Bought it on a whim since I am apparently in the target demographic (people not annoyed by anthropomorphized loli moe.) Also because it's one of the better ranked entries per reviews/ratings. Haven't been able to put it down; not since Shantae: Pirate's Curse have I become so addicted to a game.

Which is odd, as I know it's mediocre. It's not Chrono Trigger... But it's not trying to be. It's a mediocre RPG that cuts away the things other mediocre RPGs tend to be poor at, and the result keeps you engaged and gratified by focusing toward its strengths. No half-hearted expense was made toward towns or lengthy exploration as in a normal mediocre RPG; instead towns are menus, and the world map is a cursor. This really speeds up the pace and allows you to focus on everything else.

"Everything else" is quite a pile of stuff; configurable combos and finishers, a battle system more interesting than many better RPGs, "plans" that unlock parts of the game, a linking system between characters, Stella's quests, the regular quest list, new items in dungeons, burning CD abilities, new messages on the overworld/towns, and the story path itself; the game keeps you busy, and none of it is too drawn out. I usually tire of having too many configurables and gimmicks in RPGs, but somehow Neptunia has a good balance, offering quick, tangible gratification for your effort while still providing some level of challenge.

As for the story, I'm not even so bothered by it (yet, at about twenty hours in.) I hear a lot of complaints about fourth-wall breaking humor and trite plot elements to the series in general, but I'm pleasantly alarmed that it doesn't always take the easy way out toward pandering and occasionally is more or less subtle with some genuine moments of humor. It really isn't as bad as it could be.

Do I wish all RPGs were like this? No, but Neptunia intrigues me for being so good within its little idiom; enough so that I  need to organize my thoughts as I have to discover why it seems so engaging. Not for everyone, for sure; if you dislike cutsey anime or say, find offense with Sonic the Hedgehog's underage girlfriend (or even Sonic the Hedgehog's other underaged girlfriend) then you should probably give up here. Hardcore purists will probably too waste their time with Neptunia but... I think there's some lesson here about good game design and I think it's worth a try if you're a bit bored with standard RPGs. Now to try and pick up some of the other entries in the series...

I couldn't get into the series personally. I was getting annoyed with the characters, but was willing to suffer through to the good parts, until I ran into a dragon that I couldn't beat without grinding for no reason at all and I just put it down and never won't back.

I can't hardly play these modern moe RPGs. It's usually too much anime story and not enough gameplay. I'm on the fence about Disgaea 5 just because I dread all the cutscenes.

I had the first one for PS3 but never played it. My backlog of JRPGs has always been big enough that I couldn't really justify playing it over a number of other essentials

I've always been amused when people bitch about fourth wall breaking and pop humor then praise Working Design's games/localization when that was in every game. From what little I know about the Hyperdimension Neptunia games, isn't that suppose to be a feature?

Cutting out unnecessary parts of a game because they are customary for the genre is something I've always loved. FFXII cut out pressing the X button a dozen times every battle and I've always been baffled how that alienated people.

Sounds like they knew what they were doing when they made this game. Are the others similar or is this the first to make these changes?