Histoire: Did you do it? Nepgear: Yes... Histoire: What did it cost? Nepgear: *Everything*

"[Neptune] has left." That was the saddest text i`ve ever read in my life... But we did it!

Of course the pantheon-slaying blade came from Lastation... Dammit, Kratos...

We share the same opinion on the Conquest Ending where we need a change from the norm to really see how the characters truly are. And in my opinion, the Conquest Ending is among the darkest of bad ends I've seen. Where the protagonist kills almost everyone she loves including her only sister whom she is closest to, doesn't kill the antagonist (Deity of Sin), isn't psychologically strong after all of that (killing everyone and the Deity of Sin's final foreshadowing), her close friends seemingly abandoning her so she's gonna be all alone, and the message that she will eventually become corrupted in time which goes against her views at that moment and that the Deity of Sin will return in time to finish off Nepgear and the world when that times comes. So to summarize; The protagonist is all alone and mentally fucked, the bad guy didn't die, Protagonist will be become bad, and the bad guy will come back to destroy the world later. Nothing gets resolved, there are no silver linings in any way, and the main character will be suffering the entire time while having doubts about if what she did was right and her future... Everything is bleak, there is no hope.

Well... we did it. Somehow, anyway. I admit, the first time I played through and got this ending, I was so heartbroken. I had to physically stop playing and shed many manly tears for several minutes when I saw the Rom and Ram death scene. But while this ending is probably on no one's favorite ending lists, it is important and gives great impact to the series and the characters as a whole. It's dark and depressing as all hell, but it also makes the Holy Sword Ending so much more meaningful. Yes, the Holy Sword does advocate the idea of 'friendship and trust is the ultimate weapon' attitude that all the Neptunia games like to advocate, but it does it in so much more of a meaningful way than even the True Ending. Especially if you've seen the Conquest Ending right before. To me, both endings can be summed up as such: 'Someone has to be willing to try for the better outcome.' - This is where the split starts. Where the fate of the ending hangs in the air, the so-called 'Legendary Weapon' route. Where an alternate solution, however impractical, is suggested. 'Unfortunately, it also means we must be willing to accept when we don't have a better solution.' - This is what I feel is the embodiment of the Conquest Ending. The resolve to walk a lonely road, to make the hard choices for a (hopefully) better future. 'But that does not mean we stop trying to find one.' - And this is what I feel embodies the Holy Sword Ending. The willingness to try something new, something meaningful, to preserve all that they wanted to hold dear. The Conquest Ending is painful. It is depressing. And ultimately, it shows us just how much we have invested in the characters we have come to love. As much as some things about these characters may make us groan, or cringe, or even outright dislike, I feel its impossible for someone to watch this ending and not have some emotional reaction to every last bit of it.

After seeing the Conquest ending, I actually imagined one stepped further. I actually thought due to sheer burden of what she did, along with pressure, she will go mad and destroy everything. Thus, a god of destruction was born.

Just got through this ending by accident... Heavy stuff... In some way I actually like to think of the nep universe to be similar to that of Higurashi no Naku Koro ni; All endings are cannon, but take place in a parallel universe. The tragedy this Nepgear pulled through would not be in vain as the memories could traverse through the parallel universes. This would mean that even though the Nepgear of "x" universe didn't go through this herself, she'd have the memories of it which would still develop her character.

You should have brought up Linda/underlings death. Note that Nepgear NEVER had any intent of killing anybody off unless they are special world threating deities, like Arfoire and the CFWs. So seeing her instantly killing Underling after their battle instead of just letting her run away like she would have otherwise really shows how much she's changed in just that short span of time. Ofc, Underling betting up Vert while she was weakened is the main reason she killed her, but it doesn't change the fact that she wouldn't have it in her to do it in her pre-conquest self.

I had to actually replay though these scenes to get the clips... If you guys make it though all of this, not because it's bad, but because it's *sad*, you truly deserve something special.

Heres a note: Vert just calls her child during this end not sister And underling calls you a villain Neptune realises she is not fit to rule such a large whole world...

Fun Fact: Uzume's original dimension was supposed to be based on the Conquest Ending of mk2 (although it still shared the same vein). For me, I think the Conquest Ending is still the best written plot twists in the entire Neptunia series. When you see Neptunia, you think of just parodies, comedy and 4th wall breaks. The Conquest Ending REALLY brought out the best of all characters and the best writing Compile Heart can do. It really reminded me of the writers Gen Urobuchi, whom is one of the best writers in anime. His endings and plot always revolved around the theme in a sense that "there can never be triumph without tragedy". And the Conquest Ending is just that, the realistic end to the console war, that a True Goddess shall be crowned. Just when you thought you've won everything by sacrificing everything, Arfoire hits you with a hint that she was not even needed in the first place. With the way Nepgear was, the entire world can just die with stagnation; without a force of destruction in hand, a utopian world can destroy itself from the inside out. Thus, It had been revealed the Gamindustri needed the Console War to progress and move forward. Each nation's battle of ingenuity was needed to produce shares, and not just killing monsters and doing quests at the adventure guild.

