Battle system/mk2
The battle system in Hyperdimension Neptunia mk2 is turn-based by unit, where each character's turn comes based on their speed. Characters roam around the established battlefield within their movement range. Players can choose for the characters to either attack, guard, or use skills. Depending on what option is chosen, the range of an attack or skill's effect will depend on the skill or the equipment the character has. Characters also spend AP to attack enemies or use an item. When executing Skills, they expend both AP and SP.
Area of Effect
The Area of Effect (AoE) element is present in the game. Combo attacks have an area measured in square grids. Certain Skills have a longer area range or have an AoE effect measured in a circle with the targeted enemy as the center point. Any character or enemy present within the AoE may be subjected to the attack. This also pertains to certain Skills.
Battle Commands
During a character's turn, the player can command the character to do various types of moves.
| Command | Description |
|---|---|
| Skill | Characters can use one Skill per turn. |
| HDD | CPUs and CPU Candidates can activate Hard Drive Divinity by pressing the  button.Note: Only CPU and CPU Candidates can do this command. |
| Regular Attack | The player's character can perform regular attacks by closing in on an enemy unit and pressing the  button. The player can do this as many times as they want until the character's AP is depleted.
|
| End Turn | End the unit's turn. |
| Switch | Use SP to Switch between Front and Back partners. The currently fighting member will exit the battle, and her replacement will come out to take her place. |
| Escape | When a character contacts the edge of the battlefield, the player can choose "Escape" to run away from an enemy. If the character's LUK is too low, the player may not be able to escape. |
| Item | Use items. |
Commands and Skills
There are two types of attacks that can be performed in battle. Some Commands and Skills can be acquired by leveling a character up, seeing certain events, or partnering up a character with a certain character.
Combos
Combos are consecutive attacks that expend AP. The 1st Command will always be fixed, which is dependent on the character's weapon. The 2nd to 4th Commands can be customized by the player according to his/her preferences. If a Command is left blank, the character will automatically end the combo after the last one utilized. If there are no Commands set for a character, the character will only perform their initial attack.
Combos can be created by setting up Commands for 3 types of attacks:
| Command Type | Description |
|---|---|
| Rush | This type uses low AP, allowing the player to create a high-count combo, but the damage per hit is much lower. |
| Heavy hit | This type uses a higher amount of AP, but the damage per hit is much higher. |
| Break | This type focuses more on dealing damage to GP rather than HP. |
EX Finish
If the layer executes a combo in a certain sequence and spend more than a certain amount of AP, an EX Finish will automatically activate at the end of the combo. If the player keeps using the Commands marked with the EX icon, the character will be led to the execution of a powerful EX Finish.
Skills
Skills are unique commands a character has that expend both AP and SP. They can either be debuffs, stat enhancements, attacks with an effect radius (AoE), or a very powerful move. Once the executed Skill is performed, the character's turn automatically ends, regardless of the amount of AP and SP the character has left.
Elements
There are four elements present in Hyperdimension Neptunia mk2. The affinity for an element affects the damage output of an elemental attack and elemental resistance a character/enemy has against elemental attacks. The higher percentage of affinity a character/enemy has for an element, the higher the damage output and resistance a character/enemy have for that particular element.
| Elements | |||
|---|---|---|---|
|
|
|
|
| Fire | Ice | Wind | Earth |
Guardbreak
Guard Break allows the player to deal more damage to an enemy if its guard gauge (GP) is depleted. Aside from HP, dealing damage to enemies will also decrease their GP. If the GP is completely depleted, the enemy will enter into a Guardbreak status, increasing the damage output and leaving the enemy vulnerable to all attacks. The guard gauge recovers gradually when the enemy takes action, and Guardbreak will be removed once the gauge refills.
Hard Drive Divinity
A CPU can transform to HDD form once the character has 100 SP. The transformed CPU will consume 15 SP per turn in order to maintain HDD form. If there's insufficient SP, the character will revert back to human form. If the CPU is hit with the Virus status ailment, the character will revert back to human form.
Movement
Area movement
The movable area of a character in a single turn is measured in a circle with the character acting as the center point. Mobility is determined by the character's MOV stat and may move a certain distance within the radius in a single turn. Even if the character had only moved a certain distance, the area may shrink if the player takes action that uses AP.
Escape
If a character is near the boundary of the playable area, the player has an option to escape the battle. The chance of escape is determined by the character's AGI and LUK stat. Scripted encounters, including boss battles, are inescapable.
Partners
The player may assign a partner to a character. By pairing certain characters with the right Lily Rank for each, the player may gain access to joint attacks and support effects during battle.
When a new character joins the player's party, that character will automatically take any open Partner spot. The Front position is prioritized over Back openings.
Passive Abilities
There are two types of passive abilities that are present in Hyperdimension Neptunia mk2.
