Nier's NG+

So I recently played and finished Nier, in preparation for Nier Automata. What a bad game, jesus fucking christ let me tell you how fucking abysmal that gameplay is

You People: hey hey, 2017 supposed to be the year of positive champ. You said so yourself.

Me: Oh come on! The playing it part sucks so much, I deserve to bitch and complain. That's my favorite part about playing video games: the complaining.

You People: that's what all your other posts are for, make a genuine effort to add positive discussion to SW

Me: fine, but they are dumb as shit and not worth it. And the gameplay sucks.

You People: Oh and our mods are still lame as shit, so you have to pretend to make it SW worthy.

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So, self indulgent, poorly written, long ass essay time. Too long; didn't read: Go **** yourself. (skip to the bottom)

^This eye sore is a happy cow. You must be wondering, why is it that this cow is so happy. Well you see unlike the other system wars barnyard animals+hermits (actually wait they are a crab? still not a barnyard animal), cows are a happy bunch. Stupid fucking animal that's only really good for cheese, milk, and eating, but joyful, because they are capable of enjoying all of what gaming has to offer.

One such example of cows showing a higher ability to be joyful and enjoying all of Gaming is the following game directed by one Yoko Taro:

Now some people have dismissed this game as the game that scored 50 something on metacritic, weeb shit, or even a poorly playing game that has nothing to positive to offer on a gameplay level. All of those are true (especially the gameplay part). But, but, it's not quite that simple.

I know for a fact that some, not all, but some posters on this forum can over look some mediocre (or less than) gameplay for the sake of the story and characters, and on that front Yoko Taro is a neat by gaming standards. There is already a great lore thread where a video highlights the sheer absurdity of this man's mythology between the Drakengard games and Nier, and at first glance it's what I like to prefer to as "the best kind of dumb"

But to Taro's credit even in his insanity, he actually can spin a pretty entertaining yarn. Not enough for me to think Video game stories aren't the worst, ever. But enough that I was pleasantly entertained. Nier, Poppola, Emil, Kaine, and Devola are genuinely well thought out characters, the story takes some surprising twists, and all around the man does a great job of subverting your expectations of what you assume will just be your typical jrpg cliches.

One neat thing the game has going for it is how it handles its new game plus. You pick up at the half way mark, doing all the stuff you did in the first playthrough again with upgraded gear, but the hook is you now start seeing the story from the other perspective of people you were fighting. And that only adds to the themes that Nier was going for. There is actually this super cute robot story, that's then not very cute at all : (

Personally, were the game actually fucking enjoyable to play, and The Lost Shrine wasn't shit that the game made you do 3 fucking times when it wasn't even good once, I'd humor the idea of rolling with this. It reminds me of the replay incentive Resident Evil had back in the day with the original and 2. Where you could play two different characters, you play mostly the same game, but certain scenarios change, and story beats are different for each respective characters.

It adds value and reason to give the game another go for the "I like my games for the story" crowd in a different way than "we let you pick dialogue choices, that don't really change the story at all what so ever". The reward for that is different endings, which admittedly I have some mix feelings on. As I feel some of those ending story beats could have just been part of the main story, but hey what are you gonna do.

Point is, now that homeboy Taro isn't working with the jabronis at Cavia or Access games, but instead Platinum who is at least more than fucking competent at making action games, he'll have enjoyable gameplay to go along with his new game plus structure. So even people like me will retry the game. Because I've lost any desire to actually play Drakengard 1 or 3.

Which of course is why the PS4 gets a sequel directed by a man who believes in the artistic merits of this medium, and the XBox doesn't. Because lemmings believe in all mighty Spencer, who hates art clearly. Naturally it wouldn't fit on the Switch, because hello, Taro gave violence, sexual themes, and actually subverts player expectations with his games. You can't give that to the children of Nintendo systems who want Zelda #16, their minds couldn't handle it.

But the game is also coming on PC, and well the game will quickly be treated to steam sale bin material, because as PC gamers you are dweebs who will play some other shitty playing game, because lets be real, you guys even suck at the being elitist thing.

Anyway: Cows and the playstation audience saved gaming, because they were willing to try a mediocre action game, not for its faults, but joyfully, with a smile on their face, enjoyed a video game for the few things it did well. So one day, Yoko Taro could take his brand of gaming that subverts expectations and has a neato ng+ concept and put it together with a good game.

So as a result during the holiday sales, maybe give Nier 2 a run. I know that 2 dollar sale for Prince of Persia Warrior Within looks tempting, but get real, you're not gonna play that game anyway.

