Nier (And Why You Should Play It)

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I agree about Ninja Gaiden Black. The only character action game I might like more is God Hand, but they're both very different from each other. I just think Platinum's output is insane, even back when they weren't called Platinum.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

And I'm not saying that they aren't absolutely amazing. I was just stating my belief that had Itagaki continued to lead Team Ninja on good terms up until now, they would be legitimate competition for PG/Clover. Since Itagaki left in 2008, we only really got as many great games as they made up to that point. Imagine how many more we would have gotten after 8 more years of proper guidance.

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Yeah, I agree. If Itagaki still worked for TN, of if VGS hadn't gotten fucked over, Platinum would no longer be the only game in town. A real shame what's happened to him and his team since NG2...

Speaking of game directors, I hope Platinum hires Yoko Taro as a full-on employee after Nier 2 releases. Not only would this finally allow him to bring his unique directorial vision to actual high quality games, he'd work wonders for PG as a sort of staff writer. Being one of the few genuinely talented scriptwriters in the business, he (hopefully along with his co-writer, Sawako Natori) could really improve the studio's storytelling chops by adding more layered plots and natural, witty dialogue to their games.

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Screenshots are finally here! The art direction in this game is fucking sublime.

More

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And the most important parts...





Ridable pigs and bullet hell elements return! Yes!!!

[gunswordfist]

This is legit on my most anticipated list after those screenshots.

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This is legit on my most anticipated list after those screenshots.

I never thought I'd see a Platinum game (let alone a Yoko Taro game) with such beautiful, artistic visuals, but damn, it looks so good. It looks like that awesome P* gameplay will be fully intact, too. Here are some more pictures!

Spoiler

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The story sounds ridiculous (in a good way). It takes place 10,000 years after Nier 1, and most of humanity has fled to the Moon after the Earth was attacked by mechanical aliens. They then constructed androids on a space station in an attempt to stop the creatures from destroying their planet. You play as the sole survivor of these androids. Here's a picture of her from the front:



This game is going to be soooo gooooood.

[gunswordfist]

  I'm amazed.

[gunswordfist]

 

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Here it is, the first gameplay trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ARHVKZ5K1b0 It's only a camrip, but it's a pretty decent one. Actual game footage starts at 3:07, but the whole thing is worth watching just for the sheer weirdness of it all.

It looks like Metal Gear Rising mixed with Bayonetta and the original Nier. Mind-numbingly good. Way better than I expected, even as a huge fanboy of both Platinum and Yoko Taro.

[VLordGTZ]

That looks amazing.   

This reminds me that I still need to play Nier. 

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That looks amazing.   

This reminds me that I still need to play Nier. 

Well, the first one isn't a smooth stylish action fest like this sequel is, but it's still my favorite game to date.

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Alright, here we go, HD version of the trailer! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ARHVKZ5K1b0

WATCH WATCH WATCH

EVERYBODY

[gunswordfist]

  The gameplay kinds of reminds me of Ninja Gaiden meets Devil May Cry and then some.

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The gameplay kinds of reminds me of Ninja Gaiden meets Devil May Cry and then some.

Which is why a certain Doctor must watch it... You saw the HD trailer and not the camrip, right?

Some fun tidbits from Eurogamer:

"After making the first two Drakengard games I really wanted to make a third game in the series and was aching to do that," says Taro as he sits beside Saito in a hotel restaurant in Paris, revealing new details on what is now called Nier Automata. "I went to the producer and he said nah, we don't really need to make another Drakengard. I was quite annoyed at that! Then an opportunity came to do a game with Mr. Saito, so I used what I'd already planned out with Drakengard 3 with this project, and that's what became Nier.

"After we finished Nier, I said to Mr. Saito I wanted to make another Nier game, and do a Nier sequel. But he said it didn't sell particularly well so we couldn't make one, and it just so happened in another place the opportunity came to do Drakengard 3, so it was pretty much the same thing over again."

. . .

"It was a bit of an experiment really," says Taro. "I remember at the time thinking modern games, they're really well made and they've got so much love and time put into making them expansive and great, but once you've played most of them for 30 minutes you get an idea what they're like right to the end, and that's a bit boring. You're not going to see anything new after that. I decided we're going to keep mixing it up and changing the gameplay styles and try to achieve that with Nier.

Nier Automata, of course, will carry on providing those sudden shifts "The basic framework of the game is similar to the first," explains Taro. "You've got action bits and you've got adventuring and exploration as well. When I first got the request to set the game up from Saito-san, he requested a more action type of game, but I personally wanted to make something that was closer to Ocarina of Time, where you've got lots of field areas and you travel and do battle. I thought it was a really natural, really nice way for the game to be, so I tried to twist his brief to make it more of the kind of thing I wanted to make, and I think I've got it more of mine than his."

Even within the first ten minutes, the expectations of the audience are going to be radically challenged, and Taro's keen to keep up that pace. "I really want to keep that turnaround of surprises for the player in Nier 2. I like doing new things, and I'm going try and experiment and add something new and different. It may fail, it may not be received well, but I really want to add that and create that uniqueness. Maybe I should make a really boring, tedious game. They'd be surprised by that instead!"

"There's one other idea I had recently to make the game a big surprise to people," he carries on, with a prankish smile. "That was to give you random endings as paid DLC. But they said no to that. The team really didn't like that idea." Taro, as you can probably tell, is a mischievous sort. When asked what it is that defines Taro's games, Saito suggests, simply, that it's drinking. "It's quite weird," says Taro. "All the stories I write when I'm drunk are the ones that are really popular. It's probably the players rather than me though."

. . .

Perhaps the greatest thing to come out of the collaboration between Square Enix and Platinum is how Taro and Kamiya are now drinking buddies. 'I like drinking with him around the office,' he says. 'There's quite a lot of dirty conversation going on.'

. . .

To that end, Square Enix is announcing that the sequel is shooting for 60fps - and, beyond that, players can expect a game with the polish that's typical of Nier Automata's developer. "Certainly Platinum Games is renowned for making great games," says Saito, "They've got a very good reputation, and the games they produce people can be very confident that they'll have a good experience. Having them onboard for Nier was very important to this project. The other great thing about Platinum Games is because they're so talented it really frees up Mr. Taro to do what his best and write the story, and get that weird stuff out of his head. It's really comfortable for him to work with them, because they're just so good."

"It's interesting," Taro chimes in. "All the time I spent on the original getting angry at the development team, obviously Platinum's removed that by working so well, so I spend that time drinking. In the end it hasn't really changed how much work I do. But when I drink I make better games, so that's okay."

Yoko Taro is my favorite person in gaming, I love him. He also wants to include a boss fight where one of its attacks breaks the frame rate by dropping it into the single digits.

About to add better quality versions of some of those screenshots to the earlier post, btw!

[gunswordfist]

Yes, I went HD.

Taro sounds like a mad genius.