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Incline Nier!

Malpercio

Arcane
Joined
Dec 8, 2011
Messages
1,534
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 nothing like Drakengard.

First and foremost, it's not a musou game. It's an action-rpg in the same vein as Ys or KH.

It's not the action rpg mastepiece, but it frequently mixes stuff up to keep the player interested. It also has a much better environment than Drakengard brown valleys/D3 corridors.

Dark Id let's play does a good job at explaining the differences between Nier and Drag-On-Dragoon

Drakengard was a repetitive grind that got old after about an hour of gameplay. Nier, while not brilliant with its gameplay, does frequently mix things up to keep it fresh. Drakengard had a dodgily translated, barely comprehensible at points plot, filled with a cast of utterly unlikable assholes that all had subpar voice acting. Nier has one of the best damn, natural sounding translations I have heard in a JRPG, has an interesting and coherent plot filled with a very likable cast of jerks with outstanding voice acting. Drakengard had a soundtrack of chaotic dissonance that was unsettling at best, ear raping at worst. Nier has a goddamn phenomenal OST that was so well received it got a second one released just last month.
 

buzz

Arcane
Joined
Apr 1, 2012
Messages
4,234
One of the few games that I haven't played one second but got the soundtrack because it's absolutely divine. Emil Sacrifice used to be my phone ringtone for about a year or so.

God-fucking-dammit, why are the Japanese so good at video game music?
 

bminorkey

Guest




Speaking of which, the Drakengard/Drag-On Dragoon series deserves a thread as well. Drakengard 3 came out not too long ago. It's really really cool and thematically related to Nier.

I'm a huge huge fan. I've played all the games & DLC in the series and have a bunch of untranslated novellas/mangas/developer interviews scanned/in hardcover next to me.

The gameplay is a a lot less polished than Nier, but the story and setting more than make up for it, in my opinion. Generally the games worth playing are Drakengard 1 and 3, although 1 didn't age very well. 2 wasn't made/written by the same team and it kind of sucks. Drakengard 3 in particular is a must-play for fans of Nier, although some of the last plot points require an understanding of Drakengard 1 to appreciate.

Also, the series has a pretty awesome/out-there sense of humor. There's a scene where an old man has sex with a horse that somehow got past the ESRB (In the Japanese edition. Not sure if it's there in the localization).
 
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Jasede

Arcane
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Insert Title Here RPG Wokedex Codex Year of the Donut I'm very into cock and ball torture
NieR kind of competes for me with the most, uh, emotionally "strong" game with PS:T. It's one of my most treasured games, really. It does things other games never dared or dream about and even if you cut out all the fighting, it'd be a story worth experiencing (at least twice, so you can enjoy the typical Cavia "And now let's crush your heart" New Game Plus.)

It also does, mechanically, a lot of things that are so ballsy it's a miracle this game was ever published. For example, it parodies sub-quests in these kind of games by giving you the most banal, stupid side-quests, yet is fully aware you will do them anyway hoping for some completion. The characters even comment about how futile and stupid this is, but the player keeps doing them anyway. There must be some reward, surely? Oh Cavia, I love you.

(To be fair, the real reward for these quests, and the reason you keep doing them, is to keep hearing the characters talk. The cast has phenomenal banter and chemistry.)
 

paintinggrey

Scholar
Joined
Jan 29, 2013
Messages
134
Lets be honest Nier is not a particularly pretty or even good action rpg, most of weises powers are useless except for the lance and fist one, side quests are pretty much fetch quests which involves visiting the same places over and over again, world is pretty small and after you finish the game the first time you realise that Cavia probably hates you.

Even though this is true, its one of my top games i played in awhile. This game takes you through an emotional story that pulls on your heart strings, amazing sountrack to listen to, great interation between nier and its companions, text adventures,side quests gives a view of what a depressing and dying world nier lives in, well some of them. I never thought i would change my opinon on father nier from "hes just trying to save his daughter" to by the end of ending B"wow... what a dick", and that goes the same for Kaine probably worse.

after reading Grimoire Noir, I realised that Cavia hates you and boat you sailed in. But not as much as they hate children and completionists.

:incline:
 

ultimanecat

Arcane
Joined
Mar 19, 2015
Messages
575
NieR is definitely the kind of game that you wish more people who think games should be very serious business would play. I notice people hold up the original BioShock as the game that made them think of how a narrative could incorporate gameplay into its themes, and it's understandablre, but damn if BioShock isn't heavy-handed about it. BioShock, in wanting to be perhaps more profound than it deserves, answers the question "Do you realize your willingness to progress within the game may actively be going against the greater interests of the character you are controlling or your desire to be the hero?" with "HAR HAR OF COURSE YOU DIDN'T TROLOLOLOL"; in comparison, I always appreciated how NieR presented the question but left the answer open. Sure, the main character of NieR is inadvertently fucking over pretty much everything in his quest, but even after I know that and he knows that I'm not sure it'd make any sense for him to act any differently.

Combine the fact that it's a game that somehow is making me think more than two minutes about its animu story with the constant quirky genre shifts (not always successful but usually interesting) and it ends up on the short list of mainstream games to genuinely impress my overly cynical self in the past decade or so.
 