I think it would be cool to have a game or comic about what comes after the conquest ending, like Nepgear finding and teaching a new group of CPU's. after deciding that gamindustri should be split up to let the world develop

My soul was shattered from this.... The conquest ending but I can agree on your part about how conquest ending is a good aspect, but still it hurts my soul a lot

You know, as bad as this ending was, I do agree with you with solidifying bonds. Every character in this series is very special and dear To me, and watching them die, and with the way it was, really broke my heart. All deaths were heartbreaking, but Neptune's one really got me. She is my favorite character of the series, and that aside, with how serious she was when she died, I had no words. Also, she promised Nepgear that they were going to be together through everything! Fuck, y u do dis Neptune! ;-; Ps: I did it! Loved the entire discussion, looking forward for the next ones. Thank You etika :)

Oh, I forgot. Let the next discussion topic be the criticism that Japanese titles face in the west just for not having the same standards we see in western games. I'm sure everyone will like it and we'll have a lot to talk about.

We did it! i didn't know there was such a emotional part in this series! thanks for the video!

My response is going to start with what you say about the Lowee section, as this is definitely the saddest part in the ending. First off, Blanc does expect Rom and Ram to die, she outright says "You're coming after me" at least in mkII, in the clip you used from Re;birth2 when Blanc said "You're going to be the new CPUs" I believe she meant that after she died, they will technically be the new CPUs of Lowee, even if for a moment. And on the statement that Rom & Ram don't want to die, nobody wanted to die, but they all had to accept their fate. But the fact that Rom and Ram were crying is moreso that kids will be the most scared to die and they usually will be more emotional when death happens in front of them, or they're told that they will die.The biggest thing, is that Nepgear doesn't want to kill everybody either, but she has to in order to save Gamindustri. Once you got to the Leanbox side of things, you forgot to mention more about Underling. Throughout the entire game she had been getting in your way and being just a complete cunt to everybody, my first time playing through the game, I had hoped that she would end up being the final boss... nope. Anyways, what she ends up doing to Vert really shows her malice towards the CPUs and how evil she really is. Nepgear thrusts her blade in Linda and there are a few lines spoken that I thought were both a little funny, given the scenario. Underling's words after being stabbed were like, "Wait, what the fuck? I've just been stabbed!?" And Nepgear's following line is "I should have done that a long time ago" I don't know why, I just find that small section rather funny (is that fucked up?). It's also very important to note that at this point Nepgear never actually killed the main CPUs with her own hands, Noire took her own life, and Neptune killed Blanc and finished off Vert. The only ones that Nepgear killed were the ones that were closest to her and Underling. The way that everybody died, and fought before their inevitable demise really shows of their actual character. Bringing us to Neptune, the entire time, Neptune was trying to make light of the situation, easing Nepgear's nerves about killing her. There was no fight before Neptune's death, because Neptune knew of her eventual fate. During everybody else's death scenes, you see Neptune basically raising her own death flag to then eventually convince Nepgear that she's strong enough to go on without her, which is another thing that I should mention. Throughout pretty much the entirety of the game, Nepgear felt basically powerless without her sister there, and once Neptune did join the party, she was there to stay. Heck, all of the other CPUs are completely optional to add to your party. It takes Neptune to convince Nepgear that she was powerful enough to beat the Deity of Sin on her own. And then Arfoire's words at the end were of course very significant as the world will no longer progress, it will be the same way 1000 years from now. Also, as Nepgear is now the only CPU, and the only friends she has are human, those friends will die while she lives on. Nepgear may end up having nobody. Of course, as everybody else grows older, they may have kids (though this is Neptunia, where it's implied that every playable female character is gay, so that may not happen). But if they do end up having kids, Nepgear might be there and befriend them, knowing how she is. Or maybe, she could possibly just delve into eventual madness, I don't know, that could be a topic for another time. But overall, it is the most well written ending in terms of how the characters act. I disagree with you on the Holy Sword ending being the better ending, but that's just me, I'm a sucker for tragic rollercoasters of feels. I know that I use the conquest ending to basically trigger people sometimes, but I do think very highly of it, because it shows that IF/CH know how to write serious stuff, my favorite game from them is Fairy Fencer F: Advent Dark Force, because it takes some elements from everything they've produced and used the best parts to make very interesting characters and endings. The Conquest ending gets a lot of hate because of what it stands for, and it's also become the butt of Neptunia jokes, especially with my incarnation of Nepgear in Abridgedimension (shameless plug in for my channel) but I do know that it gives a lot of love for what it stands for, especially regarding death, and the different effects it can have on people. Now, getting a little off the topic, but I don't know if you've played Superdimension Neptune vs. Sega Hard Girls yet. But basically, the story follows IF this time as she goes around to different worlds based on the Classic Sega Systems (Mega Drive, Saturn, Game Gear, and Dreamcast) and the Planeptune CPUs that stand for each reside in their respective worlds. Well, in the Game Gear world, Nepgear is the ruler and has not met Neptune before, but I have a theory that the Game Gear world is the aftermath of the Conquest ending and Nepgear simply erased her memories of past events. I know it really sounds like a stretch (And I've put the game on hold right now, so I can't really elaborate more and search for evidence) but it does sound rather plausible (especially if you haven't played the game yet). But that's just a theory, a NEP theory! Thanks for reading.

