Nier

[|<!73]

Not much to say. I've been watching both versions online. So opinions, thoughts?

[S1lentOp]

It's tedious and terrible.

[Kuukai]

So opinions, thoughts?

Uhh... it's a doujin purist's dream come true?

[|<!73]

I see so far its funny. Perfer the english version (might be because I speak english >.<) but the father seems like a cool character. I don't really understand what's its about yet. How is the story? Is it like final fantasy? I don't have a PS3.

[S1lentOp]

Here is GiantBomb's Quick Look (raw gameplay footage) of the game.
Here is GameTrailers's video review of the game.

Enjoy.

[nobodyknows]

Oh look. Another Devil May Cry rip-off...

[zerokoolpsx]

It's a little bit of everything. It's a hack and slash action, bullet hell, side scrolling rpg. The ost is awesome.

[nobodyknows]

It's a little bit of everything. It's a hack and slash action, bullet hell, side scrolling rpg. The ost is awesome.

Sounds like DMC to me...

[Gemcrim]

The game's alright I guess. While I found nothing to be amazing I did find myself amused if only due to remarks from Weiss every so often. Plot was about average with a few open ends (some of which are either filled or leave more questions assuming you read the three promo comics online and played the DLC as well as seen Ending E of Drakengard, assuming of course there is confirmation that Nier indeed does take place within the world of THAT ending, I've only heard rumors, as well as references within the forest portion of the game which I won't discuss further).

One thing I did genuinely enjoy was what was done with the "New Game+ if you can call it that as it leaves you in the middle of the game. Here you get extra cutscenes and the like allowing you to see the perspective of your enemy in several cutscenes before you go off to slaughter them again. You also can get an alternate ending. You may also get two more alternate endings on a subsequent playthrough provided you have collected all weapons and fight one extra easy bossfight, one of which will allow you to delete your save data and give you an achievement/trophy for it which I gladly did since I don't see myself replaying this game for a good while if ever.

You'll find nothing particularly interesting about combat. It's more hacky-slashy that you're used to in about every action or action/??? game (that for whatever reason SOME PEOPLE think started with DMC... glad to see few owned a console or PC game before the year 2000. While I admit you can say DMC certainly may have defined the genre it isn't the first game ever to make you swing a sword about, if anything the most monumental thing is that you're allowed to shoot guns while doing it. Now if you'll excuse me I'm going off to call every FPS a Doom clone (while I ignore Mazewar and Wolfenstein 3D) just to sound like an ass... moreso than usual at least). You get a bunch of spells that you likely won't use except the one where you shoot floating lances that slows down the game. So combat is a bit unbalanced and even on Hard mode you won't find much of a challenge unless you're using default equipment and have avoided leveling up... which then calls into question what you've been doing the entire time while playing. Stupid sidequests for townsfolk?

The fetch quests townspeople sent you on are genuinely annoying as they are in MANY if not ANY game... so complaining about this in particular seems a tad redundant, but I can at least praise this for allowing me to have SOMETHING to do if I WANTED TO unlike a certain recent game developed by SE. (Yes I'm aware Cavia developed this, however SE published it and after going through enough BS because of their motherfuckery I'll be damned if I don't make a crack at them) In short sidequests could have been implemented a bit better or involve something that isn't purely KILL MONSTER or GIVE ME ****, some quests did do this by adding side stories, but this was far and few between, and you likely won't care at that point and will have beaten the damn game. A brief thing to bring up is that fishing while simple is annoying as you have likely heard from anyone who has played this game, and possibly any game that has ever had fishing minigames (Sonic Adventure broke my heart).

OST is good I'll give it that, however revisiting the same areas over and over especially when forced in the story, these songs get stale. You have to go through the first dungeon AT LEAST 3 times in order to beat the game, you're going to get tired of this. This isn't so much a complaint on the music as it is level design I suppose... kind of. Just hearing the same song again and again may get grating.

I can go on about the flaws of the game and will do so if provoked. But I don't hate it. If I were to rate it, not that anyone cares: 7/10. I'd discuss the plot further as well as characters but I hate using spoiler tags. PM me if you care to talk about it.

