire at 10 and the Killachine at 18, so I gotta know. Are you using your buffs? Bunching up characters? Not having a dedicated reviver/healer?
Usually you want your formation to be a sort of triangle, not too wide so you can use AoE heals but not too small so you aren't hit by AoEs yourself.

Honestly, I'm not sure what I was doing wrong. I was neglecting buffs at first but I started using strength buffs during boss fights once I started struggling. I also try to be smart about positioning. I guess taking Compa out of my party for a little while might've been a mistake but I bought a bunch of healing items to make up for it.

But yeah, the fights ended up being really easy once I got my EXE attacks.

Aaaand that's why I said to save after that fight. On the plus side, the next chapter shouldn't be that much more difficult.
Although, you must have saved after the Killachine right? Can't you load that back up?

I completely forgot about that and went into the next event without saving so I also lost a life ring lol. I really hate it when RPGs do this. If someone leaves then the game should just automatically put their gear in my inventory so I can sell it or whatever. It's not like I can realistically be expected to anticipate it... :/

 

[Ponn]

So i'm horrible at post game grinding and dungeons so I didn't buy the dlc packs but I wanted to get at least one of the character packs for 99 cents and I picked Plutia. Wow, erm.um.I can't play this game in public now.

I'm into chapter 3 and have had a blinking exe gauge for awhile. I have party members with partners but everytime I check I still have no Exe skills to use. Am I don't something wrong?

Edit: ah I see nm, level 25. I'm level 22 so close.

 

[Kresnik258]

The game is unfortunately extremely lacking in everything endearing about Noire and Blanc, especially with the redone (and missing) english voice acting.

Yeah, seems that way. I was expecting to like Noire best the way everyone talks about her, but she was kinda dull in Chapter 2 imo. Vert has been a lot more endearing.

 

[SerTapTap]

So i'm horrible at post game grinding and dungeons so I didn't buy the dlc packs but I wanted to get at least one of the character packs for 99 cents and I picked Plutia. Wow, erm.um.I can't play this game in public now.

I'm into chapter 3 and have had a blinking exe gauge for awhile. I have party members with partners but everytime I check I still have no Exe skills to use. Am I don't something wrong?

Edit: ah I see nm, level 25. I'm level 22 so close.

You might hit 99 sooner than you think, atll it takes it trying to take down all the Tough Foes and you should hit it easily (a Tough Foe is basically a free level even now for me at level 200), but you have plenty of time to realize that.

You can just skip Iris Heart's battle dialog/animations if they really bug you; press/hold L during them. I highly recommend using her best Rush combos to build EXE as she's about the best.

Yeah, seems that way. I was expecting to like Noire best the way everyone talks about her, but she was kinda dull in Chapter 2 imo. Vert has been a lot more endearing.

She's a lot better in Victory, hopefully IFI doesn't screw that up though. Like even just her battle quotes from Mk2/Victory make her better than story + battle noire in Rebirth.

edit: Ahem, not that anyone in this thread would care for such things, but apparently Noire and Neptune's swimsuits are obtained via the beat regular monsters quests in Noma Cave, one of the DLC areas. They didn't go a great job with the models though =/ some minor but noticeable weirdness at some polygon edges. Presumably Vert and Blanc's are somewhere too. They're the Cat Boxer and Proof of the Wild quests, doable pretty easily at my current level (~250) with careful execution.

 

[Kresnik258]

I feel like I'm overlevelling in this game purely by the way I play.

I keep making all the optional dungeons and then running into them and clearing out the monsters, which inevitably contains an optional "boss" monster. But they're pretty easy to take down with Vert/Blanc/Neptune (I'm in chapter 4) and 4 levels of EXE drive.

And I'm getting enough EXP off them to increase all my characters by one level each time. It's making the story bosses a little easy.

But, aside from that, I'm really enjoying the game.

 

[Imouto]

I feel like I'm overlevelling in this game purely by the way I play.

I keep making all the optional dungeons and then running into them and clearing out the monsters, which inevitably contains an optional "boss" monster. But they're pretty easy to take down with Vert/Blanc/Neptune (I'm in chapter 4) and 4 levels of EXE drive.

And I'm getting enough EXP off them to increase all my characters by one level each time. It's making the story bosses a little easy.

I think I'm running into the same problem. New plans -> material grinding to unlock -> more new plans. Rinse and repeat. I only stopped because some required materials are in main story's dungeons.

