There seems to be a really big divide when it comes to storytelling in video games. The main goal has always been to hook the player in with an intriguing gameplay loop and entertain them until the last few moments of the game. As time goes on and technology improves, developers have found ways to fix more complicated stories into their games. Thanks to stronger technology, allowing them to process scenes or events that previous tech couldn’t possibly do because of limitations. It was around the time the Playstation came out that game developers started to care more about story. Flashforward today and the structure of video games have changed drastically. They are trying to live up to the legacy of their older brother, which is film. Video games are more cinematic than ever now and at times our consoles transform into movie projectors. Rolling a big old film tape and impressing us with what stories they have to offer.
Now, the reason why storytelling in video games is a divisive topic these days is because of one particular reason which relates to the original goal of video games. We are supposed to be having fun. What is a video game if it constantly takes control away from the player and forces them to sit back? We are no longer allowed to challenge ourselves and get involved with what is set before us. We have no choice but to do nothing and watch. John Carmack, one of the many heads behind Doom, said this one quote which really stuck with me. “Story in a game is like a story in a porn movie. It’s expected to be there but it’s not that important.” Developers should be focusing on the core experience they are intending to make. If the design choices don’t add up and the game doesn’t feel fun to play, then players won’t feel as motivated to keep playing.
This quote has stuck with a lot of people, and it keeps popping up in my head when it comes to the topic of storytelling. It reminds me that storytelling is nothing to a majority of gamers out there, but then I remind myself. Video games can be art if you put enough dedication and love into them. They are ways for players to escape from reality and immerse themselves in mostly mindless joy, but if a developer is really willing to make the player connect to the world and story then they have achieved brilliance. They have written a story and characters the player can truly care about. They have basically created art. That’s why I’m willing to defend games that lean a little bit heavy towards the cinematic or narrative driven side of things as they prioritize well done storytelling. Compared to some games focused more on gameplay, I tend to have an easier time remembering the games that made me connect with them.
One game that pops up into my mind first when it comes to storytelling and world building in video games, well besides Bloodborne and Hades, is the beautifully amazing Nier: Automata. I picked it up back in 2018 during a sale, one year after it came out, and my mind was blown with what happened next. Nier: Automata is one of those games you really have to experience for yourself to understand why so many people call it deep. The story has such a simple premise, but underneath it all lies layers of depth and emotion. Some of my friends made fun of me for loving this game more than I should, but trust me when I say it’s one of the best. Nier: Automata is important and if I can summarize my opinions on the game it’s what Jim Sterling quoted in his review. “If history chooses to forget this game then f*ck history!”
That being the chase, I was really excited when Square Enix announced they would be remaking the original Nier. The one that helped Yoko Taro become what he is and eventually lead up to Automata. Now the original Nier wasn’t the most well received game in the world. Before the recent remake, it mostly received lukewarm review scores. Then Nier: Automata comes around and everyone starts loving Nier. It had an amazing story from what I heard, but several elements felt outdated until Automata improved them. The Nier franchise is more popular than ever and of course Square Enix would need to capitalize on what is basically becoming the new Final Fantasy. Cause Final Fantasy is now slowly becoming the next Kingdom Hearts and it’s not looking good from what I see inching up on the horizon.
The remake, Nier Replicant, released earlier this year and it has received a fair amount of praise. Being a great gateway for fans of the original to experience a story they grew to love. I’m not like a majority of Nier fans out there. I got in mainly because of Automata and didn’t even know much of the original. However, I was really stoked for Replicant and it was one of my few anticipated releases this year. It was that along with RE8 and the console ports of Disco Elysium. You know that doesn’t sound exciting as my other anticipated games from years past. Real question now. Did Nier Replicant fulfill the desires I dare so had? Yeah. I say it did. I kinda love Automata more to be honest and there are a few problems that prohibit me from loving Replicant. Still, this game is great and there are reasons to love it. Today we’ll be talking about why I liked Nier Replicant and why it deserves your attention. Take thine blood and be born anew.
Story
The story follows a young cherry boy who lives in a nice peaceful village with his little sister Yonah. Not much really goes on in the village, but maybe that’s a good thing. The world of Nier Replicant takes place several years in the future where several cities were torn apart by creatures known as Shades. Nobody knows where the Shades came from and what attracts them to specific locations, but it's clear that the Shades are nothing more than mindless creatures who kill people. Well that’s what everyone thinks. The tiny village is prosperous and luckily there are huge gates that protect the residents from outside threats like Shades. People are allowed outside the village as long as they have the strengths and wits to defend themselves from Shade attacks. The village is looked after by two smart red haired twins, Devola and Popola, and they offer guidance to those who are troubled. Especially the young boy who we will be following.