Oh and Nier's soundtrack is pretty fucking good.

There you go. SW material, positive discussion about a video game, and no Tl;dr to weed out the idiots so I can get 5 whole responses to this thread. I'm basically a System Wars superhero. Oh and double go **** yourself if you type the word "blog" in any capacity, you little shit.

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Champ's actual discussion points

1. How do you feel about how Nier handles new game plus? Do you think that's an interesting way of doing things? Do you think that's lame?

2. Who is a game director that you feel constantly subverts your expectations when you buy their games? Do you think that stuff is actually a good thing? Like maybe is that stuff just parlor trick nonsense to distract you from the fact that the story or gameplay ideas are kind of bullshit?

3. My other half won't go see Get Out with me, because she's a chicken shit. Should I go see Logan and give them my money? I think most cape shit movies are kind of lame, but I really did love the Xmen as a youngin.

4. Did you know, some freak of nature put Pizza in milk? Fucking disgusting amirite?

This thread was better and more fun than the game.

It's good incentive to go through a game again. The way Nier does it.

Getting ending D will literally erase your save though. Crazy.

I actually think that's kind of clever, you also can't retype the same name you used for that first playthrough because it has to erase you from existence.

The best thing about Nier is that it fucking forces you to watch as it erases your entire save page by page if you want the ending where everyone isn't doomed. There is no bigger middle finger to all those dumb weebos that spent so much time playing an awful game.

I never played Nier. I recall being mildly interested during development, when it was two different versions (Replicant and Gestalt), but somewhere along the line I lost interest and forgot it even existed.

And then I saw what happened when Champ played it, how it momentarily twisted his very being, and I vowed not to go near the thing. Not that I had plans to play it, but I'd rather just not play it now. I'll enjoy reading this thread instead. It'll take less than an hour of my life in the end and likely provide more enjoyment.

Cool blog!

I really wish I played Nier now.. It sounds like the most shitty, amazing, unique game out there.

here you go

@jg4xchamp: totally agree on super movies and stance on Logan. Wolverine has almost always been rad.

Agreed on Neir as well. It makes me so happy when good ideas get sequels, despite the shills that don't know good games if it hit them in between the eyes.

This thread could be a contender for thread if the year...

..... If it had more Andromeda.

Pizza crust goes well with milk! The rest though? Probably not.

I bought Nier four years ago but I have never played it. This thread is encouraging!

The only downside to Champ's threads is that there are not enough Champ's threads.

I haven't played the game so I can't really weigh in on it, so let's answer the questions.

1. Tbh, this is the first time I'm hearing about it and I'm impressed, that would actually make me replay the game ... and I'm not really a fan of replaying games.

2. I don't think I have a firm grasp on the term "subverting expectations", does it mean "surprising you" or "throwing some unexpected events at you" or sth?

3. Both seem to be some cliche movies so no you shouldn't, but at least you can have some jump scares with the former :P

4. Disgusting indeed!

You go in expecting things to work out a certain way, like the initial glance is this all fits a pretty obvious trope and is about one thing, but then the game swerves and goes in a completely different direction from your base expectations. Metal Gear Solid 2 is famously a game that's done something like this with the whole Raiden switch, and making the story this giant meta commentary on hype culture with Kojima basically picking on his own fanbase. Presenting Raiden as a bitch and Solid Snake as this idealized character, because the fanbase are little bitch, and Snake is their idol. Only to then later point out, bitch ass Raiden has like the most badass back story possible, among other things that game does during it's final 60 minutes.

Spec Ops the line would be another. I think most people going in or when they see the gameplay think "oh look, another generic turd person cover shooter" and gameplay wise it is that, but the story quickly turns into this scathing critique of other military shooters.

You think you sound edgy with all that cursing n shit but you actually come off as a cornball.

@jg4xchamp: Gotcha.

I can't recall of any, but I'd go with Ken Levine for the director that actually tries to do sth different with the story in this industry, and I wouldn't say that he subverts one's expectations, because you're basically thinking throughout the game to figure out the story elements and you're curious and waiting for the final moments to unfold without having some certain expectations, at least I didn't have, I was just wondering what the hell is gonna happen :D

And man i regret not playing Spec Ops, ppl talk highly of its story. I did play the first couple of hours but i got side-tracked by other games ... maybe i should get back to it.