you're right it really made me very sad it really made my attachment to them all that much stronger i can't hate the conquest ending even though it made me very sad and does everytime i see or hear about it but i still appreciate it

The worst part is that all of their deaths were in vain and nepgear has to with a burden so great, so unbelievably soul crushing. If I was nepgear in this situation, I don’t think I could live that hellish of a life. Instead, I would think to myself something about how there are alternate timelines and universes and how they probably won’t end up fucking it up as bad as me, and then use the very same sword that I used to kill the others on myself. I would die knowing that even if I had not committed suicide, the world was pretty much over anyway, and that all of the lives I took didn’t do a single thing to save anyone. Probably my nihilistic philosophy interfering with that fucking monologue i just typed, but the ending really made me reflect on who I really am. I would most likely shoot myself in the head if I even had the burden of the death of a random person I don’t even know. I don’t know how people in jobs like the military do it, I would be seriously fucked up in the head (not like I am not fucked up in the head now, I probably have depression or something) if I had a career like that, kudos to them for somehow keeping mentally stable.

When I said to my brother - "Its ultimate bad ending, you find a cursed sword and kill all your friends" He answered - "Arthas?" - "No, noone was controlling Nepgear." - "For the Lich King!" And yea dont get me wrong I love the Warcraft3 story, but it was only Hyperdimension Neptunia Mk2 Conquest Ending that made me cry.

Gehaburn... a cursed blade full of malice requires emptying your soul of emotion and setting friendships aside sacrificing them

We did it.(I stopped playing the Rebirth 2 for a while after Vert died)

- Im i was so glad that Rebirth 2 have the Holy Sword ending and i loved that one, it kept the special weapon theme....just well....i didnt need to kill any of my waifus :3 -Idk if im lucky or not but i first saw this ending in english when i played it with a friend and i just couldnt care less about anything that happend, all the emotion just felt fake, so when i finaly got around to playing it myself properly i tought i was gonna be able to get throu it normaly as i knew what happened and all that jazz, but i dont think i was preapeared for Rom and Ram.....or Chika crying....i was so broken....i couldnt function properly for about a week and a half -And a final note, even with all that a part of me still wishes it would have been done abit more tragic/horror like, i just couldnt rly find Nepgears reactions to most of what happened, they were all calm and even when she was crying, it didnt feel....how to explain it uhhh....bad enough? I honestly think it should have been more desperate, having Nepgear slowly breaking and falling deeper with each kill and at the end when she kills Neptune, the realisation of what she had actualy done would have finaly fully sank in and she would completely break down and fall in despair and panick/disgust over what she had done....offcours after the breakdown she would have stood back up, forcing herself to finish this. I would love to have seen that, the impact would have been so much stronger, it would have gotten to the fact that even the player would feel absolutely disgusted and repulsed with themselves (althou some already do). Idk but maybe its just the guilty pleasure of mine talking, seeing charecters i love and have an emotional envestment in completely break down in despair....i cant even explain why i have that since i dont know xD (and im a person who loves a happy ending over all, even the cliche ones xD) P.S.: sorry for the wall of text lol

I played Rebirth 1 and 4 Goddesses Online, that was enough of this series for me. But I wanted to play Rebirth 2 only to see Nepgear. And then, the conquest ending chapter started and suddenly I became a true fan, not because of the gore, but because I attached more to all the characters

I haven't played the games for myself yet, but we did it! I wasn't sure on if I were to go to play rebirth 2 bcz I'm less attached to the candidates then to the main CPU's, but now I just might.

