Something Very Special

A few years ago, there was a little development house called cavia, inc.

You probably haven’t heard of them. That’s fine; they were pretty far from a big name studio. They were formed under the umbrella corporation of AQ Interactive, alongside a few other development houses, and were primarily used as a sweatshop for producing licensed games. Their surprisingly extensive resume included games licensed to anime (Naruto, One Piece, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex), a few sports titles (primarily soccer), and spinoffs from other franchises (most notably Resident Evil).

In 2011, AQ Interactive began to have monetary problems, and had to reabsorb all its individual development houses in order to bring its money pool to one place, and cavia was subsumed into the group.

This is legitimately a loss to the industry.

Because despite their body of working largely consisting of poor to middling games that largely relied on licensing agreements to get their funding, cavia did, over the course of the eight-year lifespan, produce three IPs.

The first of these was Drakengard, a relatively standard action-RPG affair that is best known for having a dark, twisted mindfluffernutter of a storyline. This game spawned two sequels; Drakengard 2, which is much more middle-of-the-road and uninteresting than its original, and a strange kind of spinoff game that we’ll be discussing in depth shortly.

The second IP, Bullet Witch, I’ve heard very little about. Its most notable feature that I’m aware of is one of its achievements, where beating the game on its highest difficulty – a feat made nigh impossible thanks to a combination of actual difficulty and bad gameplay choices – nets you an a single gamerscore point.

The third IP – and their final game – is the aforementioned spinoff from Drakengard. Following the last and worst of the endings from the original Drakengard, the game takes the premise of what would happen if magic were introduced into a non-magical world and uses this as a foundation for a story of the devotion of a father toward his daughter, and the love between friends, and the desperate act of survival in a dying world, and the very nature of humanity itself, and all the good and evil it entails.

But mostly it’s the story of a big guy who hits things.

Let’s talk about NIER.





NIER was originally developed by cavia, inc and published in 2010 by Square-Enix. Two different versions were produced in Japan – one exclusive to the XBox 360, NieR Gestalt, and one exclusive to the PS3, NeiR RepliCant. The games play exactly the same, and follow the same story, with the main (and quite unique) difference between the two being the age of the main character. The RepliCant version follows the story of sixteen-year-old Nier trying to save his sister; the Gestalt version follows a thirty-nine-year-old Nier trying to save his daughter. Focus testing resulted in only Nier Gestalt – retitled to simply NIER – to be released worldwide for both consoles.

The game was released to largely lukewarm reviews. The reasons cited were pretty standard amongst critics; the combat was serviceable but not inspired, the graphics underwhelming, many of the sidequests boring games of fetch. The two minigame distractions – fishing and farming – are generally considered to be unfun. The main character is ugly.

Fair enough.

So let me make this clear: despite the above mentioned flaws, NIER is one of the best gaming experiences I have ever had.

It’s not perfect, no. But the aspects the game gets right – its narrative, its characters, its acting, its music, its presentation, its writing – are so far beyond standard game fare – correction, standard entertainment media fare – that it is more than worth the investment.

NIER found a very special place in my heart very quickly, and I’d like to invite everybody on this little journey with me to see exactly why.



Information
I’ll be trying to keep to a weekly schedule for posting. My goal is to be able to post a new video every weekend, ideally on Fridays.

Every new video will be accompanied by a new post in general, which will include concept art, trivia, development history, or long rambling passages about why [REDACTED] is the greatest thing in the world and you’re a terrible human being if you think otherwise.


Are you going to show off–
I’m going to do a 100% run. This includes all sidequests, all four endings, and all the contents of the DLC. I will also try to find and include as many instances of spoken dialogue as possible (and as I’m aware of), because some of these conversations are pretty funny.

Additionally, I will be showing off footage from the Japanese version, NieR RepliCant. If you can’t understand Japanese, don’t worry, neither can I! But there are some choice bits that I’m aware of, and the acting is good enough that even without knowing Japanese you can get a lot of the emotions out of the scenes anyway.

With that out of the way…


Let’s begin.


