Nier Review

nier0-9814458

Platform: PS3, Xbox 360
Developer: Square Enix
Genre: RPG
Release: 2010

Nier: the last game I played on PlayStation 3 before moving on to the PC’s Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn. It’s really quite the underrated hack and slash, action, role-playing piece so I’ll make this review a tribute to this awesome game as well. Not many know of this Square Enix masterpiece.

nier1-9981860

It’s a 2010 game, but I had no idea about the game until a couple of months ago. While browsing for new Final Fantasy XV teasers, I stumbled upon this peculiar Japanese-titled trailer:

The trailer, music and story were pretty much what got me into this game. After much research, I was able to locate and secure a 2nd hand copy in Greenhills, all thanks to a friend who notified me.

Not a lot know that this is actually a spin-off game occurring after Drakengard 2’s fifth ending. The prologue begins in year 2049, at a run-down modern Tokyo grocery store where we see our protagonist Nier fend off ethereal monsters to protect a young sick girl named Yonah. Then the game thickens the plot by fastforwarding 1,312 years later without really explaining anything. In that year, we see again the father and daughter pair living in a peaceful medieval town, with Nier doing all sorts of odd-jobs to earn money and try to alleviate Yonah’s worsening illness.

nier2-8303576

Wait, so if the old dude is Nier, then who’s the guy in the trailer? Nier was actually released in two versions: Nier: Gestalt (old guy lead) for the American release and Nier: Replicant (pretty boy lead) for Japan’s PlayStation 3. The Nier in the former would play as Yonah’s dad, and the latter, her brother. The head honchos in America thought that daddy Nier is the safer, non-incest suggestive version so they went with that.

nier3-9433501

Here’s pretty much the awesome, juicy, plot-twisty and spoiler-esque part of the story:

As Yonah’s illness, the Black Scrawl, is terminal, Nier sets out to look for a cure. As he does, Nier fatefully meets with Grimoire Weiss, a talking flying book powered with magic of ages past. In their search they encounter the hot-tempered, foul-mouthed Kainé; and a blindfolded young boy, Emil, whose eyes petrify anyone they see. After journeying for a time, the village is attacked by a giant shade; the battle culminates in Yonah being carried away by a master Shade that suddenly appears—the Shadowlord—who carries his own book, Grimoire Noir.

The game then jumps five years forward. After locating the Shadowlord’s domain, they seek out to defeat him. There, it is explained to them that over 1300 years prior, humanity faced extinction due to an incurable disease. In an attempt to survive, they separated their souls from their bodies using Grimoire Noir and Weiss. They created clones resistant to the disease, Replicants, and intended to recombine the souls, or Gestalts, with the Replicant bodies once it had died out. Over time, the Replicants had begun to form their own identities, while the Gestalts, or Shades, had grown aggressive to them.

nier4-5878544

Basically, the Nier we control now in the game is just a clone of the Nier from 1312 years ago, who is also now known as the ‘evil’ Shadowlord. He just wants to get his body back, is all. Is it so wrong to get what was originally his?

Quite the plot twist. It makes you think whose side you should really be on. For starters, the moral implications of good and evil will be nullified since the supposed-to-be evil guys, the shades / Gestalts, were the original humans who created the clones/Replicants, to save humanity. It’s just tragic that the Replicants began to develop their own identities, stirring up the problem that started it all. Is anyone to blame for this tragic mishap? Anyway, speaking of plot twists…

nier5-8068912

This is the hot-tempered, foul-mouthed Kainé mentioned earlier. While it does seem weird to see this scantily clad heroine busting weird-shaped shades with her saw-toothed swords and dirty obscenities, all the while wearing a wardrobe that looks like a kinky night gown, this will be the least of a guy’s problems about her.

nier6-1653800“Goddamn, no good, bullshit bastard!” -Kainé

Most people will agree that she’s smokin’ hot, with her profanities as an added plus for the masochists out there…but in actuality, she’s intersex. Originally a female, she somehow ‘grew’ dude parts down there after being possessed by a male shade in a near-death experience. This explains her bandages on her left limbs- they were literally cut off at some point in her life and the shade, named Tyrann, restored it for her. They made a deal that he will keep her alive, and Kainé will give her body to him once she has gotten her revenge.

nier7-3857108 Not a very enticing point-blank crotch shot of manly parts

Like any other modern hack-and-slash, you’ll get to fight monsters as tall as buildings with its little minions swarming around to irritate you, cause panic, and yeah, kill you. Eventually.

nier8-4860150

Besides wielding one-handed swords, two-handed swords and spears, all with varying attack moves, Nier is granted by Grimoire Weiss magical powers called Sealed Verses. There are a total of eight, and they make the fighting all the more fun. These are the red things Nier uses when in battle: Dark Blast, Dark Lance, Dark Hand, Dark Phantasm, Dark Gluttony, Dark Wall, Dark Execution and Dark Whirlwind.

nier9-8259155

Another thing I loved about Nier is the versatile gameplay: in some locations and dungeons, the camera angles and perspectives would change, turning it to somewhat like a mini-game.

nier10-3238130

Got nothing to do? Immerse yourself with Nier’s 100 sidequests, including being a hired hunter, detective, courier, fisherman, crop farmer, junk collector, fisherman, what have you! You’re literally an odd-jobs man.

nier11-2254067

Out of all the games I played, Nier is the closest I got to having a Platinum Trophy- 81%. I don’t know if it’s that easy, or I just got really immersed in the game. Although I do say it is awesome and interesting, there are noticeable flaws that pop out and make it the underrated game that it is. Graphics, no doubt, is subpar. There are problems in gameplay execution in some parts (there are a couple of scenes that will just make you read A TON of slow-paced paragraphs to progress the story.) Plotholes? A lot. But yeah, the 10/10 music, 10/10 voice acting and 10/10 story certainly make up for it. Overall, it’s a must-play for all you JRPG fans out there! ????

RATING: 9/10

Story
Gameplay
Visuals
Audio

Foodie Geek