Nier is both Cavia's masterpiece and Cavia's legacy. As the final game they made on the brink of shutting down forever, a studio never known for developing high quality titles put all their heart and soul into one last project and created something truly beautiful on a shoestring budget. Mixing together many different game genres while weaving a heartbreaking tale of human nature and perspective, it opened my eyes to the power of interactive storytelling and the value of video games as an art form without forgetting to be mechanically fun in the process (yes I think the gameplay is good).
I found much to love here in my initial playthrough(s), and the game still holds up every time I revisit it. The cast is wonderful, especially Grimoire Weiss, who is easily my favorite video game character of all time, if only because of Liam O'Brien's magnificent voice acting. The light bullet hell elements never fail to make my brain release the good chemicals, and just about every genre swap brings a smile to my face even now. The playful sense of humor complements the dark, depressing nature of the story proper, maintaining an atmosphere of warmth where other works might dip into what I've seen described as "misery porn." The clunky animations and ugly models add character to the world by making it feel grimier and more "real" than the majority of games (including its sequel, which I would argue is intentional subtext on Automata's part, though 1.22's beautification may imply otherwise). The music is perfect, so perfect that even the reviewers who shat on this game for not playing as well as Ninja Gaiden admitted it was good. And while a few of the performances leave something to be desired, it sports one of the finest localization jobs I've ever seen.
Though the story was clearly not written with Dad Nier in mind, causing some of the subversions of video game tropes to not work as well as intended, I believe his altered lines and rugged-but-soft performance by Jamieson Price improve the surface narrative by making the protagonist less of a borderline psychopath and more of a dumb bastard who loves too strongly for his own good; this also serves to make the Route B twists more unexpected and thus hit harder in the process. Nier, Weiss, Kaine, and Emil come across more as a found family in this interpretation, a band of weirdos with begrudging respect for each other rather than a love triangle with their cranky uncle tagging along. Still, it's evident that this is an alternate take rather than the "proper" one, and some may find a 40-year-old man saying lines written for a 16-year-old boy irritating instead of wholesome, which is fair; and, while having a sad dad protagonist in 2010 was rather novel, in 2021 the intended Brother Nier version actually feels more unique. The times have certainly changed.
I was always against the idea of this game being remade because of how much love was put into its creation and how its tragic ending ironically, perhaps even purposefully, mirrors the collapse of its development studio. Cavia, and their original rendition of Nier, should never be forgotten. I was happy to discover that the 2021 release is actually just a high-effort remaster and much of their work remains untouched, though I still have some misgivings about it. (This is, of course, the topic for a different review entirely).
There was a magical moment when I first played Nier all those years ago, where I entered the Northern Plains and was suddenly graced by the most incredible video game song I'd ever heard. It had already grabbed me from the opening cutscene alone, but this was when it truly stole my heart. Though lacking in the polish and extra content offered by its updated re-release, this is what I will always remember whenever Nier comes to mind: an ugly old man clumsily slaughtering sheep in a vague approximation of a field while being serenaded by beautiful violins. Just thinking about it brings a tear to my eye.
I found much to love here in my initial playthrough(s), and the game still holds up every time I revisit it. The cast is wonderful, especially Grimoire Weiss, who is easily my favorite video game character of all time, if only because of Liam O'Brien's magnificent voice acting. The light bullet hell elements never fail to make my brain release the good chemicals, and just about every genre swap brings a smile to my face even now. The playful sense of humor complements the dark, depressing nature of the story proper, maintaining an atmosphere of warmth where other works might dip into what I've seen described as "misery porn." The clunky animations and ugly models add character to the world by making it feel grimier and more "real" than the majority of games (including its sequel, which I would argue is intentional subtext on Automata's part, though 1.22's beautification may imply otherwise). The music is perfect, so perfect that even the reviewers who shat on this game for not playing as well as Ninja Gaiden admitted it was good. And while a few of the performances leave something to be desired, it sports one of the finest localization jobs I've ever seen.
Though the story was clearly not written with Dad Nier in mind, causing some of the subversions of video game tropes to not work as well as intended, I believe his altered lines and rugged-but-soft performance by Jamieson Price improve the surface narrative by making the protagonist less of a borderline psychopath and more of a dumb bastard who loves too strongly for his own good; this also serves to make the Route B twists more unexpected and thus hit harder in the process. Nier, Weiss, Kaine, and Emil come across more as a found family in this interpretation, a band of weirdos with begrudging respect for each other rather than a love triangle with their cranky uncle tagging along. Still, it's evident that this is an alternate take rather than the "proper" one, and some may find a 40-year-old man saying lines written for a 16-year-old boy irritating instead of wholesome, which is fair; and, while having a sad dad protagonist in 2010 was rather novel, in 2021 the intended Brother Nier version actually feels more unique. The times have certainly changed.
I was always against the idea of this game being remade because of how much love was put into its creation and how its tragic ending ironically, perhaps even purposefully, mirrors the collapse of its development studio. Cavia, and their original rendition of Nier, should never be forgotten. I was happy to discover that the 2021 release is actually just a high-effort remaster and much of their work remains untouched, though I still have some misgivings about it. (This is, of course, the topic for a different review entirely).
There was a magical moment when I first played Nier all those years ago, where I entered the Northern Plains and was suddenly graced by the most incredible video game song I'd ever heard. It had already grabbed me from the opening cutscene alone, but this was when it truly stole my heart. Though lacking in the polish and extra content offered by its updated re-release, this is what I will always remember whenever Nier comes to mind: an ugly old man clumsily slaughtering sheep in a vague approximation of a field while being serenaded by beautiful violins. Just thinking about it brings a tear to my eye.