As a vert fan that was hard to watch seeing her trying to persevere even when she lost outside of her tropes she has a lot of good points as a character

**BGM is voltage, with Megadimension's intro accompanied with deep speech for epic conclusion** "...All four of them at the moment of their death, they were CPUs, the leaders of their nations" "#UZUBAE XD" YOU RUINED IT lol jk, Megadimension's OP with Voltage really hypes me up, also, I agree, conquest ending is the writers showing us they can be serious. Also wedidit? I've good time catching up on your vids!

And you can hear in her voice at the end that all of this has changed her.

Imagine conquest Vert, I would love to read that.

I share the samr thougths, was not as sad because I sort of knew they would be all dead and was even expecting something more dark, but yeah. This ending really made me like more some of these characters, specially Vert who was always my least favorite CPU and the Neptune part just made worth all the poor writting she recieved in the rest of this game

Dammit! Stop chopping onions 😢, my eyes can't take it 😭😭😭😭😭.

Neptunia Mk2 was the game that went dark with one devastating ending, makes me think the Zero Dimension from Neptunia VII is the ruined future of Gamindustri.

Oh god. I was planning to watch this now but I gotta go to school in 10 minutes XD

This ending sounds like it’s the worst timeline lol. Glad I went for the canonical true ending. Seeing this though, my opinion of Noire improved too, even though she was already my favorite character. Selfless and honorable when it matters. But whoa, I did not know that purple sword with the -9999 luck stat I equipped on Nepgear in Neptunia VII near end-game had slain the other CPU’s... that’s kinda disturbing.

How do i get the holy sword ending? To avoid bad ending syndrome

I like the idea of this because you could have a situation with nepgear if she becomes maybe like uzume idk the conditions or how Kurome came to exist but I do think the idea of histy going along definitely in my Opinion and the reactions from the oracles really kind of explained the magnitude of the situation and its interesting because she chose her duty to save gamindustri over total annihilation which is definitely dark but at the same time it's well written you feel for the characters and it gives you more of appreciation for them even though it's hard to watch I think these endings are necessary because I feel if you dont have a risk to lose everything you're not going to really appreciate triumphing over the judges and arfoire at the end of the day makes you feel for them and want to get a good end

Also, no way in heck the other discussion vids will be this elaborate! This took way more time than to play the game!

this was so saddddddd!

i'm glad that the Nep Games uses Still Sprites and not Animated Sprites or else the Conquest Ending will be more of an Emotional Rek than it used to be and will leave you crying like a Baby, just imagine the scenes in the Conquest Ending Animated? I'm pretty capable of holding my feels about other things but Conquest Ending feels is a different story... just imagining what happen to the scene where Rom and Ram being stabbed by Nepgear using her Gehaburn... it's just HORRIBLE!! let alone seeing it Animated...

You’re absolutely correct

Also To me the Holy Sword Ending seems too Similar to the True Ending in my mind. I have seen both endings and thats what I think. To me I hated to the Conquest ending not because of it being bad far from it. It was very creative. I watched the Conquest ending for the first time I was in complete shock and very sad. The Uni, Rom and Ram, and Neptune deaths is what hit me the hardest because those were the characters closest to Nepgear out of the CPUs/candidates. But I like the picture at the end of the Holy Sword ending becuase it the countermeasure to the Conquest Ending.

There's one thing I dont get: in conquest ending, everyone disagrees giving nepgear their shares. but in holy sword ending, they are all like Oh yeah take our shares and make a powerful sword. Like wth why they do dis?

We did it! Uzubae XD indeed. Nice one Etika.

The conquest ending is somewhat similar to what happened to Mafia 1 & 2. What really stuck with me more than anything is that Nepgear won the battle but she had lost the war. It's like force awakens darkside ending albeit nepgear in the case of nepgear.

We did it

Played conquest ending. *VIETNAM FLASHBACK NOISES*

Hmmm.... Didn't expect a discussion from such an angle. It was nice. Well the general message and the direction of the Conquest ending is kinda obvious anyway. The dialogue between Brave and Uni explains the motive, the reason why are there several nations staying in competition instead of every one trying taking out the rest for absolute dominance is that competition is what keeps things in motion. Without a reason to better yourself you will rot away. In World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria the end of the legendary cape questline that touches a lot of important lore points and the main story of the expansion also explains the same message(too bad 99% of the playerbase is too braindead to comprehend anything like this, hence the non-stop hate on the whole thing): kzfaq.info/get/bejne/d892dpaJ2bGXYoE.html In the Conquest route on the other hand the CPUs decided to choose the route that leads to oblivion out of desperation because they have felt like there is no way to beat Arfoire, but it was obviously a futile sacrifice from the very beginning even from their perspective. They have sacrificed everything for a forever broken and crumbling future pretty much just making Gamindustry's death slower and more humiliating. From this a quote from a League of Legends character comes to my mind. From Yorick the Shepherd of Souls to Ryze the Runemage: "Yours is a fool's errand. The world must be allowed to die."(although an entirely different situation, Ryze is working his legs off to keep the world from destruction but does it in solitude. Should he fall the world would surely face a great disaster if not total annihilation because this secretive behaviour made the world unaware and unprepared for the threat. In a sense he may be just extending the time of a world doomed to die.)

