@@Foxcade Don't forget to delete the -video- your entire channel after you watch it 4 times. Oh and if you reupload it you can't name the video the same thing.
In fairness to the rather poor gameplay of most of Yoko taro games. He was was working with studios that just plain didn't have the talent or skill to portray what he wanted effectively. (Cavia was a minor medocrere studio that he happened to work at and their library kinda tell you the kind of talent or lack there of that he had to actually make the games.) Access was better but the genre mix that Yoko taro takes is.... challenging to studio that just plain don't have the experience. Which was why his work with Platinum worked out so well. There was and honestly still isn't a studio with a skill set of such diverse game modes out there. I hope that Yoko Taro continues to work with them.
It also helps that Platinum already tries to shove SHMUP segments into their games, even when it hurts the pacing on reruns (Bayonetta is the prime offender of this). So Yoko Taro and Platinum had common interests in that regard.
On the other hand Yoko Taro _might've_ understood that his creations would best (if not only) work as purely *story-driven* games-that they never needed in the first place the bells and whistles of the competition to make the storytelling work. That making every facet of the gameplay mechanics that lively would only rather dilute the intended experience and message. It really requires a more-or-less special taste to really understand and appreciate his works, which also use their technical flaws and limitations to advantage in the storytelling (as how he would put it, "weird games for weird people" or something like that). Which is why a remake of the earlier Nier/Drakengard titles wouldn't work (only a remaster is enough). I won't it past Yoko, for the next entry in the franchise, to ditch PlatinumGames and simply return to his roots with the franchise's original staff members, to return to the technical quality of the older titles and keep it niche as it was before (and also to ferret out the true fans among those reaped in by the bulk by Nier: Automata).
@@TheNobodyNamedDubyaBee great idea, drive off a new fanbase because they weren't there from the beginning. How dare they not be at the right place and time to have played this series from the very beginning. Tch
I partly fell in love with the first Drakengard because I felt the awful gameplay was reinforcing the game's themes as a fully realised masochist experience.
@@CryoJnik For the record (and having gotten too lazy to respond), Yoko Taro isn't interested whatsoever about getting more fans or sales with his series. Only "quality" fans who are wise enough to properly consume the games' stories and how they are laid out. If "fans" step into the pre-Nier: Automata games thinking it's gonna be as engaging as The Witcher, God of War, Kingdom Hearts, or Dark Souls and inevitably get turned off by the "clunky" gameplay, it's their fault they missed the point on what the series is all about.
With the release of Automata, youtube got flooded with a bunch of videos about nier that more or less just rehashed the plot and it's nice to see someone finally give it a proper analysis. Any analysis of Nier that doesn't mention 9/11 isn't worth watching.
@@AngraMainiiu Can you explain better what the relation between Nier and the 9/11? I saw the Drakengard end that you post, but I just couldn't get it :(
@@burnt_ramen9757 He misspelt perfect at 1:35 while talking about the pressure of getting it perfect. Whether it was intentional or not, it makes it look like the pressure of getting it perfect is getting to him in the same sentence he's saying it.
But I dont like ValkyrieAurora decision. Literally writing a library worth of books and burning it down. Erasing a part of history that cant be recovered. That is crime.
@@syahmimi1425 I think its bs if she did it because fans were whining about her old content. I can't imagine how annoying it would be for people to bitch that she doesn't do that anymore. Still its spiteful if that's why she deleted ALL of her old shit. Now if she did it because she was contractually obligated to I don't blame her. It makes me sad because I hate vtubers but hey do what you gotta for the job.
@@Brandonious15987 she became a vtuber? Ah why she did this. its like old tale of lyrics translation site deleting all of her tl making it disappear forever.
Spent this year playing this underrated piece of art after being mesmerised by Automata beforehand. Despite the repetitiveness and rough edges on the production, I still absolutely loved this game for its immersive atmosphere, story, characters and absolutely gorgeous soundtrack (which I actually prefer over Automata). The gameplay side was deffo slower but it was a lead up to Automata's style tbh which made for an interesting retrospective experience...just wish I had picked up this game years ago when it first game out for the PS3
This video came out at the perfect time, there's rumors of a remake hovering around for the 10th anniversary. I honestly hope it's a full remake, not just a remaster. The story could be more fleshed out and the gameplay needs a complete overhaul. Nier is such a fantastic game, I want to see it become a successful masterpiece like it rightfully deserves!
Michael Sorbello: Horror Stories I would lose my shit if they did a full remake. It would have the capacity to be one of the best games ever - the potential is there.
