![]() Weiss' snobby, dry wit is a perfect counterpoint to Nier's good-hearted bullheadedness, and the two of them have some wonderful interplay that turns even the dreariest parts of the game into something enjoyable. The real stars of the show, however, are Grimoire Weiss and Kaine, two of Nier's sidekicks. He's also a rare video game protagonist who is over the age of 40 and a devoted father, but that only makes him more interesting. Nier is a big, dumb lunkhead, but one with a good heart, and it's easy to enjoy playing as him. The interplay between the characters is honestly amusing, and the cast is as memorable and likeable as any in recent memory. Nier has abnormally good localization, and that really pays off to make the player care about the cast. While Nier's plot is interesting, what makes it really stand out are the cast of characters. Be warned that there are consequences to certain endings, so players should remain very cautious. These endings are nearly impossible to discuss without spoiling things, but suffice it to say that they involve very different elements of the overall story. After finishing the plot, you unlock the ability to see alternate endings, which reveal new things about the story and characters. ![]() The story plays out in such a way that you can't play Nier just once. Nier and his unlikely allies will try to find the Sealed Verses that will restore Weiss' power and allow the destruction of Noir. Along the way, he'll encounter a variety of eccentric characters, including the foulmouthed swordsman Kaine and Emir, a boy cursed to petrify anything he sees. The only cure lies in the mysterious Grimoire Weiss, a sentient magic book that is said to oppose Grimoire Noir, the cause of the Scrawl. Players take control of Nier, an old man who looks identical to the man from a thousand years ago, as he tries to find a way to save his daughter from the Black Scrawl. The Shades are still attacking, and life is still tough, especially as a strange illness called the Black Scrawl threatens to wipe out the dwindling human population. The remains of the old world are all but lost, and humanity is back in the medieval age. Then the game skips forward a thousand years. The old man makes a pact with a mysterious book to gain magic powers to save his daughter. The only other life is a mysterious race of shadow creatures, Shades, who seem hell-bent on killing the only survivors. The only survivors are an old man and his daughter, who are struggling to stay alive in the abandoned ruins of a city. It opens up in the near future, where the world covered by a strange endless snow. While the main character is undeniably fitting for the role, Nier isn't without its flaws. North American gamers shouldn't worry that they're getting an inferior version of the game with a slapdash replacement. After playing Nier, it's exceedingly difficult to see it as anything but the story of a father trying to protect his daughter. This may seem like a marketing gimmick designed to cover up a weakness in the script with a more "appealing" main character, but nothing could be further from the truth. While we get a beefy 40-year-old single father, Japan's version gets a waifish teenage boy who's looking out for his sister. Nier Replicant, however, changed the main character for a Japanese audience. Nier Gestalt is the one we got in North America, although it is only available for the Xbox 360 in Japan. In Japan, there are actually two versions of Nier: Nier Gestalt and Nier Replicant. It's an experiment in adapting a Japanese game for a more American audience. This is to be expected, coming from Cavia Inc., developers of games such as Drakengard, but it's an unusual game even for them.
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