When it comes to RPGs, you generally can’t go wrong when it comes to Square Enix. Most famous for their Final Fantasy series, which has typically been all about turn based combat until recently, Square Enix introduces NIER, a new action-RPG. NIER is a move in a different direction than we are used to from Square Enix. NIER features a twisting and emotional storyline packed with action filled combat, puzzles, and tons of side quests.
You play as NIER, a father who is desperately searching for a cure for the Black Scrawl, a disease that has afflicted his daughter Yonah. He is an older man, an atypical video game hero but don’t let that fool you. He is a strong and devoted character with a kind heart and one goal – to protect and save his daughter. You start the game battling Shades and about 10 minutes or so into the game you are fighting a boss and have leveled up several levels. You gain several strong magical attacks and use them against a stampede of opponents. It’s a lot like the beginning of the God of War games, where they give you a taste of your power only to strip it away and make you gain it all back throughout the game. After this beginning sequence, you go forward over 1300 years into the future to a struggling village where you now live. Yonah is still ill and is homebound and you look for odd jobs to live and support yourself and Yonah.
Your main contact in the village is a woman named Popola, who gives you tasks to complete. Once you finish those you get some money and she tells you to talk to the other villagers as they will pay him to take on other quests. Early on in the game you are joined by the Grimoire Weiss, an ancient book that joins you on your quests and grants you magical powers. You now must search for the Sealed Verses in an effort to find a cure for the Black Scrawl and save Yonah’s life. Grimoire Weiss now follows you on your journey and also opens up more options in your menu. You can now view your items, quest log, and more. He’s a rather sarcastic character and his voice reminded me of the splendid actor Alan Rickman.
The game is pretty linear however you have a multitude of side quests that you can pick up and complete. The quests can range from finding certain items to finding people to killing enemies or animals. Most quests are optional side quests however there are a few that you must complete in order to move forward in the game. Quests are completed by going back to the person that asked you to take on the quest, so there is a lot of back and forth at first. Quests will get more complicated as more areas open up but overall, most of the quests are pretty simple to complete. You may need to play through the game several times in order to complete ALL of the quests. Almost everything that you collect in the game is usable in a quest or can be used to upgrade your weapons (later in the game), so you might want to hold on to everything at first. Items are rather plentiful throughout the land and are easily found since they sparkle. You can also get items during battles and as quest rewards or buy purchasing them from merchants.
As you defeat enemies they sometimes drop items as well as Words which are used to power up your weapons, magic, and martial arts or physical attacks. You can assign up to two words each and words can have affects like raising your magical or physical attacks, granting you special bonuses, or imbuing attacks with the ability to poison or confuse enemies, just to name a few. You can assign the words yourself or you can choose to have the game auto-assign the best combinations. It’s a small and optional thing to manage however it may help you during certain battles or overall in the game. You can also pick up game tutorials during battle or in breakable boxes. These tutorials give you tips on how to use your weapons and magic as well as how to fish and harvest. Some will even give you clues to things that will open up in the future.
After you satisfy certain quests, you are given the ability to grow and harvest crops. You can purchase or find seeds that you can plant and harvest and sell the goods. Some can be saved to satisfy later quests or used as health boosts. You can also sell them to merchants. The crops grow over time so you will need to visit them over a period of time in order to water them and harvest them. If you don’t water them, they will die and if you don’t harvest them in time, they will die. I never really figured out the timing of the crops so I just kept visiting them after each quest to check up on them.
Another quest will grant you the ability to fish. An indicator on your screen will let you know if you are able to fish in an area. I had a difficult time fishing at first until I realized I had to go to a particular area to satisfy that particular quest. As you level up in the game, you will notice that your fishing ability levels up as well. Some areas are harder to fish than other areas and some fish can only be caught when using certain bait. The game keeps a record of the size and weight of the fish you catch as well.
The land is overrun by mysterious beings called Shades which have the people and the animals of the land on edge so hunters have a difficult time hunting since the animals have started to attack people. You are able to hunt these animals which will give you either meat or hides that you can sell or use to complete quests. I had a small issue with this at first since I had to run around and slaughter sheep for a bit but you end up having to do it so often that I got over it relatively quickly.
Most of the areas are accessible during the game however you may not be able to do anything or enter until a quest opens it up. At one point you meet a mysterious and beautiful woman named Kaine. She a bit rough around the edges with a vulgar mouth and a penchant for violence. She even runs around in a negligee and little panties. While there is no explanation as to why she wears the outfit, Grimoire Weiss takes every chance to jab at her even calling her a hussy for pretty much the entirety of the game. My only regret was that Kaine is not a playable character. Later on you also meet Emil, who has the ability to petrify enemies and can even heal you. It isn’t until much later in the game that all four of you are traveling and battling together making you much stronger.