Jasede

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Insert Title Here RPG Wokedex Codex Year of the Donut I'm very into cock and ball torture
The triumph of NieR is that it's a parable on how people often end up doing the wrong thing for the right reasons, perpetuating a cycle of suffering. It's really quite sad. :|
 

vonAchdorf

Arcane
Joined
Sep 20, 2014
Messages
13,465
There's a free GDC talk from Taro Yoko online: "Making Weird Games for Weird People"

http://www.gdcvault.com/play/1020815/Making-Weird-Games-for-Weird

What goes into making a cult hit? Taro Yoko, director of games like Nier and the Drakengard series, talks about the process he uses to create worlds and stories that get noticed and foster dedicated fans. Recounting his experiences on those games and others, Yoko-san will explain his personal development methods, such as backwards scriptwriting (where the ending defines the entire setting), and what he calls "photo thinking" -- thinking photographically to maintain a cohesive setting.
 

Whisky

The Solution
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Divinity: Original Sin Project: Eternity Torment: Tides of Numenera
There's a free GDC talk from Taro Yoko online: "Making Weird Games for Weird People"

http://www.gdcvault.com/play/1020815/Making-Weird-Games-for-Weird

What goes into making a cult hit? Taro Yoko, director of games like Nier and the Drakengard series, talks about the process he uses to create worlds and stories that get noticed and foster dedicated fans. Recounting his experiences on those games and others, Yoko-san will explain his personal development methods, such as backwards scriptwriting (where the ending defines the entire setting), and what he calls "photo thinking" -- thinking photographically to maintain a cohesive setting.

Hey, he's not wearing his Emil mask for once!
 

vonAchdorf

Arcane
Joined
Sep 20, 2014
Messages
13,465
Hey, he's not wearing his Emil mask for once!

Wait for the end. It's funny that he asks people to refrain from taking pictures of him without the mask, but allowed the whole presentation to be recorded. He could have done an audio only.
 

Rpgsaurus Rex

Guest
Always wanted to start out with Drakengard 1 for the story but the gameplay there is soulcrushingly bad. Inevitable RQ one or two missions in.
 

SumDrunkGuy

Guest
It's one of my favorites. Love the writing, love the characters (except Emil), love the world, and then there's the music...



Nier's OST is in a class of it's own. You can never lavish enough praise on that mother fucker.
 

Jasede

Arcane
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Insert Title Here RPG Wokedex Codex Year of the Donut I'm very into cock and ball torture
There was this weird statement by Yoko Taro saying Emil was gay. But the only reference I could find for this in-game is one line of dialogue during the wedding scene, and that's only with Brother NieR, not Papa NieR. The inferior version, if you will.
 

CryptRat

Arcane
Developer
Joined
Sep 10, 2014
Messages
3,548
It's one of my favorites. Love the writing, love the characters (except Emil)

I'm also interested in the reasons why you don't like Emil. He is as cool and interesting as the other characters.
 
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SumDrunkGuy

Guest
Well it's not the character of Emil I hate specifically, but the english voice actor playing him. Dude is fucking terrible.
 

Malpercio

Arcane
Joined
Dec 8, 2011
Messages
1,534

Dark Id is fucking hilarious, really brings out the series"best". :P

Jun Iwasaki, president and chief executive officer of Square-Enix USA, described Drakengard as a "perfect hybrid of genres" due to its blend of action, character growth influenced by role-playing games, and a "solid story that binds it all together". According to him, the game is intended to appeal to gamers looking for a "deeper action game".

Jun Iwasaki is a fucking idiot. Drakengard is a terrible game -- absolutely awful. It isn't fun. At all. There is no fun to be found here. Look elsewhere for fun. It is a muddy hybrid of a half-assed Dynasty Warriors clone meets a poor man's knock off of Panzer Dragoon coupled with an unbearably dull grind fest.

mOKtf9L.jpg
 

SCO

Arcane
In My Safe Space
Joined
Feb 3, 2009
Messages
16,320
Shadorwun: Hong Kong
I've read the entire LP but feel no desire at all to play the game

Or any sequel and/or spinoff - i did watch the endings of Drakengard 3 on youtube afterwards

Bravo designer in chief, you're a troll that doesn't care about his work approachability. Admirable, but i'm still not going to give your games the time of the day.
 

Jasede

Arcane
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Joined
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Messages
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Insert Title Here RPG Wokedex Codex Year of the Donut I'm very into cock and ball torture
NieR is worth it for certain; it's a very good experience all in all. Drakengard 1, 2 and 3? No, just no. Same goes for Bullet Witch.

These games really were made just to be LP'd. Drakengard 3 LP by The Dark ID is currently on-going on SA.
 

Durandal

Arcane
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May 13, 2015
Messages
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Location
New Eden
My team has the sexiest and deadliest waifus you can recruit.
The only reason why I did the FedEx sidequests (aside from getting the other endings) was to listen to the banter between Papa and Weiss. It's just so enjoyable. Not to mention all the sad stories each sidequest will tell you, NieR is a really depressing game.
NieR is a cocktail of genres that shouldn't even be near eachother, but when you try it it's not that bad. The only thing I didn't like was the farming mini-game, because it seems to base in-game time on your console clock, which doesn't work properly for me.
 

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