TABLE OF CONTENTS
Let’s Play Video Posts
These are mostly just links to the videos themselves. However, plenty of them do contain additional tidbits, as well as music links, so they may be worth a read if that’s what you’re here for.
01. Snow in Summer
02. Sheepmurdered
03. Book of Legend
04. The Aerie
   Sidequests 1: Boar Drifting
05. Seafront
- Addendum: Denying the Lighthouse Lady
   Sidequests 2: Goats. Venison. Dogs.
06. Two Brothers
07. Hook
   Sidequests 3: Hollow Dreams, the Lighthouse Lady’s Wrath
08. Drifting Sands
- Addendum: The Facade Language
   Sidequests 4: WOLVES.
09: The Forest of Myth
   Special Sidequest: The Deathdream
10. The Haunted Manor
11. Enter the Shadowlord
12. Five Years Later…
13a. The Underground Facility
13b. No Matter What
14. Awakening (+ scene and character analyses, and why Popola isn’t as much of a bitch as she seems to be)
15. The Stone Guardian
   Sidequests 5: Big Uglies, Life in the Sands
16. Gideon
17. The Memory Tree
  - Transcript
18. The Law of Robotics
  Sidequests 6: Still the Best. 2049.
19. Loyal Cerberus
- Addendum: A Brief History of Facade
  Sidequests 7: Sand and Shadows
  Sidequests 7: Irrational Anger
20. Sacrifice
  Sidequests 8: Home Stretch
21. The Last Bastion
22. Roar
Ending A: Call Her Back

B-01: Re-Awakening
   - Kaine’s Dreams: Discrimination, Daily Life
   - Kaine’s Dreams: Separation, Encounter
B-02: Gretel
B-03: Sleeping Beauty
    - 15 Nightmares: Door 1
B-04: Kalil
    - 15 Nightmares: Door 2
B-05: Wendy
B-06: Roc
     - 15 Nightmares: Door 3
Ending B: Lingering Memories

RepliCant Footage:
   Select footage taken from the RepliCant version to highlight the differences and similarities between the two games. This only covers major scenes or those with particularly noteworthy differences.
01. Nier and Weiss
02. Kaine
03. Emil
04a. Knave of Hearts
04b. The Library
05. Five Years Later
06. No Matter What
07. Awakening (+a million words about Kaine’s characterization in Gestalt versus RepliCant)
08. The Lost Shrine
09. The Junk Heap revisited
10. Loyal Cerberus (+ Kaine character analysis)
11. Sacrifice (+a little bit of other stuff)
12. The End

Character Art, Development Notes, etc.
Party Members
  . Papa Nier Render
     - Prototype Papa Nier
     - Papa Nier (44) official art
  . Brother Nier (16) Render
     - Younger Brother concept art
  . Brother Nier (21) official art
  . Grimoire Weiss
  . Kaine Render
     - Kaine Prototypes
  . Emil Render
     - Emil Official Art
     - Emil Concept Art
  . Number 7 Official Art
     - Emil (No. 7) Development
  . Turnarounds (Brother Nier, Kaine, No. 7)
  . DLC Costumes - Kabuki!
  . DLC Costumes - Samurai!

Notable NPCs
  . Yonah
  . Devola and Popola
  . Jakob and Gideon (information, no artwork)
  . Gideon (15)
  . Sechs, Prince of Facade (10)
     - The King of Facade (15)
  . Fyra (10)
     - Fyra (15)

Enemies, Bosses
  . Grimoire Noir
  . The Shadowlord (-echo- version)
  . Hansel and Gretel
    - Gretel (Broken)
  . Hook
  . Defense System Geppetto
  . Henzel, Humpty Dumpty, Alice (-echo- concepts)
  . Sleeping Beauty (information only, no images)
  . Wendy
  . Roc
  . Goose

Locations
  . The Aerie
  . Seafront (ship)
  . Forest of Myth (-echo- concept)

Not Offficial
   . I carved a pumpkin for Halloween. It is the greatest thing I have ever made.

. Soundtrack
     . NieR Gestalt and RepliCant Original Soundtrack
     . 15 Nightmares & Arrange Tracks

Tales from The Grimoire
   . The Narrow Gate
   . Red and Black
   . The Mermaid Princess
   . The Demonic Mountain
   . The Stone Flower
   . And Then There Were None
   . A Little Princess
   . Banquet of the Witch
   . Around the World in 80 Days

Emil’s Survey Report
   . The Already Dead (Hook, Rubrum, Halua, Knave of Hearts)
   . Gretel, Kaine
   . P-33
   . Wendy
   . Roc
   . Shadowlord’s Castle (Goose, Nier)

The History of the World
   The following posts contain major horrible spoilers so if you aren’t familiar with the game, don’t read them until you are.

History 101: The Apocalypse
History 201: Project Gestalt
History 301: The Inheritance of Replicants

Metaposts
   The crux of the Tumblr and my greatest motivation for starting this project. The metaposts are an examination of various elements of the game and why they work together to create such a powerful, human story.
   Later metas likely contain major spoilers. Character specific ones absolutely do. Tread with caution.

