Drakengard 2 was my introduction to the series. Also, IT DOES foreshadow elements that would be expanded upon in future games. For example: the main antagonists of Drakengard 2 is basically the prototype of the Shadow Lord from Nier.
Nier is seriously fantastic. I've been tempted to play Drakengard 3 more than a couple of times recently. I don't think I'll ever forget IGN giving it a criminally low score after stopping after the first ending.
You missed some stuff like the musical that ends with a reading of the real canonical ending of one of the games and the stage plays, etc. Yoko Taro is a madmen, but he makes really interesting games.
Snickety, you're always the man that I can count on whenever I want to learn in depth about a series. Thank you for making such in-depth quality videos, packed with information. I feel your production value is much higher than many "famous" channels on RU-vid. Keep up the good work, your body of work will be referenced in the future, I'm sure.
I thought Yoko Taro was out of a job when it was clear Drakengard 3 wasn't going to sell all that well. In comes an article on a fan page that he was working on a new project >> the first Nier Automata trailer comes >> screams of glee.
I'd definitely count Drakengard as one of my favorite series. I love the music of both 1 & 3, especially the first entry for the reasons as mentioned by Snickety. It's both twisted and serene at the same time. I personally find this combination very beautiful.
you can get Drakengard 3 digitally for 15, although the story DLC will set you back like 25 or so if you want the whole thing. Still kind of annoyingly expensive for an old niche game but not gouged to triple digits at least.
About the name Nier: i have a vague memory of someone in some comment section saying that it's the French Translation of the verb to Deny (which has some connection to the themes of the game if you've played it)
Just for clarity, it's the Drag-on Dragoon 3 Story Side Novel that connects directly into the original DOD1. It's not a "light novel", but a full-fledged novel. There's a slight difference between the two. *thumbsup*
One could say the final moments of 2B and 9S in the first mission are dramatic becuase they are made in the image of mankind, and thus emulate a natural response a human would in the situation, but theres definitely more to that.
A video about one of my favorite video game series by one of my favorite channels? Yes, please! I got into the series by listening to Drakengard 3's soundtrack, with some of its hauntingly serene songs and its bombastic boss themes that incorporate a fictional language into the mix- it was a stellar first impression. So glad to see this series get a bit more recognition beyond just the Nier titles!
@SnicketySlice You skipped Sinoalice. I know it doesn't have Drakengard or Nier in its name, but Yoko Taro confirmed that it is set in the same universe and features callbacks to the other games Novels and slight references to the games. Also, its gimmick is a reskin of the first Niers scraped plot.
Excited as hell to play nier replicant. I remember playing a little of gestalt on 360 years ago and I love drakengard 3 to death so this'll be amazing.
Drakengard 2 isn't "upbeat" lol, it's just more conventional. It's still has the same themes of rejecting the mindless gameification of genocide, it just doesn't portray it with the same directorial flare that Yoko Taro brings to the other games. All of the Drakengard games are written by Sawako Natori, anyway. Also Drakengard 3 features moments that require understanding of Dragon Blood Memory to fully comprehend, something that's first introduced in Drakengard 2. So even if the game's events are now relegated to their own timeline, it's still worth playing because as of yet, the lore about the dragons that is established in that game is still canon to the series. Tired of the Drakengard 2 slander in this fandom. The game is actually pretty good and has a lot of interesting things in it if you actually give it a chance.
A lot of the supplemental material in the Taroverse has been translated and released. However, there's still a lot to be brought to the West. I'm hoping we will get a translated Grimoire Nier provided Replicant is successful enough.
There are the NieR: Automata prequels YoRHa Boys Ver.1.0 stage play, featuring an all-male cast, and YoRHa Musical Ver. 1.2, featuring an all-female cast. Many things in Japanese game and anime multimedia projects are usually never officially brought over to the West, such as drama CDs, character CDs which often including the Japanese voice actors singing character songs, light novel original sources, adaptations and spinoffs, etc. What ties the 2013 Drakengard 3 game to the original 2003 Drakengard game (and thus to NieR and NIeR: Automata) is the 2014 Drag-On Dragoon 3 Story Side novel, written by Jun Eshima and supervised by Yoko Taro. It is Drakengard 3's Branch E. Drag-On Dragoon (ドラッグオンドラグーン) is the original Japanese name for Drakengard.