I really wish switching wouldn't cost your character's turn. It will make thing easier when deciding my party's formation, since there are too many characters I want to use.

About playable characters...

Spoiler

Do we have anyone else among the side casts (CC2, Falcom, etc) to use beside MAGES.?

 

[SerTapTap]

I think I'm running into the same problem. New plans -> material grinding to unlock -> more new plans. Rinse and repeat. I only stopped because some required materials are in main story's dungeons.

I really wish switching wouldn't cost your character's turn. It will make thing easier when deciding my party's formation, since there are too many characters I want to use.

About playable characters...

Spoiler

Do we have anyone else among the side casts (CC2, Falcom, etc) to use beside MAGES.?

Character spoilers:

Spoiler

Everyone in the Character listing in the OP is playable. In typical style though, the game takes FAR too long to give you all of them, let alone to let you KEEP all of them. All CPUs, Sisters (postgame only) and "developer" characters (CC2, Falcom, Mages, Marvelous, Tekken, Broccoli) are in

 

[Imouto]

Character spoilers:

Spoiler

Everyone in the Character listing in the OP is playable. In typical style though, the game takes FAR too long to give you all of them, let alone to let you KEEP all of them. All CPUs, Sisters (postgame only) and "developer" characters (CC2, Falcom, Mages, Marvelous, Tekken, Broccoli) are in

Awesome. I think this will keep me playing the post-game content for much longer.

 

[SerTapTap]

Awesome. I think this will keep me playing the post-game content for much longer.

Unfortunately many ultimate weapons are in colosseum rounds AFTER NG+, so it's almost required you do a second (rather short) run through of the main story for some of that. But the most important stuff for later recipes (optional dungeons) will stay unlocked right at the start. It's still not the best NG+ system in the world though.

 

[Wynnebeck]

Guys please motivate me to play this game and beat it. I'm stuck at the beginning and I have no energy to play it despite everyone raving about it.

 

[HawthorneKitty]

Guys please motivate me to play this game and beat it. I'm stuck at the beginning and I have no energy to play it despite everyone raving about it.

NepNep has an amazing voice and personality.

 

[Ponn]

You might hit 99 sooner than you think, atll it takes it trying to take down all the Tough Foes and you should hit it easily (a Tough Foe is basically a free level even now for me at level 200), but you have plenty of time to realize that.

You can just skip Iris Heart's battle dialog/animations if they really bug you; press/hold L during them. I highly recommend using her best Rush combos to build EXE as she's about the best..

Yea im a sucker for taking my time, collecting everything and fighting whatever pops in front of me. I usually beat each unique monster twice for the exp and make sure i get drops. im about level 45 and just finished i think chapter 3 or 4. Blanc? Yea that chapters plot was completely and udderly about...Plot...i laughed a couple times. Nep you traitor!

 

[Imouto]

Guys please motivate me to play this game and beat it. I'm stuck at the beginning and I have no energy to play it despite everyone raving about it.

Spoiler

I like Noire more, but she doesn't get much screentime here.

 

[Kresnik258]

Character spoilers:

Spoiler

Everyone in the Character listing in the OP is playable. In typical style though, the game takes FAR too long to give you all of them, let alone to let you KEEP all of them. All CPUs, Sisters (postgame only) and "developer" characters (CC2, Falcom, Mages, Marvelous, Tekken, Broccoli) are in

That's cool. I'm enjoying Mages so far. I just wish characters would actually stay in the party rather than keep dashing off (I want Noire back for starters!)

 

[SerTapTap]

I forget when you even get the plan for them, and they require some lategame optional dungeons to get the materials, but CC2's swimsuit is...damn

Guys please motivate me to play this game and beat it. I'm stuck at the beginning and I have no energy to play it despite everyone raving about it.

Gaming meta humor!
Quotes for days!
RPG systems! Levels!
Swimsuits! Questionable Situations!
Giant robots made out of video game hardware!
Stuff to compulsively collect!

I dunno, what else do you want. It's a bit slow in the beginning like all RPGs but once you start playing with combo building and unlock a few skills and EXE attacks I think it should be pretty interesting.

That's cool. I'm enjoying Mages so far. I just wish characters would actually stay in the party rather than keep dashing off (I want Noire back for starters!)

