My first anime was the extremely goofy Tenchi Muyou. Not long after, I got hooked on Magic Knight Rayearth. Both are proof that silly and light-hearted fiction can still be well written, just as simple characters can still be endearing and memorable. And therein lies my problem with Hyperdimension Neptunia Victory: its light-hearted nature and entertaining RPG combat don't excuse its poor writing, half-baked quest system, or its lackluster graphics. It's true that the greater majority of video game writing is, by nearly any standard, pretty bad, but most games are smart enough to stick to what they're good at.
The thing is, I can actually see the fun in Victory. There are flashes of it in the story, and especially the combat, which strikes a nice balance between real-time and turn-based elements. During your turn you get to position your characters as you would in a real-time game while the enemy holds still, giving you all the time you need to make your decisions. Choosing between power, break, and rush attacks to hit as many foes at a time while keeping your group spread out enough to avoid area-of-effect damage proves to be an enjoyable balancing act of tactical decision-making.
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