I have a theory that neptune in all her versions has remembers all the information that was revealed to the player in the series and the reason she was so insensitive in rebirth 3 has to do with trauma from the conquest ending

In the end that "Legendary Weapon" is just that a weapon.

It has many years since we've had a new Conquest ending video, It would be cool to make Mega Nep VIII that is belongs to bad ending of VII and element of V story.

I watched it all ^^ very attentively

which one is worse Conquest Ending in mk2/Re;birth2 or Bad Ending in VII

alright so can we compared the true endings to the original and its remake it fascinates me.

The ending is basically an embodiment of monopolization

I feel bad for Nepgear because due to her being traumatized for three years and being pressured to do this And now the Cursed Sword now corrupts her heart and soul turning her to a Dark CPU if the Conquest Ending takes place in the same timeline but separate and if they make another HDN game where the heroes go to the Conquest Timeline where the aftermath of the Conquest Ending CPU,CPU Candidates,Gold Third,Makers and Oracles face Nepgear in the Conquest Timeline where they fight to save the timeline and defeating Conquest Nepgear to free her from her corrupted state and avenged the Conquest CPU's souls and Conquest Nepgear's soul and rested in peace and wished that Gehaburn was never used and restoring the timeline to it's original state

Conquest nepgear shall be known as goddessslayer nepgear

We did it... Or something.

i honestly really liked the change from a light hearted game to a more serious one in the conquest ending, neptunes constant mood breaking gets annoying and it was nice (or very heartbreaking) to have this seriousness kept for the whole of the ending. I still think it could have used CGs or something though, just a flash of red wasnt enough.

I could see it coming from a mile away because other RPGs with similar endings like Death End Request. I didn't really want to do it, but I got the weapon.. I just always had a bad feeling of the "conquest" ending, so I always played them out of order after getting the normal end in mk2, it turned out to be an alright game other than that ending I guess. It just makes sense to me since I always thought that game was trying "trick" the younger Candidates into getting bad ends, especially the "cursed sword" part really gave me that impression. Not the most unique ending since I called it and it is my least favorite, but I guess the plot twist was an interesting idea, I still like the candidates though endings don't change why I liked all of them. EDIT: not trying to be a buzzkill or anything, but am I the only one who saw it coming? Well I guess I played too many games recently, otherwise it still was one of my favorite games (all the main games and Cyberdimension). I have too many memories with it to dislike the game over it, but I guess I must avenge them since it would f*cked to leave my trophies with only that ending and the normal ending.

I'm sad now cause you kinda spoiled RB3 for me since I was gonna be playing that after RB2

I liked the conquest ending, but still, I wouldn't like another ending like this. it was great seeing the characters like this, I always liked Neptunia series, but like, I didn't really feel that attached to the characters, for example I thought Noire was like the typical tsundere and I didn't like her, but after this, I kinda do like the character. But with some characters like Neptune, you know how she is, without even seeing this ending. I already knew she can be serious if she needs to, but even still she will keep "joking" to lighten up the mood

Its almost like idea factory wants this to play out like this

Possibly the saddest moments of games i have played, the only other competition is the ending to Red Dead Redemption and The Walking Dead game

This is probably the only time when the series gets serious...I hope we won't have to experience such heavy emotion like this...anytime soon in this series.

So nepgear Frostmourne hungers :p

ok its a ok ending lets start a best girl fight iffy best girl

This just pisses me off at how they threw away all the oracles.