One of the most infuriating parts of the series for me. I really hope Victory 2 cuts that stuff out, at LEAST for the main 4 characters. Mages is pretty cool, I like all the "developer" characters, I wish they'd keep them around. CC2 being in game made me go back and revisit .Hack, and I loved Cave being in Mk2. Sorry to say I'm not as familiar with Mages or Falcom, just got a couple Yses and Gurumin (fuckin love Gurumin though)

 

[Imouto]

Another day, another new dungeon. I still haven't advanced the main story.

Btw, Is there any way to increase the item drop rate? It's kinda annoying to have to farm for those rare part from unique monster and they didn't drop any. Also, how do you force certain monsters to go into Viral state? Seems like some item only drop from them, and I have no idea when do they transform.

Why am I not surprised to see MarvelousAQL is a big breast ninja girl?

 

[Wynnebeck]

Ok, gonna start back tonight in earnest. Wish me luck!

 

[TheChillyAcademic]

Another day, another new dungeon. I still haven't advanced the main story.

Btw, Is there any way to increase the item drop rate? It's kinda annoying to have to farm for those rare part from unique monster and they didn't drop any. Also, how do you force certain monsters to go into Viral state? Seems like some item only drop from them, and I have no idea when do they transform.

Why am I not surprised to see MarvelousAQL is a big breast ninja girl?

There is a system plan you can build that will increase item drop rates and eventually you will find a set of chips that you can put onto a disk that will increase the drop rate.

You can get the plan in the Gravidaze Ruins and it will be listed under Treasure Hunter.

As it stands there is no viable certain way you can force monsters into viral. The prevailing strategy is to kill all but one of a multiple enemy in a battle and wait for a few turns. Some say getting ambushed ups the chance as well as turning on "Stronger Enemies"

You shouldn't really need very many items that ONLY the viral versions drops however.

Ok, gonna start back tonight in earnest. Wish me luck!

GOD SPEED

 

[Imouto]

Much appreciated, Chilly.

Just discovered that this game has dynamic kill animation for EXE moves. Lovely.

Too many girls I want to use, too little party slots.

 

[TheChillyAcademic]

Much appreciated, Chilly.

Just discovered that this game has dynamic kill animation for EXE moves. Lovely.

Too many girls I want to use, too little party slots.

QUIET LITERALLY NO MEN

SIGH

 

[Imouto]

QUIET LITERALLY NO MEN

SIGH

I think you need to chill down, lol.
Is there missable plan? I haven't seen Gravidaze dungeon and I heard people report it as soon as chapter 2.

[edit]
Nevermind, I found out I missed Toukiden dungeon back there. They really need something else to represent the treasure chest. Those blue boxes are hurting my eyes.

 

[TheChillyAcademic]

I think you need to chill down, lol.
Is there missable plan? I haven't seen Gravidaze dungeon and I heard people report it as soon as chapter 2.

That is the one very very VERY difficult thing about this game...SO MUCH is missable lol

Gravidaze ruins however is not one of them! Depending on when you activate the dungeon however will determine if you're able to get the add item and enemy plans.

The plan for Gravidaze can be gotten in the toh-kiden cave form a blue cube.

 

[Rizzi]

Man, EXE Drive Skills sure are powerful.

 

[Kresnik258]

Too many girls I want to use, too little party slots.

Haha, I feel the same.

Kinda looking forward to having a party of 4 in Re;birth 2. At least that means 8 potential party members at once!

 

[SerTapTap]

Haha, I feel the same.

Kinda looking forward to having a party of 4 in Re;birth 2. At least that means 8 potential party members at once!

I never switch, so the 3 I get is massively limiting, especially since by end game you have more people in reserve than in the party. 4 is really a bare minimum, with all the "developer" characters they could really have done 5.

That is the one very very VERY difficult thing about this game...SO MUCH is missable lol

Very little is missable I think beyond the plans people give you at the start of each chapter and such. Also at least 1 NG+ is required, possibly 2, to get the MB for Sisters plans.

Just make sure to hit all the "chirper" things when they show up as "new", the (exceedingly rare and totally stupid) "chapter" quests of which there are like two, one of which is for the final chapter and is thus not really missable except by ending the game, and NG+ wipes quests anyway.

There are however a few hidden item plans, which are utterly infuriating.

Another day, another new dungeon. I still haven't advanced the main story.

