Hyperdimension Neptunia Re;Birth2: Sisters Generation is not without its flaws, but I did really enjoy it by the very end.
Back in 2019 I put nearly 10 hours into the game before bouncing off in Chapter 3. I would venture to say the game doesn't take off until Chapter 5 and even then immediately branches off into 2 atrocious endings, 5 cute endings, 1 normal ending, and 1 true ending. Yes. There's 9 endings, and worse yet there's achievements attached to each one. I wish that was the worst part of the grind. I cannot simply recommend slogging it out for all 41 achievements this game has to offer, but I can say it is a rewarding experience. Although it's apparently possible to get all 9 endings in just 2 cycles with careful save scumming, I finished all achievements in 5 cycles at 51:40. Each cycle can be rushed in about 2.5 hours, but missing an NG+ Chirper event that unlocks optional dungeon progression is frustrating.
Where Hyperdimension Neptunia Re;Birth1 was an all around fun grind with minimal end-game requirements, Sisters Generation is all the same fun with a whole lot of tedium piled on top.
In terms of story there's certainly great moments early on in the game between Nepgear and Uni or Ram and Rom, but it's apparent this game was stripped of some of its charm during the transition from mk2 to Rebirth2 especially with the removal of Gust and NISA. The developers clearly wanted to add new things on top of the perfected systems in Rebirth1. One event chain requires exiting and re-entering the same location 6 times despite almost nothing happening. For all the skippable dialog in the early chapters of this game, there's also some truly wonderful moments that can be overshadowed by the clunky Event progression early on.
It is probably starting to sound like I don't like this story in this game, but it's quite the contrary I think that chapters 5-7 are the payoff for patiently sitting through the hours of story leading up to the main event. Unlike Rebirth1 where the bad guy seemed very bad all the way till the end, in Rebirth2 the bad guy is more of just a chirpy pest until Chapter 5. The Conquest and Holy Sword endings detract so much from this game and could just about ruin it for me if I didn't know what else was in store, but all of the 7 good endings are very heart warming, charming, funny, and add depth that was missing from all the characters throughout the rest of the game. One of the endings is called back to in Rebirth3 as a critical moment in Nepgear's character development making for a good laugh as a reward for having played that ending. Some of the more casual pain points in the game are grinding for shares, setting up endings, and unlocking missable dungeon plans, but if you can enjoy finding the strategies in the systems presented in these games you will surely find something to love in the story by the end.
As for my progression through the achievement list, I did the endings in the following order: Conquest, Holy Sword, Normal, Human, Lastation, Planeptune, Leanbox, Lowee, True. I finished Conquest (13:50), Holy Sword (19:10 2nd cycle), Normal (21:15 3rd cycle), Human (23:00 4th cycle), and the Nation endings (24:06 4th cycle with save scum), and at this point I grinded lily ranks and went on to unlock the oracles by 30:00 on but realized I couldn't actually unlock the optional-but-totally-required dungeons without yet another NG+ cycle after a True Ending clear which would unlock chapter 2 chirper events to provide the dungeon plans. I did everything I could before finishing the true and final ending at 37:46 with the only achievements left to gather being: Game Planner, Delphinus, 100 Million Credits, Dungeon Master, and Gamindustri's Ultimate Savior. By 41:56 I was back to Chapter 5 on Cycle 5 grinding plans for the (non) optional dungeons: Panan Jungle, Lost Ruins, Hellfire Hollow, Sublie Road, and Trinity Marsh as well as ensured I unlocked all True Ending dungeons: Junk Box, Icicle Pathway, and Infinite Corridor mostly just for Stella, but also for end-game plans such as the Credits Up plan and better Idea Chips and I believe the Delphinus unlock was given here too. Next I unlocked 100,000,000 Credits at 46:41 and at almost the exact same time I hit LVL 999 on all characters although the achievement requirement is only LVL 99. Around this time I also easily unlocked the Delphinus fight and optional bosses and defeated him and the rest quickly for a much deserved break in griding for my final "normal" achievement, Game Planner unlocked at 49:43. After that I booted the game up only to keep Stella marching along for the next 6 days through Stella's Dungeon when she just finally today successfully cleared True Neptral Tower.
My completion stats are: 5 Cycles, 656 saves, 2032 battles, number defeated 4892, KOd 56 times, max damage 2,135,151, max combo 131, HDD Activations 391, Switches 0, True Neptral Tower fails 4 (untracked), Jumps 402, Quests Completed 286, final save time 51:40. After unlocking all dungeons and 39 achievements, it still took me 6 more days of on-time check-ins to Stella's Dungeon before finally defeating True Neptral Tower in 4-5 tries. Contrary to many recommendations I did not advance my system clock to "cheat" Stella runs. I simply waited, set alarms, and checked in for 5 minutes at a time to reset or progress which took over 50 hours real time just for True Neptral Tower resets. Stella was definitely the most tedious part of the game even beyond the 9 endings, but she was cute and apologetic when she lost a fight so I forgave her every time.
I ended up with about 500 notes and timestamps plus dozens of tabs for Idea Chips, bestiary entries, material tables, dungeon pages, and Steam guides. The community made this completion far more manageable. I can't imagine doing it without the DLC, especially for Stella Dungeon. Get all the DLC if you plan to 100% these games.
I can see myself coming back to Sisters Generation for a casual Cycle 6 playthrough one day in the future, with all LVL 999 characters, to obtain end-game gear for all characters and maybe unlock all plans and tackle the LVL 999 dragon fights, but first I will continue on with the series! I deeply appreciate the sisters story although I feel the gameplay can detract from it at times. I can tell that this is an integral piece of the Hyperdimension storyline and it was a fun and rewarding game. I'd recommend only a single cycle true ending run, but for the completionists out there buckle up for this one. Hyperdimension Neptunia Re;Birth2: Sisters Generation is somewhat annoying early, but always heartfelt and fun with a great true ending and a surprisingly steep challenge to see all it has to offer. It will test your patience.
