StiffChicken40
Oh my god. This is one of the best games I’ve ever played. I knew going into that it’s considered to be one of the best of the best, but I had no idea just how right that sentiment was. The characters, the story, the gameplay, the soundtrack, everything is just so beautifully done. Everything is leagues better than replicant imo. Except maybe the characters, I still love the main cast of replicant very dearly, but man, the tragic story of 2B, 9S and A2 is just, so well done. The combat is so much more engaging and fun, you have more weapon options and more combos so you aren’t just doing the same moves over and over. Your pod has more magic attacks than Weiss did, and they’re all unique and viable in some way. The open world is so fun to explore, instead of just having small sectioned off areas, you have a whole sandbox to explore, and it’s all interconnected without loading screens, it’s amazing. The side quest, which was one of my biggest gripes with the first, are vastly improved. I did about 45% of them in replicant, and in this I did 90%, and that’s only because I really wanted to see the true ending, so I went ahead and finished it. The 3 main characters are all engaging and fleshed out, tho, some more than others, in the context of the game A2 doesn’t get a lot, but I know she has her backstory in a book. 2B and 9S tho, god. Their story is such a tragic one, and one that came out of left field for me, I never would’ve thought that was the truth about them. The main story itself, endings A and B, aren’t super long, and neither is C/D, maybe a couple hours at most, but having the whole scope of the story, it’s a decent length. I put around 40 hours in it and I feel like it was well worth it. Speaking of multiple playthrough, it was a much easier task than the first game. You only have to replay the first half of the game once, and then everything after that is new. You don’t have to play the same parts over and over again, and even when you do have to replay it as 9S, it’s so different gameplay wise that it’s not even a problem, and for a lot of his parts, he’s doing other stuff without 2B anyway, so you get his side of the story on what was happening. I absolutely adore this game and I’m so glad I played it, everything in this game is perfect, especially the soundtrack, that shit made me feel like I was ascending sometimes. I really really really need a third NieR game that isn’t some mobile title.
It is wild how my viewpoint on this game as flipped from when I first started to now that I fully finished it. Gonna get some cons out of the way first, the amount of backtracking this game has is a little too much for me. It’s not a complete deal breaker, but part 1 of the game has so much backtracking to your house and the library with not a lot in between, it makes it very slow and boring. The side quests are also not great. They’re very bare bones, just, collect this, which usually invovles a grind in some way too, and then bring it back for a couple bucks. I think I ruined my A run by doing almost all the part 1 side quests along with my other gripes with the time kinda put me in a bad mood while playing. The story does start to eventually pick up and it’s way better from there. Part 2 is definitely the highlight of the game for me, the story is at its peak, you get more combat options with the new weapon types, more interactions between the characters. Having to complete the game 5 times was definitely a turn off at first, but it’s really not all that bad once you’re doing it, the worst is definitely getting all the weapons and having to play part 2, 3 times in a row with endings A, B and C/D. But at that point you can pretty much speed run it in like 2 hours so it’s doable. The true ending E is absolutely beautiful and a perfect end to the game. You finally get answers to most of your questions and you get closure for most of the characters. The story, characters, and soundtrack (which is absolutely fucking beautiful btw, like how do you make something that good) is really what gives the game its rating for me, it truly is something special.
This review contains spoilers
Had to sit with my thoughts for a bit before writing this review. I think the game is nearly perfect. The improvements in combat from remake to this is like night and day, it’s gonna be awful going back to remake after a this, lol. It’s so much fun that it was hard to stop playing. The story is really good, for the most part, there are some things that I miss from the og but it’s not a deal breaker. I liked the Nibelheim conspiracy in the og of, oh wait, did it actually burn down? Do cloud and tifa have false memories, and they get gaslit by shinra who rebuilt it and have just random people who love there being like, wtf you talking about bro? In this that little subplot is gone and it’s just like, yeah, they rebuilt the town and now they’re just doing experiments in the shinra mansion, like it’s fine, nothings wrong with it. Cid is like a completely different character it’s crazy. I like him, he’s fun, but that’s not FF7 Cid. Maybe he’ll change and get bitter in the 3rd game since they also cut rocket town, and so you don’t get his story about his love of space and wanting to finish his rocket, but I’m sure that’ll get added later on so it’s no biggy. The games biggest strength is all the downtime the characters get to grow and interact with each other, I love this little moments, it makes it feel like it’s a real group of friends making there way in an adventure. The open world is gorgeous and really fun to explore and get everything done( for the most part ), there’s ALOT to do in this game it’s fucking insane. There’s like 30+ mini games that you need to do for the 100% and it’s actually crazy. The plot, for the most part, follows the og pretty well, there’s a couple padding sections but not nearly as bad as remake so it’s a huge plus. The story goes fucking off the wall ape shit in the last 2 hours, cuz of course it does. I still don’t even fully comprehend what I witnessed, but, it’s definitely still peak, even tho it’s confusing it’s still go engaging and fun and it such a great time, especially starting the final boss with tears running down my face cuz they killed off one of my fav characters again :). And they somehow made it even more sad this time around with the multiple timelines and you not knowing if OUR Aerith lived or not since it keeps jumping around and showing different scenarios of what could’ve happened. I knew she wasn’t gonna make it tho, and it still hurts. I cannot wait for the conclusion of the trilogy, they’ve been cooking with these last two games and I can’t wait to see it finish, gotta fight god sephiroth at the edge of the universe in remake gameplay.
