Part 2: Episode 2: Divine Oratorio

Episode 2: Divine Oratorio

Oh, hello everyone! They said I’m supposed to be narrating this starting today. What was my line? Oh, okay, here it is. Previously on Hyperdimension Neptunia Mark 2, they rescued me from the Gamindustri Graveyard. Now, on Neptunia…

Video- “Divine Oratorio”

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I woke up back in Planeptune’s Basilicom.



Finally! Do you know how long we’ve been worrying about you?
I’m so glad! You’ve been sleeping for days and we were concerned. I took your vital signs every three hours!
Has your illness receded?
Yes, I feel like I’m back to normal. So, um…that is, I’m really s-
I apologize, Nepgear. I am responsible for this debacle. It was I who sent you all out on a fool’s errand.
Huh? N-No, I was going to apologize first. It’s not your fault. I just…wasn’t strong enough.
I must ask you to recount what occurred in the graveyard three years ago. Can you do this for me?
Sure.

That woman was just so strong, we never stood a chance against her.



It’s hard for me to believe, too. Those girls are tough like cold sores.
I don’t think that’s a compliment… What’s going to happen to Gamindustri?
I mean, it’s been three years since the CPUs lost the battle there, right?
The situation is dire, I am afraid. ASIC has taken control of the world. Everyone knows of them and their power.
Arfoire’s heretical followers are handing out illegal chips like candy. It’s natural to see kids with several.
People like getting these gifts for free, so they start to believe in ASIc, and that conversion weakens the CPUs.
It took us such a long time to gather enough faith to make that tiny piece of Sharicite.
With the CPUs all in captivity, it’s only natural that people stop believing in them. We failed to save them, too.
My supposition is that ASIC’s primary objective is to revive their guardian deity.
Should the current situation persist, it is but a matter of time.
Can’t we do anything about it?
Yes. One way yet remains.

Still, Histoire says we have a cha-
Hey, wassup!
N-Neptune? I’m sure you’re not supposed to be here right now. Histy’s going to get really mad.



Me? You mean the other CPUs have sisters, too?
Indeed. The only individuals with the ability to regain the shares of Gamindustri are the CPU Candidates.
Should we restore the world’s shares to a fair level, the crime syndicate and its members will weaken.
(Regain shares on my sister’s behalf? Can I really do that?)
(I want to save her. I want to restore order to the world, but…)
(That powerful monster… There’s no way I stand a chance.)
Isn’t that a bit idealistic? If they spawn faster than we can act, it’ll be another fool’s errand.
Yes, even the goddesses that people already worship were defeated easily.
I do have another ray of hope. You can request aid from each nation’s mascot character.
Nations have mascots?
Quite so. When the mascot is recognized worldwide, it creates order in a manner akin to what the True Goddess desired.
These mascots reside in each nation, providing prosperity and an abundance of sustenance to the nation’s citizens.
In the instance of unusual events, they support the CPUs to quell evil. They have at least that much power.
I didn’t know mascots were such powerful heroes.

Worried Histy will get all pissty? It’s okay, she totally thinks I’m working right now.
That’s… that’s the problem! When she figures out you’re not she’ll yell at both of us!
Relax, we’ll be fine!



I am in the process of researching and tracking down the Planeptune mascot.
I will notify you once I learn something. Meanwhile, can you begin by regaining some of Planeptune’s shares?
This should also prove to be a good rehabilitation exercise for Nepgear.
Well yeah, she’s been tied up by those cord things for three years. It’s time to stretch her legs a bit.
…
Hey, you listening to us, Gear?
Hmm? Oh, um, y-yes. I’m always listening.
I trust you all to complete this task. Ah, I nearly forgot. Allow me to also entrust you with this.
What’s this? A toy?
This is an N-Gear, a very functional device your sister loved. I am sure it will come in handy on your travels.

Just once could you not get me in trouble? Um, anyway, we decided to head to the Guild to look for work.



Why don’t we go to the Guild and get some work?
The Guild, huh?
Speaking of which, Nepgear, you’ve never done a quest before, right?
The Guild is where many requests from various people get compiled and sorted.
If you’re assigned and complete quests, you’ll get rewarded.
Well, first-hand experience trumps even one hundred explanations. Let’s go.

Yeah, that’s always a real bore-chore.



