There's great depth to the Nier Replicant combat, as players must combine melee weapons and magic in order to take down the game's various Shades. But while hack-and-slash combat is a major aspect of the Nier Replicant experience, that's not all there is to it. In terms of the gameplay differences, the main character grows and is able to wield two-handed weapons, which opens up some new fighting styles. That's even with the prospect of multiple endings. While Replicant helps players understand the grander world of Nier, as a self-contained story, it feels disappointing. After the standard "point of no return," the plot goes all over the place, there are twists that don't make sense, and the main villains ultimately feel underdeveloped by the time the credits roll. It's all in service of the overarching story, which is fine until the game's final moments jump off a cliff.
Bad things happen to many of these characters and even some of the minor side NPCs who feel like they're there to provide some laughs don't walk away unscathed.
There's no way around this, the second half of Replicant's story is a downer. Narratively, the first half is about maintaining hope in the face of growing despair while the second half is about keeping hope alive after despair has set in. The game's two halves are distinct in several ways. When I say Nier Replicant is a tale of two games, it's because the game hits a major climax at the halfway point before the story fast-forwards another five years. That comedy relief is welcome, because this story gets dark in many places, especially in the latter half. Weiss, in particular, acts as both a grim source of exposition and a helpful source of comedy relief. The banter between the main characters is one of the game's biggest highlights. Even with Kaine's overly potty-mouthed dialogue, voice acting is a welcome addition to this game.
#Black scrawl nier full#
Players will meet a handful of supporting cast characters along the way, including the living tome Grimoire Weiss and the lingerie-clad Kaine, all with full voice acting for this remaster. Some of them have human characteristics that are pure nightmare fuel, and I mean that in the best possible way. Players will fight Shades throughout their journey and the design of the Shades themselves are hauntingly mesmerizing, ranging from little imp-like creatures to multi-tentacled beasts the size of skyscrapers. (If that sounds like a lot, hold that thought, because it gets explained much later.) The main story sees the unnamed protagonist venture out in hopes of discovering a cure for his sister's deadly Black Scrawl disease, encountering dangerous shadow creatures known as Shades. After an action-packed opening sequence that introduces players to the core hack-and-slash gameplay, the story fast-forwards more than 1,400 years. Nier Replicant feels like a tale of two games, in many ways. I walked out with a new appreciation for many aspects of the series, even with some of its glaring pacing problems. Having no prior experience with the first Nier, which released on PlayStation 3 back in 2009, I walked into Nier Replicant ver.1.22474487139 (let's mercifully abbreviate that going forward) with an open mind. With that in mind, it makes sense that Square Enix would want to introduce the original game to a new gaming generation. It's something I began hearing more about after Nier: Automata released back in 2017. Nier is a franchise that feels like it didn't start off as popular as it did.
0 kommentar(er)
