Original Publication Date: 22/10/2018

Re-published 8/06/22

Nier Gestalt

Last month, I finished the original Nier, a game I really only played because of how much I loved Nier Automata. And whilst my first impression was pretty sour, I dug through the game, eventually finding something completely unlike pretty much anything else, an incredibly compelling game that very much matches up its sequel, but perhaps in different ways.
Normally, I feel it’s best to play a preceding game before its sequel, but honestly, I feel if I played Nier (or Nier: Gestalt, as it’s called in Japan) before it's critically acclaimed sequel Nier Automata, I might never have played it through to completion. Of the many, many games I’ve played over the years, Nier might be the one that most embodies the idea of ‘being greater than the sum of its parts’. Through poor quest design, muddy graphics, and okay at best combat, Nier’s heart – its stories, its characters, and its oddly insane and fascinating uprooting of genres – shine through and create one of the most memorable experiences I’ve played in recent days. I played through this 2010 title about a month ago, and man, have I not been able to get this game off my mind. I’ve now become quite the fan of Nier director Yoko Taro and his (to put it mildly) crazy ideas, and with having beaten Automata and Nier, and now playing his other series Drakangard, I think I’ll be on his Wild Ride for some time to come.

Honestly, the whole reason I played Nier in the first place was simply due to how incredible I found Automata, and I have to admit that when I started playing it’s prequel, it hung in its shadow quite a bit; Automata had some of the best combat I’ve ever played, a riveting story drenched in existentialism, and some pretty damn lovable characters I grew really attached to. So, when I started playing Nier, the first four hours were pretty… Well, they were pretty awful. Back and forth busywork, incredibly poor bosses, combat that felt like a mediocre Musou game, and the game didn’t look like anything to write home about – the muddy graphics never really improved, and some of the models looked downright hideous – as much as I love Nier, I don’t think there was a moment he looked remotely attractive. The only things that held me through were the promise that this game had writing to rival Automata – and how attached I had already grown to our protagonists at the time, most particularly the amazingly voiced Grimoire Weiss. And I enjoyed, really, how refreshingly simple the base plot was – finding a cure for your daughter (but of course, it’s never as simple as that!). But the fact is there is a lot of quality downtime of quality in this game, which is doubly frustrating when you have to actually repeat some of these areas to get the proper ending to the game. Sure, it’s expanded with new content slightly, but the core of the content is the same, and it never gets more fun trudging through the same muddy, boring dungeon up to three or four times to get the complete experience.

I think the thing that really pushed me over the edge for Nier came near the very end of the first playthrough of the story – a twist that changed pretty much every moment of the game, turning my impression of our protagonist from someone fighting monsters to, well, something very different. And when the ‘second playthrough’ begins, whilst I was playing the same content, for the most part, everything was different, things I can barely mention without spoiling everything. The veritable bounty of characterisation (not only for our leads, of course) was a game changer for me, legitimately bringing me to the edge of tears multiple times, and finally in the game’s final moment, made me bawl my goddamn eyes out. This would’ve all never happened if not every moment of the game is backed by the absolutely incredible score that essentially doesn’t have a single misstep in its entire album – even if you’ve never touched the Nier franchise, I ask you to check out the themes entitled Shadowlord and Ashes of Dreams – they are two of gaming’s best tracks, and every time I listen to them, I get those same emotions when I heard them for the first time.

In fact, I’m willing to stake my claim and say that Nier actually has a better story then Automata, which I say not to discredit Automata at all – Automata’s story was strong, but it’s story was more tied to its exploration of themes and ideas, whilst Nier’s story is a lot more clear cut and (at least I feel) better told. I never grew as attached to the cast of Automata the same way I did with Nier’s, honestly, as I felt we really got to know Nier, Kaine, Weiss and Emil in a way we never did with 2B or 9S. I’m not going to go into any details at all about Nier’s story, simply that everything after the first few hours is simply phenomenal, and I believe the game holds one of gaming’s greatest plot twists and reversals, changing how you’ll think of every moment of the game.

Now, I said earlier that I started off being pretty disappointed in the game’s opening hours, but I didn’t go from hating it to loving it at the snap of a finger – once I’d broken through the first through hours, it was a steady climb in quality as the game began to take risks, bending the genre in new and different ways with each new area. A series of wild puzzles, fixed camera angles akin to Resident Evil, and finally, an entire area (possibly the best in the game) which doesn’t have any normal gameplay at all – it’s presented entirely in text, complete with a classic text adventure that encourages you to draw the map to stay alive. Playing through this section with pen in hand is a standout in recent times for me, and I honestly yearn for Yoko Taro and co. to create something like that as a full game – but I’m not going to get my hopes up! But seriously, these strange sections make the slogs through the much more sub-par levels a lot more worth it, like a reward after an exhausting task.

And whilst the general, moment-to-moment gameplay may disappoint, almost constantly there is banter and dialogue from all the characters, which gives us time to really get to know all of them – by the final moments, I had pretty much fallen in love with each and every one of them, which at times made it all the much harder to struggle through the final act of the game. Whilst this game is absolutely fantasy, and the characters at a glance are ones that would never exist in our world, I feel their personalities, hopes, and dreams are all rooted in reality. Kaine’s treatment as a ‘freak’, Emil’s depression, Weiss’s haughty better-than-you attitude, and Nier him self’s love for his daughter all go a long way to endear themselves to the player. Even without one of them, this game wouldn’t be nearly the same, and I can’t imagine loving it nearly as much without Weiss’s wit, Kaine’s rage, Emil’s loveliness, and Nier’s, well, dadliness. And that’s not to say anything about the myriad of supporting characters that dot this hellscape of a world – they all feel distinct and unique from one another, and for each of the major ones, they all get their moment in the sun where they truly shine.

Finally, I want to talk about probably the other most critical part of why this game got through to me – tone and atmosphere. From the first moments in the snowy, ruined town to the final encounter in the castle, Nier is a dark fantasy through and through, and if there is one kind of genre I like, it’s grounded, weighty dark fantasy. It feels like a world on the edge – places like the Aerie create a combined sense of wonder and dread as the amazing score swells, and then there are places like the city of the Masked People that seemed to have managed to escape the growing unease spreading across the world. And then there are places like Nier’s home, where whilst everything seems at peace, there is this going sense of unease, like at any moment (and trust me, this moment comes) that everything will change, and the world begins to unwind. I don’t think there was a moment in this game that wasn’t drenched in this unease, and every moment felt like the time where everything grows so much worse.

In the second run of the game, pretty much every moment is that moment, almost never leaving you time to catch your breath, or maybe dry your tears.

Nier is something special, truly something that is greater than the sum of its parts. I’m not going to sugar-coat it and say it’s a gem throughout, you must really devote yourself to this adventure’s early game to get to what makes it shine, but I say it again, it’s worth it. I beat Nier over a month ago, and I don’t think a day goes by where I don’t think about it – and to me, that’s the mark of a really good time. It’s rough, it’s janky, but I can assure it’s one of those games that’ll stick with you for a very long time to come.

Retrospective from 08/06/22: This was one of the first ‘proper’ video game reviews I ever did - I actually remember the day I did it. I was in TAFE, watching other people’s presentations, and it was the week after I finished the game for the first time. I just had to do something to keep my brain busy, so I somehow pumped out all this in one day!
As a review, I think it’s… fine, I guess? I could’ve gone into more details on the plot or gameplay, but I think for a first try this wasn’t too bad. I think if I wrote this review today, it’d be waaay too long, mostly because I think Nier is just one of those all-time great games.