The black sheep of the series. This one is, definitely something. This was unfortunately a broken mess at launch, it’s definitely better now, but the facial animations still aren’t all that great. Some positives I do have is they did what I always wished for and make exploring planets not terrible like the first game. That’s honestly the best part of the game for me, driving around the new planets and doing side stuff. Some of the party members are interesting, but most are just eh. The combat is very fun, it’s much more fluid and flashy. It’s definitely a faster paced fighting than the og trilogy. Ryder, he main character, holds nothing to Shepard, they do an alright job, but you can definitely feel the hole that is felt without them. This was gonna get a sequel, which I would’ve bought and probably enjoyed a bit, but it got scrapped since this game did so poorly. So we’ll never see the end to this story, ah well, MASS EFFECT 4 HERE WE COME BABYYYYY.
2021
Oh this will definitely be decisive. Yes, the ending isn’t the best, it definitely could’ve been done better. Does that ruin the rest of this amazing game for me? Absolutely not, it’s still my favorite game in the series. Everything this game does, it does so well. The combat got updated to have more of the rpg elements that the first game had, they cut the party members to 6 again, so they get more time to shine and develop. The story is, so depressing honestly. It’s the build up of two others games finally coming to a head and it’s just, so depressingly beautiful. This game is never not gonna hit me in the feels. I could talk about this game for hours, I highly recommend this series to anyone who’s interested, trust me, it’s so fucking good.
2021
This is almost a polar opposite game gameplay wise compared to the first. They god rid of most of the rpg elements in favor of making it more actiony, which, is alright, because the combat is still really fun. The story got a boost tho which is nice, the stakes are higher and more dangerous. Most of the plot is just recruiting members for a suicide mission, so even tho it’s simple, it’s still really good. Most of your party members are fucking fantastic in this game, they really went all out with them, even tho I do think it’s a little too much, the first game had 6, this one has 12 which is actually insane. There are a couple in here that aren’t great, cough cough, Jacob, but otherwise they're all written really well. This is the most popular game in the series, and I can see why, just not for me.
2021
The remaster of this game looks so good. This is always been my least fav of the trilogy, but it’s growing more and more on me every time I replay it. The only big thing that’s brings it down from the rest of the empty barren planets you explore. There’s nothing really to do on them unfortunately and they’re all busy work, even tho I would’ve like them to just, tweak it and make it better to explore, I understand why they got rid of the feature in the later 2 games. This game has the best rpg elements tho with the skills trees and customization of armor and weapons. It’s really a shame that they dumbed it down in later entries cuz it’s really nice to have in this one. This is a perfect start to a great series.
This is my fav game oat (even tho it’s a trilogy) I’m gonna rate every game individually as well, but this edition is like, the best things ever. A remaster of all 3 games plus all dlc’s included, it’s literally perfect, I absolutely love this game to death, I don’t think anything is ever gonna too this.
2020
This is the best ps exclusive hands down, it’s not even a competition for me. Everything about this game is beautiful, the story, characters, combat, the world. I could ride around it for hours, it’s so gorgeous, one of the best looking games out there. The samurai combat with changing different stances depending on the enemy is so cool, even tho I know it’s not the only game to do it. All the gadgets are unique and interesting to play around with, and the drip is immaculate. The story is gripping and engaging and it never really had and low points for me. The second half of act 2 and act 3 are so fucking peak it’s insane, I would love to play this game again on my ps5.
2015
One of the best souls games that they’ve ever made. It’s so unique compared to the rest of the series, besides Sekiro obv. I love gothic lovecraftian horror and this delivers. The combat is much more fluid and less clunky, you aren’t dodge rolling like dark souls, you side step out of the way of all the attacks and it’s so cool. Also parry gun, enough said.
Oh this one is much better than the first. The combat hasn’t changed, it’s still like, literally the exact same, which is alright. If it ain’t broke don’t fix it. The story is significantly better and adding a new cast of intriguing characters was refreshing. Everyone gets to shine a little bit and it’s really nice.
I’m a tomb raider fan, so this was definitely up my ally and I always looked forward to playing the series, mostly cuz I’ve heard such great things about 2 and 4. This one, is alright, it’s a good start to the series and introducing all the main characters. The combat is fun and I never really got bored with it. The story definitely loses me near the end but that’s alright. It’s still mostly enjoyable.
Yeahhhhh, I kinda wish I skipped this honestly, but it is what it is. I finished it in one sitting so it’s not much. Same stuff as 2, it’s fun the play, and the concept is semi interesting, but that’s all it’s really got going for it.
2011
Significantly better than the first. The story is better, the gameplay is better, the world is better. They approved upon everything from the first game and I enjoyed my time with this, should probably play second son at some point, lmao.
2009
It’s fun, that’s kind of it honestly, lol. It’s definitely dated, and very wonky to play sometimes. Story is a little bare bones and the game looks really fucking ugly, which, I know is kinda the point, but idk.