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Nier is a mixed bag. The story is both engaging and nonsensical at the same time. The setup in the beginning and build-up at the half-way mark are great, that kept me on my toes for most of the game. Unfortunately the narrative starts falling apart the farther you go in the plot, by that I mean the lack of any exposition on what’s going on. I typically hate it when RPGs keep hammering exposition in my face during their stories in order to cover all bases, but this game has the opposite issue. The story builds up so much with such little payoff, and by the time I realized this I was already near the end of the game. The main cast is admittedly really fun, helped notably by their talented voice cast. The fun wasn’t really in the writing, but it was in the out-of-place personalities each character has. Due to a non-explanatory story, the main cast and side-characters go all over the place with their motivations and emotional swings. The only instance I enjoyed the side characters is when you meet some of them after the 5-year time gap, those were the best character moments outside of the Father-Daughter moments with Yohna. The game also has 4 endings (advertised on the back of the game case) however the game doesn’t tell you that each ending outside of the 1st is locked unless you beat the game multiple times. This wraps up the story, but the gameplay has a huge positive aspect and a large negative aspect. The best part of the gameplay is the options in combat. The swordplay is simple to use and most fights can’t be won by mashing the X button. Enemies are more aggressive in Nier compared to other hack-n-slash titles and the dungeon bosses are surprisingly varied. Magic-use is also great to experiment with, but I hate how no items in the game can’t refill your magic meter. The last good thing is some of the dungeon design, particularly on the Desert World. That brings me to the rest of the gameplay, it is the epitome of bare-bones and pointless. I fished in the game only once, in a village I went to exactly TWICE in the entire 16-hour adventure. The game talks about planting, I never came across this mechanic in the entire game. It is said to be a useful tool by townsfolk however it is likely a side-quest I never picked up. The side-quests, most of all, are discustingly tedious and unnecessary to the game. The only reward for all side-quests and all items in the game is currency, which is what is needed to buy the enticingly powerful weapons. But you can earn money by farming any dungeons monsters and selling their item drops at any store, so the entire purpose of side-quests of rendered useless. Since you have no armor in the game to buy, you need to rely on health items to stay alive in tough fights. The gameplay, in a nutshell, boils down to buying the strongest weapon and always having healing items on hand. Nothing else matters in the entire game, not even the moments with Yohna since the story’s 1st ending is a guarantee no matter how you interact with her. The last thing to bring up is the dreaded second half of the game. Story-wise, once I beat the game, I questioned why there had to be a 5-year time-skip. Only theee characters have any noticeable growth physically after 5 years which are Gideon, the King of Facade, and Yohna. They don’t explain why Emil didn’t grow in the slightest, nor does it make sense in the 1,300 time-gap from documents on him. Gameplay-wise, it is a complete revisit to every location in the game for a Wind-Waker Triforce Hunt to get keys to the final boss’ lair. I cannot explain the utter rage I felt going through the Lost Shrine a THIRD TIME with no layout change or original enemies. The final battle with the twins gives such little explanation about the fall of humanity I honestly thought the game was joking with me, this couldn’t be the big twist I played 16 hours to get to. Unfortunately, Nier doesn’t elaborate on its premise and the end boss (from a gameplay perspective is honestly a cool fight) brings no satisfaction to the work I put in to save my character’s daughter. Backstories are also only told in Microsoft-Word text boxes after the game is beaten the first time, and a huge part of Kaine’s character (her sentiant Shade who lives inside her) isn’t even mentioned or hinted at in the first Playthrough. The best bits of the game are the character interactions, the combat, the surreal tone of the game’s world, the funny jabs at other RPG tropes, and above all that phenomenal soundtrack. But I can’t in good faith give it a higher rating due to its glaring flaws. The score in my mind would be one rating higher leading up to the ending, but after that unsatisfactory ending I place this game at 5 out of 10. If you’re a fan of the positive aspects I listed, please give this game a try. Otherwise please play Nier Automata instead, I hear that game is much better.… Expand
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