Gremlion: It took me 56 hours to complete game twice and get 999 level...
And I went for true ending + all candidates in first game, which is far from being optimal.
Kardwill: Well, color me impressed. Did you go in blind, or with a guide? 60h into the game, and after beating it once, I still don't have an idea about how to get the "candidates" (don't tell me, I prefer looking for them myself. I guess unlocking some of the optional dungeons might help. Or playing with the shares, especially since the game tries to sell me the idea of boosting Neptune's shares by dangling a new CPU armor set before my eyes)
That said, most of my "grind" was to get materials for some of the gear. When I concentrated on bossfights, the levels went up quite quickly, so I guess I lost a good amount of on optional stuff.
I also needed only around 55h for 3 playthroughs and lvl999. I'm still missing one or two add enemies/super ememies plans though. And while I didn't use a guide, a list for where to get all the items for your plans is something I'd really recommend.
This spreadsheet or the neptunia wiki were pretty helpul imo.
And for lvl999: The colliseum enables you to powerlevel pretty fast, especially from 500-999 takes only 30min or so. 60-500 will take much longer though.
Bethezer: That's not bad - I don't mind grinding, especially here, but still was curios how powerful this boss is, if he can get smacked by way overpowred characters and live a bit...
Don't forget that exe drives are far stronger than normal attacks and you can buff/debuff. With drives I'd have one shot her. My team also still had the setup for the lvl999 item/skill jammers, meaning magical attacks on my physical characters.