NieR - Playstation 3

It'd prove a little hard not to gush about this game but to make a long story short, NieR(You can change his name if you'd like. I changed it to Osca) tries to search for a cure for his badly illed daughter Yonah, from a ravaging desease called the Black Scrawl before she dies---or something. Then not to long in the game, you come across smart-ass Grimoire Weiss(Who's a talking "I'll put you down cuz I'm always smart" book), who you can use his magic to defeat ethereal monsters called "Shades". Then, yada-yada, you meet beautiful but seriously foul-mouthed and wild Kainé and from there on, the three of you go on different quests. Lastly, you'll meet one of my favorite characters whom I can sympathize with, Emil. He's a shy mellowed boy who can use his eyes to petrify his enemies if he takes his flind fold off. But from there on, I won't spoil it for you all.(I happen to do that a lot in reviews because I'm excited). The game has over the top beautiful music from Song of the Ancients to Karma or Sacrifice. The boss battles are hard(I had mine on diffcult) but you'll get past them some how. The grafics are beautiful and way different from any FF game I've played and the characters are seriously hilarious. (Mainly Nier, Kainé and Weiss) And the ending(S) are amazing. Except one, that is a little confusing to the original ending. I've heard that this game is kinda like Drankengard but I wouldn't know seeing as how I've only seen my cousin play it. It looks nothing like the game. (Don't shoot me, it's just my opinion). NieR is a very excelent game from Cavia and Square Enix. It's one of my most faved games other than of course FF, KH and Castlevania.

NieR has an amazing story line and equally as great music. The game starts a bit slow and admittedly the first time I picked up this game I put it back down. When I gave it a second chance however, it quickly became one of the best games I'd ever played. NieR has two things going for it that hurt it. The story has a lot of character development in the beginning and most people will find it to be kinda slow and it can sadly make people who dont understand why its so nessacary put it down. About half way through the game this changes. By the end of the game you will be in tears. The second thing is the combat which can be a bit repetitive. The magic adds an interesting twist with a bullet hell feel in an action game. Regardless of these downfalls I refuse to give it any less than 5 stars simply for Yoko Taro's ability to tell a story and the music itself. If you're up for the original emotional rollercoaster before NieR Automata, then prepare your tear ducts because this game is just as good if not better at traumatizing full grown men. I've left nearly the same review on NieR Replicant since they are almost exactly the same. The only difference in this version is that Nier himself is a middle aged man with Yonah being his daughter, and it's in English.

Haven't played it yet but I heard reviews are good.

Remember the games on the original playstation where the graphics sucked, but the gameplay was awesome? Square-Enix takes a step back to the days of Final Fantasy 7 and Musashi where great graphics aren't the major concern and instead focus on gameplay. I've recently played Final Fantasy 13 and was disappointed at how linear the game was, not many sidequests until the end of the game. With Nier, you get a bunch of sidequests from the start of the game. And wow, there are plenty of sidequests ranging from: fishing, gardening, delivering fragile packages, to killing large bosses. Although the graphics aren't as amazing as other Playstation 3 games, Nier is the best action-rpg I have ever played. The world of Nier is a dynamic world, meaning that things change based on time such as night and day. The plants that you grow depend on actual real-world time and enemies change depending on how sunny it is in game. Something unique about this game is the light and dark contrast. When you step into a patch of sun from the shadows, you will be momentarily blinded by how bright it is until your hero's eyes adjust. It does get kind of annoying at times, such as when you're riding a boar in the sun and you can't find an exit because it is darkened by the shadows. Nonetheless, I really like how creative Square-Enix got with this game. If you're the type of gamer who likes to rush through things, don't buy this game. If you ignore all side quests you can probably finish this game in under 10 hours, I think you even get a trophy called Lightspeed Warrior for doing so. This game is more suited for players like myself, who like to take their time to unlock everything and finish all the quests. It took me 60 hours to completely finish the game and unlock all trophies. By finishing the game, I mean you have to play through the game 4 times. There are 4 different endings to Nier, and you have to play through the game 4 times if you want to unlock each ending. I know that sounds like a chore, but it really isn't because the game changes after your first playthrough. Enemy magic changes, the loading screen animation changes, and the story itself changes. Your first playthrough will be you killing shades to save your daughter. But on your second playthrough, you get to hear the story from the shades perspective and you begin to wonder if you're really the hero...or the villain. In conclusion, this game is for action-rpg lovers who like to take their time to explore everything the game offers. And yes, this game offers much exploration of wide plains, a haunted manor, a robot factory, a desert civilization, and many more. The music is outstanding and perfectly fits with what's going on during the game. There was this one particular song so sad and beautiful that it almost made me cry. There are plenty of weapons and magic you can choose from and even downloadable content you can get from the playstation store that gives you access to new quests and weapons. If you love action-rpgs, Nier is a game you won't be disappointed with.