Abilities
Each character has a set of passive abilities that they gain as they level up. They are always active during a battle.
| Character | Passive Ability 1 | Passive Ability 2 | Passive Ability 3 | Passive Ability 4 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nepgear | HDD SP Consumption - | SP Accumulation + | Nulls Stat Decreases | Voids Defensive Buffs |
| Uni | Shortens Wait | HDD SP Consumption - | AP Consumption - | Nulls Category Trait |
| Rom | Virus Immunity | HDD SP Consumption - | Required SP Reduced | Nulls Category Trait |
| Ram | Virus Immunity | HDD SP Consumption - | SP Accumulation + | Nulls Category Trait |
| Neptune | Nulls Skillseal | Virus Immunity | HDD SP Consumption - | Voids Defensive Buffs |
| Vert | Nulls Paralysis | Shortens Wait | HDD SP Consumption - | Voids Defensive Buffs |
| Noire | Nulls Poison | SP Accumulation + | HDD SP Consumption - | Nulls Category Trait |
| Blanc | Gained EXP + | Nulls Stat Decreases | HDD Consumption - | Nulls Category Trait |
| Compa | Nulls Stat Decreases | Required SP Reduced | Gained EXP + | Nulls All Ailments |
| IF | Shortens Wait | Gained EXP + | Required SP Reduced | Voids Defensive Buffs |
| Gust | Gained EXP + | Nulls Paralysis | Required AP Reduced | SP Accumulation + |
| Nisa | Nulls Poison | Required AP Reduced | Nulls Stat Decreases | SP Accumulation + |
| 5pb. | Nulls Skillseal | Required SP Reduced | Nulls Stat Decreases | Required AP Reduced |
| Cave | Nulls Poison | Nulls Paralysis | Shortens Wait | SP Accumulation + |
| Falcom | Gained EXP + | Nulls Skillseal | Nulls Stat Decreases | Nulls Category Trait |
Support Effects
In addition to Abilities, each character has two support effects. When a character is partnered with another, their support effects take effect for each other in battle.
| Character | Support Effect 1 | Support Effect 2 |
|---|---|---|
| Nepgear | Nulls Stat Decreases | Breaks Damage Limit |
| Uni | Required AP Reduced | Physical DEF + |
| Rom | Required SP Reduced | Shortens Wait |
| Ram | SP Accumulation + | AP Consumption - |
| Neptune | Voids Defensive Buffs | Physical DEF + |
| Vert | Shortens Wait | Nulls All Ailments |
| Noire | SP Accumulation + | Gained EXP + |
| Blanc | Required SP Reduced | Gained EXP + |
| Compa | Nulls All Ailments | Magic DEF + |
| IF | Required AP Reduced | Gained EXP + |
| Gust | Nulls All Ailments | Gained EXP + |
| Nisa | Shortens Wait | Nulls Stat Decreases |
| 5pb. | Nulls Stat Decreases | Magic DEF + |
| Cave | SP Accumulation + | Magic DEF + |
| Falcom | Required SP Reduced | Physical DEF + |
Stats
The player can increase/decrease a character's stats by either leveling up and changing the character's certain equipment. The descriptions are directly taken from the manual.
| Icon | Stat | Description |
|---|---|---|
 |
Hit Points (HP) | Hit Points, or health. If this falls to zero, the character will be incapacitated. |
 |
Action Points (AP) | Action Points. The more you have, the more action that character can take in battle. Note: Characters will always start and gain a certain amount of AP per turn but will stop on the maximum amount, which is dependent on the character's stats. |
 |
Skill Points (SP) | Skill Points. You spend these points when using a Skill or transforming into HDD forms. You can gain these points by attacking or being attacked. Note: Characters will always start with 0 SP when entering a dungeon. The maximum amount of SP that can be accumulated is 300 SP, but characters can only stock up to a maximum of 100 SP between battles. |
 |
Strength (STR) | Influences physical attacks. |
 |
Vitality (VIT) | Influences defense against physical attacks. |
 |
Intelligence (INT) | Influences magic skills. |
 |
Mentality (MEN) | Influences defense against enemy magic skills. |
 |
Agility (AGI) | Speed and quickness. Influences turn order in battle and the probability of a successful escape. |
 |
Technique (TEC) | Influences probability of connecting with your attacks. |
 |
Avoidance (AVD) | Influences probability of evading attacks. |
 |
Luck (LUK) | Influences the probabilty of critical hits and successful escapes. |
 |
Movement (MOV) | Influences battlefield mobility. |
Status Ailments
There are five status effects in Hyperdimension Neptunia mk2: Poison, Paralysis, Skillseal, Virus, and Heal. Each ailment can last up to eight turns. The probability of it fading away increases with each passing turn. If the player end a battle with any of these ailments, they will automatically disappear.
| Icon | Ailment | Effect |
|---|---|---|
 |
Poison | Character loses 1/16th of maximum HP per turn. |
 |
Paralysis | Character's turn is automatically skipped. |
 |
Skillseal | Character doesn't have access to  skills.
|
 |
Virus | Hard Drive Divinity (HDD) is sealed. Only enemies can inflict this ailment. Any character can be afflicted, but only CPU and CPU Candidates experience the effect. Character is reverted to human form if already in HDD form. |
 |
Heal | Character gains 1/6th of maximum HP per turn. This ailment invariably lasts for 8 turns. |
Turn Order
Turn order is determined by the character's Agility (AGI) skill. Sometimes, a character/enemy might have multiple consecutive turns and/or might be the character's turn again should the player end the current turn, displayed by the action order interface (displayed on the upper right of a battle screen with a character's or enemy's icon). The amount of consecutive turn will decrease if the character/enemy expends AP.