What can I say... Conquest Ending is EEEVIIIL. Just evil. I've seen heart-breaking endings but MY GOD was Conquest a huge downer. Almost depression-inducing; the very first thing I did after I got that ending was flip the Internet all over for the True Ending requirements while muttering "NOPE NOPE NOPE" all the while. Now, while I do have to agree with what has been said below, in that "People wanted Neptunia to be darker. Neptunia went way darker than what people expected, people raged", I do believe that these types of darker plots COULD be better explored within the franchise. The main issue I have with the series here is the rather streamlined chain of events: Protagonists are fighting against evil. Evil screws them over. Protagonists go searching for friends and power, evil screws with them some more, they go confront the lesser villains and kick their ass, and the final confrontation goes on with Power of Fri-(cough) Shares. It's pretty much this for each game, and it doesn't sit too well with me because of a number of reasons. First, it's rather predictable; the protagonists will suffer, and then the lesser villains will be defeated, and the final villain will be sealed away or something. At one point, it gets repetitive, and the details can only bring so much more impact, since we know what will happen. Second, it's much too easy to create something like that. This is something that my way-too-sharp critical sense picks on; I can exemplify this with anime. You can surely picture the typical shonen bullshit in your mind: protagonists get rekt, go defeat minor villains, face the great evil, get rekt, get back up with the power of friendship, and win. How many times does this structure repeat itself? This is one of the reasons my favourite shonens (less serious shonens aside; those that eschew logic and reason altogether, such as Soul Eater or Needless, play with the cliche on purpose and are so wacky that they can barely be taken seriously) are Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood and Hunter x Hunter *(NO SPOILERS - Read without fear.)* FMA:B plays with this structure in a very interesting way, and you don't even realize it until you stop to think about it. The protagonists do have their issues with the villains, yes, but there's always some progress being done, and multiple parties are involved in the overall battle, making the final confrontations a well-spread conflict. Hunter x Hunter, in the other hand, is the ultimate deconstruction of the shonen genre, and averts, subverts, and plays with several cliche tropes in a genius way. Speaking in detail would have to include spoilers, so I'll just say that it breaks the common structure so well, that you can't enjoy generic resolutions anymore. It's not so bad in Neptunia's case, since the character interation and the jokes are the priority, but still. Third, coming round with all of the above, it's unlikely that the series will ever do this, but I'd like to see a less streamlined plot. Having different factions than just "Protagonist group, villain group, and some other guys, good or evil". Seeing smarter resolutions than "go get some epic power source and directly kick the villain's ass", such as resorting to spreading false intel, arming ambushes, infiltration and sabotage, etc etc etc. And having multiple parties with different goals, creating a complex relationship between groups, making confrontations be spread about, targetting different objectives. In other words, I'd like to see a larger-scale, actual "battle of wits", where the team with the best and most effective strategy wins. The problem with this, and why it'll never happen? It's hard to make something like that. It takes planning and needs to be somewhat stretched out, so it won't be convoluted. And it wouldn't pay off for the developers, in a franchise where - seemingly - no one actually cares about the grand scheme of things. I mean, crossing moral horizons? Seeing the proud CPUs resort to counter-intel, ambushes, sabotage, and other guerilla tactics? With multiple parties to boot, each with their own interests, making the conflict an all-out war with different fronts to be conquered and negotiations to be made? Naaaah. It's easier to just leave the good ol' plot alone. The villains come to the protagonists, and then the protagonists seek power, and then they go to the villains. Simple. You see my problem here? A darker plot CAN be done, while not being a total downer, and not abandoning the jokes and all, while offering an epic scale of twists and strategems... but it takes so much effort that we're unlikely to see that outside of fanfiction, sadly. Closing the thoughts, I think the whole Conquest Ending was a misguided step into a darker territory; while it did leave one heck of an emotional impact, it went way too far for its own good, crippling the possibility of having more elaborate plots with a darker essence in the future. It also tainted Gear's reputation straight off the bat in the first game she's in, warranting a load of depreciating jokes as of Victory/Re;3. Like I said, having a more thought-out plot that breaks the cliche would be perfect, standing in the darker tones while not overdoing it, but it's too troublesome to make in a franchise where, apparently, no one actually cares about the plot structure, and that's quite sad.