NieR Gestalt is easily the best game anyone has ever touched, and while FF12 will always be my favorite from a personal standpoint, I don't think anything will ever get close to what Gestalt was able to do. The voice acting is absolutely some of the best in any medium, the OST IS the best in any medium, and the story is by far one of the most poignant told in a video game. The gameplay is fearless, inventive and genuinely creative even if flawed, but since the game never outstays its welcome and is constantly mixing up how it plays, it never once gets annoying. It will always hold an immensely special place in my heart. Games like this need to exist. Flawed art is needed. NieR and Fragile Dreams especially, alongside so far too few other games are beyond meaningful despite any shortcomings in their gameplay. They will always be the absolute best this medium can offer.
As much as I despise them now, I'll always thank Mike Fahey and Kotaku for introducing me to this gem. Booting up the disc and hearing Laura Bailey scream obscenities sealed the deal. I love this janky game and it's stellar soundtrack. I can't wait for your part 2.
As someone who listens to his gaming podcast, it makes perfect sense that he is an original Nier fan... what's weird is that he isn't a fan of Automata hahaha
Javier Armenta Regrettably, I don’t think the gameplay will improve much. Platinum isn’t working on the game, but rather a company that from what I heard specializes in remaking and remastering games. That being said updated graphics and (hopefully) making brother Nier playable in the west will 100% justify my purchase. Some possible new songs or renditions by Keiichi Okabe would be the cherry on top
@@SM-bc1gj The fact that you even bother looking past shit gameplay in a videogame makes you a pretentious pile of shit. See, I can make stupid, judgmental statements too.
@@xBINARYGODx I just stated the obvious: if you only see gameplay (which is just one of many aspects of a game), then you shouldn't be allowed to tell people whether a game is good or not, cause you're not being able to see the bigger picture; in any case, you're just reviewing one part of the game, which needless to say, it's stupid. You, point aside, just confirmed how much of a narrowminded simpleton you are. I guess you're happy just pressing buttons till you see the credits. Some of us enjoy a complex story even if the gameplay isn't good at all. Try not to embarrass yourself anymore.
I’m working on a Nier retrospective of my own and stumbled across your video. This is brilliantly executed my friend! Definitely one of the best videos I’ve seen on the game, well done.
The video was great. Especially because it subverted my expectations by making it a two parter and then immediately after showing a black screen. 10/10 would watch again.
I love Nier! Thank you so much for that video! And yes, 31:56 you are right, that's probably the sadest moment in gaming, or probably any media outside of actual news.
So not only is one of my favorite game reviewers doing one of my favorite games, they also happen to manage grabbing not just one, not two, but THREE other content creators I love to cameo? It's the day before Christmas? Dude, thank you, its alright it's in 2 parts its actually surprisingly fitting for where you leave off but also nier is a big game to dissect, I hope you have a good holiday season, you deserve it
While Automata is certainly one of the best games of this generation, from a narrative perspective the first Nier surpasses it, and it has always saddened me to see this game has never gotten the attention it deserves. We need more video essays and analysis' of Nier. Thank you for making this video.
I also think the original nier has a better atmosphere than automata has. And like... more charm.The gameplay might be clunky but the story is pretty good, especially once you understand...
I think for a lot of people to fully appreciate it a little bit of outside reading is involved and that can turn people off. For those that do, it is one of the most interesting stories ever told and, in my opinion, worth it.
NieR: Automata I played on PC was the reason for me to bought the PS3 Slim in 2019 and purchase the original Nier and Drakengard 3 which are not common where I leave, each cost me nearly as much as brand new PS4 games on market. But it's totally worth it. This is a great masterpiece and one of the best games I ever played. I barely can remember a story touched my heart so much. Thank you for the video, sir. Thank you, Kaine, Emil, Weiss and Father. Thank you, Yoko Taro.
I loved nier. I remember that used to sit in town and just let the music play over my speakers while i was doing housework. Everything about it was incredible.
Just so someone says it: I fucking loved the text adventures. It was sooo weird. I play games to experience weird stuff as much as I want to be entertained. Nier delivered.
First game to genuinely make me feel something... This is actually my favorite game of all time, excluding a certain VN but most people don't play VNs so I don't meantion it.
Nier was one of the most painful games to complete I've experienced, with multiple playthroughs, weeks of real-time-dependent flower cross-breeding, and ungodly grinding for permanently missable words, all of which is apparently painful intentionally. The story, themes and direction of the game is so amazing that I stuck with it and would gladly do again if it was rereleased. I can't think of any other game as unabashedly uncaring of the players' assumptions and comfort to specifically turn around their assumptions and make a surreal hellscape of a story and world that makes one actually ask questions.