@@notinorder9630 It was essentially the NieR Bible, filled with a large assortment of lore and stories of the world, such as Weiss's origin or the kind of horrible things brother Nier had to to do to afford food and medicine for Yonah.
I've wanted to play NieR ever since I played Automata, but I don't have a PS3 or a good enough PC to emulate it. So I'm hoping that the remaster/remake is good.
I really didn't need to watch this video since I really love the series and know pretty much everything I want to know about it. But I still watched it until the very end, I just really like your scripts and voice. Cheers!
It's cool that more people are covering this facinating set of games. Personally never had a chance to play any of them and, given the current state of the world, unfortunately it's not high on my list of financial priorities. Ii do wish there were more videos of high quality like this around though. There was one channel that had a significant amount of videos that dived really heavy into them, but unfortunately they have quit uploading and actually removed all but their last video from their channel, so finding well made videos about this topic that don't tend to cover the same parts is more difficult now. That might seem like saying your video doesn't add to the conversation, but it was really cool learning that some of the original minds from DrakenGuard came back for DrakenGuard 3, the types of companies that actually created the games, why certain choices were made in regards to gameplay or story, and that the games had a heavy Ace Combat inspiration and direction, so thanks for that :3
Thank you for such a great overview and discussion of the series! As a fan myself I’d say the new Nier Remake is a great way to start the series. Also Nier Automata but a lot of the concepts and characters from OG Nier do make a comeback in Nier Automata so playing the new remake is a good way to start- even if Automata’s story is very “stand-alone”
If we talk about starting points, I started with Automata, followed by Replicant. If the devs decide to remake/remaster the drakengard games, then I can play/re-play them in sequence later on.
I would disagree I think we could see a Drakengard 3 Re-release/Remake if Nier does well enough is it likely no possible yes. I never would of thought The original Nier would of been re-released but I am definitely happy it happened. I played it in 2013 I believe and it instantly became one of my favorite games.
Around months into the future and ~40 hours invested in Replicant sqrt(1.5), the remake was actually pretty solid. It definitely made the game more digestible, and ending E was a good addition whose canonical meaning is left to be seen.
Honestly “ace combat but dragons” and being greenlit in a bar is pretty par the course for a drakengard game. It doesn’t get much more there-it-is than that. Back before the popularity of automata, I used to talk to Yoko Taro on Facebook. Really, really nice guy. Down to earth more than you’d think he is. He legit doesn’t understand the draw to these games, but appreciates the fan base for the support. It’s humble. Anywho I ended up over here from auto play from the new nier trailer. Ironically. Enjoy your viewer peak fam! You did good on this. Long time fan of nier and drakengard over here, and even knowing a lot about the series I enjoyed watching this. You did a really good job.
I LOVE Drakengard 3! and I wish it could also get a remake treatment. However, ending E for that game gave me anger issues. That final boss.............OOFFF
Nice! after playing Automata, I've been meaning to play the others for years now, I'll probably just emulate them. Not sure how I can play Drakengard 3, I don't even know if it runs on the PS3 emulator, let alone on my PC
Can't wait to see Drakengard get remade for the PS5. Hopefully using Unreal Engine 5 and go for a realistic art-style of FFVII Remake. Hopefully Caim in the remake can communicate with telepathy what with sacrificing his voice being a thing and inner thought monologues being voiced too.
Generally, since Drakengard does tie in ever so loosely with Nier, it's considered best to start with Drakengard 3 (since 2 doesn't matter since Yoko Taro wrote it out of the canon timeline in revenge for not being the head and Drakengard 1 being.......a bit hard to play nowadays between the gameplay issues and just the rarity of the title. Most people just opt for watching a plot overview or cutscene compilation) and then go on to the new Nier: Replicant ver. 1.22394902483 and then Nier: Automata if you care about playing them in "canon timeline order"
I decided to buy the prologue DLC's for Drakengard 3 before the ps3 store closes for good. $51 Canadian in total, I hope they're worth it because I feel like I got ripped off.