Don't go in to Nier expecting good gameplay or graphics. It's basically the Deadly Premonition of jrpgs. The story, soundtrack, and characters more than make up for its faults imo. Replaying the 2nd half isn't that bad really, you can speedrun it fast. Takes only a afternoon to speedrun the entire thing assuming you know what you are doing. If you are going for the platinum, all I can say is good luck lol the farming and grind for maxing out your weapons is pretty bad, think it took me like 50 hours to plat.

Yeah I really liked how Nier handled New Game +. The story was pretty cool and heartbreaking on the second play through. The gameplay and enemies were pretty dull and monotonous for the most part with a few exceptions. Almost got all the achievements for the game except for the one were you had grow a certain plant or whatever. Thought about trying it but just gave up and got ending D so goodbye save. lol

http://www.critical-distance.com/2014/08/27/nier/

Just gonna plug in my interesting findings on nier analysis. The video mentions what the word "NIER" actually means, and that was neat. The article gets interesting about half way down the page when it talks about Taro's design philosophy on the concept of violence. His quote on why people kill because they think they are in the right is pretty interesting.

I think Nier is highly flawed, but it feels like a psychoanalysis of Taro's mind and that is what makes the game so fulfilling to me. It's like the man is opening up his deep seated problems with the world and letting us pick him apart.

Gameplay got so monotonous though. I couldnt complete the lighthouse lady quest because it required me to go through the robot dungeon over and over. Like damn if I have to go through all this boring gameplay just to experience an emotional side quest.

I liked Nier, the combat wasn't great but it had weird storytelling, a nice atmosphere, good music and some zany art. The characters were great too.

Nier Automata looks like a straight up action game. Maybe the story is great, the music sounds good from the snatches of it I've heard. Just not a game for me at all.

The new game plus thing I dunno. The game would have to be fantastic for me to keep playing it over and over for different endings. I never bothered with the first one. Some of the Automata reviews I've seen are raving about the odd approach to new game plus which means you get to see the game from the perspective of different characters. Maybe they nailed it this time.

You think videogame stories are bad and you watch superhero movies? WTF?

lol no, I don't really care for Superhero movies, my other half didn't want to see Get Out because she suffers from what the medical field calls "being a chicken shit".

You didn't do the NG+ in Nier?

[spoiler] Some pretty neat stuff is told, it highlights how the shades weren't really villains in a lot of cases and were trying to protect kids, or how that robot boss that gideon thinks killed Jacob actually didn't kill him, and you find out what infected Kaine. And all she has to deal with. I didn't do it, because, I'm obviously not a fan of how it plays, but I would argue at least story stuff, the NG+ story stuff for Nier was neato. It's not essential, because that would be stupid, but it reaffirms the ending at the end. [/spoiler]

I forgot we ruined how to do spoilers on this website smh

Beg tro differ with you speed.

Game was fucking awesome, BEST 2ND PLAYHTHROUGH EVER IN ANY VIDEO GAME HISTORY. Will make any player cry.Gameplay, OST , Story rocked in NIER. Only dragging points was graphics, felt like a PS 2 game.

BTW

long time no see pal :P

You guys are all crazy, NIER got best NG + (Story Arc) ever in any video games. Don't beleive me? Google or Play the game first. 2nd playthrough reveals True Story and 3rd and Fourth (possibly Final Ending ) makes best Conclusion about story.

Also, NIER got BEST OST EVER in any Video Games. End of Discussion.

A Example of OST.

this thread is awesome

tl;dr

Loved Nier.

We all know that Champ is a gamer, in denial.

Nier sucked end of story. Maybe More automata will be good but I have doubts about it.

Child pls, the playing it part was dreadful.

It's not quite Deadly Premonition, because lets be real nothing will be as great as our lord and savior Francis York Morgan, but it's similar in that a lot of the bizarre stuff and story stuff almost makes up for the buttastic gameplay.

I dropped the side quests like a bad habit.

Enjoyed the write up though. Will watch the vid later.

"One such example of cows showing a higher ability to be joyful and enjoying all of Gaming is the following game directed by one Yoko Taro"

I dunno why, but this has pretty much been the case as long as the game has been around, why do people keep assuming Nier was an exclusive? I mean, hell, I kept seeing it listed in countless "Xbox 360 exclusives versus Playstation 3 exclusives thread" on here, it wasn't.

Anyhow, yes, I was pretty dismissive of it back then, but might consider playing it if it ever goes BC, depending on whether Nier Automata further sparks that curiosity. But, I'm mainly taking that ride on account of Platinum Games and their involvement, and the game just looking effing sick.

...reveals WHY R2D2's friends are in this fvcking game?

Pumped up for NA gunna pick it up this Friday from Amazon UK