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Incline Nier!

Malpercio

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Dec 8, 2011
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It irks me that we have no Nier thread....

hVZXXLK.jpg


So what is a Nier?

Well, Nier is a fun little game developed by Cavia (mostly famous for the Drakengard series, which is not saying much) and written Yoko Taro (who?) and published by Square Enix (Meh).

Mostly described as a "rough gem" and "holy shit, the OST is like having sex in my ear" is the only game I could describe as "The Planescape of RPG". Yeah, of course the writing is nowhere as good as Planescape, but it really does a certain charm and maturity most RPG are lacking...

But what makes Nier so special?

1) The cast. You play as a brother father trying to look for a cure for his sister daughter in a post-apocalyptic word. You companions are a talking book, Kainè, badass hermaphrodite in lingerie and a cute kid who can petrify everyone on sight.



2) The OST is so fucking good. Like, it's REALLY good. I can't stretch enough how fucking good is Nier OST. It's like Christ Avellone whispering Planescape script in your ear.




3) The atypical setting. A post-apocalyptic word where the last remnant of humanity fight against mysterious entities know as shades (basically some weird black-ass vaguely humanoid monsters) The setting is actually quite complex, but alas, I must admit the game doesn't use it entirely. A lot of backstory is hidden and written in "Grimorire Nier", exclusive Japanese book (but it's translated, so np) that explains all the weird-ass stuff going on in the setting and its connection with Drakengard.
Also if you played any other Yoko Taro game before you'll know the game doesn't reveal much if you stop to the first ending. Indeed the second ending, ending B, is pratically mandatory and adds a lot to the story.

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Dad Nier fighting a big-ass Shade

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Dad Nier in the middle of the apocalypse fighting a bunch of shades

OURFKWP.jpg

Nier and Yonah ^_^

Admittedly, Nier's gameplay is nothing to write home about. Though it does have a quite basic battle system, it does manage to create interesting situations by mixing stuff up (one moment you are playing a diablo-like section, the other the game decides to fuck you and become an homage to Resident Evil)


Also fun fact: There actually 2 version of the game in Japan. The one where you play as "brother Nier", and Yonah is your sister, and the one whith "Papa Nier" where Yonah is your daughter.

We only got the Dad Nier versions, but the general consensus is that we got the better deal. (Although the story was written for "Brother Nier" first, so some story elements may appear weird)
 
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vonAchdorf

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Sep 20, 2014
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I bought it, after reading the praise it got (mostly from players, not the press). At first, I wasn't impressed at all, the machine gun magic from the book was strange for example, and at first I didn't like the design of the shades (too "modern"), but it quickly grew on me (even the shades) and I think it was among the best JRPGs I played on the PS3.

The variety from platformer to text adventure is strange, but it works. The soundtrack is most excellent and the characters and locations are weird, but in a good and interesting way, not just for the sake of being weird. And Grimore Weiss is a great companion. And yes, I think Dad Nier is better.
 

4249

I stalk the night
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I've been wondering about the game for a while, seeing the praise it gets, but finding it at a reasonable price in Europe seems to be hard.
 

vonAchdorf

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I've been wondering about the game for a while, seeing the praise it gets, but finding it at a reasonable price in Europe seems to be hard.

Your best bet is to import it from the UK, they don't have no love for the good things and you can get it from there for cheap'ish, especially if you don't have to pay import taxes and get cheap / free shipping. The X360 version seems to cost less then the PS3 version, but I don't know if it's somehow worse.

Graphics wise the game isn't great, but mostly coherent, on either platform, and the bloom in the seaside town area hurts your eyes.
 
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I wanted to play this game for ages but ps3 version is at least 40E in my country. A bit too much for 5 years old game :x
 

4249

I stalk the night
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Yeah I have a PS3 as well and the prices are just ridiculous. 15-20€ + shipping + taxes + customs from the US and 25-30€ + shipping from EU. The X360 version is available from the UK for 10-15€ :argh:
 

CryptRat

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Sep 10, 2014
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It reminds me that i have to finish it again to get the endings other than the first one.

I liked the different companions, and the overall weirdness of the game.
 

Malpercio

Arcane
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Dec 8, 2011
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It reminds me that i have to finish it again to get the endings other than the first one.

I liked the different companions, and the overall weirdness of the game.

You should really do it, you get the whole meaning behind the bosses and another companion. It really adds another layer to the story.

It's not even that long since NG+ starts from mid game.
 

Rahdulan

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It's a good game, although it kinda helps if you put yourself through played Drakengard games for lore reasons. Kinda. And as far as gameplay goes, it's perfectly fine. Keep in mind "gameplay" in most JRPGs just means navigating the menu to ATTACK and choosing your target. Action combat, even if it's not among the best implementations, is at least somewhat more engaging and the way some bosses work with avoidable attack patterns like you would see in shmups is certainly interesting.

How many JRPGs let you play as a cosplaying Cro-Magnon? Unless you have the wrong version of the game, of course.

KprAVYJ.gif
 
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Whisky

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I lent Nier to a friend last week.

Now I want to replay it.

Such is life in the post-White Chlorination Syndrome Zone.

EDIT:

As for the whole Brother versus Father Nier thing, I prefer the concept of the Father Nier moreso. The whole Japanese defensiveness of sisters is something that's just very culturally foreign to me and a Father-Daughter relationship seems more interesting.

That being said, there's some additional stuff that doesn't make it over:

Brother Nier goes through a greater personality change after the time-skip. He's idealistic in the first half of the game and snaps after the timeskip, while Father Nier goes through a much less dramatic change. There's also greater hints towards what he had to do to support Yonah, including one NPC who recognizes him because he had sex with him for money.