A new approach from Square-Enix which is a combination of Hack/Slash with RPG elements. The question is, should you buy this game or is this game the type of game for you? Graphics: 8/10 Overall the graphics are pretty good with the exception of the background and the building structures in the game being very bland and have no details at all. If you are looking for a God of War or Final Fantasy XIII graphics type of game, sorry this is not close to those two games. Controls: 6/10 This is what really kills the game in my opinion. The controls are extremely clunky and non responsive, if the controls and movement were as fluid as Devil May Cry / Bayonetta I can say this game would be amazing. Not to mention at times you get the extreme awkward camera positions that blind / hinder you from moving or attacking mobs. Sound: 9/10 The voice acting in this game is top notch; I can boldly say its as good if not better then Final Fantasy XIII. The composed score in the game is marvelous and Square-Enix fans would be able to fit in and appreciate it. Gameplay: 9/10 As stated above, this game is a hack-slash type of game which shares RPG elements. For people who say this game is like Devil May Cry / God of War, they have no idea what they are talking about, because it is nothing like those two games. The basic structure of the game consist of your hero being able to equip different weapons, he also has a mysterious book which can cast magic. Upon leveling up your character you obtain more magic spells and able to buy/upgrade your weapons. The neat part is you can also customize your weapon and magic to enhance the effect with random enhancement items "Word Parts" This game has a decent open world, which a lot of side-quest attach to it. There is also a decent amount of humor between the hero and the talking book that keeps you excited and not bored out of your mind. Overall: 8/10 The game was done beautifully and overall it's a great game with a pretty unique storyline. The game is not short compared to DMC / GOW, so you won't be paying $59.99 for 5-8 hours of play. Even with the controls and movement being clunky, I think the game deserves a rental at least. On the side note, the NA version of the game supports only the older Nier with a father and daughter relationship. As for the JP PS3 version it supports the younger Nier with a Brother and Sister relationship. There might be plans that the NA might get the younger Nier, since the start menu of the game has a section grayed out labeled "Download Content"

Nier is the most fun game I've played in a while, largely because of the non-game parts - an engaging plot, great voice acting, and an amazing soundtrack. The gameplay can be a little repetitive, but the designers spent a good amount of time adding in tweaks to keep it from getting stale; sections of the game play like top down Zelda games, 2D platformers, isometric RPGs, and for one notable section the game goes through great lengths to mimic the original Resident Evil style. One thing some people seem to misunderstand are the sidequests; if you're a completionist, you'll hate this game. There's a pretty good number of them, and a decent chunk result get you little else outside of having completed the quest. But, the game goes out of its way to point out that no one's making you do this stuff - the 'sidekick' character will repeatedly point out your habit of performing absurd tasks, one person will degrade you for your habit (before giving you a painfully time consuming task), and your character will even reflect what a terrible waste of time one particular quest was. When you consider that the driving plot of the game is a father searching for a cure for his daughter's disease, it makes a good deal of sense that spending hours on sidequests isn't something the game strongly incentivizes. The one good reason for doing a sidequest though is that there's usually some quest-specific banter between the members of your party which, given the quality of the game's voice acting, is a pretty decent reward in and of itself. Overall, this game is probably about 15-20 hours of content if you stick to what's actually enjoyable. As a final note, if you do buy the game and beat it, it's extremely worth it to play the new game+ type mode.

So, I've always seen this game on the shelves at Frys and never gave it any thought. Then I was reading a music article that referenced how well the score was written for this game and that was the beginning for me. The music is phenomenal! There really aren't words that can describe how wonderful and majestic it truly is. After listening to the Temple of the Ruins songs 800 times (literally) I looked up the trailer for the game. I figured it might be good. Instantly, there was this woman cursing and shouting and new music is introduced to me with the cinematics. By the end of the trailer BAM! It caught me Hook, Line and Sinker! (Kind of Ironic since there is fishing in the game ;) I didn't even bother with reading reviews at the time. It was on my list to buy for Xbox 360, which I barely play, but then I found out it was on PS3. Now I look for the right price and in 2 days of wanting it I have been sucked into all my favorite game worlds at once. Nier in my opinion are all of the great Japanese titles that everyone I know loves. Shadow of the Colossus, Zelda, Monster Hunter, and a Mature Rated Final Fantasy VII/X. If you could have that wouldn't you want to play it too? My only quam for the game is when you zoom in on the father sometimes, the graphics are extremely blurry. That's it. I love everything else about it. I started off playing it and doubted buying it at first, but the story was so ambiguous and mysterious it makes you want to play more so you can find out what's going on. Plus, with the music playing in the background it makes it hard not to turn it off. Unless you buy the soundtrack, which is definitely worth owning. The songs stand on there own without the game. So, I recommend Nier to anyone who likes those games I listed in similarity. You most certainly will enjoy it!

This a awesome action rpg, great story, great voice acting, and the characters are a lot of fun! the graphics are not the best of the PS3 but I think that adds a lot of charm to the game, proving that a great game doesn't need the best graphics out there. You can tell that the developers put a lot of time into this game and that is a plus for me. some minor thing to pick at this game is some of the side quests are a little boring, but they don't really add anything to the story so its ok to skip them, but your going to miss out on some fun weapons! The story is very complex and you won't understand the whole thing on the first play through, and there's a total of 4 play throughs so it has a good amount of replay value. There is also some DLC made for this game and if you liked the game then you have to get the DLC it is EPIC!!!! P.S. If you played the Drakengard series it made by the same company (Cavia) and if you like those games then this one needs to be in your collection!