Btw, Is there any way to increase the item drop rate? It's kinda annoying to have to farm for those rare part from unique monster and they didn't drop any. Also, how do you force certain monsters to go into Viral state? Seems like some item only drop from them, and I have no idea when do they transform.

Why am I not surprised to see MarvelousAQL is a big breast ninja girl?

Yes, there's a plan for a universal drop rate increase, and a chip that adds it. I give the chip to Noire as Infinity Slash kills about anything with a crazy AOE, great for item farming.

Also, Marvy is that way on purpose--her alt costumes are Senran Kagura characters, and one of her alts is also a "battle damage" version of the normal one (somewhat tame compared to the Neptunia U stuff)

QUIET LITERALLY NO MEN

SIGH

What is a man?

Not in this game, that's what

 

[Imouto]

There are however a few hidden item plans, which are utterly infuriating.

I'm surprised that I got a Exp increase plan by randomly pressing scan while running around farming. Would have been missed if I didn't feel like scanning anything that day, lol.

 

[SerTapTap]

I'm surprised that I got a Exp increase plan by randomly pressing scan while running around farming. Would have been missed if I didn't feel like scanning anything that day, lol.

There's a "show hidden items" plan eventually, but yeah, I got almost all of the hidden plans (that I'm aware of) except the Credits Up one. Which is very important. And took 20 attempts to find once I knew where it was. Arg

 

[Imouto]

What the fuck. I just saw some event named Polytan, and it lead to a battle against some weird yellow bear that one shot my party, and I got a game over? That is not funny.

 

[SerTapTap]

What the fuck. I just saw some event named Polytan, and it lead to a battle against some weird yellow bear that one shot my party, and I got a game over? That is not funny.

Oh, yeah, that's the fairy Fencer F DLC. Apparently they implemented it terribly. I easily beat it but I assumed it was like the Arena where it wouldn't matter if you beat it. They should put more thought into these things, the DLC is always a bit of a mess in assorted ways

 

[HGH]

From what I understand Polytan also destroys the levelling curve before level 100 by giving out tons of EXP. Is that true?

 

[SerTapTap]

From what I understand Polytan also destroys the levelling curve before level 100 by giving out tons of EXP. Is that true?

I guess so, but so do most tough foes in later optional dungeons (most unlocked by chapter 7 I guess?) I wouldn't really recommend TRYING to break the game, after chapter 4 or so it's really not that hard anyway.

 

[Thickstone]

So is this game worth trying?

I hated the first and didn't care much for the second, although I found the second to be much better. However mk2 still felt cheap with regards to recycled areas and production values in general. It was a bit bland and had really uninteresting dungeon designs which pretty much were just big rooms with some enemies in them. And it was less funny than the first tbh.

Is rebirth any better?

 

[Imouto]

Just unlocked Combo Link. This changes everything.

I also found about this list, which help tremendously. The in-game wiki isn't much help and it drove me nut since if you turn the Add Enemies On, some monsters got removed and the Neptune wikia doesn't show the monster habitat anymore.

I think I need to find out where is that Credit Up plan. I took a look at character costume shop, and holy shit at those prices.

 

[Kresnik258]

So is this game worth trying?

I hated the first and didn't care much for the second, although I found the second to be much better. However mk2 still felt cheap with regards to recycled areas and production values in general. It was a bit bland and had really uninteresting dungeon designs which pretty much were just big rooms with some enemies in them. And it was less funny than the first tbh.

Is rebirth any better?

Rebirth is full of recycled areas which are mostly big rooms with some enemies in.

And I'm very much enjoying that, but it sounds like you won't.

 

[pariah164]

Just got my ass handed to me by

Spoiler

Black Heart

in Lastation. I just. I can't even scratch them. I don't know if I'm underleveled or what. I'm ready to sell this game; I'm so frustrated that I keep playing, yet it fells like I'm not going anywhere.

 

[ThatsMytrunks]

I have an extra download key for Vita if anyone's got something to trade for it. Hit me up via PM.

 

[Kaybe]

Just got my ass handed to me by

Spoiler

Black Heart

in Lastation. I just. I can't even scratch them. I don't know if I'm underleveled or what. I'm ready to sell this game; I'm so frustrated that I keep playing, yet it fells like I'm not going anywhere.