The young boy has his one little house not too far from the library. It’s located near the town library where Popola can keep a watchful eye on the young boy and Yonah. The young boy can be named whatever you want and the dialogue will refer to him with whatever name you wrote down before booting Nier Replicant up. I tried to look up his canonical name only to find that most people call him Brother Nier which sounds odd to be honest with you. If you are me you may have accidentally put in your actual name thinking it would just be a label for your save file, but instead they use it as the main character’s name which ends up looking ridiculous after a few hours. My sister kept cringing whenever she saw my name pop up in the dialogue. I thought this would be a funny thing to bring up, but how about we just keep referring to him as “young boy”.
The young boy is off again to run errands throughout the village. A way to thank Devola and Popola for offering Yonah and him a comfy home to stay in. He doesn’t have any parents who look after him as they died before the two siblings could make it to the village. Yonah has been suffering from an illness recently and the young boy is doing what he can to keep the sickness to an all time low. That’s why he has been performing a lot of tasks recently. Before he sets off he tells his sister tales of a rare flower known as the Lunar Tear, and that possessing a single one will earn them loads of money. When the young boy comes back to his home he then finds that Yonah is missing, so he asks Popola where she may have scurried off to. Popola states that Yonah asked where she could possibly find a Lunar Tear to hopefully afford more medicine and better belongings for her older brother, which Popola replied. Yonah then scurried off to an abandoned temple located outside the village which is known to be plundered with multiple Shades. The young boy realizes his younger sister is in danger, so he picks up his family blade and rushes off to rescue his sister from what threat she encounters.
Battling his way through the temple, the young boy finds his sister resting on a peculiar altar. Sealed with a magical force with unreadable scripture on it. The young boy finds a way to deactivate the seal by attacking the object generating it. A weird metal book that surprisingly has the ability to talk, and he has the ability to think on his own. The book calls himself Grimoire Weiss and claims to once be the powerful ruler of a grand kingdom. Guardians of the altar then rise and the young boy’s sword isn’t enough to defeat them. Weiss helps the young boy for freeing by using the magical powers his pages possess. This gives the boy access to abilities no other human can perform. The young boy rescues his little sister who he then finds out has a disease known as the Black Scrawl. It’s an ancient disease that is sadly connected to the Shades and has taken the lives of several others who have had it.
He brings Yonah home and asks Popola if there is a way to cure her from the disease. Grimoire Weiss introduces himself and out of nowhere Popla recognizes his name. She states that in her reading there were two books, one of light and another of pure darkness. It is said that with the Sealed Verse, the book of light would defeat the book of darkness and that once doing so the Shades would be banished for good. Curing anyone who is inflicted with the Black Scrawl. The young boy desires to save his sister from an untimely death, and Wiess desires to figure out who he truly is and why he’s a talking book who spews out magic of all things. The two set out on an epic journey to explore towns and galant lands they have never been two. Helping out those they encounter and making unlikely allies. Like a hot headed woman who wears nothing but lingerie and swears every other sentence. They will find the Sealed Verses and save Yonah. However, if you have played Nier: Automata or you are familiar with Yoka Taro’s work then there is a bigger story lying underneath. I don’t want to spoil it, but a big twist happens later on that reveals a dark truth about the world. Showing what it means to be a living being and how we find purpose for our existence.
Gameplay
The last paragraph took longer than it probably should have, but what do I expect from a Nier game. Anyways, the gameplay seems to be the part a majority of players will look over as it's the generic action RPG combat we are all used to. Attack enemies and level up with enough experience points. Same old, same old. I don’t know if I’d really pass off the gameplay in Nier as generic. I actually really like the combat and progression in the Nier games as it is simple enough, but there is enough tools to offer build variety.
