Emil (back), Nier and Kaine (front)... obliterated a pack of feral wolves.
This is the intro to world of Nier. Those words were uttered by Kaine, the girl ally in the game. From my initial review:
Without giving too much away, 1,312 year earlier, the technological world seized to exist with much of the human population trying to fend off creatures known as Shades. In the present day of the game, human population has dwindled and living in smaller villages just like in the Middle Ages. Ruins of the past (concrete buildings, steel bridges) scatter the world.
There's a plague known as a the Black Scrawl. It is believed to be the reason that wiped out most of humanity. The people don't remember much about the past and they don't understand most of the technology and books written about it. There are a few of them that are trying to understand the mountains of books in the ancient library in the village.
Nier is a hack and slash action RPG game that also has a bit of side-scrolling platformer and text-based RPG. These simple parts make for an interesting experience. There are many side quests that help with your character and in understanding the world in the game. Besides those, there is farming and fishing.
Nier, planting wheat and melons at the farm "nier" his house... har har har.
You could spend hours planting crops, fruits, vegetables, as well as flowers and creating hybrids, including a very rare hybrid called White Moonflower, also known as Lunar Tear. This flower has a chance of germinating by planting two other hybrid flowers: Peach and Pink Moonflowers. Peach Moonflowers are hybrids of Gold and Red Moonflowers. Pink Moonflowers are hybrids of Red and Indigo Moonflowers. Indigo Moonflowers are hybrids of Blue and Gold Moonflowers.
Nothing like fishing next to a 1,400 year old ancient ruin of train rail bridge.
Fishing could be a game by itself. There is a old man in the Seafront village of the game that will teach you his Fishing Gambits via quests. The more you learn of his fishing techniques, the bigger and rarer the fish you can catch. Besides catching fish, you occasionally fish out junk, which can be sold or used for upgrading your weapons. When you start fishing and drop the lure in the water, you see your fishing rod start moving, from a small tug, two small tugs, and a large tug. The small tug is a nibble. Two small tugs are two nibbles. A large tug is when the fish or junk is caught in the hook. That's when the tug of war battle ensues, which has you pulling the rod in the opposite direction where the fish is going under the water.
If Scar and Snape made a book that could talk... say hi to Grimoire Weiss
One of the best aspects in the game is the story and the dialog between the characters. I have to give props to the localization team at Square Enix for doing a great job translating this game. Not only that. I applaud them for the voice actors. Grimoire Weiss, the know-it-all book that could talk, sounds a cross between Jeremy Irons (Scar in The Lion King) and Alan Rickman (Snape in Harry Potter). Weiss's proper-English speaking demeanor is a great contrast to Kaine's foul-mouthed quips and insults.
Another aspect that this game excels in is the music. I never really care much about graphics in videogames. If the game has a great story and beautiful accompanying music, I will just eat it up. Here's a video of one scene in the middle of the game where the music really shines and conveys the emotions the developers want to invoke.
Don't worry... she'll be back.
After this scene, the game picks up 5 years later where Nier brings back Emil and unseals Kaine back to life from petrification. They look for clues on where the Shadowlord resides to save Yonah, Nier's daughter. When you gather everything and go to the Shadowlord's castle, that's when you get a glimps of the truth behind the world. You'll learn why civilization failed 1,300 years ago, the Black Scrawl disease and about the Shades.
A giant Shade attacking the Village at the end of the 1st half of the game.
There are four endings in this game. When you beat it the first time, you see Ending A. After getting this ending, you can play the game again using the Clear data for Ending A and start the game from the halfway mark. That means you retain all the items and experience you've collected from the previous play-through. This next play-through will also be told differently. There will be certain scenes related to Kaine's background story. Besides that, you'll also be able to understand what the Shades are saying instead of just warbled-high-pitch garble. All of these add up to a greater understanding of the overall story.
I've never been this excited replaying a game. I've already gathered all the weapons and completed all the quests. All I need now are fully upgrading my powerful weapons and understanding the story of Nier.
I'm done.
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