I really enjoyed this game as a whole. There were some very innovative ways that the game approached certain things like entering buildings. When you entered one, the view would shift to a dollhouse-like view and the insides became a 2D space. Occasionally, the camera would shift to a top-down view allowing you to complete certain puzzles. There was even one level of the game that was completed by answering riddles. You read what was happening and then had to answer a riddle to pass it. If you answered incorrectly, you “die” and must start over. Memorizing only helps you so much since the game will change parts of the story on the next try so you have to pay attention. I thought this was a very interesting approach and changed things up a bit. Most levels ended with a grand boss battle where the “prize” was one of the Sealed Verses. Boss battles could be tricky sometimes as once you got their health bar down to a certain point a Time Gauge would appear and you had to attack the monster where it appeared within a certain amount of time. If you didn’t, they would gain some health back and you would have to do it all over again. Some bosses and enemies are impervious to certain attacks so you have to figure out what will work best in order to win.
The character of NIER was a little dry and I found him a little simple at first however, over time, I came to really like his character. I rather enjoyed the fact that he was an older man – his age really showing on his face – but I was drawn to his devotion to his daughter and his strong will and sense of right and wrong. His decisions were always in the spirit of what was good and what was right and he was always there for his companions, no matter what. He was devoted to killing each and every Shade in the land and preserving the life of the people. I found all of the main characters to be interesting and grew fond of all of them. The game’s story is full of plot twists and turns as well as some very tragic events, a few of which, I have to admit, even made me shed a tear.
The game does pack a lot into this package which is a good thing and a bad thing. While the game is an RPG, you are in no control over your character’s progression throughout the game. The only thing that you can level up are his weapons which you can do by upgrading them, which opens up at one point in the game. You can also use the Words that you collect to modify your attacks. The combat is quite simple as it’s really just a mix of button mashing. There are combo attacks but there really isn’t a particular combo of buttons to pull them off. Combat did tend to get a little dreary but as you got stronger, you could defeat enemies quicker. Also, while the quests are plentiful, some did tend to get tedious and the constant back and forth got old sometimes. I did find myself getting rather caught up in the side quests which is why it took me so long to finish the game. I don’t think I completed even half of the quests in the game either, but I did complete more than 30. The in game camera could have worked a little better as I constantly found myself adjusting it during battles. You can modify the camera in the game’s options menu however I never seemed to find a setting that felt “just right”.
The game features some excellent voice acting. Some of it was a little over the top especially in Emil but he was also a child so I guess there was a need to accentuate that fact. NIER’s voice was gruff and simple but it worked for his character. One of the best things about this game was it’s soundtrack. It features some of the most beautiful game music that I have heard in a long time and even had one level where the music featured the sounds of a metal factory as the beats – a lot like the song “Cvalda” by Bjork from the film “Dancer in the Dark”. The music was even context sensitive at certain times. Even if the music repeated itself, it was still enjoyable and I found myself humming along while playing.
The game also features a total of four different endings and once you finish the game you can reload your completed game save and it will give you even more insight to the story. I have not yet completed the game for a second time however, I assume that it will allow me to reload that completed game save and grant me even more insight to the game on the third run though giving the game an amazing amount of replay value. I finished the game in just under 30 hours however you can probably log 70 or more hours by replaying to get all four endings and completing all the quests.. When you reload the completed game save, you start at a particular point in the game. You can even play the game on Easy, Normal, and Hard difficulty. Recently, DLC was released for the game granting access to more areas and quests as well as new costumes for all of the characters.
NIER is jammed packed with several different gaming elements which may alienate some gamers while others will embrace it with open arms. Because I enjoy games like Dark Cloud, Harvest Moon, Legend of Zelda, and the Final Fantasy franchise – games that are RPGS or feature some very strong RPG elements – I felt right at home. I was ecstatic that I could grow crops and fish and I’m ok with item collecting quests. Some gamers may find it to be too much and it may leave others hungering for more. While I would’ve enjoyed being able to directly level up my characters, there is enough in the game to keep you occupied that I was ok with it being left out. I recommend this game to anyone looking for another RPG experience as well as to those who are new to the genre.
NIER is rated M for Mature and is available now for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.
A review copy of the game was provided but did not affect the outcome of this review.
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