I have only seen videos on them but they seemed decent, Two's story was the only one that really mattered to me though. Anyways even if they were the most fantastic thing ever I'd still say they are very overpriced dlc.
@@kevin13cabello I heard two's story is really good. I only know bits and pieces of it, but I know it really fleshes out her character more. I agree that the DLC is way overpriced.
1st "Drakengard" has probably the best characters, dark conflict-heavy character-drama, and also an more easy to tell story, it would make a good Anime. Maybe, now that Netflix has "Nier: Automata" coming, maybe they could consider doing a prequel to that, something like "Nier Origin: Drakengard" so to speak. A remake of that game would also be nice, but please, way less time consuming & grindy, and not cencored.
Ok, this is a great overview. And I'm happy that remaster ended up being good, although there are still issues with it. In short - it's Nier. Like, I don't know what to add. It's Nier for both good and bad. Some improvements to the gameplay don't change those awful side quests which sometimes have good stories, but most of the time feel like a massive waste of time and energy. And Weiss' witty comments don't help. But at the same time story and writing is still Nier and it's updated soundtrack is still the best soundtrack, but now in new arrangement. So at least new people have solid starting point. I haven't played Drakengard 1 (except on the emulator for 5 minutes and dropped it after horrible lags years ago) and Drakengard 3 is... well, it's unique for sure and I'm all for unique and wierd games. I almost feel bad that there's just not enough of this wierdness you could only get from smaller budget teams that would know that they won't be able to give players greatest gameplay and presentation and instead will try to win them over with sheer creativity and giving narrative director full freedom on expressing their emotions and feelings in form of a game. At the same time there's higher chance that I would play through entire game if it's made competently. And yet... It feels like we're loosing pieces of ingenuity provided by people who have incredible passion and ambition and maybe just lack on the resource department. This is why I love some more obscure series, I guess... And just from Japan, but from France, UK, Russia, Ukraine, Germany, Finland, all over the world.
So cool to have a new vid for you, just yesterday I was checking to see if there was anything new on your channel. Any plans on going back to your ultimate persona compendium series?
Yes but the reason why it's taking so long is cus of the research. He puts in A TONE of detail into each episode not to mention he still has to play and 100% complete the actual game. It just takes to much time lol
I would say play Replicant HD first. It's easier to get a hold of than any of the Drakengard games after all, but more importantly, don't play Automata first. As someone who did just that I can say that Automata will ruin your enjoyment of the previous games as it plays sooooooo much better. Nier 1 is so clunky and repetitive and filled with tedious fetch quests. It's better to play Nier 1 first so you can appreciate how much of an improvement Automata is. Here's hoping Nier 3 is also made by the combo of Taro and Platinum.
I know this is late, but my advice is start with automata. You'll need your appreciation for that one to be able to sit through the tedium that is Replicant. If you start with Replicant, the gameplay may put you off of trying Automata. I know people this has happened to. So play Automata, enjoy the story, enjoy the gameplay, then play Replicant for the story. Because even if it's being re-released with some minor improvements, it's still a game from 2010.
But has Yoko Taro ever written a happy ending? At best, from what ive seen, some of his endings are bittersweet. At worst, they're tragic because no one wins. Oh? You killed a giant monster/god? Defeated the big bad, did you? Sorry, your protagonist is dead and you've doomed this world to Hell. There's no fucking triumph. I love this man to death but...his stuff is just SAD. Can't we have a little bit of a happy ending? As a treat?
I won't argue that they're not well written. They are GOOD stories. But...sometimes I kinda want to get a win out of it. A win that's actually CANON. I wanna be happy that I played his game. I wanna be happy for these beautiful characters he's written.
@@TheMaestroMizerous I've gotten to 9S story, but i have been spoiled on the ending due to my curiosity. I figured it still belonged in the Bitter Sweet category, but it is one of his more hopeful stories
This channel usually doesn't go into spoilers, but ignoring that there is a ridiculous amount of secondary and tertiary material that explains the connections since the games themselves never actually do. It'd be pretty difficult to even try since a lot of split timelines, reset scenarios, and multiple endings don't usually lead directly into each other at all. Only two pairs lead into each other at all and even then it's pretty loosely connected in the first place. Loosely connected in how they impact each other or side/hidden content, not that they don't relate to each other directly.