Although I haven’t played a single one of taro’s games myself, I always love the messages he tries to get across to you the player, especially since some of them reflect real life. It just makes everything feel more real and relatable in its own way.
There's a section, in the first playthrough, that is skipped over for the 2nd playthrough. IIRC, Emil is spooked by a shade that haunts his library and he wants you to eradicate it. When you enter the room, you seeithe shade idly staring at bookshelves, and when you engage, it avoids combat and pursues a different bookshelf to inspect. It doesn't attack you at all during this sequence, and you have to actively chase it throughout the room. And because this precedes the "5 year" skip, there is no revisiting this area with each successive playthrough. After the guilt trip, I thought back on this shade and what its motive was. Could it have been a shade seeking answers to its existentialism? And if so, how close was it to getting those answers until we appear? Could it have been a previous scientist involved in the Gestalt project; whom continued seeking a true resolution to the epidemic, only to be cut down by one of its own (arguably) successful experiments?
Great video on one of my favorite games ever it means a lot to me as well also on a side note love that you got Valkyrie and Clemps love their videos and content
I only just discovered Nier when Automata released, and now regard Nier as my favorite game of the Xbox 360 era -- but this analysis somehow rekindled a love that never extinguished. Next to Clemps videos, this is probably the best retrospective I've seen on the game (and I've seen my fair share). Thank you for the work put into it. I look forward to the rest, however many more there are, and hope you plan on doing an analysis on Automata as well!
Felix S. The OP is a nerd and deleted my response but essentially: you’re a closeted weeb trying to cope. Yoko Taro infamously loves Otaku culture and is a massive weeb himself and that shit is all over his games. Just because a piece of media subverts elements of a genre doesn’t mean it doesn’t belong to said genre. Like you’re essentially trying to argue that the NieR games parody and critique these cliches just because they do something interesting with them? It’s not parodying weeb tropes, it’s reveling in them.
@@FelixS. How can Kingdom Hearts be a parody of NieR when Kingdom Hearts came out 8 years before it? You're trying too hard to be edgy btw. Might want to dial it down before you cause even more cringe.
Gameplay wise, im glad I came from DMC. Because of that, I actually enjoyed the combat in og Nier. The air attack breaks blocks and staggers enemies which I used and abused frequently at the beginning. Then when you gain the ability to switch weapons through a small menu on the dpad, I actually exploited switching weapons mid combos which was pretty nice to do. I also abused Dark Whirlwind and Dark Lance as they were probably the most broken with whirlwind basically being Vergil's spiral swords. I actually just finished ending B on the original Gestalt version as someone who has no prior experience with the series and I really enjoyed my time playing it. Tho I'm gonna do ending C once I get the remake since I don't feel like collecting all the weapons in the game twice
i cant believe you talked about how nier's design early on looked like a kingdom hearts character but didn't point out that post-time skip bro nier looks like a dark fantasy au riku
BIG fan of the whole series. I'm no gamer, but I find this to be masterfully done and enjoy revisiting it time and time again. The old cliche stands that I always find something new when i do this.
It's really good to see acknowledgement of the cinematography as one of NieR's really strong points. I always think of the shot at the climax, where Nier and Yonah seem to be walking towards each other but then Yonah walks past Nier to go to the Shadowlord instead, sells that moment so well even if it would make no sense if shot from a different angle. I don't know of many games that pay that much attention to cinematography, and I hope it gets preserved if this game ever gets remade. Kainé's story at the beginning of route B is probably my favourite section of the game if maybe for mostly personal reasons, so it's a weird shift of perspective in itself to hear people complained about it at the time! You can do a lot with text that you can't with games' usual techniques, but there remains this hard divide between IF (twine, VNs etc) and CRPGs on one side, and action games on the other, which is too rarely crossed. Anyway, this is a promising contextualisation of the game and now the usual caveats about the combat are out of the way, I'm v much looking forward to see you really get into the game's themes in the second part!
My biggest gripe with OG niers combat was that combat speed was tied to your hit count. (Higher count = faster swings, only really noticeable on the hard difficulty where enemies are HP sponges and take 20+ hits to kill). While I Think i get the intent behind such an obtuse 'adrenaline' system, I still hated it.
Well the novellas actually give good info that makes the plot even darker: - The Red and the Black: explains why nier was a little weird (brother nier in a young age had to prostitute himself to a merchant from seafront to be able to provide for Yonah... and eventually kills the man realizing that killing shades is almost the same as killing humans), also Popola and Devola knew what he did so thats why they tried to help him. - The Stone Flower: Tells Halua (Emil sister) story and why she rampaged and tried to destroy the facility she was in... she tried to protect her brother from being turned into a weapon. - And Then There Were None: tells the story of how Grimoire Weiss became a book (also explain that the book you killed on Emil library was a girl he tried to protect in the process... unfortunately she didnt develop speach hability so you just killed her without knowing it was her).