Elements of Gameplay
   . The Trouble with Sidequests - A brief diatribe on the stagnant nature of video game sidequests as a whole
   . The Trouble with Sidequests, part 2 -A look at the potential of sidequests to engage the player and create a legitimate emotional experience
   . Morality - A discussion on video game karma meters and the true way to employ moral decision-making and emotional ties in game. Concerns the Lighthouse Lady sub-quest, and thus proof that a brief sidequest can offer a truly moving experience when done well and done right.
   . Loading Screens - NIER’s uniquely effective (if not quite unique) use of loading screens
  . Gameplay-Story Integration - A few brief notes about the subtle integration of storyline events into the mechanics of the game. (Post-timeskip information.)
   . On New Game+ - …and its potential as narrative device.

Aesthetics and Design
  . Translation - NIER is an extremely well-written and well localized game. Here’s why!
  . Female Design Theory and Hypersexuality - The examination of the common feminine ideal as portrayed in video games and NIER’s exaggeration, mockery, and subversion.
  . Animate Rectangles - A brief treatise on the fact that Weiss emotes better than a fair few human characters despite being a book.
  . Character Design Psychology - Not to be confused with character design analysis. Brief introduction to the subversions and mental trickery employed by the game’s character design choices.
   . Scale and Scope - NIER’s utilization of a limited narrative perspective in order to construct an emotionally powerful, character-driven story
   . Pacing and Momentum - On the ideal construction of a final dungeon
   . Foreshadowing - NIER is an excellently plotted, written, and paced game, and employs a marvelously subtle kind of foreshadowing that more narrative games really need to take some notes on.

Miscellaneous Information and Thoughts
  . Fun With Fishing
  . Thoughts about the Fisherman
  . Ashes of Dreams lyrics
  . A World Without Night
  . Jaw Strength
  . DLC Bullets

Character Building and Analysis
  . The Videogame Heroine - A general discussion on the state of the video game heroine and Kaine’s subversion and exemplification of the concept.
  . One Last Word - A small, easily missed scene with Emil (pre-timeskip) and the stunning amount of character thus revealed by the thirty-second conversation.
  . The Children of NIER (Pre-Timeskip) - Sending off the first half of the game by looking into the children we’ve so far been introduced to, and why they work when so many other child characters don’t.
  . No More Fairy Tales (I) - Part one of the transition through the timeskip. An appeal to the narrative strength and necessity of the first half of the game.
  . No More Fairy Tales (II) - Part two of the transition trough the timeskip. An analysis of one of the game’s most powerful cutscenes, its contribution to the narrative setup, and the strength of Nier’s character.
  . Little Lies - Kaine’s character post-timeskip in the context of Gestalt and RepliCant, the interpretations between the two cultures, and the foundation of her relationship with Emil. (Same page as the RepliCant Awakening post)
  . Friendship Speeches - NIER’s specific stable of friendship speeches and how they work to subvert and revitalize the cliche.
  . Weak and Sad and Lonely - Emil’s ‘friendship speech’ to Kaine in the Lost Shrine serves as a gateway to another round of characterization, exploration, and analysis.
  . All He Knows: Gideon - An assessment of Gideon’s character and the parallels established between him and Brother Nier. (Same page as the RepliCant Junk Heap post)
   . Light in the Dark: Emil - A post-timeskip analysis of Emil, in context of his attitude and personality and its place in the greater stability of the party.
      - Emil’s Sexuality is a quick little aside about something that got kind of ignored in the English version. It may be about Emil’s sexuality.
  . Dirge For a Hero ~ The King of Facade - Spoilers: The King of Facade is legitimately one of my favorite NPCs in anything ever.
   . Sacrifice ~ Emil - Spoilers: Emil is legitimately my favorite character from anything ever.
   . Exhaustion ~ Nier - Heroes are supposed to be more than human. But sometimes they’re just human.
   . Pain ~ The Shadowlord, Yonah - Nobody is the villain of their own story.
   . On Kaine - A re-examination of Kaine in light of the revelation about her backstory. And about her gender.
   . Beepy and Kalil - On one of the most heart-wrenching of the Shade stories, about a little boy and his giant military defense robot
   . Hope and Emil - At the risk of upsetting Final Fantasy XIII fans… an exploration about two child characters, and why I feel one of them works and the other one… not quite so much.
   . Devola and Popola ~ Fate - Regarding the twins.
   . A Long Deserved Rest - Ending B - Regarding the second ending.
   . Emil ~ Karma - An ending must flow naturally from the story it is set up for; one can’t have a happy ending – or even a sad one – without having earned it.