Nier

there's always the wikis, i guess.

So I finally bit the bullet and got the Switch version. I own the PS 4 version, but haven't touched it since I rarely have the time for console games any more, and the idea of getting through an actual RPG (let alone multiple playthroughs) on a TV is just laughable.

Anything I should know before going in?

Everything I know about it comes from Soul Calibur VI so I basically know "robot fetish maid with swords." There's another big sister robot and a little brother one I believe? Other than that, all I know is that the game isn't over after one playthrough.

Having bought two copies and played neither, I feel like I helped!

Edited by Larkmarn on Feb 23rd 2024 at 12:03:17 PM

The less you know going in the better, I think, but as general advice, the story continues through "playthrough 2" and "playthrough 3" but they're more like separate campaigns.

Btw game has now sold 8 million.

So, yeah.

Did not expect the game to start with Ikaruga-lite. That's pretty fun and I really like the design of the flight units. Look like the Flag series of transformable mobile suits from Mobile Suit Gundam 00, a series I didn't super care for, but I loved the design ethos of the MS for the first half of the show.

Just got to the Resistance encampment. Was killed by a moose along the way. So that was nice.

Actually, I kinda got my ass handed to me a lot in that prologue chapter. I feel like I'm missing something. It felt like every once in a while random Mecha-Mooks would land what felt like a single blow and I'd use up a recovery unit. Obviously, the answer is "not get hit" but I feel like I A: missed something in terms of not getting hit other than spamming ZR constantly to dodge perpetually and B: That it's weird I took so much damage.

Wish I could toggle Pod to keep firing rather than holding down the button.

If there's anything Yoko Taro loves to do - after sympathetic tragic villains and heroes, New Game Plus plot twists that radically recontextualise the base game, and making completionists suffer for that Last Lousy Point out of spite - it's Unexpected Gameplay Changes.

Funny you mention "radical recontextualizations", because NieR Re[in]carnation had its last livestream and...

Well...

You guys know about that one prevailing theory that everything happens in a time loop?

Yoko Taro must've seen that and thought "hold my beer."

Because it's not one loop. It's several. A circle within a circle within the same circle. A donut hole in the donut's hole, or rather a smaller donut with its own hole.

Where am I going with this?

I confess I'm still wrapping my head around it, but let me put it like this:

You know OG Replicant/Gestalt and Replicant 1.22? Those are actually loops. Replicant 1.22 takes place after OG Replicant/Gestalt because of loops. Which, the more I think about it, kinda makes sense because OG Replicant had Weiss sounding like a grumpy old man when Replicant 1.22's Weiss sounds like Gestalt's Weiss.

Plus, Replicant 1.22 takes place AFTER Automata. HOW?! Because time loops. Which also makes sense because the Administrators look like 2B and 9S, right down to sharing VAs!

And I'm pretty sure that's not even looking in the general direction of the iceberg!

Edited by TargetmasterJoe on Mar 6th 2024 at 11:05:43 AM

Something something human server. Moon. FFXIV.

The existence of timeloops in the setting was already confirmed in Drakengard 3, after all.

I don't know what's more insane, the fact that Replicant 1.22 is a sequel to OG Replicant/Gestalt because of time loops or the fact that Drakengard 3's establishing of time loops kinda makes this time loop thing make sense?

Oof, it's getting wicked late for me to be in this rabbit hole...

Edited by TargetmasterJoe on Mar 7th 2024 at 12:31:08 PM

This also means the versions of Nier Automata where the casts genders are flipped is a loop that goes somewhere too.

Also they revealed more information as well. The Dragons spoken of in Automata lore as weapons used against Machine Lifeforms? They were created based on Reincarnations Sealed Weapons like Noelle.

AI in this setting is so advanced that it can transcend space-time. Drakengard 3's true ending for example is only achieved thanks to an android who is aware of the whole branching timelines stuff deciding she should do more to help Zero.

And yet, for all their power and knowledge they still struggle with the same identity issues as any human. They don't know what to do when they can no longer define themselves as humanity's servants.

Edited by M84 on Mar 7th 2024 at 12:19:27 AM

Technically some did decide to do so.

And they all went to Australia after fighting with the Androids devoted to humanity.

Edit: Also whatever is going on with Lars and Griff is itself a spoiler as well, so the livestream mentions nothing else about those two.

Edited by OmegaRadiance on Mar 6th 2024 at 8:21:33 AM

Wonder how well these Androids would take to being in a Xeno game like Xenogears or Xenosaga.

Lars and Griff, for the unaware, are soldiers on the same side of a war - Griff is Lars' captain, but I digress. From what I recall, the tech level is roughly "has guns, also swords, Medals of Honor exist", so no super high-tech stuff here, which makes the characters' apparent spoileriness odd.

Maybe their leaders are actually the Patriots who are actually Accord.

Or, you know, maybe Lars snaps and starts stabbing people and Griff dies to stop him. He's never had the best mental state, and he didn't react that well to the whole moon base revelation.

Maaaaybe the spoiler is just that they're focus characters in a chapter together. Lars has been mostly doing his own thing, and while I don't recall where Griff is currently he cares enough about Lars to go look for him. Not sure how much of a spoiler that is, though (although given that we got Rion/Yudil and Saryu/Akeha as focus character pairs, the game has made stranger choices).

For their part the next chapter preview is Fio, Levania, and N2 focus. Aka the main duo of the first story and one of the Red Girls.

Edited by OmegaRadiance on Mar 7th 2024 at 12:40:55 PM

this is gonna end with Fio giving up her memories/existence the day of EOS, isn't it?

Edited by MorningStar1337 on Mar 7th 2024 at 8:44:56 AM

Honestly? The DrakeNier universe is so unpredictable that anything could happen. We think we figured it out and then BAM! Everything we thought we knew is tossed out the window and we're as bamboozled as the characters we're playing as.

Edited by TargetmasterJoe on Mar 7th 2024 at 12:33:56 PM

Also they’ve confirmed the meaning of all the characters names from the first story arc.

Two examples is Sealed Weapon Noelle was chosen because of “el” ala Michael/Gabriel/etc. While Argo named after ship from the Greek tale.

Edited by OmegaRadiance on Mar 7th 2024 at 9:59:20 AM

Have they elaborated on the reasoning behind the clones', or is it just "sci-fi clones = number names"?

Yes.

Edit: By yes I mean they do explain their names as well.

Edited by OmegaRadiance on Mar 9th 2024 at 8:39:48 AM

Also strangely enough more news on the OG timeloop:

Despite appearances or implications Cathedral City is NOT Tokyo or related to it. It along with the Dragons were sent from the Kingdom of Night(aka Americas/Europe/etc.) in a cataclysmic event to before the events of any Drakengard game.

The Administrator from the original side story of Nier Ending E knows he’s been in a loop and has faced Kaine countless times.

10H in Reincarnation also created a bunch of books and the residents of said books came to life, tying back to Sinoalice. She had a panic attack when she saw this happen for the first time since she created life.

Edit: Also Carriers real identity is also a Pod. Pod-012

Edited by OmegaRadiance on Mar 18th 2024 at 11:03:06 AM

So here’s the surprising reveals of the final chapter of Nier Reincarnation.

Edited by OmegaRadiance on Mar 29th 2024 at 5:16:19 AM

Kaine is so based love her.