Of course you kill enemies mainly using the attack buttons, but each weapon has a unique set of attacks that allow you to mix and match combos on the fly. There are light attacks which are great for dealing a moderate amount of damage and evading away easily, and there are heavy attacks which deal more damage and have a higher chance of staggering foes. Near the halfway point of Nier Replicant, you unlock more weapons besides basic swords to use during fights and you can switch between them using a menu that can be activated using the D-pad. There are swords, spears, daggers, greatswords, even greater greatswords, and much more. The special attack animations I mentioned earlier can be performed by pressing the attack buttons in specific ways. Let’s take the greatswords as an example. Hold down the light attack button and it performs a quick set of sweeps that knocks back foes. You can jump into the air and then perform a powerful slam towards the ground. You can hold the strong attack button and perform an upward slice that launches a linear row of enemies into the air.
The combat in Nier Replicant plays similar to something like a hack ‘n slash game where chaining together attacks and having an aggressive playstyle is heavily encouraged, but I feel like the combat didn’t become great until Nier: Automata. When PlatinumGames decided to step in and offer some of their design decisions. Making the combat much faster, flexible, responsive, fluid, and of course more satisfying. There is a merchant in the world that you can exchange materials to improve your weapons, but I never really visited him much because I was fine with how my weapons performed. Plus what it really comes down to is your skills in reflexes, because much like other action RPGs like Bloodborne or Nioh there really isn’t a best weapon. It’s what you can do with them and how you center a playstyle around the weapons of choice.
Don’t forget that Grimoire Weiss is with you for the entire journey and that his magical list of spells makes defeating powerful Shades much easier. There is a magic meter and it can be used to cast magical attacks. One of them being the basic projectiles that transform Nier Replicant into something of a bullet hell. These projectiles fire in rapid succession and they are mainly used to attack safely from afar. Firing long enough will generate a powerful blast that fires a flurry of projectiles all at once. Magic can also be spent on other attacks which can be outfitted in your inventory. For a majority of my playthrough I used a mighty fist which is great for breaking through defenses and knocking goes backwards. Then there are a row of spears which emit from the ground and when lined up carefully can leave enemies stuck for a while. Mix and match with your heart's content and choose what fits your playstyle most. First tip, swap out your block button for an attack as the block will only carry you so far before it breaks easily.
Occasionally while fighting enemies, you may pick up words which can be used to buff certain traits and stats. From the damage your magical attacks deal to the speed you attack using a melee weapon. This is an aspect that can be useful, but it also wasn’t perfected until Automata where some of the chips you have equipped may offer perks that offer more support. Like regenerating health or less stun from enemy projectiles. The enemies come in a variety of forms. From little brats that scurry around the ground quickly and attack in large groups, moderate sized ones that come equipped with special weaponry, and larger ones that take numerous hits to beat. Some Shades are miniboss that may pop up randomly while traversing the world.
Occasionally you will fight a boss and they will take multiple hits to beat. If you take too much damage during these long fights you can heal using consumables, but if you do die then don’t worry. The last save or checkpoint really isn’t that far off from where you were. Attack a boss to a specific point and one of it’s weak points will be exposed. Attack the weakened point before it replenishes and prepare a crazy magical cinematic attack that does tremendous damage. If not then he will regenerate a slight amount of health. Plus you have to perform these cinematic attacks to progress in the fight, and they aren’t really that hard to pull off. Earn enough experience points and your stats level up, but I don’t really have to explain how leveling up works. Besides that there really isn’t much else I can say about the gameplay. Well, there are side quests but they basically just trace down to collecting a specific amount of items or pursuing an odd objective. Hopefully you can collect the Sealed Verses and save Yonah.
Thoughts
Nier Replicant is a really good game and I think a lot of people are going to like what it has to offer. Let’s touch on what this game does extremely right before we move onto the more critical areas I have to offer. The story is well written and there are a lot of moments where the game wants you to feel. The writers want you to care about the characters they are spending your time with and the actions they make that affect the world around them. Some moments are more over the top than they should be, but its redeemed by the fact that the developers are aware that what they are making can look stupid at times. The big twist that happens later on really gets the player thinking if what they are doing is truly right. Should you continue carrying out your actions, or should you stop and end the madness you have created.
The environments look nice and with the remade world it looks better than ever. Bright and lucious open field of green, desolate deserts of burning, and peaceful forests filled with ominous. The lighting has also been improved as well and it is much easier to see the detailing of the environments. The music is perfect with Keiichi Okabe coming back once again to reorchestrate the soundtrack. He also orchestrated the galant soundtrack for Nier: Automata, kinda obvious thing to say, which is one of my top five soundtracks in all of gaming. It has the same tone as Octopath Traveler or Hollow Knight where it is able to express emotions using nothing but the flow of a song. You can feel sadness, emptiness, wonder, ferocity, peace, and prosperity with the variety of each song. There’s a reason why these three games have my favorite soundtracks. None of the characters feel forgettable and they all have motives that not only make them have layers of depth, but also redeemable till the last few moments. The cinematography is great a majority of the time and the game does a fantastic job at hyping you up for what comes next. Nier Replicant is great, but what prevents me from saying it is amazing as Nier: Automata?