Oh, seems like there’s only one quest posted. Let’s see.
Quest Description: Defeat Dogoos in Virtua Forest.
Travelers have begun to avoid the forest because of sudden monster attacks. Sounds like a perfect start for us.
Virtua Forest is close, too. I don’t think Dogoos are that strong.
Okay…will I really be fine?
Of course. Get your bum moving.



LWE Feinne on Neptune Game Mechanics Mark 2:
In each land’s capitol there is a Chirper feed where we can see what’s up with the characters who reside there. It also lets us trigger events with them, which are important to do as they come up. These events sometimes use the art images of characters instead of the 3d ones. They’re still much better executed than the prior game’s scenes.

Neptune! What are you doing here?! And Nepgear, you know better than to let your sister slack off!
Whoops, back to work, later ‘Gear.



Better. All thanks to your care, Compa.
It was my pleasure. I’m glad my treatment was effective.
Oh, I see. You’re only thanking Compa.
No, no, I’m grateful to you, too! I mean, if you never came to save me…
That makes me wonder… Why exactly did you come to save me in the first place?
What do you mean?
You work at the Guild, under Histoire, so you I understand, IF. But Compa’s got her life as a nurse to consider.
That’s an easy question to answer! I just wanted to save you, Ge-Ge.
And I appreciate it, really, but that’s not what I’m asking…
I mentioned I was going to save everyone to her in passing and then she insisted on going with me.
She forced her way in?
Despite her usual demeanor, she’s a pretty stubborn woman. Although, I’d never seen her so desperate.
Of course! Everything I do is just for Ge-Ge and Nep-Nep!
That…makes me kind of jealous.
Did you just say something?
Nope. Not even a grunt.
We saved Ge-Ge, but we couldn’t get Nep-Nep. I’m going to stay in this party until we save everyone!

Now aren’t you supposed to be narrating?
Right, okay. I talked with Iffy about the Guild before we headed out.



Of course. Although this sort of feels like I’m taking a long vacation.
I’m sorry. It’s because of me, right?
Nope. Don’t even worry about it.
Plus, even if I’m out of the office, it won’t affect the organization much. There are plenty of other agents.
That reminds me, I wanted to ask what your organization actually…does.
Espionage, generally.
Acquire confidential intelligence from other nations, spread misinformation to stir up politicians, or sometimes…
That all sounds pretty wicked.
Don’t get the wrong idea. We’ve only handled criminal syndicates lately.
Especially these last three years. We’ve been sneaking into other nations and collecting information on them.
Thanks to our missions, I’ve become more informed about Gamindustri’s state of chaos than my peers.
Oh…I’m sorry. It’s my fault.
I said not to worry about it. I’ve only been able to identify the situation, not do anything about it.
From now on, though, that’ll change. We will all save Gamindustri.
That’s right. It’s our turn!
That’s the spirit. Let’s do our best.
Yes!

LWE Feinne on Neptune Game Mechanics Mark 2:
Let’s look at some things real quick.



Nepgear’s pretty good at everything. She’s a bit better at physical attacks than magic but overall she’ll do well with whatever we have her do. She will almost always be one of our best characters so we’ll likely have her out all the time.



Compa’s a magic character again. She’s got poor physical attack and defenses and has more limited battlefield mobility than Nepgear. She can hit shockingly hard, though, and is very useful as well. We’ll also likely see a lot of her until we get characters I get better use out of.



IF is our most mobile character and starts with the most AP, but pays a price in power for this. As we’ll see when we talk about support abilities she’s also way, way too good backing up a character compared to what she does on the front lines so she’s generally best not on the battlefield once we’ve got more characters (which will be soon).



The combo system has been greatly simplified. Attacks are split into Rush, Heavy, and Breaker categories. Rush attacks generate a lot of hits, Heavy attacks do their damage in single strikes, and Breakers do less normal damage but more Guard damage. When we get to combat we’ll see the interplay of these things. We can set our attacks up pretty freely among those we have but obviously can’t in practice use attacks we don’t have the AP for.



Skills cost both AP and SP, which we generate in battle. We actually don’t have access to that skill we used in the fight with CFW Judge any more, our only skill at the moment is Compa’s First Aid. It’s a 30% heal for a pretty cheap cost, which makes Compa a great spot healer when we don’t want to throw items around. We’ll see all this more next time, though, when we get to combat.

I guess that’s it? Okay, Next Time on Hyperdimension Neptunia Mark 2: Quest! Can we really regain Planeptune’s lost shares?