As warning I'm going to rant a bit.

Now I mentioned earlier good old Square Enix and I think this contributes as to why I can't bring myself to HATE Nier by some **** up logic. I hate Final Fantasy XIII, I hate the characters, the mess of a plot, the linearity, and what was taken away that diminished what could have been an interesting world. As such my hate for SE over the years has intensified I can still let Nier escape from being called "****" for truly not being all that bad, not too good, but it at least lives up to its expectations... being that there were none other than be a fun waste of time which it accomplished for me. I play Nier a genuinely mediocre game that still manages to be MORE EXCITING THAN THEIR MAJOR RELEASE TITLE: FF XIII. I have sidequests here that while it's just killing monsters (which is all I can do in FF 13 and only on a single OVERSIZED grassy field and maybe a cave. With the only incentive being CP and some semi-useful item) or fetch quests I feel I earn something with hearing discussions between Weiss and Nier, further I am able to go where I like at almost anytime in the game's world, the area is VERY limited but the fact remains I CAN.

Then I remember my experience with FF XIII and how much I COULDN'T do. You can tell me "well they're two different genres... you can't-" I can't what? Compare? Criticize? I'm looking at these as games, not as RPGs or RPGs/???. I'm not trying to bash the JRPG here, I'm pointing out how Nier a game that was only published by SE that's genuinely mediocre is more impressive than their star-studded gem that's all style and no substance. Now it is honestly stupid of me to bring this up, there is honestly no point in bringing this up, it's stupid. But I've said it, I'm sticking to it, I've pointed it out. Nier for all it does HORRIBLY WRONG gave me a world I gave a damn about and ALLOWED ME to have fun giving me the RPG elements of leveling up while I murder every sheep and demon in sight and go back to do it the next day if I pleased, rather than push me through a tunnel and force me to be weak and limit every single bit of my power until the game deemed I could do more. The most Nier limited me in such a way was not being able to use broadswords and spears until the second act.

Now that that pointless rant is behind me I'd like to discuss one last thing. The two versions. Same game, same exact game. There's debate as to who came first it seems, young Nier was the original concept, old Nier was made in the original version of the game on 360, young Nier reimplemented for a PS3 version exclusive to Japan. (Correct me on any of this if I'm wrong, honestly I don't care much.) I've gotten the opportunity to play both versions and if I had to choose one I'd choose old Nier. I'm more fond of Father saving Daughter he loves ever so much and dotes on, for whatever reason I find this to be innocent and genuinely heart warming. That's not to say I dislike young Nier... not that I could understand him but the game's plot seems EXACTLY the same in both versions so I will assume the same for dialogue, no, my issue is Brother saving Sister he loves ever so much seems dirty to me, blame hentai, blame Drakengard (remember this is a Cavia game, remember Drakengard, remember that Caim's sister wants to boink him, Arioch eats children, and Leonard is a child molester), this is not to say that old Nier ISN'T a pedophile or that young Nier wants to do the nasty with his lil' sis, I'm just saying that due to what I've been exposed to I'm quicker to believe young teen-twenty something Nier would do this. SO YEAH, while old Nier may be an ugly caveman (who looks better in the comics somehow) I like him more also hearing friendship speeches from him seems less cheesy to me.

TL;DR
Nier's okay, story's meh, gameplay average, shut up about DMC, OST is good but repetitive, **** FF 13 I like my sidequests and backtracking and etc. (my hate here allows me to give Nier a 7 instead of a 6), I like old Nier more but both are fine...

DRAKENGARD! *jazz hands*

[|<!73]

The review is sort of what I was hoping for. About both version, I've finished watched Gestalt, Replicant doesn't seem to different. SE wise I couldn't tell you the difference, however according to the developer it might be an in game reason. Nier is repetition of universes and because of time, that replicant/gestalt (not the game but the terms in them) would instead become the father or the brother. Gestalt is the first season and Replicant is the second half. So say Grimier Nier... (Shame Ending E wasn't included.) About each game, there is some pedophile/incest implied but that's from Yonah's side of the coin. Apparently it was later removed. Believe me had someone had their way, that person would be locked in the closet after that file erase mess, though I wonder how it would effect the gamer's in game decision.

