NieR - Review B

I thought it felt really appropriate to come back to NieR with some more hindsight and a different perspective. I wrote a “review” for NieR a long time ago and… it is absolutely terrible. It’s a long incomprehensible series of word vomit paragraphs. It’s been something I’ve felt hanging over my head for a long time. I didn’t do NieR justice; instead I just screamed all my emotions at once into an essay and thought it was profound. I feel the need to apologize, but I suppose acknowledging your mistakes and working on improving on them is the path to becoming a better writer.

After watching a few other people play through the game and playing through all the endings, and even the sidequests this time around, I’ve learned that my original thoughts on NieR are questionable at best. It couldn’t be more appropriate that what has gotten me to appreciate NieR more is time for hindsight and seeing the game through different perspectives. I used to think Nier is a monster. The game lays on the guilt pretty heavy handed so it is easy to fall into the trap of thinking Nier is the real monster (an NPC in the late game even says this verbatim). I don’t think it is right to say Nier is totally innocent or the victim either. Instead I think it is important to consider that NieR is not interested in absolutes. NieR is a tragedy about two sides of struggling to survive in a cruel world and their coexistence being impossible.

“Ignore the sidequests” is very common advice to hear from people recommending you NieR. Its advice I followed on my first go of the game and at the time I felt it was the right way to go. There really isn’t any particularly useful rewards for completing sidequests, and the most you’d think you miss is some ultimately inconsequential dialogue. What could be written off as pointless busy work is actually a pretty important part of the game. You could argue that they should’ve made the rewards better or the quests more fun, but I think that misses the point. Nier’s bland adventures of doing pedestrian errands for the townsfolk for little to no reward other than the satisfaction of doing the good deeds themselves are appropriately designed as such. I’m not saying you need to do ALL of them, but it is important to go out of your way to do enough of them. The sidequests breathe life into the world and help humanize Nier.

NieR’s combat is also a pretty huge negative talking point, especially now that the smoother, prettier sequel by Platinum is out. While I won’t say that the original has the same depth, polish, variety, or smoothness of Automata I still feel like there is something to the original’s combat that I think people write off too easily. I’ve seen people go as far as telling people to avoid the game due to its rough combat which feels too far. Not only does the game have a lot to give outside of its combat, but the combat itself isn’t half as bad as people make it out to be. At the very least NieR’s combat shouldn’t be an outright deal breaker for anyone playing the game.

Behind the combat’s flaws is actually a really fun experimental action game attempting to marry the once thought distant worlds of hack and slash action RPGs and hectic shmups. It’s something that feels entirely unique and incredibly ambitious even if it doesn’t quite make the marks it aiming for. I’ve also gotta hand it to the late Cavia for making a combat system so versatile as they can shift the combat to play almost like entirely different games while changing very little about the core of the combat. Full 3D, 2D, Top Down, and shmup sequences all happening with this workhorse of a combat system. Bosses can even vary from Zeldaic puzzle fights, big set pieces, one-on-one humanoid fights, or just cover the screen with countless bullets. I am NOT saying the combat is perfect or not without faults, but I don’t think people should write the whole game off because of it.

This game is also the game that I feel Yoko Taro’s multiple ending structure works best. Playthrough B is definitely the high point of the game as replaying the game with hindsight and new dialogue giving you a new perspective on the game’s events is definitely one of the best experiences I’ve had playing a video game. While it’s easy to write it off as busy work I think it is critical that the game has you go back and meditate on your actions. I also really like how overpowered you are in this playthrough which just hammers home that Nier’s actions are not to be held as absolutely heroic however justified.

I’ve also came to appreciate Ending D more having yet another save file erased before my eyes. It’s a beautiful sacrifice and redemption for both Nier but also the player’s involvement in the tragedy. I’ve realized the multiple playthroughs and the tradition of collecting all the weapons are important elements both as pacing tools but also adding more weight into the final decision. It’s the ultimate undoing of all of the player’s work just to see the final ending.

NieR still remains my favorite modern JRPG. It is an absolutely beautiful tragedy that doesn’t quite fall all the way to grim, hopeless “sadporn”. NieR is a game where you can feel the crushing sadness of a conflict where both sides are the victim, but also laugh as Kaine and Emil talk about camping. It is a game that is filled with lovable characters, the best soundtrack in video games, amazing bosses, varied gameplay setpieces, and commentary on violence. Yet even being packed full of all this amazing stuff the game never really feels like a mess. It’s not a perfect game, but it is sad to see people pass this one up for the shiny, new sequel.