+ Inventive gravitational twist on platforming
+ Tons of variety in galaxies and gameplay
+ Always throwing new ideas at player
+ Mario feels great to control + pointer controls are very intuitive and enhance the experience
+ Amazing orchestral soundtrack and great atmosphere

- Some gimmicky levels frustrate
- Start to feel padding if going for 100%

NieR Replicant has a really good story and has very interesting characters. Well, at least once you've played 12 hours of the game and gotten past the first ending. After that the game is very repetitive other than a couple of cutscenes and new lines of dialogue. While I liked the what endings B through D added to the story, it was really ending E that I liked the most. It may have had less explanation but at least it was different. My biggest issue with the game is that despite being a very good remake, it felt extremely dated still. The side quests were very uninteresting, and there was way too much back tracking for my liking. My last major complaint is that to get the true ending it is very grindy. I don't really see why having all of the weapons is a prerequisite to 2 of the 5 endings. All of these negative things are still held up by the great story, which ensured that I still enjoyed the game and completed it all the way to ending E. I do look forward to seeing what easter eggs I missed when playing NieR Automata next time I go back to that game. That alone may make my time playing NieR Replicant worth it.

God, after playing Nier Automata I thought I was ready for another heart wrenching story. But I truly wasn't. This game reminded me again why the DrakeNier franchise is one of my absolute favorites. The storytelling, while slow in this one, is engaging from start to finish. Words cannot describe how much I enjoyed the story and the characters. After finishing all Endings I was a wreck and I loved it.

There are some things I didn't really like in this game though, like the tedious sidequests. Dear god, why are most of them boring fetch and grindy farm quests? No seriously, the sidequests were a chore to go through! But I didn't mind the
running around that much, because of the immaculate soundtrack.

Honestly, the atmospheric soundtrack is another thing I deeply love about Nier. This game shows that even the worst gameplay mechanics can be kind of fun or bearable while listening to a bop after another.

Also, as much as I enjoyed Kainé as a character, her outfit looks not good. So many possibilities and they chose this mess. There is good fanservice and then there is Kainé. You got done dirty. I'm so sorry, my love.

But overall, I'm glad that I finally got the time to play this fantastic game and experience something special.