(I'll see if I can create paragraphs. I'll also number the paragraphs in case the KZfaq Comment system eats my formatting.) 1) Ah yes, the Conquest Ending. One of the more controversial aspects of the Neptunia franchise, and probably one of the major reasons Nepgear is not as popular a character as she should be. Because there's no better way of introducing a new protagonist than having her kill off the old, popular, characters, right? 2) Let's start from the beginning: *why* does the Conquest Ending exist? From what I understand, one of the complaints that the Neptunia developers recieved after the release of the first game was that it was "too lighthearted", that it wasn't "dark enough". If true ,this *would* explain the darker elements of mk2, like the CPUs being held captive, Gamindustri being controlled by ASIC, and, yes, the Conquest Ending. 3) So, what was the result of this? Near-universal backlash. People who didn't outright *hate* the the Conquest Ending were few and far between, pretty much ensuring that the series would never go down that road again, barring occasional in-jokes and references, like when Noire scolds Neptune for reminding the players about it in Re;birth1, or the fake-out opening to episode 13 of the anime. 4) Now, what do *I* think? Well... While I don't *hate* the Conquest Ending, it's still not something I "enjoyed" sitting through (and twice, at that. mk2 and Re;birth2.). It's as well-written as Neptunia usually is, no complaints there. It's just that even with as dark as mk2/Re;birth2 sometimes is, it's still light-hearted *overall*, so something like this is still kind of jarring. To be honest, the first time I went through it, I was devastated. Maybe it was a mistake to go through all of it in one sitting, but it was so different from what I was used to from the series (God, seeing Rom and Ram crying and saying they don't want to die was *not* something I was prepared for) that I couldn't just put it down; I *needed* to see it through to the end. And when it was over, I must have been just sitting there, completely speechless for a good five minutes. But! I do agree with what you say about it making us like the characters more when you see them go through harships. Suffering builds character, and all that. I think of it like one of those movies that while you can admit it was "good", you still never want to see it again. Like Neptune says in Re;birth3, "Whoa, why is this suddenly going into really dark and depressing territory? This is supposed to be a dumb and carefree game! If you do this, people will throw online tantrums!'" The usual phrase I'd use is "flawed, but enjoyable", but, again, one does not "enjoy" the Conquest Ending. 5) However... I *do* like what it did: This ending got people talking, and it's not impossible that *some* of that publicity helped put Neptunia on the map. It also served as something fans could explore in fan art and fan fiction, some of which is actually pretty good. So, overall, while I don't hate that the Conquest Ending _exists_, and I do wholeheartedly agree in that it makes you like series more, I do feel it could have been handled better. 6) One thing that bothers me, though, is that we never find out the Gehaburn's backstory. It's supposedly a "legendary sword, spoken of in myth", but that's it. Where did it come from? Who created it, and how? If it's so legendary, does that mean that it has been used before? Is the Conquest Ending a reocurring event, and Nepgear is just the latest in a line of "conquerors"? 7) The Underling scene... I'm gonna be honest. This is the scene that made me *hate* Underling. I mean, I disliked her already, she did some pretty horrible stuff and got away scot-free, but I could at least tolerate her existence. But then she goes and pulls something like this. Vert, beaten to the point where she can't event defend herself. And Underling proceeds to beat and torture her to the point that even if Neptune hadn't used the sword on her, she probably wouldn't have lived anyway. And then she has the *gall* to ask for a "thank you"?! Seeing Nepgear run Underling through with the sword is my favorite scene *in the entire series*. Good *God*, I hate this bitch. ...sorry about that, I just needed to vent a little. "I should have done that ages ago." Yes, should have, Nepgear. 8) Chika... As morbid as it is, I sadly can't imagine Chika going on without Vert. I can only see her retreating into denial, or... 9) Also, what if I told you that the Gehaburn is available in VII, and that the way you get it is... "interesting". Now, don't worry, it has nothing to do with the plot; no spoilers there. It's just that the way you get it implies that it's not just something the developers put in for lulz; that there's some kind of in-universe explanation for Gehaburn's continued existence. 10) Think of the Conquest Ending as a "trial", a "test". We are stronger for having conquered it. "We did it", as you said.

Silly thought I had watching this again. The real life timeline doesn't match up because the anime was made in 2013 and megadimension in 2016 "There was a goddess infected by it three generations ago." 'Anyways they call it Bad-Ending Syndrome." Three generations 1 Neptune 2 Uranus 3 Uzume *inception bwaaaa*

I cry in the middle and just lost my laught on the and its so sad

what the music in the background at 0:25

I mean, VII was rather serious... Not as serious as the Conquest Ending, but you couldn't describe it "Fun, games, sunshine and rainbows" either. Especially with such things as the Bad and the Ascension endings...

And my discussion topic suggestions, so that you don't need to scroll down my wall of text: 1. About the Western reception of the franchise, recent "omg weaboo game" phenomena (for JRPGs in general) and "professional review sites" 2. Fanservice in the series (Funnily enough, a topic that almost made you quit the series, were it not for Neptune; if you ever meet Melissa Fahn, be sure to thank her). I personally don't think it's thaaaat bad (Action U and Hyperdevotion Bestwaifu aside), but still... 3. Not sure if you can talk, but fanfiction about the franchise. I don't know if you read fanfics, though, so yeah. 4. Your thoughts on Plutia's take on V/Re;3 and in the anime.

This fucking ending gets me every time, no matter how many times I watch/play it

FFS KZfaq, I am not watching this video. I am NOT watching this video. I deny it's existence. So stop putting it in my recommended videos!

I got this ending and I throw away my controler

I'll say it here and now. The Conquest Ending is the BEST ending. It gave Nepgear massive character development (if you're willing to consider it canon) and it made Nepgear look like a main character for once. I was never legitimately impressed by Nepgear until the Conquest Ending.

I bet Chara is really amused by this =)

Aquatic base?