Are you exploring the optional dungeons? (Zeca Ruins, Mechtro Factory and so on)
What you're describing sounds a lot like my experience with HDN Victory, which resulted in a ultimately bad experience. (didn't do much optional stuff, just pure grinding sessions)
Now that I'm playing Rebirth, I'm exploring every new dungeon I unlock and collect items, accessories and fight most enemies along the way. I'm over the halfway mark and it's been a pretty smooth and enjoyable ride with the Weaken Enemies plan. I braced myself for the worst after playing Victory.
Can't remember having any trouble at all with that particular boss, but the Chapter 2 end bosses caught me a little off guard and I hadn't saved in a while. You'll learn EXE Drive attacks starting at level 25 which are really powerful that helps a lot later.

 

[Imouto]

Just got my ass handed to me by

Spoiler

Black Heart

in Lastation. I just. I can't even scratch them. I don't know if I'm underleveled or what. I'm ready to sell this game; I'm so frustrated that I keep playing, yet it fells like I'm not going anywhere.

Getting to level 25, learning EXE finisher, flooring everything.

 

[HGH]

Getting to level 25, learning EXE finisher, flooring everything.

He shouldn't be higher than level 13 by the time he beats that fight though.
It's weird how huge of a roadblock it is to some people and how others never mention it.

 

[SerTapTap]

Just unlocked Combo Link. This changes everything.

I also found about this list, which help tremendously. The in-game wiki isn't much help and it drove me nut since if you turn the Add Enemies On, some monsters got removed and the Neptune wikia doesn't show the monster habitat anymore.

I think I need to find out where is that Credit Up plan. I took a look at character costume shop, and holy shit at those prices.

This is so incredibly annoying. It's not game breaking but it...really shouldn't happen. My least favorite usability problems, because it's usually "just minor enough to not fix"

 

[Imouto]

He shouldn't be higher than level 13 by the time he beats that fight though.
It's weird how huge of a roadblock it is to some people and how others never mention it.

To tell the truth, I don't remember what my party was at that time. I just remember EXE finisher help you beat all other main content's bosses easily, and getting to lv 25 is just a little bit of time by killing that whale monster in one of the early dungeon in Lastation area, which pop a whole 5k exp for each of them.

Also, people have already mentioned many times that those optional dungeon isn't optional, and the game is a bit grindy. I don't know why you think no one mentioned it.

 

[pariah164]

Are you exploring the optional dungeons? (Zeca Ruins, Mechtro Factory and so on)
What you're describing sounds a lot like my experience with HDN Victory, which resulted in a ultimately bad experience. (didn't do much optional stuff, just pure grinding sessions)
Now that I'm playing Rebirth, I'm exploring every new dungeon I unlock and collect items, accessories and fight most enemies along the way. I'm over the halfway mark and it's been a pretty smooth and enjoyable ride with the Weaken Enemies plan. I braced myself for the worst after playing Victory.
Can't remember having any trouble at all with that particular boss, but the Chapter 2 end bosses caught me a little off guard and I hadn't saved in a while. You'll learn EXE Drive attacks starting at level 25 which are really powerful that helps a lot later.

I didn't think about the optional dungeons. Mostly because I thought I was too weak for them. That and I am still not fully sure how to access them.

 

[SerTapTap]

I didn't think about the optional dungeons. Mostly because I thought I was too weak for them. That and I am still not fully sure how to access them.

Use the Plans section of the main menu (plans are almost always a good idea and able to be put together when first gotten)

 

[hongcha]

I recently completed this game (took me 25 hours). A quick review, FWIW:

+Nice graphics
+Decent framerate
+Fun battle system
+Nicely designed characters, and lots of them too.
+Dual voice tracks (I played entirely in Japanese)
+Good pacing
+Tons of quests, loot, etc.
+Really nicely done EXE move sequences.

-The story and its developments were pretty boring. Didn't really click with me.
-Too much idiotic dialogue. I guess some people might find the "jokes" and tired cliches funny, but I am not one of those people. After awhile I just fast-forwarded through most of it.
-Overall too easy with a poorly balanced second half of the game. The first part of the game presented some challenge, but I didn't grind at all or develop nearly any of the plans or hidden dungeons and by mid-game everything was a cakewalk. Last boss was ridiculously easy.
-English translation is a bland approximation of the Japanese original.
-Music was not very memorable.
-Too many recycled areas.

Overall I'd give it a 7. Just good enough for a playthrough if you're a JRPG junkie. Best part about it was the battle system with the large variety of different characters to swap in and out, which was consistently fun, even though by the end the game was just too easy.