Esse é meu jogo favorito. Por que, você pergunta? Nier é uma homenagem ao game design jaopnês, contendo elementos de hack'n slash, JRPG, plataforma, bullet hell e até text adventure. Ao mesmo tempo, volta com a ideia desconstrutora de Drakengard e critica o mesmo meio que o jogo exalta.

O orçamento é baixo? É sim, e creio que muita coisa podia ser melhor. O combate é muito repetitivo, o jogo te força a repetir vários levels e há algumas partes que a história fica dramática demais, mas onde acerta... Meu Deus. Além de ser único como Drakengard, sinto que pegou tudo que era de ruim na franquia e deu uma diminuída. Também pegou os pontos fortes e intensificou, como a implementação da gameplay na narrativa, que é bem densa agora, de modo que até Hideo Kojima sentiria inveja. Obrigatório para qualquer entusiasta de jogos japoneses num geral.

Few games I have encountered so far have had such a big gap between story and gameplay. Lots of games have amazing gameplay with mediocre stories, but I've rarely come across games with this mediocre gameplay, and a story which honestly shook me to my core. Story-wise, I think this may be the best game I've ever experienced. I cannot really go into why without spoiling the game, but trust me when I say that there is something absolutely amazing inside this game. Another huge plus for me was the music. I love the constant use of choirs. I think the choir is an underused component in music, which almost always adds to it, and therefore my favourite songs from the game are "Snow in Summer" and "Cold Steel Coffin", which perfectly reflect the parts of the game that they are used in. I think the characters are another huge plus, because they are so well developed that they frankly put many other RPGs to shame. The gameplay is ok for the most part, with some segments being incredible (the intro for example, something about fighting all of the enemies while listening to "Snow in Summer" felt cathartic to me), but if you want to get all four endings, you have to repeat a lot of events which become boring the third time around. Thankfully, the game skips to a middle point every time you complete an ending, so you don't have to play through it all, but man does it add a lot of dead time. If those problems were fixed, I would easily consider this a masterpiece. I can't really put it at that level, but I would recommend it anyways. The story is just that good.

Yoko Taro is somewhat of a narrative genius in terms of crafting concepts together and creating strong well done storytelling that actively reflects the themes here of humanity and perspective. It's something I think Automata does better, but what's here is actually still excellent. It's terribly paced, the entirety of Ending B/C routes is awful to do, even with its new perspectives. But it's genuinely good, scenes like the text adventure in the silent woods details how fantastic Yoko Taro is as a writer.

The gameplay on the flip end, is mostly awful, and that's mostly due to the limitations the game's thematic messaging entails (the enemy designs are forced to be simple and get more complex much later to reflect the rebuilding of the shadows' own humanity) and also due to Yoko Taro being considerably awful as a game designer to make something engaging. There IS actually depth to NieR's mechanics, but the kinesthetics of every single hit you do is so criminally awful that the only reason I don't say it's the worst kinesthetics of a game ever is because Drakengard exists and he made that too. Combine bad game feel with a series of repetitive encounters, a pacing that overstays its welcome, and having to do the game at least halfway through three times and you get a disgusting experience. The saving grace to its combat is genuinely well designed boss fights, which do a great job of creating challenging bullet hell waves you have to have key understanding of spacing to get through unscathed.

It's worth suffering through, though. There's so much good here tied to its thematics and narrative storytelling that I don't regret playing it. It's just the activity of PLAYING it in general is so decrepit.

The combat is pretty nothing. The quests are mostly tedious. The story starts really good but the string of twists after Route A ruins it for me. I love the excessive bloom and aesthetic of the world and characters. The atmosphere and feelings you get running around the game world make the game worth playing above all else. The music has some great stuff but most tracks are too short and loop too often.

All the pieces are in place for me to love it but every element just needed to be way better. The game is an exciting start and a dull slog by the time you're reaching for the true ending. Route C and D ask way too much of you for what little new content there is.

everybody loves cavia.

this game was sold to me as like "it's unplayable but it's interesting." i'm here to tell you that it IS weird and it is actually WILDLY playable. it's not smooth like PlatinumGames-developed NieR: Automata, but that's because Cavia is not PlatinumGames, and Cavia kind of LIKES to be a prick to the player. all of the sidequests in this game are pretty horrible, but you don't NEED to do them!

me and alex and then mostly just me played through an English-patched NieR: Replicant (which we're getting in the west on PC soon!) only because the download was available. I think I'd like the story better with daddy-nier.

although the story with bro-nier is not bad at all! this game is all about being a freak and finding a home with other freaks. our player is an important character but Kaine and Emil really really shine through as evocative characters in an unique action-RPG.

the action is also weird as hell! they are trying to go for a 3D bullet hell type thing, and it works mostly! when it doesn't work it's fun too. play NieR (2010). it's a breath of fresh air.

the lore's nuts too.