And one part of the story becomes a little unbelieveable:

Brother Nier not thinking anything of Popola and Devola looking as young as when they first met is more believable, he's not that old. Father Nier not noticing they're ageless is a little hard to swallow.
 
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lightbane

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Dec 27, 2008
Messages
10,158
Oh Nier, such an awesome sauce game. For those who don't want to get a console to play it, the least you can do is to read this: http://lparchive.org/NIER/ You have no excuse now:rpgcodex:


And one part of the story becomes a little unbelieveable:

Brother Nier not thinking anything of Popola and Devola looking as young as when they first met is more believable, he's not that old. Father Nier not noticing they're ageless is a little hard to swallow.

IIRC, at that moment Nier was greatly scarred (physically and psychologically) by the loss of his friend Kaine and having his daughter kidnapped right in front of his eyes. That broke him so much it's understandable he wouldn't notice such detail, he was too busy killing Shades and getting stronger.
 

vonAchdorf

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Sep 20, 2014
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Kainé would be banned for improper language on other forums.

(Yes, I know it's in the intro linked above, but here, you don't have to skip the logos)
 

Jick Magger

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That being said, there's some additional stuff that doesn't make it over:

Brother Nier goes through a greater personality change after the time-skip. He's idealistic in the first half of the game and snaps after the timeskip, while Father Nier goes through a much less dramatic change. There's also greater hints towards what he had to do to support Yonah, including one NPC who recognizes him because he had sex with him for money.

And one part of the story becomes a little unbelieveable:

Brother Nier not thinking anything of Popola and Devola looking as young as when they first met is more believable, he's not that old. Father Nier not noticing they're ageless is a little hard to swallow.
It also expunges most of his entire romance arc with Kaine, which makes him spontaneously kissing her in ending C not really make any sense.

Read an interesting statement the creators made on the endings of the game: they consider ending C to be Father Nier's ending, and Ending D to be Brother Nier's ending.
 
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Whisky

The Solution
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Oh Nier, such an awesome sauce game. For those who don't want to get a console to play it, the least you can do is to read this: http://lparchive.org/NIER/ You have no excuse now:rpgcodex:




IIRC, at that moment Nier was greatly scarred (physically and psychologically) by the loss of his friend Kaine and having his daughter kidnapped right in front of his eyes. That broke him so much it's understandable he wouldn't notice such detail, he was too busy killing Shades and getting stronger.

It's more about how Nier grew up in the town and never noticed anything fishy about how they remain eternally 24. Granted, yes, it's not really established at what age the Replicant project created Nier at, but it's a pretty major plothole when Nier grew up under Popola. For Brother Nier, he's meant to be younger than her regardless, while Father Nier is physically older. Both do, at one point, compliment her on looking so young after so many years. It's just hard to believe when Father Nier, who is 39-44 depending on the part of the game, doesn't get freaked out about how an older woman he knew his entire life looks half his age.

Of course, I know the answer: the game was designed for Brother Nier and the localization team suggested a different main character and so Father Nier was created, it was bound some things would not match up entirely.

Drakengard 3 has some DLC battle music tracks that are Nier remixes. Posting them:





 

4249

I stalk the night
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Found a barely used copy for 15 jewroes from the interwebs:fuuyeah: :takemymoney:

Dis better be gud :desu:
 

Alfons

Prophet
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Jul 25, 2014
Messages
1,031
How tedious is it? I recently found out about Taro Yoko and his wacky style. I thought about getting Drakengard but after watching a part of a let's play I don't even want to emulate it. Suffering through 15 minutes of dynasty warriors just to reach a 2-minute cutscene? Fuck that. From reviews I read this thing isn't much better in that regard, the story and the way it's presented is very interesting but everything else blows.
 

Abu Antar

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Enjoy the Revolution! Another revolution around the sun that is. Shadorwun: Hong Kong Divinity: Original Sin 2 Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire Pathfinder: Wrath I'm very into cock and ball torture I helped put crap in Monomyth
How tedious is it? I recently found out about Taro Yoko and his wacky style. I thought about getting Drakengard but after watching a part of a let's play I don't even want to emulate it. Suffering through 15 minutes of dynasty warriors just to reach a 2-minute cutscene? Fuck that. From reviews I read this thing isn't much better in that regard, the story and the way it's presented is very interesting but everything else blows.
It's a game that is better than the sum of its parts.

It isn't really that long if I remember correctly and the boss fights are fun. One can replay the game for different endings. One doesn't have to replay the entire thing, just from the halfway point.
 

ghostdog

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I bought it used, dirt cheap around 10 euros, and it was money well spent. Very good story. Gameplay-wise it's not like Drakengard, it's more of a traditional jRPG, with some interesting ideas both in combat and dungeon-crawling. It starts pretty simple but gradually introduces more stuff, has quite a few optional sidequests --if you want to delve into that-- and a semi-open world, but otherwise it's not that long. The action-y combat never manages to be really great, but has some interesting ideas (both in melee and magic) and can be pretty satisfying and entertaining at times. It has a nice game+ mode where you get back into the middle of the game with all your powers, but with much harder enemies that force you to deal more with developing multiple weapons for specialized attacks. Game+ leads you to the other endings, but much faster. Pretty neat.

Frankly, it's much better than most of the crap square has spouted out recently (it's not really done by square anyway, they're just the publisher or something) but since it has pretty small budget, limited VO, not super awesome graphics and mind-blowing CGI cutscenes, and obviously zero Doritos budget, it got crap from many "big" reviewing sites.
 
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