Nier Review
Ever since its reveal around this time last year, Nier has been a game that's flown under the radar. Quite surprising considering the game is produced and published by Square Enix, but Cavia, the developer, do have a very mixed track record. However, its release has now arrived in the West and Nier is at last able to spread its wings and show the world that it's a title that should demand a share of the spotlight - even if the game doesn't shine the brightest in every aspect.
The story begins in the not too distant future as a dishevelled father, Nier, is desperately trying to protect his frail daughter, Yonah. She's been unwell for a while and they're struggling to even scrape together enough food to survive. To make things worse, Nier is in a constant battle against evil hordes that are trying to take his daughter from him. Fortunately, he has a book that can help him, but he also carries around a second book which Yonah is instructed never to touch. However, realising that her father is fighting a losing battle, she feels she has to do something and ignores his instruction. Nier is devastated; he knows exactly what this means. But his little girl means everything to him and he'll do anything to make things ok again.
Players then depart from this morbid setting and are transported to a much different world - a world that's brighter, more optimistic, but is 1,312 years in the future. There is one thing that remains the same though, Yonah is still sick and Nier has the same drive to find a cure. This leads to him becoming the town's handyman just so he can scrape together enough money for Yonah's medicine. But as things take a turn for the worse for Yonah, his role becomes much more important - he must hunt down the Sealed Verses in order to save her.
It's a quest that takes him to many different locations around the world, each with their own personality and charm. He'll also meet new friends on his travels, some of which will become close companions, but all of which complete a cast that has substance, solidarity and above all, development. None of the game's characters feel superficial and this is one of the reasons why the story is so strong. It's crafted in such a specific way and it's very difficult not to get swept away by its sheer brilliance. It's been a long time since a game had a story that had this much power.
It hasn't been a long time since a game displayed the same gameplay traits though, as this aspect of Nier is fairly common. Players have a very limited selection of moves, which consist of a quick attack for combos, a heavy attack, jump, dodge, block and magical attacks. It does the job though, and with each Sealed Verse that players capture, they will learn a new magical spell. While the melee combat might not be the deepest, the spells do add some originality to the gameplay in both function and the fact they are performed by a floating book. The basic spell, simply titled Dark Blast, fires a constant stream of magical bullets, but things get a lot less generic from there. Dark Lance fires quick projectiles, while Dark Gluttony absorbs enemy magic and turns it against them - something which feels so satisfying.
As the game progresses, players will also be able to use more than just the basic one-handed sword for melee attacks. Two-handed swords and lances are also added to the equation, which at least gives players some choice about how they wish to fight as their styles differ greatly. These weapons can be upgraded to enhance their power, but they can also have words added to them. It's essentially a levelling system for weapons, which compliments Nier's own levelling. Monsters, on occassion, drop words which have attributes associated to them. Two words can then be assigned to a weapon, but words can also be assigned to magical spells and Nier's defensive moves. They all help to make Nier stronger and players can customise them depending on the situation they find themselves in.