Source: http://docs.google.com/View?id=dgvmkf89_228fxgghgg3

[Gemcrim]

Gonna have spoilers but it's not like anyone will PLAY this game, that'd just be silly.

Also let's get out of the way I may have completely misunderstood what you mean by "repitition of universes" which I find nothing in the source indicating such a thing. However there was a lot to go over and I MAY have missed it.

What I gather after reading the source (which is a marvelous find mind you) is that the replicants are reborn time and again, so I can understand why you'd think both young and old Nier fall into being different for the excuse of gameplay or plot. However I've seen nothing here that can really support that if you can find it please point it out.

Now it's not that I'm against it, it's two factors that throws a wrench into this theory: the gestalt-Nier/shadowlord-/red-eyes. There's only one of him and I don't believe he can ever return in any form. Second and more importantly, Devola and Popola are dead, they weren't replicants or human (what I gather is they were androids but I won't say this with ANY CONFIDENCE since I really DON'T KNOW) they won't be reborn and they were charged to manage the lives deaths and rebirths of replicants. With them gone the replicants can't be reborn. And so Nier can't be reborn and the shadowlord certainly can't, and twins won't be coming back ever so both versions really can't occur... not that it matters though. Or if you're referring to something else entirely.

So what it likely comes down to are concept and marketing disputes that we discussed before. But again I won't say this with complete confidence.

Either way thanks for linking that as it gives further insight to the story.

Edit: Alright read your post below. Doesn't make much sense to me looking at the factors I mentioned above and seems like a creative excuse to treat the two versions as distinct games though they're not. But whatever, Word of God and all that.

[|<!73]

Thanks. It's mentioned throughout the interviews. The concept of the replays was based on that idea and one was suppose to suggest the existence of a previous nier. It is bad wording though. The 1300 vs 1400 their talking about are the different times spans mentioned at the games op. If I remember 1300 was the father, 1400 the sibling. Though I might be misreading.

About Ending D:

-Yooko had the concept of save file deletion early on in development, but thought it'd be immediately rejected and shut up about it. Later when he told the committee of his idea, reception was a lot more positive than expected.

-He wanted to make a 'strange game', so he didn't particularly fear the players' responses this and expected their opinions to be on two extreme sides. However, most people seemed fine with it, so he's both happy and confused. He thought that more people would stop playing at Ending A, but a lot of them actually continued to D. The comments of players overseas though, were pretty much what he expected, be it good or bad.

-He thought one comment on NieR, that it was 'an ugly puppy', described the game perfectly. It's full of flaws and sometimes you just can't bear to look at it, but there's a certain charm about it that you just can't let go of.


Secrets of the NieR world:

-Father Nier's birthday is 9/11, the release date for DOD. Brother Nier's birthday, 6/6, was a placeholder they forgot to change. However, some people said that it was Brother Day, and Yooko just took that as the official settng.

-1300 years later vs. 1400 years later. To counter the widespread disease, souls - Gestalts - were pulled out of bodies and put into Replicants. By changing the role of the Replicant, they can ensure the repeated survival of their souls. Replicant and Gestalt are not parallel worlds. But are distinct patterns in an ever-repeating world. The main character and Yonah are sometimes siblings, and sometimes father and daughter. The difference in time changes reflects that.

-The story told in NieR is actually the second part of the settings I came up with, and the amount of deleted content in the first part is enough to fill up two games.

-Back then, there were many copies of Grimoire Noir. GN was required for the Gestalt process, but back then there were no recorded cases of success, so many people were given copies of GN in hopes of running into a succesful case - maybe if they replicated the process of the successful case, they might consistently get good results. It was pretty much a large-scale human experiment. In the opening, Nier became the first case of successful Gestalt-fication, and the shades that attacked him were all failures. In hopes of helping Nier, Yonah also touched the GN, but...