The combat is good and there quality of life improvements that make it more doable in the remake, but some design choices and mechanics can either be ignored. Upgrading your weapons is kinda useless as the merchant is located in a place you are not likely to revisit often and getting the materials to upgrade a weapon is a little tedious. In Automata it worked much better as the materials are dropped more often, there is a blacksmith in the first town meaning you can start upgrading immediately if you wanted to, and there are fast travel pods which make going back to these areas less tedious. The main projectile attack feels slow, lacks impact, and at times is floaty. Other magic attacks are fine, but they can be spammed pretty often. The magic meter is broken in a way where it refills so quickly that it doesn’t feel like your powers are limited. I know the game encourages an aggressive playstyle, which I love to see in action games, but why have a magic meter when it refills within less than ten seconds. In Automata your projectiles spew out crazily fast due to faster combat, and your powerful attacks have a cooldown rate you have to wait for. You can’t just keep spamming them. You have to wait for the time to use them. It’s more balanced this way and encourages the player to use their basic skills more.
I wouldn’t go so far as to call Nier: Automata and Nier Replicant open world games, but they almost have the sense of one. The sandbox you are dumped into feels large at times and there is a lot of space to work with. However, I liked the world of Nier: Automata more. Not because there is more to do, but because there is more intriguing. Instead of a big open field you explore a ruined city with caverns and pathways that lead to the other areas. The forests you go to are inhabited by machines trying to form societies. You go to a theme park at some point and the amount of emotions this area tries to convey is baffling. Replicant doesn’t have a boring world, but it does feel really empty at times. Side quests are collectathons, but the writing for them is much better in Automata. The scenarios you encountered can either be wacky or add more reasons to love the world. One quest followed me fighting a machine who wanted to be a master of martial arts. One followed me collecting flowers for an operator android, another is where I helped a man collect spare android parts to make what he would then treat as a little brother he never had, and one followed me helping Emil to then reveal a secret area that ties back to the Lunar Tears from Replicant. Some can be rewarding with what you get in the end. I don’t know if I felt the same with Replicant, because not many quests made me want to see them come out.
The dialogue can be cringeworthy.Some of the emotional moments can be hard to take with what is blathering out of the character's mouths. In Nier: Automata the dialogue is weird but it still manages to convey emotion and trauma, but here in Replicant it feels really off. The voice acting is great though. It’s lovely to know I recognize Laura Bailey’s voice as Kaine in this game. The dialogue feels much better in Japanese though, and there were times when my sister looked at the TV screen and laughed when she saw a floating book speak with such a sinister voice. Both Automata and Replicant do a good job at hyping the player up, but Automata does a better job.
Replicant took me around fifthteen hours to reach the first ending, and oddly enough it felt like an eternity. I had to grind through certain points, because I slowly grew bored of the desolate world I was in. Usually I love desolate worlds, but for some reason Replicant almost made me want to quit. The payoff was worth it, but I just took the first ending and left. The Nier games have multiple endings, and the way they work is that you replay the game again and a lot of aspects change. After Ending A and on the second playthrough, you get to know what the Shades are saying and you can hear the pain they are going through. Plus certain story beats are changed. After Ending B you then go through another chapter where you go through a segment not originally in the first two playthroughs. There’s even a new fifth ending added into the remake that wraps up an emotional ending choice made during Ending D. It’s a great way to encourage the player to replay the game, but do I really want to? In Automata, each playthrough follows a different character and it offers a change in perspective. Replicant doesn’t exactly do that, and that’s why repeating the same scenarios gets really repetitive around a third playthrough. No offense, but I don’t want to continue playing Replicant. It’s a great game and I can recommend it due to how it tells a story, but there are certain areas that its sequel would drastically improve to make a better and more enjoyable experience. Still, it’s a must play for fans of this franchise and those who may have recently joined got into the community thanks to Nier: Automata. In the end I am going to give Nier Replicant an 8.5/10 for being pretty good.
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