Phew, I made it through.I must be crazy. On topic: You said it bugged you when Neptune kept quiet in the first meeting, when everyoone was upset and leaving and that it felt out of character. I don't agree here. Neptune is stupidly optimistic, oblivious, cheerful and outright batshit crazy, but in certain aspects she is also smart and does several times show a seriouse core (although even then she usually camouflages it by painting a bit sillines over it). And she had already realized that the conquest ending was the only way, there was no other option available. Everyone else denied it, they did not want to accept something so horribly. Neptune knew there just wasn't enough power available between them and that eventually they would end up killing each other. With that in mind not even Neptune could put up a happy fassade. Edit: Well, I just rewatched the part where they go to Lastation and it does throw a big wretch at my interpretation. Edit2: Now I really need something to cheer up, maybe a bit of Madoka or Shin Sekai Yori

My thoughts: chad neptunia virgin undertale

Gah. I want to hear the thoughts but not the dub... Such difficult.

23:18 like ying and yang

This has undertale vibes

10:20 No, she wasn't.

yeah noble heard of the ending, he wasn't a fan.

😒🎮🍹

I really prefer the Japanese voice acting

9:27 You think Noire is the most selfless CPU in the franchise or just this specific route? 'Cuz oh boy. 18:14 Just wait 'til you get to the third arc of VII, there is a certain moment where I fucking loved Neptune with all my heart. [SPOILERS at the end of this comment so don't go near that part, I'll leave a spoiler signal there]. 23:02 Oh, boy, he is. I checked his last episode just so I could see what he thought about meeting all the Shas. Need I say more? Bad jokes ruining the seriousness of the story, I don't know why he does that. He may have a trauma with that Miku game or something because he doesn't like ANYTHING serious, but hey, he's always up to make videos about the KZfaq drama stuff, am I wrong? Anyway, everytime Noble gets to a serious part in any game he's like "What? What the fuck man? No, I don't like this. I don't know how to feel about this." and it makes his work painful to watch, that if he doesn't ruin it by making dumb jokes. Seriously, is he scared of showing something else of him in is videos? He seems like a fucking robot programmed just to laugh at everything 24/7. That makes his work so monotone that it makes it boring and bland, unlike Joey, for example, who is not affraid of showing other sides of him to us. *WE DID IT!* Honestly, I feel the same, and besides Nepgear's somewhat development, the conquest ending is what made MK2 / Re;Birth 2 be my favourite game of the franchise until MegaNeps VII. It was when the characters stopped being tropes and became actual characters and I think I've said this in this channel's comment section and if I haven't, then I'm gonna do it now. I have nothing against using tropes in a video game, series, novel, etc, if they are done correctly and we actually get to know the reason why that character acts that way, but many of these kinds of works don't do that, they just throw all the tropes in there and it makes the work boring in the long run since tropes usually just lock you into a single type of story telling or humor in other cases (typical tsundere jokes, typical sex jokes with characters that have a big chest, etc) so I appreaciate A LOT a work that either makes characters rather than tropes or that is capable of giving a good development to those tropes and explains us why is the character acting that way. In this route, as you said, we didn't get a Tsunoire, a Blancgire, a Vertjoshi, a Dumbtune, we actually got characters whose thoughts went further than those of a trope character, and I appreciated that even if it was just a tiny bit and wasn't canon. Also, same. Rom, Ram and Vert's deaths were the saddest, the first two were just innocent children and the latter was someone who didn't want to leave someone else alone, even more when that someone isn't even blood related to her. Also, I wouldn't discard the possibility of Chika committing suicide after the events of the end of the game, so there's also that. And that is the safer option, since there is the possibility of Chika just becoming mentally unstable for the rest of her life and that would make her suffer even more. Just imagine a world where Chika wanders the earth alone with an illusionary Vert leading the way or making her do things that she probably wouldn't do. One of them probably being trying to kill Nepgear. But I also think they lost a big chance of making Uni's death the most heartbreaking -again, thanks to the trope problem-. since she was meant to be Nepgear's best friend, she should have supported her throughout the game after getting some development. Unfortunately that never happened and made Uni seem like a character that was there just for the sake of having a replacement for Noire in a more moe fashion. It kinda makes me sad since Uni it's like one of the characters that could potentially have the biggest development with the struggle of wanting to be like her sister. Just imagine a Uni trying to be like Noire and then noticing that she could be even better (even Noire points that out in Lastation's ending) Uni would grow a lot as a character standing out of Noire's shadow and making her own path. But yeah, that's how I feel basically. [SPOILER ZONE NOW, STAY AWAY ETIKA] The scene I'm talking about is when Nepgear has to shoot Uzume's crystal and refuses to do it, in which Neptune decides to turn into Purple Heart to help her carry that weight. I freaking loved Neptune in that scene.