After playing this game for the first time with the remaster, this game is a masterpiece. The music/voice acting is great imo. In the Replicant remaster, Nier is voiced by Ray Chase (Noctis from Final Fantasy XV) for anyone curious.
33:31 also another detail which i wonder was either intentional or unintentional but when trying to get those second and onward endings you are so powerful that you may end up pitying the shades especially when you fully understand their backgrounds.
Watch part 1 they said, it’ll be fun they said, the wait won’t be too painful they said. Well, I’m saying two out of those three statements are true 🤣 Fantastic video! Can’t wait for part 2
@Filthy acts at a reasonable price maybe you were on holiday? The grand council of gays put it to a postal vote and we decided by a fairly large majority.
First half: adventure! Woo! Juggle that guy in the library! Something must happen! Second half: I feel something is wrong. Am I not supposed to be killing them? I feel like something is wrong, but it won’t progress until I kill them. I feel horrible and I don’t know why. Was I not supposed to kill that guy in the library? Restart: I know why. And I’ll never know why the guy was in the library... Bye. Never touched again.
Ah, _Spec Ops: The Line_ syndrome. Where your options are either play the game and have the game call you (or at the very least your character) a monster, or turn the game off. _Undertale's_ genocide route plays with this, but it's also true that you can exit the genocide route. Since you can make a choice beyond "Don't play the game" its criticism of the player has some real teeth.
Nier had a huge lasting effect for me. It was totally engrossing and I just wish I played it before Automata - I only found out about it afterwards. If it stood purely on its gameplay it would be decent, a good time but probably not something I’d remember much. However the story and the MUSIC, my god the music, elevate it to something that was so emotionally powerful that it elevated the gameplay. I was so invested that the somewhat lackluster combat was more engrossing because I was so attached to what was happening. Thanks for the well thought out video here - I am looking forward to going to part 2.
Nice video! Im remembering the game having a "lock on system for the combat ? Im like 90% certain there was one... Gotta have to fire it up again and try if no one else remembers
stumbled upon this video looking for more nier content after recently finishing nier replicant ver 1.22. great vid, going right to part 2! side note, I was looking for valkyrieaurora's old videos on these and saw she put up a video last year saying she was done making youtube videos. which, sure, it happens and we can all can respect that... but then she also disabled comments on that video so no one could say goodbye, deleted all of her old videos off youtube, and, from i read elsewhere, she copyright strikes anyone who reuploads them. pretty horrible way to treat your fans who supported you after all those years I guess :/ imagine if musicians, authors and directors could just permanently take away their work from everyone the world and go "you can't enjoy this anymore because i said so". lost all respect I had for her. edit: she had a patreon too, I just found out. that is inexcusable to me to have people literally pay you to produce content and then you take all of it down and copyright strike people who reupload it...
Bought this day one back in the day (based of a RU-vid’r that no longer does content) and fell in love almost instantly - my only real complaint was the RNG
What I find weird is that I enjoyed Nier from beginning to end including it's combat and everything. As someone who loves character action games it's weird but it works for me.
I should also mention something about the differences between Gestalt and Replicant: based on the comments from a person who knows japanese and played both games, despite what you would expect, its Father who is the kinder, gentler and more naive of the two, while Brother is more cold and distrusting. This is because they had different upbringing - Father had a loving family even for a short while and cherishes his relationships and is fiercely protective of everyone he deems as "his people", while Brother was basically abandoned and on his own from early childhood and then was taken advantage of from perverts in exchange for money. And also something LITERALLY nobody ever mentions is that Weiss is completely different in Replicant, being a significantly older sounding, rude grandpa who talks in monotone with short sentences, unlike in Gestalt, where hes a very loud, pompous and chatty guy who likes long words very much. So the dynamic is the energetic boy and his jaded grandpa as opposed to barbarian vs mage in Gestalt. It just shows how dedicated the writers (and translators) were and how neither of these games are inferior - just different.
If any of you want to see a full lp on Nier I recomend the Super Best friends one, one loves the game and one has no clue about it. It's the perfect match
Nier was amazing. A remake of it would be orgasmic. One thing I think that Nier had that Automata didnt was when fighting the boss, after you took down his life bar, you had to then unload enough damage in a certain time, with a small clock winding down. Automata bosses I would really hold back on until I thought I heard all the talking they were gonna do. Also, Weizz and his moves were alot cooler then the pods moves.