The manga lead into DOD 1.3 which are non-canon. If I remember correctly all have been discontinued. I would also advise caution on these since MANY deal with graphic scenes of rape and other very.. very graphic details.
It's a shame drakengard 2 was so mediocre. The scene between Caim and urick at the end of the Caim boss fight is one of the most badass moments in the entire series imo.
Drakengard 3 was too silly for me. It had its moments, but certainly too much joking and crude sex humor among the moments that were supposed to be serious. I appreciated the light heart at times though.
I understand now why Nier has two versions, your explanation with the western release and the question I asked myself on several occasions: What is it with Japan’s strange obsession / motivation with sister’s?...I’ve seen it several times, as well as in Korean culture. No idea why that sibling is always emphasized, which explains why Square suggested there be a father role in the western release of Nier, because we wouldn’t get it. And they were right. Thank you for this video btw
Allow me to share a Japanese person's point of view: "I read the comments with interest. It seemed to me that the plots preferred by the Japanese are different from the plots preferred by many people here. We certainly prefer young protagonists. However... In a story about a father trying to save his daughter, it's a bit unappealing. Even more so when the character is a tough guy. We think of it as his "duty" to do so. But that's not the case with a brother and sister. We would perceive the act more as "self-sacrifice" and "devotion" than as a duty. This is even more true if the sibling is a minor who may still need a guardian. This "self-sacrifice" and "dedication" is also symbolic about Kaine and Emile. Perhaps we surely like tragic stories (but it depends on the individual)." I agree with them, but that being said, Taro specifically wrote the brother/sister narrative to actually poke fun at that obsession with brother/sister tropes in Japanese media.
@@jase276 Reading the Japanese person's point of view really made me think, "guess we're ignoring all the little sister fetishes, huh?" Not really sure why YokoTaro went with this direction for Nier at all though, considering how one of the endings in DrakenGuard was, although vaguely translated in the west, heavily showing a distaste for the mere idea of the little sister complex. Perhaps it was another writer on the team that had pushed the story the directions it took in regards to that, either with DrakenGuard or with Nier, and YokoTaro was a bit more in favor of each story at the time it was made.
I have a real quick lore answer of why brother nier would... not be seen with good eyes in the western culture, just read the black and the red novella which explain the sacrifices brother nier had to do...
ITS LIKE MIRACLE HIS GAME IS FLOP AS ALWAYS BUT HES GETTING LIKE "HEY ITS APPROVED! NEW ENTRY GUYS!" "WHAT? SEQUELS? OH HEY ITS BEEN APPROVED!" "BEFORE WE SHUT DOWN LETS PITCH A NEW GAME TO SQUARE ENIX! BAM! GUYS GUYS ITS BEEN APPROVED!" "CAVIA DISBANDED GUYS, WHAT WERE WRONG? HEY GUYS LETS MAKE REUNION GAME! DRAKENGARD 3! LETS PITCH IT AGAIN! GUYS GUYS ITS BEEN APPROVED! SQUARE ENIX IS LOSING SHIT!" "YOKO : GUYS I NEED BEER TO DRINK! WHAT ELSE IF IT ISNT THE TIME FOR A SEQUEL? LETS LOBBY YOSUKE SAITO THIS TIME AND MAKE PLATINUMGAMES THE DEVELOPER. GUYS GUYS THIS IS CRAZY! YOSUKE SAITO THREATENED TO QUIT SQUARE ENIX IF THIS GAME DIDNT GET APPROVED! SO ITS APPROVED GUYS HAHA!"
Start with Automata, the best one. Then, during or after playing it, read and watch videos about Nier (and maybe Drakengard). All easter eggs and connections to Nier in Nier Automata are small and more like "oh that's cool". I would say there is a specific thing in Automata, that after you will know more about Nier, you will appreciate it even more but that's pretty much it.
